On May 27, 2016, the United Nations Environment Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution "Protection of the environment in areas affected by armed conflict."

The resolution was proposed by Ukraine and co-sponsored by the EU, Canada, Lebanon, Norway, the DRC, Iraq, South Sudan and Jordan.

The resolution outlines a range of urgent tasks in the field of environmental protection in conflict and positively notes the activities of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

This document is the first resolution in the last 20 years which draws attention to the issue of environmental protection in areas affected by armed conflict.

In the framework of this document, UNEP will provide increased assistance to countries that have suffered from armed conflict, including through post-crisis environmental assessments and recovery.

UNEP will also cooperate along with UNESCO to protect the World Heritage natural sites and interact with the United Nations International Law Commission.

In addition, the resolution separately stresses the importance of implementing existing international agreements in this area.