“APASIONADOS POR ABRIR EL MUNDO AL

CAMBIO”

H A N D B O O K

NATO North Atlantic Treaty

Organization José Rolando Manzano Viera Nieves Fernanda Cancela Sánchez

Secretary General Deputy Secretary

Mariana Puga Salas Intelligence Officer

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Content

WELCOME LETTER .......................................................................................................................2

INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................3

HISTORY ..........................................................................................................................................3

FACULTIES ....................................................................................................................................5

OBJECTIVES ...................................................................................................................................6

TOPIC A: CYBER DEFENSE OF THE ALLIANCE’S COMMUNICATION AND

INFORMATION SYSTEMS (CIS)..................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................................7

BACKGROUND ...........................................................................................................................7

TODAY ..........................................................................................................................................8

KEY QUESTIONS .....................................................................................................................11

GLOSSARY ................................................................................................................................11

GUIDE .........................................................................................................................................13

TOPIC B: REDUCTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF MILITARY ACTIVITIES ...14

INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................14

BACKGROUND .........................................................................................................................14

TODAY ........................................................................................................................................15

KEY QUESTIONS .....................................................................................................................17

GLOSSARY ................................................................................................................................17

GUIDE .........................................................................................................................................18

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WELCOME LETTER

Heads of State and representations, I’m very pleased to welcome you to the North Atlantic Treaty

Organization in the framework of Model United Nations of Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana

2016 in its fourth edition. We are thankful for your decision of taking part of both this committee

and this model.

We assure you that Nieves, Mariana and me, along with your honorable Secretariat, have put our

best efforts so that you can have the best experience regarding academics and logistics. Therefore,

we are a well prepared chair and we will do our best to fulfill your expectations.

In the following Handbook, you will find an orientation of the topics we are pretending to debate,

so that you can be aware of the current situations we are providing to you. We exhort you to give

it a read and do your own research so that you can be more prepared.

Lastly, we hope that for these three days you work fiercely and enjoy the model half as much as

we did preparing it for you. Also, don’t hesitate in any doubt you may present during the model,

since we will be there in order for you to better express your ideas and come to an excellent

resolution.

Yours sincerely,

Jose Rolando Manzano Viera

Secretary General

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INTRODUCTION

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has 28 member states, which work through

military representatives and NATO delegations. Concerning the NATO delegations, the North

Atlantic Council (NAC) is the principal political decision-making body and it was established under

the Article 9 of the North Atlantic Treaty in 1949. The NAC’s meetings can be at the level of

permanent representatives or ambassadors at least once a week, at the level of foreign and

defense ministers from twice to three times year, and at the level of heads of state and

government, the North Atlantic Council has a meeting every year1 in which, a member state’s city

hosts a summit where heads of state of all members of NATO attends and discusses top priority

issues regarding defense or politics. Thus, meetings between heads of state and government allow

a more effective political authority and powers of decision.

Today, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has its headquarters in Brussels, Belgium and it

is integrated by 28 State members which are: Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech

Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania,

Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey,

United Kingdom and the United States.2

HISTORY

The end of the Second World War in 1945 meant not only the victory for the Allies countries

but also the start of tensions and disputes between Western powers and the Soviet Union in the

period known as Cold War. The increasingly hostile relations, the expansion of Soviet Union’s

communist ideology and a series of events in 1947-1948 led North America and Western Europe

to look upon new measures to guarantee their security and mutual defense in case of an imminent

attack. A series of events that led to most of Eastern Europe under soviet control, induced both

nations of Western Europe to be concerned about their physical and political security and the

United States to involve more closely in European affairs3. With this motivation and after a series

of negotiations, 12 countries (Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, Iceland, Luxembourg, the

Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States of America) signed the

North Atlantic Treaty on April 4, 19494, which established the mutual defense of each member,

but the lack of proper facilities, resources and infrastructure was still a challenge to overcome.

This motivated the countries to increase military cooperation to dissuade a potential enemy

and to accelerate the process to develop NATO into an international security organization.

Fortunately, NATO soon gained a consolidated command structure with a military headquarter.

