
Environmental resources and related infrastructure have long been used as both an instrument and strategy of military conflict and terrorism. However, due to global trends, the unlawful use of environmental resources or systems to function as both a target and an instrument of armed conflict is growing in frequency and efficiency.
In this snapshot, assistant analyst Femke Remmits and strategic analyst Bianca Torossian shed light on the risk environmental terrorism poses in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
The use of environmental resources and related infrastructure by terrorist actors as a strategy or instrument of conflict can be considered a hybrid tactic. The application of this tactic by terrorist groups in the MENA-regions is already evident and likely to increase considering that climate change is projected to intensify resource scarcity and livelihood insecurity globally.
How can environmental terrorism best be addressed?

Environmental resources and related infrastructure have long been used as both an instrument and strategy of military conflict and terrorism. However, due to global trends, the unlawful use of environmental resources or systems to function as both a target and an instrument of armed conflict is growing in frequency and efficiency.
In this snapshot, assistant analyst Femke Remmits and strategic analyst Bianca Torossian shed light on the risk environmental terrorism poses in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
The use of environmental resources and related infrastructure by terrorist actors as a strategy or instrument of conflict can be considered a hybrid tactic. The application of this tactic by terrorist groups in the MENA-regions is already evident and likely to increase considering that climate change is projected to intensify resource scarcity and livelihood insecurity globally.
How can environmental terrorism best be addressed?