Greening peace operations - policy and practice
Publish date: 2011-03-28
Report number: FOI-R--3112--SE
Pages: 114
Written in: English
Keywords:
- Environmental considerations
- peace operations
- environmental policy
Abstract
There has been an increase in the number of peace operations in the last decades with mission goals such as contributing to a fair and sustainable development. Since many peace operations are performed in areas where the environment is already under stress, it is crucial not to further deteriorate the situation. This study examines difficulties in systematically address environmental issues in peace operations. The study pays special attention to the planning and execution phases of an operation. Input to the study has been collected from three main source categories: Swedish experience and knowledge gained from peace operations; written material such as previous studies in this field; and from key personnel in other national defence organisations. In addition a desk study in the form of an inventory of national and international policies and/or related documents has been performed. Military activities are not exempt from environmental regulations and many countries and troop sending organisations recognise the importance of environmental considerations which can be seen in the development of policies, doctrine and guidelines concerning environmental issues at a strategic level. Their focus is however typically on domestic activities and compliance with national regulations, making the applicability for peace operations somewhat ambiguous. In many strategic defence foresights, the connection between the risks of future conflict and environmental change, including climate changes and energy, is gaining ground. However, this perspective is seldom raised in the environmental policies. The study concludes that there is insufficient integration of environmental considerations in planning and execution of peace operations. There is also a deficiency in the consideration of environmental issues in critical decisions prior to operations. The low priority of environmental issues might be explained by, among other things, a lacking awareness regarding their importance and unclear areas of responsibility. Finally, the report gives recommendations for a better integration, i.e. mainstreaming, of environmental considerations in the Swedish Armed Forces peace operations. A comprehensive conflict analysis in strategic planning would for instance identify the role of environmental factors in the conflict. A prerequisite is an increased environmental awareness throughout the organisation, and also that of accomplishing a balanced approach to how environmental considerations could be a mission enabler instead of a strain on limited resources.