Peace is the only option for a flourishing biodiversity

Abstract

As I write, a Russian invasion into Ukraine is imminent. My father is next door in the kitchen, watching the evening news. I had planned on a swift kitchen entrance and exit: make a cup of tea, gobble down some bara brith (Welsh fruit cake made with black tea) and return to my editing without getting distracted. But tonight’s evening broadcast pulls me in with a kind of unwilling commitment; my eyes are glued to the screen. As – what seem like – hundreds of Russian tanks approach the Ukraine border in a desolate, muddy, barren landscape, I play a series of questions over and over in my mind: ‘where are all the birds? where are the trees and how can there be so many shades of grey in one landscape? how have the earthworms, beetles and bugs fared amongst the bombs, shells, the shrapnel and the deafening artillery?’ My guess is, probably not well. This experience led me to research the impact of warfare on biodiversity: something vastly overlooked and rarely documented, it turns out. According to The Conflict and Environment Observatory (2022), fighting on 24 February, close to Kherson in Ukraine, resulted in fires in the Black Sea Biosphere Reserve. These fires were detectable from space and may have destroyed trees and unique habitats for birds in the largest nature reserve in Ukraine. In times of crises and war we (understandably) put our human needs above anything else, forgetting the toll that war takes on our – already compromised – natural world. Armed conflict affects millions of people across the globe, with one in ten children living in areas impacted by conflict. Whilst the devastation that war brings for humans is well documented, its impact on biodiversity is less so (The Climatarian Blog 2017). According to the United Nation’s Environment Program, for over six decades, armed conflicts have occurred in more than two-thirds of the world’s biodiversity hotspots, thus posing critical threats to conservation efforts. The UN General Assembly declared 6 November the ‘International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict’. War preparations alone utilize up to 15 million square kilometres (km) of land, account for 6% of all raw material consumption, and produce as much as 10% of global carbon emissions annually (Bidlack 1996; Biswas 2000; Majeed 2004). Warfare can also impact local species populations and interaction. Following World War II, for example, the brown tree snake (Boiga irregularis) was introduced via former US bases on Guam Island, which led to the extirpation of more than 10 native bird and reptile species. Until now, ecologists have focused on the environmental consequences of specific war-related activities, such as nuclear testing, operational training, battlefield contamination and postwar refugee movements (Homer-Dixon 2001). This does not consider the whole picture. ‘Warfare Ecology’ is an emerging field however, which attempts to document the full impacts of war on ecology, rather than specific components. It examines the three stages of war: preparations, war and postwar activities – and treats biophysical and socioeconomic systems as coupled systems (Machlis and Hanson 2008). Taking a birds-eye-view, the first step in protecting civilians is ultimately protecting the environment that they depend upon, and I wonder if warfare ecology is a useful lens to do this through. If there are any warfare ecologists in our readership, please do get in touch. On a more optimistic note, I am delighted to share that 2022 will see the publication of a Biodiversity themed issue dedicated to forests. One of the most biologically rich terrestrial systems in the world, tropical, temperate and boreal forests offer diverse sets of habitats for plants, animals and micro-organisms, and harbour the vast majority of the world’s terrestrial species. And yet, according to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), within the last 8000 years about 45% of the Earth’s original forest cover has disappeared, cleared mostly during the past century. Some themes explored will be the healing, spiritual, calming and nurturing effect of forests, as well as their BIODIVERSITY 2022, VOL. 23, NO. 1, 1–2 https://doi.org/10.1080/14888386.2022.2062447