National Defence and the Environment 1997-2002, DND Document 96GA-0452
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARBSHIP ON CANADIAN MlLlTARY TRAINING AREAS: RHETORE OR REALIN BY Philip J. Anido A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in Partial fulfillrnent of the requirernents for the degree of - Master of Arts Department of Geography Carleton University Ottawa September 1998 O Copyright 1998, Philip Anido National Library Bibliothèque nationale Ifm cf Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services seivices bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON KIA ON4 Ottawa ON KIA ON4 Canada Canada Your & Votre referanm Our füe Notre réUrence The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or seU reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/^ de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thése. thesis nor substantid extracts from it Ni la thése ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. The military establishment in Canada manages over $16 billion in assets, cornprising over 10,000 individual facilities and 42 bases and stations on over 20,000 square kilometres of land. Added to this is a larger area of training ranges, leased from the crown. which al1 told, equates to an area approximately the size of the province of Nova Scotia. If air space and sea- lanes are included, the territory that is exposed to navy, army, and air force training, covers virtually every landscape and ecosystem which Canadian geography has to offer. Military manpower includes 60,000 regular troops, 30,000 reserves and 20,000 civilians. They operate a fleet of 30,000 land vehicles, some 40 ships and hundreds of aircraft. Given the nature of rnilitary activity, the potential impact on the natural and hurnan environments is enomous and destructive. A growing volume of iiterature provides valuable data on the state of land use and the preservation of precious bio- diversity in training areas. My contribution to the research will be to find linkages between the 'rhetoric' of Canadian military environmental policy, and real, sustainable environmental stewardship practices in the field on the training areas. 1 will show, through three case studies of rnilitary sites, and selected other sites, that there is substance to the concept of due diligence in sustainable land use. Moreover, I will show that there is concrete evidence of real improvernent in the military establishment's efforts to remedy past abuse of the environment and to preserve bio-diversity. Table of Contents Page Abstract I Table of contents i i List of figurss iii Introduction 1 Chapter One: Theoretical Setting 7 Chapter Two: The Rhetoric: Law and Policy 15 Chapter Three: Turning Rhetoric into Practice 29 Chapter Four: Sustainable Use of Training Areas: Case Studies Chapter Five: Conclusions and Synopsis 115 Appendix: Cornparisons and Commentary 131 Bibliography 146 iii List of Figures Page Figure 1 DNDfCF Environmental Funding 30a Figure 2 Air Force Environmental Funding 30a Figure 3 Data Matrix 62 Figure 4 Environmental Interaction Model 83a List of fables Table 1 Code of Environmenta,I Stewardship 16a MW Map 1 Case Study and North Waming Sites 56a The dernolition of the Berlin Wall in 1989 signalled the disintegration of Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and hastened an end to the military threat that hung over the West and NATO Powers. The Cold War, which characterized the relationships between the military blocks of the Warsaw Pact and NATO during the four decades prier to 1989, is considered by some students of military history' to be the third and longest war between - major powers of the embattled 20'" century. Since that historic moment, the nature of international conflict and the threats to Canadian and western security have changed significantly. Across Europe, East and West, and North America, the threat of interstate or inter-pact war has evaporated allowing social and (until the past few weeks) econornic stability to greatly improve in these regions. The tense and high states of military readiness that characterized the 1960'~~70's and 80's have slowed in the past eight years, and defence budgets. infrastructure and personnel strengths in Canada and across the NATO alliance have been reduced accordingly. Strategic priorities have been revised, to reflect a variety of new and emerging threats of the post-Cold War era such as international terrorism, dwg cartels and information technology saboteurs. - -. ... ' Mason, T. Air Power, A Centennial Appraisal. London, Brassey's. 1994, p. 103. The changes to traditional strategic military policy that are required to meet the new threats are as fundamental as redefining what constitutes national security. Conflict undeniably continues to be frequent and devastating. in less developed regions of the worid such as the Balkans and parts of Africa. However it no longer threatens the social and economic ties that are gradually building between the two former power structures, the US-led NATO and the Soviet-led Warsaw pact. In the absence of this traditional bi-polar threat to global peace and security, hitherto fringe security issues and threats to peace have risen to the top of the main stream defence planning agenda.3 Some of the most prominent of these issues stem from natural causes such as devastating fioods and famine. In themselves, these events cause major national and international military planning and response. One needs only to consider the great floods on the North American prairies in the spring of 1997, and the winter ice storm of January 1998 in eastern Canada which threw communities into disarray, to realize how close to home disruption of the normal patterns of life brought on by nature can be. Both these environmental crises demanded massive military intervention to shore up against the threats, and to restore order to power lines, transportation systems, distribution of food, medical supplies Sens, A. Somalia and the Changing Nature of Peacekeeping, "Commission of lnquiry into the deployrnent of the CF into Somalia". Public Works and Government Services Canada. OttawaJ 997, pp. 25-44. Mason, T. Changing Defence Prionties, Paper delivered to the Air Power Conference, Winnipeg, July 1997. 3 and fire wood, evacuation of casualties and other vital humanitanan and system support. More combative, but requiring equally strung military intervention, are the social and political upheavais in various parts of the globe that have emerged since the Berlin Wall carne down. Canadian military participation in the United Nations peacemaking (as opposed to peacekeeping) missions to Somalia in 1995 and Rwanda in 1996, represent a significant adjustment to traditional strategic military security and policy? For the Canadian Forces. most peacekeepinglpeacemaking missions of th is decade, including those in Afiica and Haiti, have required our intervention as part of international force between warring political factions. In so doing, humanitarian aid and some semblance of order and peace has been brought to the innocent victims of unrest. In parts of Africa, where land refom and redistribution is a major political issue, and in Haiti where the hills have been totally denuded and lie exposed, eroded and unproductive, arguments can be made linking social discontent and unrest to environmental degradation and scarcity of food and resources. s -- -- - The Gulf War of 1991 was for dl intents and purposes a war over the supply of vital western oil supply and not one to Save a srnall. oppressed state from an aggressor. Homer-Dixon, Thomas. "Environmental Scarcities and Violent Confiict: Evidence from Cases," international Secunty 19(1), 1 994, pp. 5-40. An opening for the environmentai conscience While Canadian military strategists still plan within the constructs and the inertia of traditionai treaty obligations such as NATO and NORAD, a vital new balance has emerged between the need to rernain vigilant against traditional 'enemies' to western democracy, and other vital national priorities. One of these priorities which has made its mark on Canada's defence policy agenda is, the state of the environment6 The shift to include environmental security in defence policy is relatively recent, but the importance of responsible stewardship of the natural resources on military training areaç is as fundamental as preserving Our environment for future generations. The environmental policies, which the Canadian military imposes on itself, have been developed within the framework of federal environmental legislation. We have recognized for some time now the potential for grave consequences to our training abilities and to surrounding communities, if vigorous environmental stewardship programs were not imposed on national military training aread It is this principle and practice of environmental stewardship of the cornplex natural resources inherent in Canada's military training areas that are the focus of my thesis. Among the issues I will examine will be the growth and Kennedy, Paul. Prepanng for the Twenty-first