Naslov
Linking Conflict with Environment & Population

Autori
Mićović, Vladimir ; Drobnjak, Vladimir

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u zbornicima skupova, cjeloviti rad (in extenso), stručni

Izvornik
World Ecology Report / Dr. Christine K. Durbak - New York (NY) : World Information Transfer Vol.16, 2004, 3-4

Skup
13th International Conference on Health and Environment

Mjesto i datum
Sjedinjene Američke Države, 29.04.2004. - 30.04.2004

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Pozvano predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
Linking Conflict with Environment & Population

Sažetak
After the falling apart of Yugoslavia and the announcement of Croatian independence, armed conflict started in 1991. This was the time when many expressions found their way into our daily language, like “ genocide” to present the attempt of extinguishing a Nation, or “ ecocide” to present the extent of damage to the habitat of living things including the killing of species. Only in 1995 peace was finally reached. The first bitter numbers of, so-called, direct consequences of war were counted up to: l 12 thousand people killed ; l 35 thousand wounded ; l 180 thousand homes destroyed ; l A devastated economy with 27 billion dollars of material damage. Life does not turn back to normal from the point when gunshots are not to be heard any more. Long term physical, psychological and adverse health effects are closely connected to the damage of social fabric and infrastructure including displacement of people. These are followed by the damage to the environment and environmental health as well as by the drainage of financial, human, and other resources away from public health and other socially productive activities. And not least, a very important devastating consequence is the fostering of cultural violence. The most important psychological problem that occurred during and after the war is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD and other related disorders have doubled during 3 years of the post poisoning in 1998. Furthermore, during the war and in direct postwar time, 31 hydro epidemics occurred, each year triple the number of prewar times. In total, the data from the general practice service shows significant increase of intestinal (80%), dermal infections (20%) and injuries (50%) compared to the pre-war period. I wish I had never had the honor to present the consequences of war in my country. I would rather speak about its beauty and the richness of its ecological system, but the war happened and it is another reminder for all nations to pray for peace. Ambassador Drobnjak’ s Comments I would like to build upon the presentation by Dr. Micovic and present a couple of very practical examples from Croatia’ s experience with the impact of military and military hardware on the natural environment. In 1999, during the NATO intervention in Kosovo, Unexploded ordinance from jet fighters became a major problem. The sophisticated, armed jet fighter which does not fire on a target has to get rid of its weapons in order to land safely back at its base. The weapon has to be jettisoned somewhere and the obvious choice was designated drop zones in the Adriatic Sea. During the war, almost daily, a certain quantity of weaponry has been dropped in the Adriatic for the safety of the pilots and planes, but this was a matter of concern for us. The Adriatic is an ecologically fragile sea. It’ s rich in small fish, and although the drop zones were designed carefully in international waters, our environmentalists were very worried. Even if war takes WIT' s World Ecology Report 5 Fall/Winter 2004 war period, and the suicide rate significantly increased during the war in certain areas of Croatia such as the region around the city of Rijeka on the Northern Croatian coast. It is of interest to note that this region was not directly affected by any direct war activities. Other psychosomatic consequences to be mentioned were an increased number of epileptic seizures among children coming from war affected areas. Chronic PTSD patients and displaced people showed prominent changes in neuro-endocrine functions. The change of living conditions, both for soldiers and refugees, is to a large degree responsible for the 125 cases of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndromes reported in 1995. The changes in the environment put people directly at risk. The uranium enriched ammunition used is considered a causative agent in the genesis of gulf war syndrome as well as having mutagenic capacities. Together with other chemical pollutants, there is an expectation of an increase of malignancies .

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Kliničke medicinske znanosti, Javno zdravstvo i zdravstvena zaštita, Socijalne djelatnosti

POVEZANOST RADA