War has disastrous effects on people and the physical, biological, economic, and social environment. The state-of-the-art of research on the environmental consequences of war and its aftermath is presented in this Handbook. A broad range of topics are included, such as the prevention of war and its environmental repercussions and selected environmental and human health effects of chemical warfare agents and the atmospheric transport and deposition of pollutants under warfare with two main case studies: the Balkans and the Gulf war.
This book is of great help in bridging the gap between environmental chemists, who generally have limited experience with Chemical Warfare (CW) issues, with those who work with CW disarmament and nonproliferation issues but tend not to have scientific backgrounds. This book provides the basic background information needed to better grasp the problem of the environmental consequences of war, promotes a greater public awareness of and sensitivity to these issues, and can hopefully contribute to avoiding further wars in future.

Klappentext

and used in munitions. Rather the requirements for the agent's military effects took precedence. In addition, the interaction among the political, technical, and legal challenges connected with the known or possible risks posed by CW agents is complex and sometimes not well understood. This is usually because technical considerations, when acted on, are almost invariably informed by political ones, such as various legal requirements. The book contains nine chapters covering different aspects of the research on environmental consequences of war and its aftermath and covers in one additional chapter more general issues such as prevention of war and its environmental c- sequences, the legal, political, and technical background to selected environmental and human health effects of CW agents, and the atmospheric transport and depo- tion of persistent organic pollutants under warfare conditions to more specific ones related to two main tragic examples: the war in the Balkans and the Gulf War. Aspects of the war in the Balkans cover contamination by heavy metals in Serbian national parks, the impact of NATO strikes on the Danube river basin, and the problems associated with transuranium elements. The Gulf War in Kuwait covers other problems related to the impact of oil contamination, the impact on grou- water resources, and the soil damage of ground fortifications among other envir- mental and health problems.

Inhalt

Background to Selected Environmental and Human Health Effects of Chemical Warfare Agents.- Prevention of War and Its Environmental Consequences.- Remote Sensing: Fundamentals, Types and Monitoring Applications of Environmental Consequences of War.- War-Induced Soil Degradation, Depletion, and Destruction (The Case of Ground Fortifications in the Terrestrial Environment of Kuwait).- Critical Assessment of the Environmental Consequences of the Invasion of Kuwait, the Gulf War, and the Aftermath.- Atmospheric Transport and Deposition of Persistent Organic Pollutants Under Warfare Conditions.- Environmental and Health Impact Assessment of Ammunition Containing Transuranic Elements.- Ecological Impact on the Danube After NATO Air Strikes.- Speciation of Heavy Metals in Geological Matter of the Serbian National Parks, Protected Areas and Cities Within the Danube River Basin After the War Conflict in 1999.