10/04/2026
๐๐๐-๐๐๐๐ | ๐๐๐ซ๐๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐: ๐๐จ๐ฐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง ๐๐ซ๐๐ง, ๐๐ฌ๐ซ๐๐๐ฅ, ๐๐ค๐ซ๐๐ข๐ง๐, ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ฒ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐ฒ ๐๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐
Mainit, malamig, bumabaha, lumalakas ang ulan, natutunaw na yelo, patuloy na pagtaas ng antas ng dagat. These warnings are no longer something far-off but a reality faced on a daily basis. Climate change, in particular, is often described in isolation, yet the phenomena are influenced by human actions that exacerbate the problemโsuch as war.
๐๐จ๐ฐ ๐๐๐ซโ๐ฌ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ฒ ๐๐๐ฏ๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ญ๐๐ฌ ๐๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ข๐๐
Wars that have been waged and sustained by wealthy countries continue to shape the world in many ways, both politically and environmentally. Nations capable of sustaining war for years, such as the USA, and regional powers, including Israel and Russia's military presence in Ukraine, contribute significantly to such conflicts that cause environmental harm. Despite the political reasons that clearly donโt justify wars, the environmental impact has received little to no recognition thus far.
With each explosion and airstrike and any form of military aggression, the environment sustains harm that goes far beyond the battleground itself. Forests are burned down, rivers contaminated, and the land left uninhabitable. War brings with it a number of toxins in the form of fuel, chemicals, and heavy metals in an environment that remains altered.
Environmental degradation caused by warfare is not a new issue. In the context of World War I, trench warfare created changes to landscapes. In addition, large trench systems involved clearing vegetation in the forests, which immediately reduced natural habitats of various flora and fauna species. Grasslands, being relatively stable ecosystems with their fauna, were destroyed because of the activities of soldiers and military equipment, which were tramped, turning them into mud. In such a way, the roots holding the soil in place were damaged, and thus soil became prone to erosion.
Apart from changing the landscape, these military activities changed the properties of the soil as well. Healthy soil contains nutrients, microorganisms, and a balanced composition that supports plant growth. However, trench digging mixed soil layers unnaturally, while explosions compacted or scattered them, reducing the land fertility. As a result, even when the war had ended, no vegetation could grow on land. Lack of vegetation made it easy for the rains to carry the upper layer of soil, which made the land more barren.
These developments led to direct repercussions on the biodiversity level. Destruction of habitats resulted in mass deaths and migration of animals from one area to another, thereby disturbing the ecological balance. Birds were robbed of their nests, smaller mammals lost their cover, and pollinators like insects reduced in number in the regions. It may appear as if the destruction of these seemingly insignificant elements was nothing but insignificant, but it was far from the truth. In understanding of these repercussions, it must be noted that wars result in short-term damage and have lasting impacts on the environment.
๐๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐๐ซ๐ฒ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐
In World War 2, environmental degradation escalated due to the advancements in technology used for combat, especially when it comes to airborne technology. In contrast with the trench war that destroyed land-based areas, World War II had destruction in the air. Flying planes dropped bombs and other destructive items over urban areas, forest, and agricultural lands, destroying their lands instantly. Consider fields of green that were turned into craters, and forests destroyed to ashes within counts of seconds. Not only does this type of warfare destroy visible life forms on the land, but it also disrupts the natural habitats of the people and biodiversity.
The use of technology in warfareโsuch as aircrafts, chemical agents, and industrial-scale weapon production, led to the emergence of new types of pollution. The factories involved in the manufacture of weapons polluted the atmosphere and the waters, while the bombings of industrial sites resulted in leakage of chemicals and fires. These pollutants settled into the soil and waterways, causing the floras to struggle in growing in contaminated environments, while fauna would either die or move away, resulting in reduced biological diversity. Even microorganisms that existed in the solids that are essential for nutrient cycling and plant growth, were affected, showing how deeply science and natural systems are interconnected.
What makes this period especially important to understand is that its environmental effects did not end with the war. It persisted in the time of the Cold War and persists until the present day. Advances in science and technology made warfare more efficient, but also more destructive in nature, thus illustrating how humanityโs ingenuity can contribute to the destruction of nature and the world when there are no boundaries on it. The lesson to learn from all this is that although human advancement cannot be stopped, it should still be accompanied by concern for the environment.
