Development & Aid, Environment, Tierramerica

Disarmament

Sep 15 2002 (IPS) - Disarmament campaigns are almost always identified with the objective of peace. But there is another argument for working to reduce weapons worldwide: the nearly 900 billion dollars spent every year on weapons and arms research mean fewer resources are available for sustainable development, and thus threaten the environment.

The United Nations Department for Disarmament Affairs issued a warning shortly before the World Summit on Sustainable Development, alerting the international community that the rise in military spending shifts important financial, material and human resources towards non-productive sectors.

Furthermore, the trend of spending more on weapons — reaching levels not seen since the Cold War — also implies a latent threat to the environment and to the social and economic development of nations, says the UN disarmament entity on its Internet site.

Global efforts for disarmament target weapons of mass destruction, like nuclear bombs, and conventional weapons alike. Concern about this topic is evident on the Internet, where numerous web sites provide information about different groups' strategies and mechanisms aimed at halting the arms race.

There are international agreements on disarmament and weapons non-proliferation, such as the Tlatelolco Treaty signed by Latin American countries that the region will not accept nuclear weapons. Nevertheless, regional conflicts proliferate around the world, and some are even global in scope, and could potentially involve nuclear arsenals, even more harmful than their manufacture or trade.

Disarmament issues also cover small and light weapons, of which there are an estimated 500 million existing around the world, according to the Brazilian web site Desarme.org. Each year, such weapons are used in killing a half-million people, 200,000 of whom are victims of homicide, other crimes, suicide and accidents