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Military HotSpots are ecological hotspots whose nature has been damaged by military conflicts in these territories. Much has been written about the effects of war on people's lives. There is no doubt that hostilities are extremely detrimental to human mental and physical well-being. However, it is also worth mentioning that war has a strong impact on the environment. Rural and urban landscapes are changed, ecosystems are destroyed, and natural resources are destroyed or polluted. The great harm to biodiversity lies in the existence and accumulation of conventional weapons; even more dangerous are weapons of mass destruction, especially nuclear weapons. Military conflicts, especially those involving these weapons, pose the threat of ecological catastrophe. The destructive impact of military activities on the human environment is multifaceted. The development, production, manufacture, testing, and storage of weapons pose a serious threat to the Earth's environment. Maneuvers and movements of military equipment damage the landscape, destroy the soil, poison the atmosphere, and remove vast areas from useful human activities, resulting in new Conflicts HotSpots.
Despite the sad experience of the last century, the list of ongoing conflicts grows each year. Modern conflicts have a significant and dangerous impact on the environment: contamination of territories by military vehicles, destruction of soil during mining, forest fires during firing, destruction of the ozone layer during missile launches and military aircraft flights, radioactive pollution by submarines with nuclear installations (both components of spent nuclear fuel and radioactively contaminated hulls of discarded nuclear submarines, which disposal is costly) pose a danger. In addition, accidents at aging ammunition depots have recently become more frequent, as a result of which fires have destroyed a significant area of forests in the territories adjacent to the depots. Depots, where nuclear weapons components (warheads, rocket fuel, and so on) are stored, pose a constant threat. Sunken submarines with nuclear facilities are potential sources of radioactive contamination of the environment. Subversive activities often include the blowing up of bridges and the mining of ammunition depots, which also negatively affects the air, water, and soil. War is one of the most significant causes of human migration, as people flee the fighting. The refugee camps that have been formed offer basic food and shelter, but even the provision of such modest resources requires massive organization on the part of the host countries. Moreover, enormous pressure is placed on landscapes that are often already fragile. Where a camp is established, vegetation is destroyed, especially trees that are used as fuel. Wildlife populations and their habits also change, animals cannot live in conditions of military conflict and also resort to migration. Water availability and quality can also be a problem. In addition, domestic and human waste must be disposed of, which also has an impact on the environment and poses a potential health hazard. Nevertheless, the main environmental problems caused by international conflicts are the consequences of nuclear weapons testing, the military ecocide in Indochina and the Persian Gulf, the storage and destruction of chemical weapons, and the solid and especially liquid fuel of military missiles. The action of nuclear weapons is based on tremendous energy, which causes, among other things, noise pollution. The destructive factors of nuclear weapons are shock waves, light radiation, penetrating radiation, and radioactive contamination. A shock wave is similar to a giant sound wave. It results from the instantaneous expansion of the air at the epicenter of the explosion when it is heated to several million degrees and has enormous destructive power, destroying everything in its path: people, animals, forested areas, buildings, etc., thus contributing to the creation of new world military hotspots.
Whether in Cambodia, Kuwait, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Kosovo, or Iraq, it often takes years after hostilities for the effects of environmental destruction to become fully visible. Therefore, it is necessary to think about a strategy to restore hotspots of military activity from the very beginning of hostilities. A striking example is the current military conflict on the territory of Ukraine. The authorities decided to work according to the principles of green recovery after the war: first of all, the environment, then resources - sand, crushed stone, timber. All this should be extracted in such a way as not to damage the environment even more. The Ukrainian Ministry of Community and Territory Development and the Ministry of the Environment is developing programs to understand the mechanisms for recycling and reusing waste after the war. It is important to note that there is a need for a different approach to handling postwar waste, whether it is broken equipment, pieces of rockets, or construction debris. The latter, for example, requires a special approach because of the prospect of contamination by asbestos and other materials. Many disposal sites will contain hazardous chemicals or explosive residues that must be handled properly. The same applies to demining, which in many cases is not possible without detonating a mine.