Drones and war: Neglected environmental impacts and the potentiality of drone conservation

The use of drones in war is a well-researched topic within International Relations and Security Studies. What has received little attention are the environmental aspects of drones in conflict contexts. In contrast, there is extensive literature examining how the use of drones in ecological research affects various taxonomic groups of animals – and in particular different species of birds. Putting these different fields of drone research into a novel conversation with each other, and drawing on original empirical data, this interdisciplinary article explores some of the environmental risks of extensive drone use in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. Drones, however, are a double-edged sword; they present both risks and opportunities. An illustration of the latter is the potentiality of drone conservation in conflict and especially post-conflict settings, which remains under-explored. This represents a missed opportunity to examine how drones might be creatively used to help monitor and address the environmental impacts of war. In discussing this, the article also links the possibilities of drone conservation to a larger relational turn in IR.