The war in Vietnam caused the large-scale destruction of forested lands via the use of chemicals, causing deforestation on a mass scale. In effect, the forests lost their vibrance and beauty and turned into a wasteland.
The Gulf War highlighted how destruction of the environment could be used as a strategy. Large numbers of fires were set up deliberately at oil fields in Kuwait and large amounts of greenhouse gases were released. Oil spills contaminated land and coastal areas, killing tens of thousands of seabirds.
Similarly, in more contemporary cases, the same trend can be observed. For instance, in Yemen, the war resulted in the depletion of natural resources such as water supply, soil, air, and the changing climate of that area. The depletion of environmental resources makes vulnerable populations even more susceptible to risks related to environmental conditions.
๐๐จ๐ฐ ๐๐๐ซ ๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐ฌ ๐
๐๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐ฅ๐ ๐๐๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐จ ๐๐จ๐ฑ๐ข๐ ๐๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐๐ฌ
In Ukraine, the ongoing war caused the destruction of natural resources. The lands have been destroyed due to the war; there has been a lack of food in the country since cattle and crops cannot grow anymore. Food scarcity in Ukraine is not only due to the destruction of agricultural infrastructure, but also because of the interference in the scientific process involved in cultivating crops.
Ukraineโs fertile chernozem soil depends on nutrients, air spaces, and microorganisms to support plant life. Bombs and shells caused an imbalance in these factors through a principle called โbombturbation,โ where soil layers are mixed and topsoil is buried. At the same time, the movement of military vehicles compresses the soil, making it difficult for air and water to pass through for roots and soil microorganisms (Bressan, 2022).
Contamination further exacerbates this problem. Weapons, fuel, and damaged infrastructure release toxic substances like lead and mercury into the soil, which do not break down easily and can be absorbed by plants, making them toxic. Even water supplies are affected since the pollution created by the explosions pollutes the rivers and groundwater. These changes affect the land far beyond farmlands because they will affect the system of irrigation, and how the ecosystem operates.
๐๐๐ณ๐: ๐๐ข๐ซ, ๐๐๐ง๐, ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ข๐๐ ๐๐ง๐๐๐ซ ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐๐ฉ๐ฌ๐
The most catastrophic situation regarding environmental degradation occurring in the Gaza Strip. In the first 15 months of the invasion of Israel, over 31 million tons of COโ equivalents will be released, including pre-op and post-op war emissions and restoration into the atmosphere, surpassing the annual emissions of more than 100 sovereign nations (Lakhani, 2025). Aside from carbon dioxide, shelling, and burning remnants emit fine particulate matter and hazardous chemicals into the atmosphere. Scientifically, such particles can enter deep into the lungs and bloodstream, leading to increased prevalence of lung diseases (Spinou et al., 2025). Combined with the destruction of power systems, which forces reliance on diesel generators, the air itself poses a continuous and omnipresent health threat.
According to Abuwad et al. (2025), the collapse of water and sanitation services has led to sewage contamination and resulted in famine and dehydration across Gaza. Waste management practices have completely disintegrated, resulting in the unrestricted spread of toxins and pathogens. There have also been cases where agricultural fields and resources have been affected by the ongoing blockade of colonialist Israel.
What makes Gazaโs situation catastrophic is not just due to environmental deterioration but also because of structural failure. Contaminated soil, unsafe water, polluted air, and healthcare systems that have collapsed due to the bombings of imperialist Israel, have left the vulnerable population at even greater risk (Abuawad et al., 2025). These factors are interconnected, with millions of tons of debris covering the land and reconstruction expected to produce massive additional emissions, recovery becomes a long-term challenge.
The environmental and societal collapse in Gaza is a stark reminder that warfare does not just kill peopleโit kills the systems that sustain life, pollutes the air, poisons the water, and strips the land of its ability to regenerate.
Similar events occur not only in Gaza but also in other regions of Middle East where thereโs an active denial of human rights, including Iran, Lebanon, Yemen, Sudan, Syria, and beyond show a troubling pattern: war destroys nature as efficiently as it destroys human lives. The warfare and the world is a reality represented by societies deprived of the ability to maintain life on their own.
With that, any nations deprived of basic survival like Palestine may get the justice, freedom, and recognition that humanitarian aid alone cannot replace the dismantled system of life. Understanding this allows us to picture, in real time, how human conflict reshapes the Earth itself, leaving scars that will haunt generations of people, wildlife, and the environment alike.
Written by Marc Francoise Malonzo
Pubmat by Lorraine Bagang
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