A presentation by Dr. Swapna Pathak, candidate for assistant professor of environmental politics and policy

Protecting the environment in the global arena is a monumental challenge, and especially so during times of inter-state and intra-state wars. This study evaluates the mechanisms available to the global community to safeguard the environment during and after wars. For this purpose, I identify various provisions made as part of international humanitarian law, multilateral environmental treaties, and international criminal law and assess how they address the issue of environmental protection during wartime. I argue that most existing international regimes relevant to environmental protection are normatively constructed to uphold the doctrine of 'military necessity.' This poses a considerable challenge for policy coordination in the international arena and between international-domestic realms given institutional variation at sub-national levels. Based on the literature on the evolution of the human rights regime and political ecology, the last part of the study recommends rule alterations and subsequently a norm-shift in the international regime for environmental protection amidst violent conflict.