Stefania Divertito examines ecocide in new book

Investigative journalist Stefania Divertito has released a new book, ‘Guerra y clima. El ecocidio que destruye la Tierra’ (War and Climate: The Ecocide Destroying the Earth), published by Il Saggiatore. The work examines how contemporary armed conflicts inflict lasting damage on nature, moving beyond human casualties to analyze the long-term destruction of ecosystems.

Divertito uses the Verdun forest in France as a primary example of permanent environmental damage. Despite appearing lush in satellite imagery, the soil remains poisoned over a century after World War I, resulting in a ‘red zone’ where cultivation and habitation remain prohibited.

The author argues there is a structural ignorance regarding how ecological alterations poison future generations by disrupting fauna and ecosystem balances. She notes that while some environmental disasters like oil spills are perceived as temporary, the cascading effects of war-induced ecocide can persist for decades, citing historical contexts such as the impact of the FARC in the Colombian Amazon.