Report of the Secretary-General on International cooperation on humanitarian assistance in the field of natural disasters, from relief to development to the 62nd General Assembly, 2nd November 2007
D. Environmental hazard events
41. Environmental emergencies can arise from both human-made disasters - for example an accident at a facility that contains hazardous material - and from natural hazard events with secondary impacts, such as an earthquake that destroys an industrial facility. Whatever the cause, environmental emergencies can threaten lives and livelihoods if not identified and addressed immediately. A vital component of an effective humanitarian response is, therefore, ensuring that serious environmental risks are promptly identified and that steps are taken to reduce them.
42. During the past year, the United Nations has helped to ensure an effective response to a wide range of environmental emergencies including a toxic waste dumping incident in Côte d’Ivoire, a "mud volcano" in Indonesia that flooded adjacent villages, oil spill effects from the Lebanon crisis and environmental impacts from flooding and cyclones in Madagascar and in Indonesia.
43. Through the United Nations system, potential secondary risks are now routinely identified at the onset of all major disasters. Relevant actors of the United Nations system are also jointly integrating environment-related concerns as a crosscutting issue in the overall humanitarian response.