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The Environmental Modification Convention (ENMOD), formally the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques is an international treaty prohibiting the military or other hostile use of environmental modification techniques having widespread, long-lasting or severe effects. It opened for signature on 18 May 1977 in Geneva and entered into force on 5 October 1978. The Convention bans weather warfare, which is the use of weather modification techniques for the purposes of inducing damage or destruction. The Convention on Biological Diversity of 2010 would also ban some forms of weather modification or geoengineering. Many states do not regard this as a complete ban on the use of
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s in warfare, such as
Agent Orange Agent Orange is a chemical herbicide and defoliant, one of the "tactical use" Rainbow Herbicides. It was used by the U.S. military as part of its herbicidal warfare program, Operation Ranch Hand, during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971. It ...
, but it does require case-by-case consideration.


Parties

The convention was signed by 48 states; 16 of the signatories have not ratified. As of 2022 the convention has 78 state parties.


History

The problem of artificial modification of the environment for military or other hostile purposes was brought to the international agenda in the early 1970s. Following the US decision of July 1972 to renounce the use of climate modification techniques for hostile purposes, the 1973 resolution by the US Senate calling for an international agreement "prohibiting the use of any environmental or geophysical modification activity as a weapon of war", and an in-depth review by the Department of Defense of the military aspects of weather and other environmental modification techniques, US decided to seek agreement with the Soviet Union to explore the possibilities of an international agreement. In July 1974, US and USSR agreed to hold bilateral discussions on measures to overcome the danger of the use of environmental modification techniques for military purposes and three subsequent rounds of discussions in 1974 and 1975. In August 1975, US and USSR tabled identical draft texts of a convention at the Conference of the Committee on Disarmament (CCD), Conference on Disarmament, where intensive negotiations resulted in a modified text and understandings regarding four articles of this Convention in 1976. The convention was approved by Resolution 31/72 of the General Assembly of the United Nations on 10 December 1976, by 96 to 8 votes with 30 abstentions.


Environmental Modification Technique

Environmental Modification Technique includes any technique for changing – through the deliberate manipulation of natural processes – the dynamics, composition or structure of the earth, including its biota, lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere, or of outer space.


Structure of ENMOD

The Convention contains ten articles and one Annex on the Consultative Committee of Experts. Integral part of the convention are also the Understandings relating to articles I, II, III and VIII. These Understandings are not incorporated into the convention but are part of the negotiating record and were included in the report transmitted by the Conference of the Committee on Disarmament to the United Nations General Assembly in September 1976 Report of the Conference of the Committee on Disarmament, Volume I, General Assembly Official records: Thirty-first session, Supplement No. 27 (A/31/27), New York, United Nations, 1976, pp. 91–92.The United Nations Office at Geneva. http://www.unog.ch


See also

*
Arms control agreements Arms control is a term for international restrictions upon the development, production, stockpiling, proliferation and usage of small arms, conventional weapons, and weapons of mass destruction. Arms control is typically exercised through the u ...
* Environmental agreements * Climate engineering * Operation Popeye * United Nations Convention on Environmental Modification


References

{{Reflist
Welcome! , UN GENEVA


External links


The text of the agreement
compiled by the NGO Committee on Education
Ratifications

A Political Primer on the ENMOD Convention
from the
Sunshine Project The Sunshine Project was an international NGO dedicated to upholding prohibitions against biological warfare and, particularly, to preventing military abuse of biotechnology. It was directed by Edward Hammond. With offices in Austin, Texas, and Ha ...
. Weather modification Cold War treaties International humanitarian law treaties Environmental treaties Treaties concluded in 1977 Treaties entered into force in 1978 1978 in the environment Treaties of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan Treaties of Algeria Treaties of Antigua and Barbuda Treaties of Argentina Treaties of Armenia Treaties of Australia Treaties of Austria Treaties of Bangladesh Treaties of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic Treaties of Belgium Treaties of the People's Republic of Benin Treaties of the military dictatorship in Brazil Treaties of Brunei Treaties of Cameroon Treaties of Canada Treaties of Cape Verde Treaties of Chile Treaties of the People's Republic of China Treaties of Costa Rica Treaties of Cuba Treaties of Cyprus Treaties of the Czech Republic Treaties of Denmark Treaties of Dominica Treaties of Egypt Treaties of Estonia Treaties of Finland Treaties of West Germany Treaties of East Germany Treaties of Ghana Treaties of Greece Treaties of Guatemala Treaties of Honduras Treaties of the Hungarian People's Republic Treaties of India Treaties of Ireland Treaties of Japan Treaties of Kazakhstan Treaties of Kuwait Treaties of Kyrgyzstan Treaties of Laos Treaties of Lithuania Treaties of Malawi Treaties of Mauritius Treaties of the Mongolian People's Republic Treaties of the Netherlands Treaties of New Zealand Treaties of Nicaragua Treaties of Niger Treaties of North Korea Treaties of Norway Treaties of Pakistan Treaties of Panama Treaties of Papua New Guinea Treaties of the Polish People's Republic Treaties of the Socialist Republic of Romania Treaties of Saint Kitts and Nevis Treaties of the Soviet Union Treaties of Saint Lucia Treaties of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Treaties of São Tomé and Príncipe Treaties of Slovakia Treaties of Slovenia Treaties of the Solomon Islands Treaties of South Korea Treaties of Spain Treaties of Sri Lanka Treaties of Sweden Treaties of Switzerland Treaties of Tajikistan Treaties of Tunisia Treaties of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic Treaties of the United Kingdom Treaties of the United States Treaties of Uruguay Treaties of Uzbekistan Treaties of Vietnam Treaties of the Yemen Arab Republic Treaties of South Yemen Treaties extended to Akrotiri and Dhekelia Treaties extended to the Netherlands Antilles Treaties extended to the Cook Islands Treaties extended to Niue Treaties extended to Greenland Treaties extended to the Faroe Islands United Nations treaties Treaties extended to Anguilla Treaties extended to Bermuda Treaties extended to the British Virgin Islands Treaties extended to the Cayman Islands Treaties extended to the Falkland Islands Treaties extended to Gibraltar Treaties extended to Montserrat Treaties extended to the Pitcairn Islands Treaties extended to Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Treaties extended to South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Treaties extended to the Turks and Caicos Islands Treaties extended to Brunei (protectorate) Treaties extended to British Antigua and Barbuda Treaties extended to Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla Treaties extended to British Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Treaties extended to British Saint Lucia Treaties extended to the British Solomon Islands Treaties extended to British Hong Kong Treaties extended to Macau Treaties extended to British Dominica