Post-War Environmental Analysis

Both natural disasters and international conflicts have profoundly damaging environmental effects. Because environmental rehabilitation is a key aspect of humanitarian assistance, Green Cross International assesses environmental conditions of conflict and disaster at the first opportunity. With help from various Green Cross National Offices, GCI has recently engaged in environmental assessments in Côte d'Ivoire, Pakistan and Lebanon where rehabilitation programmes for economies, people, and the environment were subsequently based upon these assessments.

The violent socio-political crisis that has reigned in Côte d'Ivoire since 19 September 2002 has interrupted or totally halted the work of a large number of NGO's. Green Cross Côte d'Ivoire has suffered as a result and had to modify some of its programmes. Nevertheless, its activities did not stop and it is currently involved in projects related to the assessment of the environmental situation in the country. In 2004, it carried out an analytical study on the desertification in the country and an environmental diagnosis of its water plans. The findings of these studies, as well as the results of the opinion poll conducted by Green Cross Côte d'Ivoire, has laid the foundation for the country's Emergency Programme of Post-Conflict Restoration.

Green Cross Sweden joined forces with the Green Belt Movement, an organization led by the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Professor Wangari Maathai, for the development and implementation of a project called "Sustainability, Peace and Security", aimed at conflict mitigation and environmental restoration in local communities in Kenya. The project is focused on the Maai Mahiu Rift Valley province, where a conflict has erupted between the pastoral community of the Maasai and the agricultural community of the Kikuyu. Environmental degradation is at the origin of this project since it is because of this that the Maasai herdsmen were forced to find sustenance for their cattle in the nearby lands of the Kikuyu farmers. The goal of the project is to bring forth environmental rehabilitation in the Rift Valley Province through the united efforts of the conflicting communities, for example by planting 100,000 trees and water harvesting. The majority of funds for the project have been provided by the Folke Bernadotte Academy in association with the Government of Sweden.

In 2006, in Côte d'Ivoire, there was a toxic waste spill precipitating a health crisis. A ship illegally dumped toxic waste in up to 12 sites around the country's largest city, Abidjan, in August 2006. Immediately following the environmental catastrophe, Green Cross Cote d'Ivoire led an investigation on the causes and consequences of the toxic waste spill. The recommendations were widely disseminated, and GC Côte d'Ivoire President, Mr. Hilaire Gnohité Gomé, was invited to a parliamentary debate to present the organization's findings. In 2006 and 2007, GC Cote d'Ivoire has also been very active in addressing environmental and poverty-based issues which have been further aggravated by the conflict that started in 2002: this has led to advocacy activities to combat deforestation, contributing to a national strategic document for poverty reduction, and validating various environmental impact studies.

In June 2007, Green Cross International participated in the 7^th Advisory Group on Environmental Emergencies (AGEE) meeting, organised every two years by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), in association with the Awareness and Preparedness for Emergencies at Local Level (APELL). Multi-disciplinary guidance is an essential element of building awareness and a global framework for environmental emergency preparedness and response. Countries affected by disasters contribute to the effectiveness of global disaster response by sharing experiences and lessons learned. Within this framework, GCI is developing a campaign with UNEP/OCHA, and endorsed by AGEE, to recognise the international effort to respond to environmental emergencies and to increase public and governmental awareness by drawing attention to efforts made to prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies.

Global Green USA(GGUSA) has also collaborated with UNEP and its environmental assessment programme. Following conflict in Lebanon in 2006, Global Green participated in the UNEP Post-Conflict Branch teleconferences on the environmental  consequences of the conflict. Beginning in September, Global Green gave expertise to UNEP as needed. The Legacy Programme participated in weekly conference calls that: discussed proposals about alleviating the environmental degradation caused by fighting; received reports by each group on the ground; debated how UNEP could best intervene; and assessed the harm caused by the oil spill along the coast of Lebanon.

"That military conflicts in our time can cause both a human and an environmental catastrophe makes the task of preventing them even more urgent and important. Prevention must be foremost in our thinking and our actions. But, if hostilities break out despite all our efforts, they must be constrained by certain legal limits. Such constraints have been laid down by the Geneva conventions and their protocols. It is now clear that they should be supplemented by provisions to limit the environmental damage caused by warfare."