Prof. Joel Hayward has looked at environmental degradation caused by the world’s militaries especially its air forces.
Abu Dhabi 10 February 2014: Khalifa University Professor Joel Hayward who is Chair of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences and Director of the Institute for International and Civil Security has released a ground breaking book highlighting the environmental impact of the world’s air forces. His book Airpower and the Environment: The Ecological Implications of Modern Air Warfare was published by the United States Air Force and is the culmination of four years of research and collaboration. 
Professor Joel Hayward a well-known scholar of international conflict and strategy assembled a distinguished group of eleven ecologists and strategists to advance an innovative set of ideas on how to minimize the environmental harm caused by air forces during both peace and war. These ideas were subsequently published in the book.
Professor Hayward is the author or editor of many books and dozens of peer-reviewed articles on warfare and strategy. Yet he says that his new book is undoubtedly his most creative and ground-breaking. “This book represents the very first significant analysis of the environmental harm caused by airpower and will hopefully prompt other ecologists and strategists to undertake similar studies on other ecological aspects of modern warfare.”
He first became interested in the environmental harm caused by warfare when he observed the wanton ecological harm caused when NATO repeatedly bombed Yugoslavian oil refineries and storage facilities during the 1999 Kosovo War. “For a war that was intended to address humanitarian concerns I was shocked at the widespread environmental damage that took place. It occurred to me that there must be better ways of coercing rogue regimes without inflicting substantial harm on the ecosystems in those countries”
Professor Hayward is well placed to work on this subject having served for five years as Dean of the historical and prestigious Royal Air Force College and having written several other books on airpower. He has also taught the ethics of war to six air forces around the world and provided strategic policy advice to numerous countries’ political and military leaders.
Even after having studied its horrors for two decades Professor Hayward continues to find war intellectually interesting. He is currently under contract with Cambridge University Press to author what he hopes will be a pioneering new study: An Ecological History of War: The Environment Consequences of Warfare from Antiquity to the Present. Moreover expanding on his 2012 monograph “Warfare in the Qur’an ” he is writing for Kube Publishers a major new book on warfare during the first days of Islam to be titled: Prophet and Warrior: The Conduct and Justice of Muhammad’s Military Campaigns.
“Khalifa University would like to congratulate Prof. Hayward on publishing his book ” says Prof. Tod Laursen Khalifa University’s President. “The ideas he champions will hopefully lead to a heightened understanding of consequences of air warfare and more enlightened decisions about use of airpower in conflicts. Khalifa University is dedicated to recruiting leading minds from all over the world and Prof. Hayward is an example of the commitment. He is an internationally respected figure in his field and we are pleased to call him a member of our community.”
Khalifa University’s Masters of Art in International and Civil Security focuses on the study of terrorism warfare weapons of mass destruction natural disasters and a myriad of other security threats to nations. This unique program supports research teaching and policy analysis in the field of security studies. In addition to what takes place inside the classroom the institute hosts speakers workshops events and works with other institutions- within government academia and the private sector – to advance security research education training and policy-making.
