The environment is one of the greatest victims of conflict, the effect of which has severe impacts on the subsistence and livelihoods of human and animal populations already ravaged by hardships, brutality and loss. The UNEP estimates that at least 40 percent of all internal conflicts have been linked to the exploitation of natural resources over the past 60 years. November 6th is the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict. The United Nations attaches great importance to ensuring that action on the environment is part of conflict prevention, peacekeeping and peacebuilding strategies - because there can be no durable peace if the natural resources that sustain livelihoods and ecosystems are destroyed.