- "Environmental warfare is defined as the intentional
modification or manipulation of the natural ecology, such as climate and
weather, earth systems such as the ionosphere, magnetosphere, tectonic
plate system, and/or the triggering of seismic events (earthquakes) to
cause intentional physical, economic, and psycho-social, and physical destruction
to an intended target geophysical or population location, as part of strategic
or tactical war." (Eco News)
-
- World leaders are meeting in Copenhagen in December 2009
with a view to reaching an agreement on Global Warming. The debate on Climate
Change focuses on the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions and measures
to reduce manmade CO2 emissions under the Kyoto Protocol.
-
- The underlying consensus is that greenhouse gas emissions
constitute the sole cause of climate instability. Neither the governments
nor the environmental action groups, have raised the issue of "weather
warfare" or "environmental modification techniques (ENMOD)."
for military use. Despite a vast body of scientific knowledge, the issue
of climatic manipulations for military has been excluded from the UN agenda
on climate change.
-
- John von Neumann noted at the height of the Cold War
that
-
- "Intervention in atmospheric and climatic matters
. . . will unfold on a scale difficult to imagine at present. . . . this
will merge each nation's affairs with those of every other, more thoroughly
than the threat of a nuclear or any other war would have done." (quoted
in Spencer Weart, Environmental Warfare: Climate Modification Schemes,
Global Research, December 5, 20090
-
- In 1977, an international Convention was ratified by
the UN General Assembly which banned "military or other hostile use
of environmental modification techniques having widespread, long-lasting
or severe effects." (AP, 18 May 1977). Both the US and the Soviet
Union were signatories to the Convention.
-
- Guided by the interest of consolidating peace, ... and
of saving mankind from the danger of using new means of warfare, (...)Recognizing
that military ... use of such [environmental modification techniques] could
have effects extremely harmful to human welfare, Desiring to prohibit effectively
military ... use of environmental modification techniques in order to eliminate
the dangers to mankind. ... and affirming their willingness to work towards
the achievement of this objective, (...) Each State Party to this Convention
undertakes not to engage in military ... use of environmental modification
techniques having widespread, long-lasting or severe effects as the means
of destruction, damage or injury to any other State Party. (Convention
on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental
Modification Techniques, Geneva: 18 May 1977, Entered into force:
5 October 1978, see full text of Convention in Annex)
-
- The Convention defined "'environmental modification
techniques' as referring to any technique for changing--through the deliberate
manipulation of natural processes--the dynamics, composition or structure
of the earth, including its biota, lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere
or of outer space." (Environmental Modification Ban Faithfully Observed,
States Parties Declare, UN Chronicle, July, 1984, Vol. 21, p. 27)
-
- The substance of the 1977 Convention was reasserted in
very general terms in the Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
signed at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro:
-
- "States have... in accordance with the Charter of
the United Nations and the principles of international law, the (...) responsibility
to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause
damage to the environment of other States or of areas beyond the limits
of national jurisdiction." (UN Framework Convention on Climate Change,
New York, 1992)
-
- Following the 1992 Earth Summit, the issue of Climate
Change for military use was never raised in subsequent climate change summits
and venues under the auspices of the UNFCCC. The issue was erased, forgotten.
It is not part of the debate on climate change.
-
- In February 1998, however, the European Parliament's
Committee on Foreign Affairs, Security and Defense Policy held public hearings
in Brussels on the U.S based weather warfare facility developed under the
HAARP program. The Committee's "Motion for Resolution" submitted
to the European Parliament:
-
- "Considers HAARP.[The High Frequency Active Auroral
Research Program based in Alaska].. by virtue of its far-reaching impact
on the environment to be a global concern and calls for its legal, ecological
and ethical implications to be examined by an international independent
body...; [the Committee] regrets the repeated refusal of the United States
Administration... to give evidence to the public hearing ...into the environmental
and public risks [of] the HAARP program." (European Parliament, Committee
on Foreign Affairs, Security and Defense Policy, Brussels, doc. no. A4-0005/99,
14 January 1999).
-
- The Committee's request to draw up a "Green Paper"
on "the environmental impacts of military activities", however,
was casually dismissed on the grounds that the European Commission lacked
the required jurisdiction to delve into "the links between environment
and defense". Brussels was anxious to avoid a showdown with Washington.
(see European Report, 3 February 1999).
-
- In 2007, The Daily Express following the release and
declassification of British government papers from the National Archives
that:
-
- "The [declassified] documents reveal that both the
US, which led the field, and the Soviet Union had secret military programmes
with the goal of controlling the world's climate. "By the year 2025
the United States will own the weather, " one scientist is said to
have boasted.
