the natural environment
SE CTION 9:
231
THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT
Rule 83 – Protection of the natural environment (a) The natural environment is a civilian object and as such enjoys general protection from cyber attacks and their effects. (b) States Party to Additional Protocol I are prohibited from employing cyber methods or means of warfare which are intended, or may be expected, to cause widespread, long-term, and severe damage to the natural environment. 1. Lit. (a) is based on the principle of distinction as well as the prohibition on attacking civilian objects (Rules 31 and 37). The International Group of Experts agreed that it accurately reflects customary international law in international armed conflict.102 The majority of the International Group of Experts took the position that lit. (a) also applies to non-international armed conflicts.103 2. Lit. (b) is based on Articles 35(3) and 55 of Additional Protocol I. Since the International Group of Experts was divided over whether lit. (b) reflects customary international law,104 it has been drafted to apply only to States that are Party to the Protocol. Although Additional Protocol I does not apply to non-international armed conflict, certain Experts took the position that its provisions on the environment apply as a matter of customary law in such conflicts. 3. There is no generally accepted definition of the ‘natural environment’.105 For the purposes of this Manual, the International Group of Experts adopted, with the exception of outer space, the definition set forth in Article II of the 1977 Environmental Modification Convention: ‘the dynamics, composition or structure of the Earth, including its biota, lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere’.106 The Experts were divided over whether the term should encompass outer space. Those
102
103
104 106
US Commander’s Handbook, para. 8.4; Canadian Manual, paras. 446, 620, 709; German Manual, para. 401; AMW Manual, chapeau to sec. M; ICRC Customary IHL Study, Rule 43. UK Manual, para. 15.20; AMW Manual, commentary accompanying Rules 88, 89; NIAC Manual, para. 4.2.4; ICRC Customary IHL Study, commentary accompanying Rule 43. 105 ICRC Customary IHL Study, Rule 45. AMW Manual, chapeau to sec. M. Environmental Modification Convention, Art. II.