This was the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) with US General Dwight D.

Eisenhower as the first Supreme Commander. Soon afterward, the Allies established a permanent

1North Atlantic Treaty Organization. What is NATO? (2016). Working structures. Available in: http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/topics_49763.htm 2North Atlantic Treaty Organization. (2016). NATO Member Countries. Available in: http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/nato_countries.htm 3NATO. Declassified Encyclopedia. The birth of NATO. Available in: http://www.nato.int/ebookshop/video/declassified/#/en/encyclopedia/the_birth_of_nato_1/ 4NATO. Declassified Encyclopedia. From Treaty to Organization. Available in: http://www.nato.int/ebookshop/video/declassified/#/en/encyclopedia/from_treaty_to_organization_2/

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civilian secretariat in Paris, and named NATO’s first Secretary General, Lord Ismay of the United

Kingdom5. With the benefit of aid and defined structure, NATO started functioning with stability as

an inter-governmental organization with new allies: Greece and Turkey in 1952 and the Federal

Republic of Germany in 1955.

In addition, the ideological and economical loss of the Soviet Union and the consequent end of

the Cold War in the 90’s obliged the organization to change its objectives and manners of

operating. Now the main objective of NATO would be to deter the rise of militant nationalisms.

For instance, since the attacks of September 11, 2001, NATO has also focused its efforts to combat

terrorism all over the world and after the terrorist attacks against the United States it invoked

Article 5 for the first time in its history, leading to the intervention in Afghanistan by many NATO

allies in the fall of 2001; the goal of the mission, Operation Enduring Freedom, was to deny al-

Qaida a base of operations and to detain as many al-Qaida leaders as possible.6 In 2004, the

Alliance launched the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative as a way of offering practical bilateral security

cooperation to countries of the broader Middle East region.

Meanwhile, NATO continued to accept new members and to build new partnerships. The

NATO-Russia Council was established in 2002 so that individual NATO member states and Russia

could work as equal partners on security issues of common interest as well subsequent rounds of

enlargement brought more Allies into the fold – Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Slovenia, Latvia,

Estonia and Lithuania in 2004, and Croatia and Albania in 2009.7

Finally, we could say that since the founding of NATO in 1949, the Alliance’s flexibility,

embedded in its original Treaty, has allowed it to suit the different requirements of different

times. In the 1950s, the Alliance was a purely defensive organization. In the 1960s, NATO became

a political instrument for détente. In the 1990s, the Alliance was a tool for the stabilization of

Eastern Europe and Central Asia through the incorporation of new Partners and Allies. Now NATO

has a new mission: extending peace through the strategic projection of security.8

5NATO. Organization. A short history of NATO. Available in: http://www.nato.int/history/nato-history.html 6 NATO. Op cit. 7 Ibídem. 8 IbÍdem.

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FACULTIES 9

Most of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization faculties are already stablished in the North

Atlantic Treaty, the document that gave birth to this organization. For instance, these are its main

faculties:

Art 2: (…) To contribute toward the further development of peaceful and

friendly international relations by strengthening their free institutions.

Art 3: (…) Provide mutual aid in order to develop the individual and

collective capacity of the Parties to resist armed attack.

Art 4: (..) To consult together whenever, in the opinion of many of them, the

integrity (…) or security of one of any the Parties is threatened.

Art 5: An armed attack against one or more of the Parties is an attack

against all. If such an armed attack occurs towards one or more of the

Parties, the other members have the right to assist them.

Art 10: By unanimous agreement, the Parties may invite any other State to

join the organization. Any State so invited may become a Party to the Treaty

by depositing its instrument of accession with the Government of the United

States of America.

Art 12: (..) The Parties shall review the Treaty every ten years.

Since its creation, NATO’s main goal is to represent an opportunity for the member states to

consult and take decisions regarding security issues at all levels and all variety of fields. NATO’s

decisions are reached by consensus, one of the fundamental principles of the organization and an

activity that is performed by the unanimous agreement of all members; this means there’s no

need for a majority vote, exclusively the resolution agreed by all members becomes a “NATO

decision”. Since there is no voting, one of the General Secretary’s main tasks is to facilitate

consultations in order to reach this consensus.

