Tehran, IRNA – An Iranian NGO, the Center for Peace and Environment, has called for international action to halt wars and prevent them from escalating into global environmental crises, warning of the devastating impacts conflicts have already inflicted on people and natural resources, particularly in West Asia.
The statement highlighted the severe environmental consequences of the Israeli war on Gaza, as well as the regime’s 12-day war of aggression against Iran in June this year. It called for international condemnation of such conflicts due to their ecological impacts, which the center said undermine prospects for lasting peace.
The following is the full text of the statement:
In the Name of the Guardian of Peace and Nature
In 2025, a year marked by escalating security, climatic, and humanitarian challenges, the Middle East has once again witnessed a renewed cycle of armed violence—including the 12-day war and the attack against the nuclear facilities of the Islamic Republic of Iran— occurring simultaneously with the continued genocide and the brutal killing of civilians and defenseless children in Gaza. This ongoing tragedy has again demonstrated that war, occupation, and military aggression have shattered the foundational boundaries of morality, humanity, and international law.
In such a turbulent year, the Center for Peace and Environment, as an independent non-governmental institution, convening experts, academics, civil society representatives, and international observers on the occasion of the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict (2025), reaffirms the absolute immunity of the natural environment from the effects of war and armed conflict and emphasizes the following:
Para. 1. Condemnation of the Attack against the Nuclear Facilities of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Clear Violation of International Law: Nuclear installations, under international humanitarian law, international environmental law, and established institutional practice, constitute facilities of inherent and exceptional risk to populations and ecosystems. Targeting such installations may cause radiological contamination, intergenerational harm, and grave threats to the rights to peace and security, the right to health, the right to a safe and healthy environment, and the right to development. Accordingly, we stress that the attack on such installations constitutes a violation of Article 55 of Additional Protocol I (1977) to the Geneva Conventions, which establishes an absolute prohibition on employing methods or means of warfare that may cause damage to the natural environment. Such attacks are incompatible with core principles of international law, including the precautionary environmental principle, the principle of proportionality, the principle of distinction, and the prohibition against causing widespread, long-term, or severe environmental damage. It is evident that any release of hazardous materials would threaten not only the health of the people of Iran but also the populations of neighboring states, rendering the matter both international in character and of utmost concern. On this basis, the Center for Peace and Environment considers the attack to be in violation of the UN Charter, international humanitarian law, the principles governing State responsibility, and the customary rules on environmental protection during armed conflict.
Para. 2. The 12-Day War and Serious Threats to the Environment and Human Health: The recent war, involving destructive weapons and advanced military technologies, has generated the following consequences: air pollution resulting from the burning of industrial facilities, fuel depots, and armories; threats to soil and water resources due to explosives, heavy metals, and the release of toxic chemicals; destruction of sensitive ecosystems along the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman; increased forced displacement, placing additional pressure on natural resources, forests, rangelands, and aquifers in host regions. These conditions demonstrate that escalating hostilities have heightened the fragility of ecosystems and intensified public-health vulnerabilities to unprecedented levels.
Para. 3. Insufficiency and Ineffectiveness of Existing International Mechanisms: As documented in prior international reports, global institutions—including the United Nations, the Security Council, UNDP, UNEP, WHO, and regional bodies—continue to lack binding mechanisms to prevent environmental destruction during armed conflict, effective accountability structures for State conduct, rapid post-attack environmental monitoring systems, and functional compensation frameworks for affected states. The events of 2025 have revealed persistent deficiencies in legal deterrence, gaps in information disclosure, and major weaknesses in rapid environmental response.
Para. 4. The Necessity to Establish a Stronger Legal Regime for Environmental Protection in Armed Conflict: The Center reiterates that the realization of sustainable peace and the prevention of future environmental and humanitarian catastrophes require urgent action by the international community in the following areas:
1. drafting a binding international convention dedicated to the protection of the environment in armed conflict;
2. defining clear international responsibility of States for attacks on environmentally sensitive areas and hazardous facilities;
3. establishing an independent fact-finding commission to investigate attacks on nuclear and critical infrastructure;
4. strengthening the role of international courts and tribunals in adjudicating crime of ecocide.
Para. 5. Regional and Global Impacts of Environmental Destruction in Middle Eastern Armed Conflicts: Experiences from recent decades in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen, Lebanon, and now Iran demonstrate that dust storms, water pollution, soil degradation, and biodiversity loss resulting from conflict transcend borders; the consequences of radioactive materials, explosive remnants, and chemical agents carry intergenerational harms; and the destruction of ecosystems poses a major threat to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and an obstacle to lasting peace and the protection of the environment as a common heritage of humankind.
Para. 6. Widespread Environmental Destruction and the Collapse of Essential Infrastructure in Gaza: The Center expresses grave concern that the ongoing occupation of Palestine and Gaza—constituting a clear violation of international human rights law and international law— combined with repeated attacks and the prolonged blockade, has resulted in: severe contamination of coastal waters and the collapse of marine ecosystems; widespread destruction of natural habitats and ecosystems; eradication of urban green spaces and agricultural lands; the complete breakdown of water, sewage, waste-management, and treatment infrastructure; an acute and persistent drinking-water crisis; heightened risks of epidemics among civilians, particularly for children and women; threats to food security; contamination of water sources and a deepening public-health emergency. These conditions amount to a clear violation of international humanitarian law and international environmental law.
Para. 7. Appeal to the International Community: The Center for Peace and Environment calls upon international organizations, States, regional bodies, the media, and civil society to: unequivocally condemn any military action targeting environmentally hazardous infrastructure; adopt active diplomacy and multilateral dialogue to prevent war and reduce tensions; invest in effective and immediate assessment and remediation of environmental damage after armed conflict; establish transparent and equitable compensation mechanisms for affected populations; exchange knowledge and expertise on environmental protection during armed conflict.
Para.8. Institutional Commitments of the Center for Peace and Environment: The Center hereby declares its ethical and substantive commitment to: - scientific, legal, and field monitoring of the consequences of the 12-day war and the attack against nuclear facilities; - preparing expert reports for national, regional, and international institutions; - continued efforts to transform the environment from a “silent victim of war” into a central pillar of peace.
Conclusion
The Center for Peace and Environment emphasizes that sustainable peace is unattainable without the protection of the environment, and that the contemporary world, more than ever, requires a human-centered, legal, and scientific approach to preventing armed conflicts from evolving into environmental crises and irreversible public-health disasters.
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