Environmental Consequences of the Second Indochina War: A Case Study

Abstract

Anti-plant warfare should become an important concern of conservationists, advises the author, whose reports from the Second Indochina War in South Vietnam revealed the extent of the ecological damage done to this area for military purposes. He writes: “The ecological lessons to be learned from the military tactics employed by the US in South Vietnam … are: 1) that the vegetation can be severely damaged or even destroyed with relative ease over extensive areas, 2) that natural, agricultural, and industrial-crop plant communities are all similarly vulnerable, and 3) that the ecological impact of such actions is likely to be of long duration”.

Reprinted with permission from Ambio, Vol. 4 No. 5/6 1975. Copyright ©1975 Allen Press.

Arthur H Westing, a forester and professor of botany, made four investigative trips to the war zones of Indochina between 1969 and 1973. He has published a number of articles dealing with the consequences of warfare and is preparing a monograph on the subject. He is a former US Marine Corps officer, hold the MF and Ph D degrees from Yale University, and teaches at Windham College in Putney, Vermont, USA. He was a visiting researcher at SIPRI in the summer and autumn of 1975. His address: Department of Biology, Windham College, Putney, Vermont 05346, USA