Rosemary Rayfuse, Professor of International Law at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia has edited a Special Edition of the Nordic Journal of International Law 82 (2013) based on papers presented at a Workshop on Protection of the Environment in Relation to Armed Conflict held on 16-17 February 2012 at the Faculty of Law, Lund University, Sweden.

One of the leading IHL scholars provides an elegant defense of the environment, thereby demonstrating the importance of cross regime analysis: Dieter Fleck, ” The Protection of the Environment in Armed Conflict: Legal Obligations in the Absence of Specific Rules.”

This is complemented by a paper authored by Cordula Droege & Marie-Louise Tougas (both Legal Advisers at the International Commitee of the Red Cross) “The Protection of the Natural Environment in Armed Conflict- Existing Rules and Need for Further Legal Protection.”

Erik V. Koppe addresses “The Principle of Ambituity and the Prohibition against Excessive Collateral Damage to the Environment during Armed Conflict”.

Carson Thomas discusses Vietnam, the 1991 Gulf War, and NATO bombing in Kosovo in “Advancing the Legal Protection of the Environment in Relation to Armed Conflict: Protocol I’s Threshold of Impermissable Environmental Damage and Alternatives.”

Onita Das argues for the incorporation of a sustainable development perspective in “Environmental Protection in Armed Conflict: Filling the Gaps with Sustainable Development.”

Britta Sjöstedt presents “The Role of Multilateral Environmental Agreements in Armed Conflict: ‘Green-keeping’ in Virunga Park. Applying the UNESCO World Heritage Convention in the Armed Conflict of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”

Finally, Daniëlla Dam-de Jong explores issues relating to conflicts such as Cambodia, Angola, Sierra Leone, Liberia, DR Congo and Côte d’Ivoire: “From Engines for Conflict into Engines for Sustainable Development: The Potential of International Law to Address Predatory Exploitation of Natural Resources in Situations of Internal Armed Conflict.”

These papers underscore the importance of supporting research in the field of environment and conflict or peace studies.