Environmental damage has been a rising concern for governments all over the world, with major disasters being on the rise such as the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 that caused approximately $17 billion in damages or the wildfires in the Amazon in 2020 that resulted in more than three million hectares being burned. Therefore nations must try and fully understand the impact of environmental disasters. However, the world is complex and as countries try to solve environmental issues they also need to focus on their relations with other nations. There are currently numerous ongoing conflicts like Russia and Ukraine or Israel and Palestine. The impacts of both war and environmental degradation will be analyzed through three perspectives: medical, socio-political and economic. By analyzing both the long-term and short-term impacts of these issues this paper will show the importance of prioritizing climate change as an international issue.
Wars have had a devastating impact on global health. A study by Ryunosuke Goto, a paediatrician, found that war is one of the biggest public health emergencies a nation can face. The consequences of war are both immediate and long-term as not only do millions die on the battlefield, but many get permanent injuries, contract diseases, or simply starve to death due to small rations. World War II with an estimated 35 to 60 million had the largest number of deaths ever recorded. However, those who don’t succumb to death face terrible injuries that can leave them disabled for the rest of their lives. The most common injuries that soldiers face on the front lines range from spinal cord injuries to limb loss. However debilitating injuries aren’t simply at the physical level, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder diagnosed frequently in soldiers. PTSD can manifest as flashbacks, severe anxiety, or aggressive behavior. it makes it incredibly difficult for soldiers to reintegrate back into regular society and often leads to some sort of substance dependence. When a country is at war there’s often an increased spread of disease. Many health facilities are usually at decreased capacity due to the increased rate of injuries during war, this makes it difficult to provide safe, sanitary, and sufficient health care. During wars, civilians are usually placed in temporary camps. These shelters are usually cramped and overcrowded, which means diseases especially those that are airborne spread quickly. Water-borne diseases also usually spread quickly in these camps due to poor sanitation and hygiene.
As nations continue to struggle to solve the devastating impact of war, environmental degradation rises as a new threat to public health. Extreme weather events such as heatwaves, storms, and floods have increased in frequency and strength. These events are proven to have been caused by human-caused climate change. These events cause injuries, premature deaths, and illnesses. Illnesses especially caused by heat are on the rise such as heat strokes and heat exhaustion due to increasing temperatures from climate change. Climate change also increases the risks of food-related illnesses. Climate change is affecting temperatures of both air and precipitation, these abiotic factors are affecting water quality and farming techniques which are leading to increased pathogen levels in food. One example would be countries getting warmer, which means farmers will move to more indoor farming. Indoor farming however leads to higher rates of pathogens transfer between animals. Warmer waters also increase rates of water-borne illnesses such as Vibrio which is found in seafood.
Increased rates of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases are found in nations with high rates of air pollution according to a study by the World Health Organization. Air pollution is responsible for 29% of lung cancer deaths, and 24% of stroke deaths globally. People in a lower socio-economic class often live in these polluted areas and are usually at a higher risk of illnesses related to pollution and climate change. This means climate change is not only a medical issue but is also a social problem as it’s usually individuals in the lowest economic class being impacted the most by climate change, while simultaneously having the least greenhouse gas emissions.
Citizens who are in war-torn countries are often forced to leave their nations and migrate to unfamiliar places. When individuals are in a war their main priority is survival, it can be difficult to maintain cultural norms or participate in traditions. This loss of one’s cultural identity is only intensified when people migrate. When one moves to another place with a new culture, you have to learn to adapt and accept that society’s values and norms. Although this can lead to a blend of cultures -multiculturalism- it can also lead to cultures getting destroyed by one’s need to conform and belong. There’s also an issue with the native citizens of a nation when migrants come in. There are countless examples of conflicts that occur between immigrants and a nation's citizens due to such stark differences in cultures. Many far-right politicians will often advocate for fewer immigrants being allowed into their citizens due to a fear of a loss of culture and tradition that comes with multiculturalism. There is often a rise of conflict between groups of people from different cultures when they’re forced to be close to each other. One prime example is how hate crimes against Muslims and immigrants rose after conflicts between the US and the Middle East such as al-Qaeda or 9/11. These conflicts between individuals can be due to cultural differences in communication and values, but they can also be due to individuals feeling threats to their cultural identities.
Similarly to war, environmental degradation can force people to migrate. Environmental disasters such as desertification or deforestation will often contribute to food insecurity which forces people to move to areas that are more profitable and habitable. There’s been a growing increase in such disasters which have led to increased rates of migration. The rates of migration have grown to such a large extent that 1.2 million people are predicted to have been displaced due to environmental disasters by 2050 according to Kamal Amakrane the co-chair of Columbia’s Climate Mobility Network. People of lower economic status will also suffer the damages of these environmental disasters at a higher rate. They may not be able to migrate to safer locations, or if they can move they have to use unsafe methods. There have been countless incidents of people dying at sea in small boats that are at over-capacity while trying to migrate because that’s their only option. Similarly to the impacts of migration caused by war, environmental displacement leads to a loss of cultural identity and conflicts between different groups of people. Environmental-caused displacement often happens quickly depending on the severity of the incident, this means people aren’t able to keep any cultural objects that may be integral to their traditions.
Wars will often lead to an economic depression for a country. With all efforts going towards the war, economic activity is at an all-time low with a decrease in people working. The damages caused by weapons to roads, buildings, and other infrastructures also add to the costs of a war. The national debt of the UK at the end of WWII was 150% and only rose from there with the country trying to cover costs of lost infrastructure. Wars aren’t simply costly to the countries participating in it, they affect all nations. The war in Ukraine and Russia for example has led to a dramatic increase in the price of oil. This leads to countries straying away from globalization due to fear of disruptions to their supply chains due to their reliance on these countries. Although in the short run, there may be some advantages to war such as increased rates of innovation and full-time employment with people either working in production or as soldiers, the long-run disadvantages outweigh those benefits. After wars, veterans are unable to find work leading to an increase in unemployment, with 53% of veterans remaining unemployed four months or longer after leaving the military.
Environmental degradation can be incredibly damaging to individuals who work in trades that are dependent on environmental stability. Extreme deforestation and overfishing will often harm those industries in the long run. Long-term deforestation can lead to changes in habitats and losses in biodiversity, these can all lead to damages in crop yields for future generations who may rely on those species of plants and trees. Overfishing similarly can cause degraded ecosystems, which decreases the size and yield of fish that can be caught in the future. The relationship in many nations between economic growth and environmental degradation is a negative one. Non-renewable resources are often cheaper to use and they can match the never-ending demand of a nation at a quicker rate than sustainable resources. However, in the long run the consumption of these non-renewable resources will be expensive as these nations will have to try and find a new source for energy and this will be costly especially if there was no previous investment with renewable resources.
Currently the international community needs to focus more on environmental damage than war. Climate change is an issue that’s been largely ignored in the past. Nations were not concerned with the environment in the past and this lack of attention has led to environmental disasters and climate change which are both increasing at a rapid rate. The impacts of environmental degradation have a longer lasting effect than war and impact everyone globally not simply certain nations unlike war. Although war is a complex issue, its impacts can be fixed over a certain period of time while the impacts of environmental degradation are typically irreversible. With climate scientists predicting that climate change will become irreversible by 2030, it’s imperative to try and solve the environmental damage that’s been caused by humans.
Dorine is a 17-year-old student from Tanzania! She loves reading (currently reading The Hungry and The Fat by Timur Vermes) and loves baking! She’s hoping to pursue economics and international relations in the future; she loves understanding how the world works and feels as if economics and international relations can be used to explain all the different parts of the world.
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