Issue No. 24: Conflict pollution and the toxic remnants of war: a global problem that receives too little attention

Severe pollution incidents have provided some of the most visually arresting images of recent armed conflicts. Oil fires and spills, bomb – damaged and looted industrial facilities, abandoned military material and munitions, rubble and demolition waste – all are associated with contemporary conflicts, and all can threaten ecosystems and human health. But these obvious, and often serious, sources of pollution rarely tell the whole story