-
- ...
-
- These claims are dismissed by sceptics as wild conspiracy
theories and the stuff of James Bond movies but there is growing evidence
that the boundaries between science fiction and fact are becoming increasingly
blurred. The Americans now admit that they invested L12million over five
years during the Vietnam war on "cloud seeding" - deliberately
creating heavy rainfall to wash away enemy crops and destroy supply routes
on the Ho Chi Minh trail, in an operation codenamed Project Popeye.
-
- It is claimed that rainfall was increased by a third
in targeted areas, making the weather-manipulation weapon a success. At
the time, government officials said the region was prone to heavy rain.
(Weather War?, Daily Express, July 16, 2007)
-
- The possibility of climatic or environmental manipulations
as part of a military agenda, while formally acknowledged by official government
documents and the US military, has never been considered relevant to the
Climate debate. Military analysts are mute on the subject. Meteorologists
are not investigating the matter, and environmentalists are strung on global
warming and the Kyoto protocol.
-
- The HAARP Program
-
- The High-Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP)
based in Gokona, Alaska, has been in existence since 1992. It is part of
a new generation of sophisticated weaponry under the US Strategic Defense
Initiative (SDI). Operated by the Air Force Research Laboratory's Space
Vehicles Directorate, HAARP constitutes a system of powerful antennas capable
of creating "controlled local modifications of the ionosphere"
[upper layer of the atmosphere]:
-
- HAARP has been presented to public opinion as a program
of scientific and academic research. US military documents seem to suggest,
however, that HAARP's main objective is to "exploit the ionosphere
for Department of Defense purposes." (See Michel Chossudovsky, The
Ultimate Weapon of Mass Destruction: "Owning the Weather" for
Military Use, Global Research, September 27, 2004
-
- Without explicitly referring to the HAARP program, a
US Air Force study points to the use of "induced ionospheric modifications"
as a means of altering weather patterns as well as disrupting enemy communications
and radar. (Ibid)
-
- HAARP also has the ability of triggering blackouts and
disrupting the electricity power system of entire regions:
-
- Rosalie Bertell, president of the International Institute
of Concern for Public Health, says HAARP operates as 'a gigantic heater
that can cause major disruptions in the ionosphere, creating not just holes,
but long incisions in the protective layer that keeps deadly radiation
from bombarding the planet'.
-
- Physicist Dr Bernard Eastlund called it 'the largest
ionospheric heater ever built'. HAARP is presented by the US Air Force
as a research programme, but military documents confirm its main objective
is to 'induce ionospheric modifications' with a view to altering weather
patterns and disrupting communications and radar.
-
- According to a report by the Russian State Duma: 'The
US plans to carry out large-scale experiments under the HAARP programme
[and] create weapons capable of breaking radio communication lines and
equipment installed on spaceships and rockets, provoke serious accidents
in electricity networks and in oil and gas pipelines, and have a negative
impact on the mental health of entire regions.'
-
- Weather manipulation is the pre-emptive weapon par excellence.
It can be directed against enemy countries or 'friendly nations' without
their knowledge, used to destabilise economies, ecosystems and agriculture.
It can also trigger havoc in financial and commodity markets. The disruption
in agriculture creates a greater dependency on food aid and imported grain
staples from the US and other Western countries. (Michel Chossudovsky, Weather
Warfare: Beware the US military's experiments with climatic warfare, The
Ecologist, December 2007)
-
- An analysis of statements emanating from the US Air Force
points to the unthinkable: the covert manipulation of weather patterns,
communications systems and electric power as a weapon of global warfare,
enabling the US to disrupt and dominate entire regions of the World. According
to an official US Air force report
-
- "Weather-modification offers the war fighter a wide-range
of possible options to defeat or coerce an adversary... In the United States,
weather-modification will likely become a part of national security policy
with both domestic and international applications. Our government will
pursue such a policy, depending on its interests, at various levels."
(US Air Force, emphasis added. Air University of the US Air Force, AF 2025
Final Report, http://www.au.af.mil/au/2025/ )
-
- Copenhagen CO15
-
- The manipulation of climate for military use is potentially
a greater threat to humanity than CO2 emissions.
-
- Why has it been excluded from the debate under COP 15,
when the UN 1977 Convention states quite explicitly that "military
or any other hostile use of such techniques could have effects extremely
harmful to human welfare", Convention on the Prohibition of Military
or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques - A/RES/31/72
Annex - UN Documents: Gathering a body of global agreements
-
- Why is it not being debated by the civil society and
environmentalist organizations under the auspices of the Alternative Forum
KlimaForum09.
