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Customary international law
486. The importance of the environment is universally acknowledged. As the International Court of Justice articulated the idea in its Advisory Opinion on Nuclear Weapons:
the environment is not an abstraction but represents the living space, the quality of life and the very health of human beings, including generations unborn.
Attacks in wartime against military objectives (as defined supra 220) often impact upon the environment. The prime example is an attack against oil facilities (on their nature as military objectives, see supra 257). An air strike against an oil refinery may give rise to toxic air pollution. When an oil storage facility is demolished, the oil may seep into the ground and poison water resources. When an oil tanker is sunk at sea, the resultant oil spill may be devastating to marine life.
487. The Advisory Opinion on Nuclear Weapons went on to say:
States must take environmental considerations into account when assessing what is necessary and proportionate in the pursuit of legitimate military objectives. Respect for the environment is one of the elements that go to assessing whether an action is in conformity with the principles of necessity and proportionality.
The principle of proportionality has been discussed supra 317 et seq. It follows from the Court's dictum that, in keeping with the principle of proportionality, ‘an attack on a military objective must be desisted from if the effect on the environment outweighs the value of the military objective’.
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