9 North Atlantic Treaty Organization. (1949). North Atlantic Treaty. Available in: http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/official_texts_17120.htm

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OBJECTIVES

Essentially, NATO’s purpose is to safeguard the freedom and security of its members. In order

to do this, NATO acts through two means: politically and militarily. Politically, NATO promotes

democratic values and encourages cooperation on defense and security issues in order to build

trust among its members and prevent conflict. In the military aspect, despite the fact that NATO

will always search a peaceful resolution to all disputes in case of the failure of diplomatic efforts,

NATO has the capacity to undertake crisis-management operations, which are one of its

fundamental security tasks and may involve both military and non-military measures to address

the entire spectrum of crises during and after the conflict; these crisis-management operations are

carried out under two pillars: article 5 of the Organization’s Treaty or under a United Nations

mandate.10

NATO defines its core tasks and the Alliance’s strategic objectives each decade. In the last

Strategic Concept (2010 Strategic Concept)11

, the Heads of State and Government of NATO

reconfirm their bond between their nations to defend one another against attacks, commit NATO

to the goal of creating the conditions for a world without nuclear weapons and restate their

commitment to keep the door to NATO open to all European democracies that meet the standards

of membership. Furthermore, the core tasks and principles for the 2010 Strategic Concept are the

following:

Safeguard the freedom and security of all NATO’s members and for the

Alliance to remain an essential source of stability in an unpredictable world;

For its members to form a unique community of values, committed to the

principles of individual liberty, democracy, human rights and the rule of law;

For its members to be firmly committed to the purposes and principles of the

Charter of United Nations and the Washington Treaty;

The continued defense of the security of NATO members on both sides of

the Atlantic;

To continue to fulfill effectively three essential core tasks: collective defense,

crisis management and cooperative security;

Carry out the full range of missions as effectively and efficiently as possible.

10 NATO. What is NATO? Basic Points. Available in: http://www.nato.int/nato-welcome/ 11 Heads of State and Government at the NATO Summit in Lisbon. (November, 2010) Strategic Concept for the Defense and Security of the Members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Available in: http://www.nato.int/nato_static/assets/pdf/pdf_publications/20120214_strategic-concept-2010-eng.pdf

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TOPIC A: CYBER DEFENSE OF THE ALLIANCE’S COMMUNICATION AND

INFORMATION SYSTEMS (CIS)

INTRODUCTION

One of the top priority activities on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s agenda is the

enhancement of communication systems owned and operated by the Alliance, since on a day to

day basis, cyber defense becomes increasingly vital for NATO due to the fact that cyber threats

and attacks are becoming more common and are certainly becoming part of hybrid warfare.

For several years, along with the growth and increasing importance of cyber defense, the

Alliance has been working in order to gain more protection. However, the time has come when

cyber threats can no longer be ignored. Given this, in September 2014, NATO adopted an

enhanced policy and action plan that would establish that cyber defense is part of the Alliance’s

core task of collective defense, given that NATO is responsible for the protection of its own

networks, and would also intensify NATO’s cooperation with the industry, since there is an

increasing sophistication in this type of threats.

BACKGROUND

Although NATO began experiencing crude cyberattacks approximately since 1999 during the

Kosovo operation, in a time when political and military concerns about cybersecurity were

growing. Thus, the Alliance realized of the importance of protecting its communication and

information systems and in 2002 the organization placed cyber defense on its political agenda

thanks to the implementation of the Cyber Defense Program12. Nevertheless, some NATO’s

members continued to be in danger due to a series of attacks that took place during following

years13 :

On December 2006, unknown foreign intruders obtained plans for the latest US space

launch vehicles.

On April 2007, Estonian government networks were harassed by a denial of service attack

by unknown foreign intruders. Some government online services were temporarily

disrupted and online banking was suspended. This attack is considered the watershed

moment for NATO cyber defense.

