Balancing upon a fine line.

• Author: Ertegun, Rustem
• Position: Humanitarian Action and Environmental Sustainability

In the Congo's Virunga National Park--a world heritage site of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) since 1979--an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 cubic metres of wood and grass had been collected each day by refugees during a five-month period. Some 71 square kilometres of the National Park were completely deforested. Even if refugee survival comes at the cost of increased soil erosion and loss of biodiversity--two of the quintessential by-products of deforestation--preventive measures lie on relentless moral ground.

Riding the fine line between thoughtful resource management and the right to live is a delicate balancing act during complex humanitarian emergencies. The impromptu nature of mass population displacements forces humanitarian organizations to act promptly and elaborate policy within limited time frames.

Accelerated decision-making processes must ensure that immediate humanitarian needs, especially in the initial stages of refugee operations, are met as quickly as possible. When environmental concerns are raised, the goal becomes to galvanize awareness of such issues throughout the refugee population and ensure that humanitarian practices reflect environmentally-alert policy. These measures can prevent costly clean-up projects and minimize environmental degradation. Yet, the damage done to local ecosystems often comes as a bitter afterthought to refugee operations. The impact on the environment of largely unanticipated human settlements seems to garner limited public scrutiny. Even cost-effective environmental protection projects can be labelled lavish, given the multitude of human crises worldwide that demand a humanitarian focus.

Refugee crises largely occur in nations that are already resource poor. Since refugee migrations tend to be transitory and temporary, the displaced do not exhibit the same care for natural resources as local groups. It is often the case that local groups have long since elaborated their own relationship with the land, and sudden population surges violate their pre-ordained patterns of land use.

The continual upheaval in the Great Lakes region of the Congo in the mid-1990s first highlighted the long suspected link between refugee movements and environmental degradation. The media frenzy during Rwanda's civil war raised awareness within the international community of its environmental impact. The ecological devastation there was astounding, as the unprecedented scale...