-
-
- Related articles
-
- Spencer Weart, Environmental Warfare: Climate Modification
Schemes, Global Research, December 5, 2009
-
- Weather War?, Daily Express, July 16, 2007
-
- Michel Chossudovsky, Weather Warfare: Beware the
US military's experiments with climatic warfare, The Ecologist, December
2007
-
- Michel Chossudovsky, The Ultimate Weapon of Mass
Destruction: "Owning the Weather" for Military Use, Global Research,
September 27, 2004
-
-
- ANNEX
-
- Adopted by Resolution 31/72 of the United Nations General
Assembly on 10 December 1976. The Convention was opened for signature at
Geneva on 18 May 1977.
-
- Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other
Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques
-
- The States Parties to this Convention, Guided by the
interest of consolidating peace, and wishing to contribute to the cause
of halting the arms race, and of bringing about general and complete disarmament
under strict and effective international control, and of saving mankind
from the danger of using new means of warfare,
-
- Determined to continue negotiations with a view to achieving
effective progress towards further measures in the field of disarmament,
-
- Recognizing that scientific and technical advances may
open new possibilities with respect to modification of the environment,
-
- Recalling the Declaration of the United Nations Conference
on the Human Environment, adopted at Stockholm on 16 June 1972,
-
- Realizing that the use of environmental modification
techniques for peaceful purposes could improve the interrelationship of
man and nature and contribute to the preservation and improvement of the
environment for the benefit of present and future generations,
-
- Recognizing, however, that military or any other hostile
use of such techniques could have effects extremely harmful to human welfare,
-
- Desiring to prohibit effectively military or any other
hostile use of environmental modification techniques in order to eliminate
the dangers to mankind from such use, and affirming their willingness to
work towards the achievement of this objective,
-
- Desiring also to contribute to the strengthening of trust
among nations and to the further improvement of the international situation
in accordance with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United
Nations,
-
- Have agreed as follows:
-
- Article I 1. Each State Party to this Convention undertakes
not to engage in military or any other hostile use of environmental modification
techniques having widespread, long-lasting or severe effects as the means
of destruction, damage or injury to any other State Party.
-
- 2. Each State Party to this Convention undertakes not
to assist, encourage or induce any State, group of States or international
organization to engage in activities contrary to the provisions of paragraph
1 of this article.
-
- Article II As used in article 1, the term "environmental
modification techniques" refers to any technique for changing - through
the deliberate manipulation of natural processes - the dynamics, composition
or structure of the Earth, including its biota, lithosphere, hydrosphere
and atmosphere, or of outer space.
-
- Article III 1. The provisions of this Convention shall
not hinder the use of environmental modification techniques for peaceful
purposes and shall be without prejudice to the generally recognized principles
and applicable rules of international law concerning such use.
-
- 2. The States Parties to this Convention undertake to
facilitate, and have the right to participate in, the fullest possible
exchange of scientific and technological information on the use of environmental
modification techniques for peaceful purposes. States Parties in a position
to do so shall contribute, alone or together with other States or international
organizations, to international economic and scientific co-operation in
the preservation, improvement and peaceful utilization of the environment,
with due consideration for the needs of the developing areas of the world.
-
- Article IV Each State Party to this Convention undertakes
to take any measures it considers necessary in accordance with its constitutional
processes to prohibit and prevent any activity in violation of the provisions
of the Convention anywhere under its jurisdiction or control.
-
- Article V 1. The States Parties to this Convention undertake
to consult one another and to co-operate in solving any problems which
may arise in relation to the objectives of, or in the application of the
provisions of, the Convention. Consultation and co-operation pursuant to
this article may also be undertaken through appropriate international procedures
within the framework of the United Nations and in accordance with its Charter.
These international procedures may include the services of appropriate
international organizations, as well as of a Consultative Committee of
Experts as provided for in paragraph 2 of this article.
-
- 2. For the purposes set forth in paragraph 1 of this
article, the Depositary shall within one month of the receipt of a request
from any State Party to this Convention, convene a Consultative Committee
of Experts. Any State Party may appoint an expert to the Committee whose
functions and rules of procedure are set out in the annex which constitutes
an integral part of this Convention. The Committee shall transmit to the
Depositary a summary of its findings of fact, incorporating all views and
information presented to the Committee during its proceedings. The Depositary
shall distribute the summary to all States Parties.