On June 2007, The U.S. Secretary of Defense’s unclassified email account was hacked as

part of a larger series of attacks to access and exploit the Pentagon’s networks.

In 2008, the databases of both Republican and Democratic presidential campaigns of the

United States were hacked and downloaded by unknown foreign intruders.

In 2011, The Canadian government reported a major cyber-attack against its agencies,

including Canada’s Department of National Defense.

12 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (2016). Cyber Defense Evolution. Available on http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_78170.htm 13 NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Centre of Excellence (2016). History. http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_78170.htm

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Also not members such as Georgia and China have suffered attacks. On August 2008,

computer networks in Georgia were hacked by unknown foreign intruders around the time that

the country was in conflict with Russia. The hackers achieved to put political pressure on the

Georgian government and appeared to be coordinated with Russian military actions. Referring to

China, the country announced in 2007 that foreign hackers had been stealing information from

Chinese key areas.

All of these threats demonstrated not only the political scope of cyber-attacks but also the

urgency for a more effective system of exchange of information among countries. Under this

purpose, NATO approved its first Policy on Cyber Defense in January 2008, which continue

developing until the foundation of networks in 2012 such as The NATO Computer Incident

Response Capability (NCIRC), NATO Cyber Range and several crisis management exercises14.

TODAY

During the Wales Summit in 2014, the organization presented and enhanced cyber defense

policy in which it was established that cyber defence is part of the Alliance’s core task of collective

defense, it confirmed that international law applied as well in cyberspace and it also planned to

intensify NATO’s activity and cooperation with industry. After the Warsaw Summit in July of 2016,

it has been reaffirmed that one of the top priorities of the Alliance is having a reliable and secure

national network for each member in order to be able to intensify information exchange activities

and to be prevented from a cyber-attack towards an information data base considered critical for

the Organization.

On that matter, when it comes to the Alliance, NATO helps the Allies in their efforts to protect

their own critical networks and infrastructures by sharing information and technical assistance. A

Memorandum of Understanding on Cyber Defense between NATO and the 28 Allied cyber defense

authorities set out arrangements that included the share of information and assistance to

countries that could enhance their cyber defense of communications and security systems.15

The

main actions that NATO has been implementing in order to enhance cyber security for its

members, but also for non-members, is conducting cyber defense exercises to help develop

national expertise, providing centralized and round-the-clock cyber defense for every NATO site,

training member countries and also increasing education on cyber security. The main goal is to

update the training each amount of time in order to be able to face the growing sophistication of

cyber-attacks.

Recognizing the importance of this topic, NATO has been cooperating with other organizations

such as the European Union regarding agreements to increase each organization’s cyber-security

capabilities; being the most recent one The Technical Arrangement on Cyber Defense, which will

14 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (2016). Cyber Defense Evolution. Available on: http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_78170.htm 15 Cfr. North Altantic Treaty Organization (2016). NATO Cyber Defense. Available in: http://www.nato.int/nato_static_fl2014/assets/pdf/pdf_2016_07/20160627_1607-factsheet-cyber-defence-eng.pdf. Consulted 21/08/2016.

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be able to provide a framework for both an exchange of information and sharing practices for

emergency response teams.16

Among other activities, NATO works with other countries and even the private sector in order

to assist them in terms of security systems protection, prevention from cyber-attacks and a quick

response team when facing a real cyber-attack. To this end, NATO works with national authorities

to develop principles, criteria and mechanisms to ensure an appropriate level of cyber defense for

national CIS.17

Since this is a top priority matter, the North Atlantic Council, through its subordinate

organism, the Cyber Defense Committee, manages all cyber defense policy in general, by providing

oversight and advice to Allied countries.18

However, the Council retains the authority to declare

whether a cyberattack constitutes an “armed” attack under the North Atlantic Treaty19

, as well as

it is apprised or major cyber incidents and attacks. Therefore, it is the principal authority in in

cyber-defense related crisis management.20

Cyber threats confronted by NATO include malware, such as viruses and worms that circulate

all around the globe and are often designed by cyber criminals in order to steal critical information

from the Alliance’s systems. NATO is the target of a huge range of cyber intrusions, often

perpetrated by organized criminal organizations, foreign governments engaging in cyber

espionage among others.

