The economic dimension(effects) of the war

The economic dimension(effects) of the war

 

War and its readiness are detrimental to development, squandering scarce resources and undermining international confidence that is necessary to promote development, preserve its scarce resources and protect the environment regional and global levels.

 

Over the past two decades, the world has spent about $17 trillion on global military activity, amounting to about $850 billion annually, and 2.33 $ billion per day, $97 million per hour, $1.6 million per minute. In just one year, global annual military spending on the current basis has reached more than $100 billion. In general, global military spending is far greater than any expenditure on development.

 

The increase in worldwide militarization has been accompanied by a dramatic increase in the arms trade. In the last two decades, total global arms sales have reached about $410 billion annually.

 

It is estimated that approximately 50% of all arms imports in developing countries have been financed by export credits, and the cost of these military credits is 30% of all debt flows to Developing countries.

 

The United Nations Environment Program report entitled "Saving Our Planet": The focus on military fields has diverted important resources away from development activities. The armed forces employ between 60-80 million individuals worldwide, including about 3 million scientists and engineers.

 

The problem is that large areas of land are allocated for military training and weapons testing, and the finest land is used in many countries for the construction of military service facilities and buildings, without taking into account opportunities. Best for the use of those lands for national socio-economic development.

 

The armed forces consume about 6% of total world oil consumption, nearly half of all developing countries' total oil consumption.

 

Almost all wars have one basic strategy: life support systems for defeating armies and peoples; The bombing of cities and infrastructure was used on a large scale in World War II.

 

But the military demonstrations in the PMCs may be far from far-reaching.

 

The damage that wars can do to the natural environment and the social fabric of the population is extremely dangerous, from large-scale destruction of crops and forests, widespread soil erosion and total destruction of life. Terrestrial wildlife, loss of freshwater fish, degradation of coastal marine fisheries, in addition to cases of nervous poisoning and increased incidence of hepatitis, liver cancer, Spontaneous abortion, congenital malformations.

 

The Iraq-Kuwait war in 1991 is far from us, and its effects are still visible. The measurements taken showed that the fires that set 613 oil wells in Kuwait caused the burning of between 4-8 million barrels per day. It also resulted in huge clouds of smoke and gas emissions that spread over a large area in the northern Gulf. One of the direct effects of the smoke was to reduce the solar radiation coming to the earth, which led to a lowering of the surface temperature of the earth in some parts of the northern Gulf. A more detailed evaluation of these effects remains to be done.

 

Wars, conflicts and conflicts have resulted in millions of displaced persons and refugees. Global estimates show that the number of refugees increased from 3 million in the 1970s to about 15 million in the 1990s, and the numbers continue to increase.

 

These refugees have suffered economic losses, social disruption, displacement, hunger, poverty, malnutrition and instability. In most cases, these refugees live in camps in border areas, where living conditions are severe and social unrest is widespread.

 

In some cases, the return of these people to their places of origin becomes virtually difficult, continuing to live in misery for decades. Surprisingly, so far, we do not find an internationally accepted definition of a refugee.

 

Nuclear weapons have added to wars entirely new dimensions. Nuclear weapons represent a dramatic increase in destructive power, and the world's estimated 37,000-50,000 warheads, with a total explosive power of 11,000-20,000 megatons, equivalent to 846,000-154,000 bombs, vary. Hiroshima.

 

Despite the overall condemnation of nuclear weapons, their production and testing continue, both in developed and developing countries, with varying capacities and potential. Between 1945 and 1990, the total number of nuclear tests was 1,818.

 

Several studies on the complexity between the arms race and development have confirmed the fact that armaments and development compete for the world's limited resources. Over the past two decades, it has become clear that military means are no longer sufficient to achieve tangible security benefits, as the security of States depends on economic well-being, social justice and stability. Environmental.

 

Environmental degradation jeopardizes the fundamental aspects of state security by undermining the natural support systems on which all human activities depend. Environmental degradation and pollution endanger not only the security of the country in which they occur, but also the security of other countries, close or distant.

 

This thinking has led to the development of new concepts of security, and new expressions such as: balance of power, deterrence, peaceful coexistence, collective security and common security have been derived to emphasize that security does not only include Military aspects, but also political, economic, social, humanitarian and environmental aspects, as well as human rights aspects.

 

It is well known that pressure and environmental conflict are both a cause and a consequence of political tension and military conflict. States have often fought to assert or resist control of raw materials, energy supplies, land and other key environmental resources.

 

Conflicts are likely to intensify as those resources become scarce and competition intensifies. There have also been disputes between some countries over issues relating to the use or contamination of shared water resources, acid rain, marine pollution, increased floods and groundwater resource management.

 

Many treaties and conventions have therefore been adopted in order to reduce and prevent the devastating effects of wars. However, escalating military spending implies a general lack of persuasion to keep, let alone reduce, the size of military forces and arsenals.

 

Another contradiction between the growing demand for resources for development and the increased allocation of those resources for military purposes.

 

Through this competition, I review some of the contradictions between military, social and environmental priorities, including:

1- The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) spent more than 10 years $450 million, equivalent to less than five hours of global military spending.

 

2- The total annual official development aid to developing countries amounted to 35 billion dollars, equivalent to 15 days of global military spending.

 

3- (6-7 hours of global military spending $700 million) can be used to eradicate malaria, the fatal disease that kills one million children annually.

 

4- (One day of the 1991 Kuwait war equals $1.5 billion) a five-year global program to immunize children against six deadly diseases and prevent the death of one million children annually.

 

The reorientation of resources from the military to the civilian economy is a process of transformation, with political, technical and economic dimensions. Conversion is more than just a theory.

 

Establishing a diversion program of 40 $ billion from military spending to civilian spending that could generate a net gain of more than 650,000 jobs; This is because the trade-offs between military, social, and environmental priorities can be profound.

 

Regional agreements for the protection of the marine environment, regional sea programmes and cooperative programmes for the environmentally sound management of inland waters are good steps for global environmental security.

 

The refore, what the international community must review urgently is the placement of various international treaties on the environment in the case of peace and war together in practice.