Abstract

Some technological innovations, experiments, or scientific research – including “HAARP”, a research program on the properties of the ionosphere conducted in Alaska by the U.S. Department of Defense – have recently helped to revive concerns about the military uses of the environment, especially the techniques of weather modifications. However, a Convention of 1976, the so-called and largely unknown “ENMOD Convention”, explicitly prohibits the use of the environment for military purposes. The last review conference of the ENMOD Convention dates back to 1992. In the absence of a rapid revival of a review process aimed at correcting the shortcomings and taking into account recent technological advances, the ENMOD Convention may fall permanently into disuse, opening the field to the worst scenarios.

Text presented at the Conference “Collective Security and Environment”, organized on June 12, 2008 at the European Parliament by Angelika Beer and Alain Lipietz, Members of the European Parliament (The Greens, Efa).