Usually, these attacks are taken into action by sending emails that seem legitimate and

authentic according to the recipient. However, these emails contain most of the time “trojan

horse” malware, which, when email is activated by the recipient, it may gain access to NATO

computers, therefore, gain access to vital information or simply infect other NATO networks with

the malware that would expose them and then, become vulnerable towards other threats.21

With that being said, the Alliance has established specific mechanisms to work on a day to day

solution to face this threat such as the creation of the Computer Incident Response Capability

(NCIRC) in 2002 after the implementation of the Cyber Defense Program, which protects NATO’s

own networks and provides a full time cyber defense support to the various NATO sites by a

course of different actions which mainly consist in: prevention of threats, detection of intrusions,

16 Cfr. North Atlantic Treaty Organization. (2016). NATO and the European Union enhance cyber defense cooperation. Available in: http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_127836.htm. Consulted: [31/07/2016] 17 Cfr. North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Cyber Defense. Available in: http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_78170.htm. Consulted: [31/07/2016] 18 Ibídem. 19 Fidler, D; Pregent, R; Vandurme, A. (2013). NATO, Cyber defense and International Law. Maurer School of Law: Indiana University. Available in: http://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2673&context=facpub. Pp. 8-9. Consulted: 31/07/2016. 20 Cfr. North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Available in: http://www.nato.int/nato_static_fl2014/assets/pdf/pdf_2016_07/20160715_1607-Warsaw-Summit-Guide_2016_ENG.pdf. Consulted: 21/08/2016. 21 Fidler, D; Pregent, R; Vandurme, A. op. Cit. p. 9

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response to incidents recovery from infiltrations, and the application of lessons learned through

feedback.22

Nonetheless, the defense approach often causes criticism by saying that it hasn’t been enough

and there must be actions that include deter and defeat adversaries, causing a strong debate

whether cybersecurity should be focused only on defense or if this types of actions should be

considered in the cyber defense policy.23

There has been as well, a serious debate about adding to

Article 5 a section that clarifies which type of cyberattack should trigger NATO’s response. For

instance, during the Warsaw Summit, defense ministers agreed to add cyberspace as an

operational domain along with sea, land and air.

As Chiefs of State and other important representations that maintain an important role in the

cyber security matter, you will have to cooperate and present ideas in order to enhance the cyber

defense mechanisms of the Alliance’s communication and information systems in case of an

attack, such as the NCIRC, as well as promoting solutions towards the main Alliance’s obstacles

being law enforcement on the intelligence information exchange one of the most important since

many States are still reluctant when it comes to share intelligence information. In other words,

lack of cooperation regarding this matters, affects cyber-defense crisis-management operations.

Besides, capability development among Allies is still poor, due to the lack of formal channels in

which NATO can offer clear operational and technical assistance regarding cyber-defense

capability development and implementation. Although enhancements have been taken into

action, it hasn’t been enough and it is important to open these channels, because the lack of

assistance is the main cause of the lack of military cyber-security programs.

Finally, an important measure that has barely been mentioned when it comes to cyber-

defense is regulation on the black market purchase of sophisticated cyber-attack capabilities that

still can cause damage to NATO’s security systems. Cooperation among organizations such as

Interpol can be of great use for this matter.

22 Ibid. p. 10. 23 Cfr. Ibid. p. 10

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KEY QUESTIONS

1) What is your country’s policy regarding cyber defense and the exchange of

information?

2) How has your country responded towards cyber threats and cyberattacks?

3) What is your country doing to make a progress in cyber defense within its

membership in NATO?

4) How has your country cooperated with other international actors in order to

increase its cyber defense?

5) How can your country cooperate in order to enhance cyber defense for the

Alliance’s communication and information systems?

