War and geos: the environmental legacies of conflict
Lead Research Organisation:
Newcastle University
Department Name: Sch of Geog, Politics and Sociology
Abstract
War and the geos (Earth) exist in a doubly destructive relationship. The War and the geos (Earth) exist in a doubly destructive relationship. The materials for contemporary weapons (e.g., uranium, tungsten, alloyed metals) are extracted from the Earth to be shipped and repackaged as key components of munitions that are then re-introduced into the ground during warfare, where they remain in soils and groundwater, causing long-term damage to ecological systems. The environmental legacies of this cycle of extraction, production and deployment are currently undisclosed and vast in scale; entire regions and populations live with the threat of gradual and deferred harm from the materiality of war. This project aims to address a key research challenge: to understand the relationship between war and geos in the environmental
legacies of conflict. Specifically, inquiry will focus on the production and residues of newly advanced weapons (e.g., Dense Inert Metal
Explosive (DIME), white phosphorus and depleted uranium) that affect ecological systems and public health. It will break new ground
as the first of its kind to bring together expertise from different disciplines (geography, environmental science, public health) in an
innovative programme of study that will develop rich analyses of the relationship between war and geos. Focusing on field sites in
Gaza and Iraq and on the multi-sited production chains of weapon manufacturing, the project aims beyond the state-of-the-art in
terms of 1) producing crucial new knowledge on the temporalities, spatialities and subjects of war; 2) advancing critical understandings of a cutting-edge concept, the 'geontological time-spaces of war' (see Griffiths 2021) and 3) impacting a significant real-world and urgent challenge in the areas of public health, militarism and environmental justice. Designed for high gains, this innovative and high-risk project will be implemented via the ambitious but feasible programme of study detailed here.
legacies of conflict. Specifically, inquiry will focus on the production and residues of newly advanced weapons (e.g., Dense Inert Metal
Explosive (DIME), white phosphorus and depleted uranium) that affect ecological systems and public health. It will break new ground
as the first of its kind to bring together expertise from different disciplines (geography, environmental science, public health) in an
innovative programme of study that will develop rich analyses of the relationship between war and geos. Focusing on field sites in
Gaza and Iraq and on the multi-sited production chains of weapon manufacturing, the project aims beyond the state-of-the-art in
terms of 1) producing crucial new knowledge on the temporalities, spatialities and subjects of war; 2) advancing critical understandings of a cutting-edge concept, the 'geontological time-spaces of war' (see Griffiths 2021) and 3) impacting a significant real-world and urgent challenge in the areas of public health, militarism and environmental justice. Designed for high gains, this innovative and high-risk project will be implemented via the ambitious but feasible programme of study detailed here.
