Desk Study on the Environment in Iraq Desk Study on the ... - UNEP

The study was to cover three areas – surveillance of diseases (especially cancers and congenital
malformations), measurements of DU in potentially affected people, and prevention/
research activities. However, due to the prevailing political context, no such investigation
took place. In 1995, a preliminary study was conducted in Kuwait to determine the possible
risks from DU. It was calculated that the total per capita intake of DU via inhalation by
Kuwaiti inhabitants was 0.05 Becquerel, which is less than 0.2% of the recommended annual
intake limit for the general population. 81 Kuwait requested the IAEA to assist with verifying
results of DU studies conducted at a national level. Consequently, the IAEA laboratories
analysed 30 samples containing air filters, water, soil and DU penetrator fragments from
various regions of Kuwait. 82
Unexploded ordnance (UXO)
US military officials estimate that 3-5% of bombs, rockets and shells fail to explode, although
soft sand may have increased this rate to 15% in some cases. The total number of unexploded
ordnance may range from 10,000 to 40,000 individual pieces. 83 Up to 1.6 million landmines
were laid inside Kuwait by Iraq, consisting of 1 million anti-personnel mines and 0.6 million
anti-tank mines. 84
Unexploded/capture ordnance was destroyed predominantly through open-air burning and/
or detonation by coalition forces, potentially releasing contaminants into the air and the soil
of Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
Hazardous waste
It can be assumed that the conflict generated significant quantities of hazardous waste that
may still have significant consequences for the environment and human health – for example
around targeted industrial and military facilities. While information is lacking on the amounts,
types and locations of such waste, its possible presence should be taken into account in postconflict
clean-up and reconstruction.
Physical degradation of landscapes
A total of 375,000 bunkers, trenches and weapons pits were installed in Kuwait, and an
unknown number in Iraq. 85 A total of 3,500 tanks and 2,500 armoured personnel carriers
were in operation causing significant disruption of desert sand and soil layers. 86
Pulverization of the surface soil by off-road military vehicles, troop movements and disturbance
by bunker and road construction and bombings increased its vulnerability to erosion
by wind and water 87 . Remote sensing analyses suggest that up to 50% of the desert surface
in Kuwait was compacted. 88
Physical destruction to beaches by the digging of trenches and laying of mines, barbed wire
and other defence installations caused serious impacts on coastal landscapes and biodiversity,
in addition to the obvious direct threats to people. 89
Waste disposal systems in both Iraq and Kuwait were severely disrupted during the conflict,
leading to widespread illegal dumping and burning. Illegal dumpsites may have created risks
90 91
to groundwater, and burning may have produced dioxins.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF CONFLICT
Due to a shortage of fuel, illegal clearing of woodland in Iraq damaged approximately 160
km 2 of land. 92 In Kuwait, disruption of irrigation systems caused severe damage to young
plants in afforested areas. 93 An estimated 20% of the country’s cultivated trees were lost. 94
on the Environment in Iraq
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