Modern warfare equals environmental damage

Modern warfare tactics--as seen in the Vietnam War, the Rwandan and Congolese civil wars, and the current conflict in Iraq--greatly have increased our capacity to destroy the natural landscape and produce devastating environmental effects on the planet, according to Sarah DeWeerdt, writing for the Worldwatch Institute, Washington, D.C.

Wartime destruction of the natural landscape actually is nothing new, but its scope in more recent conflicts is unprecedented. "For one thing, there is the sheer firepower of current weapons technology, especially its shock-and-awe deployment by modern superpowers," notes DeWeerdt. "The involvement of guerrilla groups in many recent wars draws that firepower toward the natural ecosystems---often circumscribed and endangered ones--where these groups take cover."

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The deliberate destruction of the environment as a military strategy, known as "ecocide,"' is exemplified by the U.S. response to guerrilla warfare in Vietnam. In an effort to deprive the Communist Vietcong guerrillas of the dense cover they found in the hardwood forests and mangroves that fringed the Mekong Delta, the American military sprayed 79,000,000 liters of herbicides and defoliants (including Agent Orange) over about one-seventh of the land area of South Vietnam. By some estimates, half of the mangroves and 14% of the hardwood forests were destroyed during Operation Trail Dust, threatening biodiversity and altering vegetation.

Less deliberate, but still devastating, were the environmental effects that stemmed from the mass migration of refugees during the Rwandan genocide in 1994. Nearly 2,000,000 Hutus fled Rwanda over the course of just a few weeks to refugee camps in Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, making it the most massive population movement in history.

Approximately 720,000 of these refugees settled in camps on the fringes of Virunga National Park, the first United Nations World Heritage site declared endangered due to an armed conflict. The refugees stripped an estimated 35 square kilometers of forest for firewood and shelter-building materials. The dense forests also suffered as a result of the wide paths clear-cut by the Rwandan and Congolese armies traveling through the park to reduce the threat of ambush by rebel groups.

The long-term ecological effects of the current war in Iraq remain to be seen. Looking to the 1990s Gulf War as a guide, scientists point to the physical damage of the desert, particularly the millimeter-thin layer of microorganisms that forms a crust on the topsoil, protecting it from erosion. Analysis of the area affected by the Gulf War already has shown an increase in sandstorms and dune formation, and one study suggests that desert crusts might take thousands of years to recover fully from the movement of heavy vehicles.

"Warfare is likely to have the most severe, longest-lasting effect on protected areas that harbor endangered species and slow-to-recover ecosystems such as deserts. Even in the most fragile environments, sometimes nature-and people--can surprise us, but turn and look in another direction and you are likely to see warfare's enduring scars,"' concludes DeWeerdt.

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