Ecocide And The Vietnam War

The environmental issues encountered by Vietnam as a result of the Vietnamese war.

Branded as the second Indo- china war, due to its location rather than any political affiliation; the war against Vietnam 1961-1975 brought about the phenomenon now known ecocide, where the natural environment is willfully destroyed. According to Westing, “Altogether, the damage to the environment was so intense and widespread that it gave rise to the term ecocide.” Southern Vietnam’s environment as a result of the second Indo-china war, herein referred to as the Vietnam War, suffered a large bout of ecocide in the destruction of its forests, ecosystem and soil. Using a highly toxic herbicide known as Agent Orange, The United States of
Overall, Vietnam incurred damage to over ninety million acres of forests (www.worldwatch.org) including that which died after a single spray. Some progress has been made into restoring the damage done, however even with the persistent efforts at reforestation by the native Vietnamese; these forests will take hundreds of years to grow back, especially the rare hardwood timber found only in certain parts of Vietnam’s forest. In addition to the destruction of the forests, the ecosystem also suffered horrendously. Animals that used the forest as their habitat and for food were no longer able to live there due to the destruction of their homes and food source. “After being sprayed with defoliants, the trees dropped their leaves remaining bare; a disaster not only to the tropical forest but also the great reservoir of biodiversity it holds.” Sarah DeWeerdt. Without a home or food, the various species of animals, microbes and even plants migrated or died respectively, bordering extinction. “The destruction of the habitats by the war, threatened the extinction of many species that were already rare, and pushed others into the rare column.”
The white cheeked Gibbon, Sarus Cranes, wild water buffalos and the deer were a few of the species heavily affected by the war. According to Arthur Westing, the only species that thrived were the termites. Vietnam, once referred to as one of the “world’s most attractive big-game hunting regions, with a great wealth of animal life” (Vo Quy 8); have lost this honor. Forests destroyed and no roots to hold the soil together or canopies to protect the soil from scorching sun and heavy rain, caused erosion to occur. More than two hundred and ten thousand acres of the hill sides were eroded due to the inability of watersheds to absorb water and the absence of roots to keep the soil together. “….in areas of steep slopes, especially those with a gradient of more than twenty five degrees had a very serious impact on the absorption capacity of twenty eight of Vietnam’s watersheds with erosion and flooding a result” (Phung Tuu Boi, 2002). In trying to reverse the damage done to the soil, natives planted trees with hope that the new roots will keep the soil together; however, the areas being as muddy or compact as they were held no nutrients and the absence of tree canopies limited