By Hasan Zahid

Climate change and pollution are making the world steadily more unbalanced and endangered, and at such a time war will speed up the present and future harm of climate change. War is adding harmful carbon and other greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. The Russia-Ukraine war has been going on for four years, directly and indirectly causing economic collapse in many countries and division between states, with far-reaching harm to the environment.

While the world's states held Conference of the Parties (COP) meetings, war kept damaging the atmosphere, air, water, soil, vegetation and ecosystems. COP after COP has failed to cut carbon emissions. At such a time, as the world's landscape began to turn grey and global climate change turned towards an uncertain future, the United States and Israel attacked Iran. The world, the writer says, witnessed an irrational war for the first time.

This war is causing a humanitarian crisis and displacing people, creating hundreds of thousands of refugees. The writer likens the humanitarian crisis and killing in Gaza to medieval barbarity. Iran's counter-attacks have displaced thousands of residents inside Israel itself, and many have left the country. While the world's countries could not agree at successive COPs on how much each would cut emissions, the writer says, Israel and Donald Trump's United States jointly attacked Iran, and on the first day of the war about 200 schoolchildren were killed when a school was bombed.

Global warming is melting polar ice and swelling the seas, putting Bangladesh at risk of suffering the most. That warming is man-made and not a natural trick is today an established truth worldwide, one that some industrialised countries tried to cover up for many years. The Earth's temperature has been rising since the Industrial Revolution. The whole world is now a victim of the unchecked emissions of the developed, industrialised world, and island states and disaster-prone, low-lying Bangladesh will suffer most as the seas and oceans rise.

The writer holds the industrialised powers responsible for the decline in the planet's health since the Industrial Revolution. They seized the resources of Asia and Africa and kept many countries there as colonies, while burning fossil fuels at will and pushing the Earth towards environmental disaster. They emitted carbon dioxide, CFCs and other destructive gases while denying that climate change was man-made, and consolidated their position with advanced technology, so that they would stay safe from climate change or make good any damage with their wealth and technology.

The Russia-Ukraine war is directly and indirectly creating economic disaster, division between states and fertile ground for arms sales. Meanwhile, in the writer's words, two countries thirsty for blood and oil are bent on changing the landscape of one territory on the world map and burdening the atmosphere.

• Military emissions: global military activity is said to account for about 5.5 per cent of total greenhouse gas emissions, more than double the aviation sector, and these emissions rise further in wartime.
• Carbon footprint: the unequal Israel-Gaza war alone has caused emissions equivalent to about 33 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, which the writer lays at the door of Benjamin Netanyahu's Israel.
• Destroyed infrastructure: when oil depots, power stations and factories are destroyed, huge amounts of toxic gas and smoke spread into the atmosphere. That is now the reality from Israel to Iran, and the seas are not spared: the aquatic ecosystems of the Strait of Hormuz, Bab al-Mandeb, the Gulf of Oman, the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean are being damaged by oil, bombs, missiles and debris.
• Air pollution: explosions and fires release PM2.5 particulate matter, harmful to the human body, as well as sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. The air quality index (AQI) jumps and respiratory illness increases.
• Water pollution: chemicals and debris seep into rivers and groundwater, undermining drinking water safety in the long term. Aquatic life in seas, rivers and wetlands is destroyed, along with coral, seaweed and the natural balance of the water.
• Loss of biodiversity: when forests and farmland burn, natural carbon sinks are lost and climate change intensifies. The writer says Gaza is losing its green after years of Israeli attacks.
• Global impact: large amounts of carbon are being added to the atmosphere, which will turn the wheel of climate change faster.
• Climate policy: the Paris Agreement does not require military emissions to be reported, so the true global carbon account is incomplete, and at present, the writer says, no country or leader is respecting the rules.
• Long-term harm: rebuilding after war again produces vast carbon emissions, deepening the climate crisis.

The writer asks whether the attack on Iran is lawful or acceptable to the world, and answers no, saying anger against Trump is building inside the United States itself. He says no American leader in the past has changed position and told falsehoods in the name of war the way Trump has, and that Iran has said plainly that Trump cannot be trusted, so it has stood firm from the start.

He cites CNN as saying Trump is wandering in a fairy-tale world, and argues that after being humbled by Iran the United States sought NATO's help, which influential NATO countries flatly refused, leaving the world's dominant power in difficulty.

Under Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, no state may use force against another unless the UN Security Council approves; under Article 51, self-defence is lawful only in response to a direct attack. Iran did not attack the United States first. International lawyers say the attack is clearly illegal and amounts to a war of aggression.

In response, Iran launched counter-attacks that caused extensive damage in Israel and the Gulf states. With the Strait of Hormuz closed or blockaded, 20 per cent of the world's oil supply is at risk. The United States and Israel are trying to justify their attack on grounds of self-defence and security, but international law experts say it violates the UN Charter and is not lawful. Regional stability, global energy security and the humanitarian situation are being badly damaged.

Pollution from the war in the Middle East is not only local but spreads through the global atmosphere and can affect neighbouring regions such as South Asia. The war is accelerating global climate change and leaving a lasting scar on the environment.

According to experts, the carbon emissions and pollution of war must be brought into international climate policy, or efforts to control global warming will slip completely out of control. The writer concludes that the United States and Israel are now destabilising the whole world.

The writer is an environmentalist (certified member, ECO Canada, Calgary, Alberta, Canada).

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.