Chapter one

1.1Background to the Study

One of the less traditional but very important roles of law is the protection and preservation of the environment. Thus, environmental protection has emerged as one important issues of public international law in the attempt to minimize the abuse and misuse of the environment. In effect, if the environment is protected, it by extension protects humanity. This is the bases for the development of  restrictions placed by the international humanitarian law in regards to conduct of hostility. It is proven by statistics that the use of weapons which are dangerous to the natural environment has caused grave suffering to mankind as witnessed in the Heroshima and Nagasaki bombing.

However, the attempt to regulate warfare is of old origin. The first body of law to consider in an analysis of the protection of the environment during armed conflict is international humanitarian law (IHL) – the set of laws that seek, for humanitarian reasons to regulate war and armed conflict. This law is a modification of human right of civilian protection during warfare. In history, an attempt to regulate warfare is seen in the  Hindu Code called the ‘Manu’ which was a law seeking the prohibition and use of poisonous arrows. This development was followed by the regulation in the use of certain projectiles weighing  less than 400 grams prohibited by the Hague Convention of 1899.[1]

Another development of these rules was itself inspired by the founder of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the Geneva Conventions.

Finally, this work seeks to evaluate the efficiency of this regulatory mechanisms under international humanitarian law in other to prevent prevalent use of dangerous weapons which are capable of making the environment uninhabitable for humanity.

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