War and the Environment

Research Project

Project/Area Number	17K17730
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Research Field	Politics International relations
Research Institution	Yokohama National University
Principal Investigator	Kamahara Yuta 横浜国立大学, 大学院都市イノベーション研究院, 准教授 (70710268)
Project Period (FY)	2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2019)
Budget Amount *help	¥3,640,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥840,000) Fiscal Year 2019: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000) Fiscal Year 2018: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000) Fiscal Year 2017: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000)
Keywords	環境 / 戦争 / 因果効果 / 森林破壊 / 公衆衛生 / 空間計量経済学
Outline of Final Research Achievements	Does warfare affect the environment such as forests and public health? The environmental effect of warfare has been less well studied, while previous studies have clarified that environmental and socioeconomic conditions are significantly related with the onset of warfare. This research project: (1) collected satellite images of Colombia and developed data set and (2) conducted econometric analysis using large-N data set. (1) This project completed the collection of satellite imagery and other variables of Colombia and will analyze the impact of civil war on deforestation after the end of this research period. (2) My spatial analyses indicate that warfare destroys forests in the home country but does not in contiguous countries and that intense civil wars decrease the health-adjusted life expectancy in both the home country and contiguous ones.
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	本研究は、政治学や国際関係論で議論されてきた「戦争」という研究対象に、衛星画像や森林面積といった自然科学的研究対象やアプローチをとることから、文理融合的側面を有し、日本における研究分野の学際性の強化に貢献する。また、これまで学術的にあまり注目されてこなかった戦争が及ぼす「環境への影響」を対象にしたことに意義がある。最後に、地球温暖化や環境破壊の防止が叫ばれているなか、人間の活動のなかで最も負の効果が大きい戦争の影響が明らかとなれば、外交政策および環境政策の両面に対して、世界平和及び持続可能な成長の両面に寄与する提言を可能とする点で社会的意義があろう。