Enhancing corporate environmental responsibility in conflict-affected settings

Corporations contribute to environmental harm in conflict-affected areas in numerous ways, including through the unsustainable exploitation of natural resources and the circulation of arms, enabling wildlife crime and poaching. The activities of corporations can also undermine the environmental security of communities, in turn posing threats to human security, and triggering local disputes that impede peace-building.

This report reconceptualises environmental protection during and after conflicts as a key component for the field of Security and Rule of Law. In doing so, it re-examines the roles and functions of key stakeholders, in order to improve conduct and so minimise and address harm to people and ecosystems. Through a comparative exercise, this report further enhances the understanding of the intersecting rules that should govern the environmental conduct of states and corporations in fragile and conflict-affected settings, as well as clarify the obligations of those actors during the phase of transition.