50 Years On: Vietnam's War-Torn Environment Foretells a Grim Future for Gaza and Ukraine

On April 30, 1975, when the Vietnam War ultimately came to an end, it left behind a devastated terrain. scarred with environmental damage Large expanses of coastal mangroves, which previously teemed with abundant fish and bird populations, now lie in devastation. The forests, once home to numerous species, have been fragmented into parched remnants overrun by aggressive weeds.

The term “ The term "ecocide" was introduced in the late 1960s. To depict the U.S. military’s utilization of herbicides such as Agent Orange along with incendiary devices like napalm to combat guerrilla forces that utilized jungles and marshes as concealment.

Half a century later, Vietnam's damaged ecosystems and soil and water contaminated with dioxins continue to bear witness. the long-term ecological consequences efforts to repair this ravaged terrain caused by the conflict. even to evaluate the lasting damage have been limited.

As an environmental scientist and anthropologist who has worked in Vietnam since the 1990s, I find the neglect and slow recovery efforts deeply troubling. Although the war spurred new international treaties aimed at protecting the environment during wartime, these efforts failed to compel post-war restoration for Vietnam. Current conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East show these laws and treaties still aren’t effective.

Agent Orange along with daisy cutters

The U.S. first sent ground troops In March 1965, American forces were deployed to Vietnam with the aim of aiding South Vietnam against both revolutionary groups and North Vietnamese soldiers. However, this conflict was not new; it had persisted for many years prior. Facing an adversary skilled in guerrilla tactics—moving covertly under cover of darkness and hiding within dense marshes and forests—the U.S. military resorted to utilizing environmental manipulation techniques as part of their strategy.

The best-known among these was Operation Ranch Hand , which released at least 19 million gallons (75 million liters) of herbicides across approximately 6.4 million acres (2.6 million hectares) of South Vietnam were targeted. These chemicals not only affected forests but also contaminated rivers, rice fields, and villages, affecting both civilians and combatants alike. Over fifty percent of this spraying was done using the dioxin-laden herbicide known as Agent Orange.

Herbicides were used to remove the foliage covering from forests , enhance visibility alongside travel pathways and destroy crops suspected of supplying guerrilla forces.

As reports of the destruction caused by these methods reached the United States, scientists voiced worries regarding the ecological consequences of the operation. to President Lyndon Johnson , demanding an examination of whether the U.S. deliberately used chemical weapons. The stance of American military leadership was that defoliants were not considered chemical weapons. did not qualify as chemical weapons as per the Geneva Protocol, despite the U.S. not having ratified it yet.

During the conflict, scientific groups likewise commenced research efforts inside Vietnam. finding widespread destruction from mangroves, financial damages to rubber and timber plantations, as well as damage to lakes and waterways.

In 1969, findings connected a compound in Agent Orange, known as 2,4,5-T, to various health issues. congenital abnormalities and fetal deaths in mice due to its inclusion of TCDD, a highly toxic dioxin. This resulted in a prohibition on its domestic usage and halt in the usage of Agent Orange by military forces in April 1970 , with the final mission flown in early 1971 .

Explosive devices and deforestation similarly devastated lush ecosystems in Vietnam.

The U.S. Forest Service tested extensive burning of forests through the ignition of barrels of fuel oil dropped from aircraft. Civilians were particularly terrified by the employment of napalm bombs, more than 400,000 tons from the heavy oil utilized during the conflict. Following these conflagrations, invasive grasses often took over in hardened, infertile soils.

“Rome Plows,” massive bulldozers with an armor-fortified cutting blade, could clear one thousand acres per day Gigantic explosive bombs referred to as "daisy cutters" leveled entire woodlands and triggered seismic waves that extinguished all life within a 3,000-foot (900-meter) perimeter, even reaching organisms like worms buried in the ground.

The U.S. was also involved in climate manipulation through Project Popeye , a covert operation between 1967 and 1972 aimed at extending the monsoon season by seeding clouds with silver iodide, in hopes of reducing the movement of combatants and provisions along supply routes. Ho Chi Minh Trail From North Vietnam. Congress ultimately approved a bipartisan resolution in 1973. urging an international treaty To ban the utilization of weather alteration as a tool for warfare. That treaty came into effect in 1978.

The U.S. military maintained that all these strategies proved operationally successful as well. exchange of trees for American lives .

Despite Congress’ concerns, there was little scrutiny of the environmental impacts of U.S. military operations and technologies. Research sites were hard to access, and there was no regular environmental monitoring.

The progress of recovery has been sluggish.

