The environmental impacts of the Gulf War

In August 1990, Iraq, led by Saddam Hussein, invaded Kuwait, motivated by territorial and economic issues. It was the starting point for the Gulf War, which would begin in January of the following year, with the entry of an international coalition - which included Portugal - into the war. Despite having lasted only five weeks, one of the main tragedies of this conflict, apart from the loss of human life on both sides, was the disastrous impact on the environment.

During the war, fearing an attack by sea from the international coalition, Iraqi forces used Kuwaiti pipelines to dump oil into the Persian Gulf and thus avoid any possibility of aggression from the sea. In what became known as one of the biggest oil spills in history, more than 100,000 were purposely launched 1.3 million tons of oil into the sea, which caused catastrophic and irreversible damage to the local fauna and flora, and harmed more than 700 kilometers of coastal territory and respective communities, affecting, above all, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

The international response to this spill - considered a crime of environmental terrorism - it was quick. However, economic interests meant that the cleaning efforts, which would last years, were focused on recovering oil in the high seas, so that it could be reused, leaving aside the cleaning of beaches and the coastal region, severely affected.

Still, despite the tragic dimension of the spill, something as bad or worse was yet to come. When forced to leave Kuwaiti territory, Saddam Hussein ordered his troops to, during the retreat, set fire to all the oil wells that they could get along the way. In an event that became known as Kuwait fires, around 700 oil wells were purposely set on fire as part of a scorched earth tactic.  

Some of these fires took 9 months to extinguish and the environmental consequences were immense. Air pollution was one of the main consequences of these fires, due to the smoke and the release of toxic gases and fine particles into the atmosphere. The smoke clouds could be seen from space and, on the ground, the Kuwaiti desert was covered in soot, having been described by Larry Radke of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in the United States of America as “(...) painted black”.

Furthermore, although there is no accurate estimate of the quantity, the massive burning of oil caused them to be released into the atmosphere. unimaginable doses of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases. 

Finally, one of the most serious aspects was water contamination. The oil spill in rivers, lakes and underground aquifers contaminated several water sources, a resource that, in itself, is already scarce in the region. All of this contributed to the destruction of biodiversity, with the death of many animals and extensive damage to local vegetation.