Environmental health risks and vulnerability in post-conflict regions

The importance of environmental factors during and after conflict has often not received adequate attention, and is of particular importance when assessing those groups most vulnerable to changing conditions. Post-war reconstruction and aid policies must take note of which groups are most susceptible to environmental health risks, and how the conflict itself often created new vulnerabilities through deliberate destruction of the natural and built environments. The environmental security and public health fields have a good deal to offer in understanding these dynamics, and must work more closely together in the future to identify potential vulnerabilities in advance of conflicts and disasters.