UNEP: 40 percent of internal conflicts linked to exploitation of natural resources
Date：11-24-2017 Source：Xinhua
The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) said Monday that over the last 60 years, 40 percent of all internal conflicts have been linked to the exploitation of natural resources.
Monday marks the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict.
The UNEP said that conflict has led to the pollution of water, torching of crops and vegetation, cutting down forests and poisoning of soils. It has also resulted into the killing of animals as a way to earn military advantage. Such destruction not only drives many of the earth's species into extinction, it also destabilizes the climate.
In countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, high-value resources such as minerals have caused conflict by being a source of funds for armed groups and by compounding poverty levels in communities in the country and around the region.
The same can be said of Sierra Leone, where diamond and other minerals fuelled conflict. According to the UNEP, this war caused or aggravated many environmental problems.
To mark the International Day, which aims to prevent the unsustainable exploitation of natural resources from fueling conflict or threatening peace, the UNEP has teamed up with some US universities to develop an online course on Environmental Security and Sustaining Peace, said Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, at the daily briefing.
"The course is based on the experiences and lessons learned of over 1,000 experts and 10 UN agencies," he said.
In November 2001, the UN General Assembly declared November 6 as the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict. It acknowledged the role of conflict and war in the degradation and exploitation of the environment and sought to create awareness about it.
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