It doesn’t have to be the only cause. It could be one of the many causes. I’m just wondering if there has been ANY war caused by pollution. I don’t know of any, but I vaguely remember one of my acquaintances saying something about a certain war wherein one of the causes was pollution.
Fighting over resources like water, oil, iron etc. have certainly been factors leading up to some, and certainly the goal of individual campaigns during wars, but I can’t think of one started by it. As important as you may (or may not) believe pollution to be in terms of national relations or pride of individual citizens concerning their homelands, it’s hard to imagine it happening. There are so many intervening steps that always take place between them (trade agreements, treaties etc.) Plus the vast majority of pollution takes place domestically. Industrial waste disposal across international borders would tend to want to be avoided (and easily done so).
You could make a case that the piracy in Somalia is effectively a low intensity war against polluters dumping in their oceans. Not saying I 100 percent agree with that case , but you could make it.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2008/10/2008109174223218644.html
Oh gee, without even considering that article’s source (Al-Jazeera?!) my only reaction to it is one great big, gigantic SCOFF! Somalia warlord terrorist pirates acting as toxic avengers?!? No. Just no. They are modern day pirates who discovered that A) It’s incredibly easy to commandeer a huge cargo vessel, and B) Most govts would just as soon pay a few hundred grand ransom rather than lose tens of millions worth of property. At least until the major powers starting treating them like pirates (i.e. rescuing the ships & crews and often essentially executing the hijackers on the spot in the process!)
Al Jazeera does some pretty damn good reporting and they don’t hesitate to criticize arab regimes.
But fine here’s the Independent:
The collapse of the Somali government meant that there was no one to enforce fishing rights or stop any waste dumping in Somali waters. Whether or not it’s a war is open to debate, but it’s a conflict that has environmental factors as one of it’s causes.
Be that as it may, it’s still incredibly stupid to conflate low-level piracy with some kind of noble environmental warrior cause celebre. It’s like claiming that the Mafia is fighting for the cause of poor opressed Italians.
Nobody here is saying its solely because of pollution, so unbunch your panties. Coremelt said “a case could be made.” He even says he doesn’t agree with it, but that there is a case there. I agree, and that was my first thought when reading the tag.
Don’t even see it, and I’m squinting.
What do the pirates do to enforce compliance with standards of good ecology?
And, it seems that the collapse of the Somali government is being equated with piracy in the cites given. The collapse of the govt. also means that there is no good infrastructure to keep utilities on. Are the pirates also working on that in their actions?
No relevance. Two separate issues. Case unmade.
Read the OP “It doesn’t have to be the only cause. It could be one of the many causes.” Illegal overfishing is a form of environmental degradation.
"At the same time, other European ships have been looting Somalia’s seas of their greatest resource: seafood. We have destroyed our own fish stocks by overexploitation – and now we have moved on to theirs. More than $300m-worth of tuna, shrimp, and lobster are being stolen every year by illegal trawlers. The local fishermen are now starving. Mohammed Hussein, a fisherman in the town of Marka 100km south of Mogadishu, told Reuters: “If nothing is done, there soon won’t be much fish left in our coastal waters.”
This is the context in which the “pirates” have emerged. Somalian fishermen took speedboats to try to dissuade the dumpers and trawlers, or at least levy a “tax” on them. They call themselves the Volunteer Coastguard of Somalia – and ordinary Somalis agree. The independent Somalian news site WardheerNews found 70 per cent “strongly supported the piracy as a form of national defence”.
>>>from the independent UK article I linked earlier.
People whose livlihood has been destroyed and are desperate to feed their families are easy prey for opportunistic warlord recruiters. I’m not saying they are fighting to protect the environment, its just one of the root causes.
IIRC, the Economist magazine has also mentioned the role illegal fishing had during the start of Somalian piracy. Of course now the practice is self-perpetuating.
Meso-America experienced cycles of drought, famine, disease, and war, though I couldn’t locate any indications that extensive forest clearing and the like sparked the initial drought.
Lead poisoning has a pronounced effect on early cognitive development. In US inner cities this resulted in the war on drugs?? Probably not.
Disagreements about access to water can lead to war. Cite. Possible examples include the “1967 War (fomented by Syria’s attempts to divert water from Israel) and the Iran-Iraq War (which erupted from disputes over water claims and availability),” according to this website: israeleconomy.org Document pollution depleting the supply of fresh water and we might have a tenuous case study.