"The environment has, since the dawn of time, been one of the casualties of war," said Klaus Toepfer, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

"If there must be war, there must be environmental law," Toepfer said on the second International Day for Preventing Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict.

Toepfer cited examples dating all the way back to fifth century BC when retreating Scythians scorched the earth and polluted drinking water to slow advancing Persians, up to the Gulf War of the early 1990s during which retreating Iraqi troops set more than 700 oil fires.

"While humankind's ability to wage war continues apace with new and even more potentially devasting weapons, international rules and laws designed to minimize the impact on the Earth's life support systems have lagged far behind," Toepfer said.

Despite treaties designed to protect certain resources, such as crops and dams, legal experts have concluded that environmental protection efforts during times of conflict "fall far short of what is ideal," Toepfer of the Nairobi-based UNEP said.

TERRA.WIRE