Ecological consequences of warfare

Abstract

During 20th century several wars were conducted in the world. It can be claimed that these wars caused serious ecological consequences, which affected the quality of the environment, the health and life of people, a decrease in population, slowing down the development of economy and many others. Four wars were waged solely at the territory of the Republic of Serbia: from the Balkan Wars via World War I and II to the NATO aggression in 1999. The NATO bombing caused the most severe consequences for the environment. Due to a rather negative effect of warfare on the environment, such effect is visible at the beginning of most famous wars. However, it was present in some wars and remained the threat for many years. This paper deals with the examples of warfare in the world that data and concrete indicators exist for and it focuses public attention to problems and consequences of warfare.

Keywords

• environment
• warfare
• consequences of warfare
• environment protection