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has ensured strict enforcement, infrastructure investment, and enhanced tourism. Though not
quite self-sustaining, it is “on the right track.”
The benefits of managing rich natural resources are now well-recognized and encouraged. China,
cognizant of the negative
effects of “climate change,
overgrazing, and human
activity,” is developing a
unified national park system
by 2020. In order to do so,
it “intends to employ 30,000
loggers, hunters and
poachers as park
employees.” Though it
intends to relocate those
currently living within the
parks, there is hope that
many can be retained as
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employees, enhancing the local economy.
In addition to the illegal exploitation of natural resources, there are also industrial disasters
often caused by lax safety standards and slack safety standards – some of these rising to
criminal levels. Though perhaps not commonly associated with peacekeeping operations, they
often thrive in economically-disadvantaged communities where employment trumps human
health and safety. And, as peacekeeping operations and UN country teams work with host
nations to support economic development, they should be cognizant of such issues.
Environmental harm has long-term effects – on individuals and resources. Some of the most
complex peacekeeping missions are in Africa, where colonial practices stripped natural resources
with impunity.
Perhaps the most widely-known case corporate case occurred in 1984 in Bhopol, India. In this
case, almost 4,000 people died from a gas release – methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas from a Union
Carbide India Limited pesticide plant. Sixteen years after the incident, eight former employees,
including the chairman were convicted of causing death by negligence receiving two year
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sentences and $2,000 fines each.
More recently, prosecutions for knowingly or negligently violating environmental regulations are
more common. Activities such as discharging polluted wastewater or chemicals into rivers,
failing to conduct standard maintenance in oil fields allowing spillage, selling “green” diesel that
did not actually contain biodiesel, have resulted in convictions. In 2016, the International
Criminal Court (ICC) announced it would focus on crimes linked to environmental
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destruction and illegal exploitation of natural resources. This is particularly relevant as
water scarcity becomes more common and exacerbates or causes the outbreak of violence.
However, legal scholars have objected and noted that the Rome Statute limits the Court to the

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