GLOSSARY

1. Cyber defense: a proactive measure for detecting or obtaining information

as to a cyber intrusion, cyberattack, or impending cyber operation or for

determining the origin of an operation that involves launching a preventive

or cyber counter-operation against the source.24

2. Cyber exercise: an interactive engagement that enables participants to react

to a plausible scenario in a risk-free environment. Exercises provide an

effective tool for testing incident response plans; validating policies, plans,

and procedures; identifying vulnerabilities and reporting requirements;

assessing risk and preparedness; discovering interdependencies and

response gaps, etc.25

3. Active attack: an attack that alters a system or data.26

4. Attack: an attempt to gain unauthorized access to system services,

resources, or information, or an attempt to compromise system integrity.

Also, any kind of malicious activity that attempts to collect, disrupt, deny,

degrade, or destroy information system resources or the information itself.27

24 NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE). Cyber definitions: (Active) Cyber Defense. Available in: https://ccdcoe.org/cyber-definitions.html (Consulted on July 30th 2016). 25 Id. Cyber definition: (Cyber) Exercise. 26 Id. Cyber definition: Active Attack. 27 Id. Cyber definition: Attack

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5. Countermeasure: actions, devices, procedures, or techniques that meet or

oppose a threat, a vulnerability, or an attack by eliminating or preventing it,

by minimizing the harm it can cause, or by discovering and reporting it so

that corrective action can be taken. 28

6. Cyberattack: the term “cyberattack” refers to an attack through IT in cyber

space, which is directed against one or several IT systems. Its aim is to

undermine the objectives of ICT security protection (confidentiality, integrity

and availability) partly or totally. 29

7. Cyber intelligence: activities using all “intelligence” sources in support of

Cyber Security to map out the general cyber threat, to collect cyber

intentions and possibilities of potential adversaries, to analyse and

communicate, and to identify, locate, and allocate the source of cyber-

attacks. 30

8. Cyber operation: organized activities in cyberspace to gather, prepare,

disseminate, restrot or process information to achieve a goal. 31

9. Cyber security: measures relating to the confidentiality, availability and

integrity of information that is processed, stored and communicated by

electronic or similar means. 32

10. Cyber threat: the possibility of action or an incident in the cyber domain

which, when materialized, jeopardizes some operation dependent on the

cyber world. 33

11. Cyber warfare: cyberattacks that are authorized by state actors against

cyber infrastructure in conjunction with government campaign. 34

12. ICT: any communications device or application including radio, television,

cellular phones, satellite systems, computers, network hardware and

software and other services such as videoconferencing. 35

28 Id. Cyber definition: Countermeasure 29 Id. Cyber definition: Cyberattack (Austria) 30 Id. Cyber definitions: Cyber intelligence (Belgium) 31 Id. Cyber definitions: Cyber operation (US/Russia) 32 Id. Cyber definitions: Cyber security (Austria) 33 Id. Cyber definitions: Cyber threat (Finland) 34 Id. Cyber definitions: Cyber warfare (US/Russia) 35 Id. Cyber definitions: ICT (South Africa)

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GUIDE

North Atlantic Treaty (1949):

http://www.nato.int/nato_static_fl2014/assets/pdf/stock_publications/20120822_nato_treat

y_en_light_2009.pdf. In order to have a better understanding of the Alliance’s purpose,

objectives and faculties.

NATO Summit Guide, Warsaw 8-9 July 2016 pp. 124-128:

http://www.nato.int/nato_static_fl2014/assets/pdf/pdf_2016_07/20160715_1607-Warsaw-

Summit-Guide_2016_ENG.pdf. In order to have a good panorama of what NATO is doing in

regards of the topic.

Fidler, D; Pregent, R; Vandurme, A. (2013). NATO, Cyber defense and International Law. Maurer

School of Law: Indiana University:

http://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2673&context=fa

cpub. In order to have a good understanding on NATO’s methods against cyber threats and

attacks.

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TOPIC B: REDUCTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF MILITARY

ACTIVITIES

INTRODUCTION36

One of the Alliance’s main issues to solve is definitely the impact of military activities on the

environment, given that NATO recognizes that the Alliance faces serious environmental challenges

ever since 1969, in the Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society (CCMS).

