Dr. John Mohan Razu
Homo Sapiens per se are selfish, and can to extent to realise their selfish goals and vested interests – at any/all cost. In this, there are some excel. Basically, this is the nature of leaders who make decisions sometimes collectively and most of the times independently. They say since there are elected by the people who have given them the power to make or take decisions. Since the people have given them the power to take, do the leaders take decisions that would reflect the wishes of the people? Very often no. The war clearly depicts this picture where the people of the warring countries show their displeasure of the war.
Keeping aside the cost of war, loss of human lives and properties, demolitions of hospitals, educational institutions, government offices, houses, and research institutes, infrastructures, hospitals and support systems put together runs to trillions of dollars to the countries engaged in the ongoing war in the Middle-East in terms of defence personnels and arsenals. The cost of war should be quantified as well as qualified for our data purposes. But we seem to have failed or deliberately kept aside for not taking into account seriously.
The missing aspect that we hardly take into account is the damages that the oceans and seas face continue to remain invisible to human eyes. What is happening now around us is that there are some 16 US warships—stuffed with gazillion guns, aircraft missile, and ammunitions—in the Arabian and Mediterranean seas. Strait of Hormuz is aflame, as Iran deployed explosive-laden boats, targeting fuel tankers. We see only the ways they take-off, how the missiles and drones hit the targets and the interceptors not letting the missiles hitting the targets. Other happenings have been blurred or even hidden.
The mass-media and TV channels in their news usually keep them in a loop, videos of jet-black plumes rising up from ships ablaze—but never, ever will there be image of the total wreckage below. The debris of the sunken tankers and ships are not shown, even news won’t talk about it, either. The media of all kinds are silent and do not disclose. We are also not concerned the ways with which these debris or others literallypoison the laws of the seas and the dire consequences that the seas and oceans face. Whatever may be the magnitude, the wars, poison and devastates marine ecosystem, and thus destroys coastal habitats. Barring a few, who are all concerned about the health of oceans and seas – many are not concerned or even bothered.
Usually, we get attracted to look at the aircraft carriers, nuclear-powered ships, and frigates on screens.Accordingly, the media also shows the fighter-jets taking off from the ships bombing the enemy sites, and the way with which they land. But when it comes how the missiles or drones hit the ships or aircraft carriers or oil tankers crossing the ocean or sea the debris or the entire shipdrowning or spilling huge amount of oil or whatever stored getting to the bottom of the sea. In recent times, especially in an era of modern wars seas and oceans are crucial pathways.
In such settings we hardly haveany tool to measure the damages of that floating on the surface or things that gets drowned to the bottom. We hardly have any data to measure both quantitatively and qualitatively.Even if there are not possible or easy-to-grasp points At the same time, no one is keeping tabs on warships or other debris that are dumped into the seasduring wars. Or hardly we have spoken or written the environmental cost of ships or others getting sunk or spilled over.Or on the environmental cost of the ships sunk or oil spilled over.
In the on-going war against Iran, IRS Dena was torpedoed in the Indian Oan – its debris will decay, corrode, and leak – metal scraps, toxic oils, chemicals, tend to poison and choke marine plants and animals. Along these, air-to-ground or ground-to-air missiles and drone strikes undoubtedly causes horrifying effects to the land eco-systems. When compared to the implications of war on seas and on grounds, it is proven that wars carried out on seas do cause horrifying impacts to the eco-systems of the oceans and seas that than the eco-systems on land.
As Barouch Spinoza rightly points out that in accordance to the natural laws the nature is organised and thus inter-connected. If any foreign body that hits the nature reacts in its own ways. On similar dynamic or laws of the Nature the species survive and exist. More damages caused to nature, more would be the repercussions. We have been watching the wars on TV screens that ought to propel our inquiry not just counting the human costs, but also the cost of the oceans and seas. It is not just the warring countries’ coastlines’ coastlines, but on others too.
We will have to evaluate along with the wreckages and other materials the impact cuts across estuaries, salt marshes, lagoons, islands, home to dolphins, whales, seabirds, rare species, and thousands of plants and animal species. In addition, pollution, heat, noise, movement of submarines, torpedoes, sea mines and host of others trigger huge changes in animal behaviours.Sudden spike of activities being carried out with heavy and gigantic ironware and the huge noise crisscrossing the oceans and seas migratory patterns of birds affecting nesting and feeding routines. Its impacts are horrifying – killing infinite number of creatures, big and small. The laws of biodiversity are connected to Nature, and thus resilient, but wars kills.
As humans we have been exploiting the seas and oceans for thousands of years for our selfish ends such as consumption, war games, travels and many others, but hardly given due respect and care to the oceans and seas. If we take stock of debris, we have dumped all kinds of stuff such as sunken ships containing chemicals poisons, unexploded/unused missiles and ammunitions, millions of gallons of heavy oil. All these are the causative effects of warming of the oceans and seas that gives rise to other things.
Warming of the oceans is not good – for thepresent and future whichwould trigger warming of our bio-spheres and eco-systems. Wars one day or other would come to end, but destruction caused underneath the oceans and seas continues. We, as homo sapiens deliberately and intentionallyact, as if, not knowing, and others do now know the impacts but show ignorance or put up their ignorance. Both these tendencies would lead to catastrophic impacts.
