The Gulf War has been described by the media as 'the world's greatest environmental catastrophe' - is it? Unequivocally, no - locally disastrous but globally of little significance. Certainly compared with such invidious and irreversible global-scale events such as the loss of tropical forests or climate change, it is very small beer indeed. The Kuwaiti authorities have political reasons to encourage this exaggeration, and it is supported by some conservationists in order to obtain funding. Clearly the environment has become a propaganda weapon. The Gulf War is a timely reminder of hte essential need to develop a more balanced and better informed basis if the credibility of the conservation movement is to be consolidated. The key must lie in a rational and objective analysis of the facts rather than in speculation and exaggeration. We cannot afford to cry wolf.

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