Palestinian ecologist tells COP31: ‘Peace is an environmental necessity’

Mazin Qumsiyeh, from the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability at Bethlehem University, delivered this speech to an ancillary meeting organised at the 31st Conference of Parties (COP31) being held in Türkiye.

We cannot seriously address the climate crisis while ignoring war, militarism, occupation, and the enormous environmental costs of colonisation.

Here in Palestine, the colonial genocide and ethnic cleansing of our people since 1948 has resulted in half a million killed, and now 8.5 million displaced or refugees.

We are working now to get the United Nations to pass an ecocide convention similar to the genocide convention.

The ecocide is global problem and goes beyond borders.

There is no other area where more bombs were dropped relative to population size than Western Asia.

The ecocide is more than just war effect and it does go beyond borders. The Zionist drying up of the Jordan River basin affects four countries; the uprooting of millions of trees and the pollution from the war on the people of Gaza is spreading along the Mediterranean coastline resulting affecting habitats and people.

War is also a climate issue as military activities consume enormous quantities of fossil fuels, destroy infrastructure, generate toxic pollution and release greenhouse gases.

These are often poorly reported or excluded from national climate accounting.

The destruction of Gaza has generated enormous greenhouse gas emissions, both directly through military operations and indirectly through the destruction and future reconstruction of buildings and infrastructure.

A study published in March reported that 33.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂) equivalent had been produced in the destruction of Gaza — a tiny area of 365 square kilometres.

This conservative figure does not take into account the destroyed trees (we studied those by remote sensing), nor the jet fuel burned in countless United States/Israeli sorties to bomb Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Iran.

The 2026 One Earth study estimated that US deliveries of military equipment to Israel between October 2023 and January 2025 involved approximately 50,000 tonnes of supplies transported through 507 aircraft and 107 ship journeys.

The US, which remains the largest single cause of climate change emissions — and it is exempted from reporting on these, has nearly depleted its stockpile of missiles via deliveries to Israel.

Military infrastructure, walls, fortifications and security installations also require enormous quantities of concrete, steel and energy.

The long-term environmental costs is catastrophic: Contaminated soil and water, destruction of agricultural land, damaged wastewater systems, loss of vegetation and even more people dying from diseases and deprivation than those killed directly by these weapons.

More studies and public attention are needed on all of this.

The destruction of ecosystems, like has happened in Palestine, makes communities less resilient to climate change.

Destruction of trees, agricultural land and natural vegetation reduces carbon storage. Soil degradation reduces water infiltration and groundwater recharge.

The destruction of wetlands and natural habitats undermines biodiversity and ecosystem services. Damage to water, sewage and electricity infrastructure increases pollution and dependence on burning wood and diesel for fuel.

The destruction of agricultural systems undermines food sovereignty and increases dependence on imported food.

The UN Environment Program’s September 2025 assessment provides particularly disturbing evidence. By May 2025, 97.1% of tree crops and 82.4% of annual crops in Gaza had been damaged. Approximately 61 million tonnes of debris would require management.

Climate justice requires accountability, not selective accounting.

There is a fundamental contradiction in international climate policy. Governments demand carbon reductions from ordinary citizens, farmers and industries, while military emissions remain inadequately accounted for.

The Paris Agreement climate framework does not impose a comprehensive mandatory reporting system for military emissions. Thus we demand mandatory, transparent reporting of military greenhouse gas emissions, including arms production, military logistics, combat operations and reconstruction.

We often speak about saving the planet for future generations.

But what does that mean to a Palestinian child growing up in Gaza, whose home, school, agricultural land, water resources and natural environment have been destroyed?

What does climate justice mean when billions are spent on weapons while communities struggle for clean water, food and the basic conditions for life? We cannot separate the climate crisis from militarism, colonialism and the unequal distribution of power.

We cannot talk about sustainability while financing destruction.

We, the ordinary citizens, have the burden of responsibility not only to report this climate abuse but offer alternatives.

Our Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability provides practical on-the-ground community-led models for peace building, mitigation, adaptation, reduction and much more.

Our vision is sustainable human and natural communities and our motto is respect: For ourselves — empowerment — for other people and for mother nature.

Peace is an environmental necessity. Justice is a prerequisite for sustainability. Protecting nature means protecting the right of people to live in dignity, freedom and harmony with their environment.

[To follow Mazin Qumsiyeh, from the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability at Bethlehem University, visit his blog Popular Resistance.]