Following the capture of Saigon by North Vietnamese forces on April 30, 1975, the United States experienced significant changes. enforced a commercial and financial blockade Across all of Vietnam, the nation was left both ravaged by war and financially strapped.

Vietnamese scientists informed me that they put together modest-sized studies. One discovered a significant decline in biodiversity among birds and mammals In the A Lüzü Valley of central Vietnam, 80% of the forests affected by herbicides had still not regenerated by the early 1980s. According to biologists' observations, these regions were home to merely 24 bird species and five types of mammals, which is significantly lower than what would typically be found in forests untouched by such chemicals.

Only a handful of ecosystem restoration projects were attempted, hampered by shoestring budgets. The most notable began in 1978, when foresters began hand-replanting mangroves At the entrance of the Saigon River within the Cần Giờ forest, a region that had been entirely cleared out.

In inland areas, widespread tree-planting programs In the late 1980s and 1990s, these efforts at last became established, yet their focus was on cultivating non-native species such as acacia trees, failing to reinstate the initial biodiversity found within the natural woodlands.

Chemical clean-up efforts are ongoing.

For many years, the U.S. similarly refused to take responsibility for cleaning up Agent Orange, even as they acknowledged its impact. dioxin-related health issues among US military personnel and tests showed ongoing dioxin exposure continued amidst possibly tens of thousands of Vietnamese.

The initial reconciliation pact between the two nations was established in 2006, marking the first such agreement. ongoing promotion by veterans, researchers, and non-governmental groups Led Congress to allocate $3 million for cleaning up the Da Nang airport.

The project, finished in 2018, treated 150,000 cubic meters Of soil contaminated with dioxins at a final cost exceeding $115 million, which was predominantly covered by the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID. cleanup required lakes to be drained and contaminated soil, which had seeped more than 9 feet (3 meters) deeper than expected, to be piled and heated to break down the dioxin molecules.

Another major hot spot is the heavily contaminated Biên Hoà airbase, where local residents continue to consume large amounts of dioxin via fish, chickens, and ducks.

Agent Orange drums were kept at the facility, leading to significant leakage of the harmful substance into both the earth and water supply. This contaminant keeps building up in wildlife tissues as it ascends through the ecological hierarchy. Cleanup efforts started in 2019, but additional actions are still required. vulnerable under the Trump administration’s close eradication of USAID, making it uncertain whether there will be any U.S. specialists in Vietnam overseeing this intricate initiative.

Regulations aimed at stopping potential 'ecocide' in the future are complex.

Although Agent Orange's impact on human health has rightly attracted attention, its broader ecological repercussions over time have received less investigation.

Today’s scientists have many more choices compared to their counterparts from 50 years ago, such as access to satellite images, which are being used in Ukraine to identify fires, flooding and pollution. However, these tools cannot replace on-the-ground monitoring, which often is restricted or dangerous during wartime.

The legal landscape is equally intricate.

In 1977, the Geneva Conventions dealing with warfare protocols were updated to forbid "extensive, long-term, and serious destruction of the natural environment." 1980 protocol limited incendiary devices. However, oil fires initiated by Iraq During the Persian Gulf War in 1991 , and the recent environmental harm caused by the Gaza Strip , Ukraine and Syria Highlight the constraints imposed by depending on treaties due to the absence of robust enforcement mechanisms.

An international campaign Currently in progress calls for revising the act Statue of Rome for the International Criminal Court to add ecocide as an additional prosecutable offense alongside genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and aggression.

Certain nations have implemented their own ecocide laws Vietnam was the pioneer in enshrining into its criminal code that "ecocide," which involves damaging the natural environment, qualifies as a crime against humanity regardless of whether it occurs during peacetime or wartime. Despite this legislation, no charges have been brought forward, even with multiple significant instances of environmental contamination occurring since then.

Both Russia and Ukraine also have ecocide laws, but these have not prevented harm or held anyone accountable for damage during the ongoing conflict.

Lessons for the future

The Vietnam War is a reminder that failure to address ecological consequences, both during war and after, will have long-term effects. What remains in short supply is the political will to ensure that these impacts are neither ignored nor repeated.

This article has been republished from The Conversation , a non-profit, independent news agency providing you with factual and reliable insights to help navigate our intricate world. It was authored by: Pamela McElwee , Rutgers University

Read more:

• The impact of war on the body can persist through multiple generations, just as it did for the children of those who fought in the Vietnam War.
• Protests against war 50 years ago played a role in shaping today's Christian right movement.

Pamela McElwee is funded by the Carnegie Corporation, the National Science Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.