In order to cover environmental issues effectively, NATO has divided this into two categories:

environmental protection, which is the category we will be focusing on and refers to the

protection of the physical and natural environment from the impact of military activities, and

environmental security, which addresses the security challenges that arise from the environment.

Why is this issue of such vital importance? Military activities are a significant contributor to

problems such as deforestation, pollution37

and the threat on entire livelihoods, habitats, breed

stability and even social and economic stability are threatened. This is why it’s been urged that the

military should adopt measures to protect physical and natural environment from harmful effects

of its activities. For decades decades, the Alliance has been implementing several measures such

as giving appropriate environmental protection training to forces, treating waste water, reducing

fossil fuel consumption, managing waste and safeguarding hazardous materials. However, we live

in a reality were the protection of the environment is still fundamental and time is running short.

Cooperation in this matter within the Alliance must be strengthened in order to fight

environmental detriment. It is our responsibility to impulse the Alliance’s principles, not only

militarily, but also in other aspects of everyday life that have an impact on the world.

BACKGROUND

Previously, governments gave little thought to the environmental impacts of their military

actions. A turning point came at the United Nation’s Conference on Environment and

Development in Rio in 1992, where nations recognized that military activities in the past had

caused or contributed to different types of destruction of natural resources. This was the

beginning of legal efforts to regulate and monitor the environmental impacts of military

activities38

.

In the case of NATO, the organization started to develop its environmental protection policy in

the late 1970’s, when some experts created processes and baselines of environmental norms for

all the members engaged in military activities. In this frame, two groups were created: The

Environmental Protection Working Group (specialized in documents and standards) and the

36North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Environment-NATO’S stake. (2014) Available in: http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_91048.htm 37 United Nations Environment Programme. Preventing Military Impacts on Environments. Available in: http://www.unep.org/delc/MilitaryActivities/tabid/78544/Default.aspx 38 United Nations Environment Programme (2016). Division of Environmental Law and Conventions. Available on http://www.unep.org/delc/MilitaryActivities/tabid/78544/Default.aspx

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Specialist Team on Energy Efficiency and Environmental Protection (in charge of technical

specifications), which remain until our days39

.

Also in 2003, the NATO Military Committee agreed the policy document MC 469 on “NATO

Military Principles and Policies for Environmental Protection”, which describes the responsibilities

of military commanders for environmental protection during the preparation and execution of

military activities40

. An actualized version was approved in 2011. This initiative counted with the

support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Organization for Security

and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which NATO’s diplomatic division joined in 2004.

Nowadays, the Alliance is actively engaged in coordinating civil emergency planning and

response to environmental disasters through the Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination

Centre (EARDCC), which was launched following an earthquake disaster in Turkey and Greece at

the end of the 1990s41

.

It’s necessary to mention that NATO’s environmental policies in military activities are

motivated not only in international standards and recommendations but also in catastrophic

experiences such as the nuclear accidents of Chernobyl (1986) and Fukushima (2011). This kind of

events have led the Alliance to continuously exhort its members to develop more efficient

regulation and monitoring programs, clear land contaminated by unexploded remnants of war and

make a safely store ammunition.

Among other activities, NATO continues coordinating programs related to environmental

security though the Environment and Security (ENVSEC) Initiative, in association with OSCE, UNDP,

UNEP, and the Regional Environmental Centre for Eastern Europe (REC). The vulnerable areas that

are being treated are Southeast Europe, Eastern Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia.

TODAY

First, we need to understand that environmental protection has become one of the main

objectives for the Alliance due to the critical condition that the planet is in nowadays. Thus, the

adverse effects that military activities provoke on the environment have to be reduced, and this is

what NATO has committed to do.