-
- 3. Any State Party to this Convention which has reason
to believe that any other State Party is acting in breach of obligations
deriving from the provisions of the Convention may lodge a complaint with
the Security Council of the United Nations. Such a complaint should include
all relevant information as well as all possible evidence supporting ItS
validity.
-
- 4. Each State Party to this Convention undertakes to
cooperate in carrying out any investigation which the Security Council
may initiate, in accordance with the provisions of the Charter of the United
Nations, on the basis of the complaint received by the Council. The Security
Council shall inform the States Parties of the results of the investigation.
-
- 5. Each State Party to this Convention undertakes to
provide or support assistance, in accordance with the provisions of the
Charter of the United Nations, to any State Party which so requests, if
the Security Council decides that such Party has been harmed or is likely
to be harmed as a result of violation of the Convention.
-
- Article VI 1. Any State Party to this Convention may
propose amendments to the Convention. The text of any proposed amendment
shall be submitted to the Depositary, who shall promptly circulate it to
all States Parties.
-
- 2. An amendment shall enter into force for all States
Parties to this Convention which have accepted it, upon the deposit with
the Depositary of instruments of acceptance by a majority of States Parties.
Thereafter it shall enter into force for any remaining State Party on the
date of deposit of its instrument of acceptance.
-
- Article VII This Convention shall be of unlimited duration.
-
- Article VIII 1. Five years after the entry into force
of this Convention, a conference of the States Parties to the Convention
shall be convened by the Depositary at Geneva, Switzerland. The conference
shall review the operation of the Convention with a view to ensuring that
its purposes and provisions are being realized, and shall in particular
examine the effectiveness of the provisions of paragraph 1 of article I
in eliminating the dangers of military or any other hostile use of environmental
modification techniques.
-
- 2. At intervals of not less than five years thereafter,
a majority of the States Parties to this Convention may obtain, by submitting
a proposal to this effect to the Depositary, the convening of a conference
with the same objectives.
-
- 3. If no conference has been convened pursuant to paragraph
2 of this article within ten years following the conclusion of a previous
conference, the Depositary shall solicit the views of all States Parties
to this Convention concerning the convening of such a conference. If one
third or ten of the States Parties, whichever number is less, respond affirmatively,
the Depositary shall take immediate steps to convene the conference.
-
- Article IX 1. This Convention shall be open to all States
for signature. Any State which does not sign the Convention before its
entry into force in accordance with paragraph 3 of this article may accede
to it at any time.
-
- 2. This Convention shall be subject to ratification by
signatory States. Instruments of ratification or accession shall be deposited
with the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
-
- 3. This Convention shall enter into force upon the deposit
of instruments of ratification by twenty Governments in accordance with
paragraph 2 of this article.
-
- 4. For those States whose instruments of ratification
or accession are deposited after the entry into force of this Convention,
it shall enter into force on the date of the deposit of their instruments
of ratification or accession.
-
- 5. The Depositary shall promptly inform all signatory
and acceding States of the date of each signature, the date of deposit
of each instrument of ratification or accession and the date of the entry
into force of this Convention and of any amendments thereto, as well as
of the receipt of other notices.
-
- 6. This Convention shall be registered by the Depositary
in accordance with Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations.
-
- Article X This Convention, of which the Arabic, Chinese,
English, French, Russian and Spanish texts are equally authentic, shall
be deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who shall
send duly certified copies thereof to the Governments of the signatory
and acceding States.
-
- In witness whereof, the undersigned, being duly authorized
thereto, have signed this Convention
-
- Done at Geneva, on the 18 day of May 1977.
-
- Annex to the Convention
-
- Consultative Committee of Experts 1. The Consultative
Committee of Experts shall undertake to make appropriate findings of fact
and provide expert views relevant to any problem raised pursuant to paragraph
1 of article V of this Convention by the State Party requesting the convening
of the Committee.
-
- 2. The work of the Consultative Committee of Experts
shall be organized in such a way as to permit it to perform the functions
set forth in paragraph 1 of this annex. The Committee shall decide procedural
questions relative to the organization of its work, where possible by consensus,
but otherwise by a majority of those present and voting. There shall be
no voting on matters of substance.
-
- 3. The Depositary or his representative shall serve as
the Chairman of the Committee.
-
- 4. Each expert may be assisted at meetings by one or
more advisers.
-
- 5. Each expert shall have the right, through the Chairman,
to request from States, and from international organizations, such information
and assistance as the expert considers desirable for the accomplishment
of the Committee's work.
-
- http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=
viewArticle&code=CHO20091205&articleId=16413
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