Apart from being an important responsibility for the organization, it has also given the task to

all the member countries to be aware of these environmental challenges and as well, they have

the task to adopt rules and regulation in order to protect the environment. Several of these

measures include safeguarding hazardous materials

There are two organisms in NATO that are specialized in providing protection to the

environment, which are: The Environmental Protection Working Group (EPWG) (under the Military

Committee Joint Standardization Board that reports to the Military Committee) and The Specialist

Team on Energy Efficiency and Environmental Protection (STEEEP) (under the Maritime Capability

39 NATO (2016). Environment – NATO's stake. Available on http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_91048.htm 40 Ibídem 41 Ibídem

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Group “Ship Design and Maritime Mobility” that reports through the NATO Naval Armaments

Group to the Conference of National Armament Directors).42

Both of them have different tasks; in the case of the EPWG, it has the objective to reduce the

possible harmful impacts of military activities by developing different types of policies or

guidelines. Meanwhile, the STEEEP has the task of integrating environmental protection and

energy efficiency regulations into technical requirements for different types of armaments.43

When it comes to policy, the Alliance counts on the “NATO Military Principles and Policies for

Environmental Protection”, which describes the responsibilities for military forces in order to

protect the environment during the execution of their activities, and it has been complemented

with several other documents focused on the protection of the environment as well.

Among other activities, it is important to mention that the organization encourages

environmental protection by providing an appropriate training to the member states in this

matter, as well as it also designates staff officers for the implementation of the protection at

strategic, operational and tactical levels.44

Advances for this matter are possible thanks to the NATO’s Science and Technology

Organization (STO), for it is the organism in charge of scientific research, and when it comes to

environmental protection, research aims to look for “greener solutions”45

by conducting studies

and reports.

Nonetheless, despite of the efforts that the organization has taken into action in order to

reduce adverse effects on the environment, it also depends on the member state to consider

these type of measures during military operations; unfortunately, there are countries with an

important military activity who still lack the commitment of implementing policies that could grant

protection of the environment.

It will be the Chief of State’s responsibility to propose ideas that could innovate in this matter,

such as the proposal of measures that the member state should take into action so that military

activities affect less the environment. Also, it will be able to cooperate with other Chiefs, so the

consensus will be commitment to reduce the adverse effects that military activities cause, with the

help of NATO organisms that provide technical assistance for the production of policies.

42 NATO. (2016). Op. cit. [Consulted: 12/09/2016]. 43 Ibídem. 44 Ibídem. 45 Ibídem.

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KEY QUESTIONS

What’s your country’s policy regarding environmental protection?

How is your country cooperating with NATO in order to reduce the adverse

effects of military activities?

What are the advances regarding environmental protection that your country

has implemented so far?

What are the main challenges that your country is experiencing regarding

this topic?

GLOSSARY46

Environmental protection: Protecting the physical and natural environment

from the harmful and detrimental impact on military activities.

Environmental security: Addressing security challenges emanating from the

physical and natural environment.

Livelihood: Means of support of subsistence.

Habitat: Place or environment where a plant or animal naturally or normally

lives or grows.

Detriment: 1) something that will cause damage or injury to something or

someone. 2) the act of causing damage.

Hazardous: Involving or exposing one to risk (as of loss or harm).

Waste material47: Waste is an unwanted or undesired material or substance.

It may consist of the unwanted materials left over from a manufacturing

process or from community and household activities. The material may be

discarded, stored or treated prior to being discarded or recycled.

Fossil fuel: A fuel (as coal, oil, or natural gas) formed in the earth from plant

or animal remains.

46 Merriam Webster Dictionary. Available in: http://www.merriam-webster.com/. [Consulted: 13/09/2016]. 47 Full Cycle. Definition by nature. What is waste and why is it a problem? Available in: http://www.fullcycle.co.za/index.php/what-is-waste-and-why-is-it-a-problem.html. [Consulted: 13/09/2016].

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GUIDE

North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Environment-NATO’S stake. (2014) Available

in: http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_91048.htm. In order to have a great

general idea of what NATO is doing regarding this topic.

Kustrová. (2014). The Legislative Background Of Environmental Security During

Military Activities and Armed Conflicts. Available in:

http://hadmernok.hu/144_12_kustrovam.pdf.

IUCN. (2008). Environment and Security: Challenges for Change. Available in:

http://www.envirosecurity.org/challengesforchange/report.pdf.