We are familiar with images of devastated battlefields resulted out of war.
Pollution, radiation, deteriorating bodies etc., leaves overall a psychological depression on the environment.
Environmental effects of some war affected regions (after WW-II) -
* Kuwait war – oil strike (1991) -
A scientist from a Desert Laboratory toured Kuwait’s burnt-out oilfields. ‘I’ve never seen such devastation. Kuwait’s desert before the Gulf War was very healthy, despite centuries of nomadic grazing and decades of oil development. It supported substantial greenery and wildlife. But now it’s coated in oil residues that affect water permeability, seed germination and microbial life. Plants are dying because they can’t breathe through blackened leaves under dark skies.’
Capping the burning oil wells took ten months. Crude oil released into the sea killed tens of thousands of marine birds and mammals. Oil from extinguished wells formed huge petrochemical lakes, destroying the land surface. Toxic smoke and fumes killed migratory birds and aggravated human chest conditions. A veterinarian at the liberation of Kuwait said: ‘I saw birds just dropping out of the sky. Later I found a herd of dead camels covered with dead flies: whatever killed the camels killed the flies at the same time.’
* Vietnam war (1962-71) -
US military carried out a massive herbicidal programme in Vietnam for almost a decade. With 72 million litres of chemical spray, they defoliated the forests which provided cover for guerrillas.
‘All our coconut trees died,’ recalled a woman ten years later, in hospital with a third miscarriage, and also having chemotherapy; she asked not to be indentified. ‘Some of our animals died, and those that lived had deformed offspring. The seeds of the rice became very small, and we couldn’t use them for replanting.’
People exposed to the spray suffered headaches, vomiting, diarrhoea, weakness and chest complaints. Meanwhile, Agent Orange’s carcinogenic dioxin was sinking into the soil, washing into the sea, and entering the food chain, where it is still at work today. Children born since the war have consumed high levels of dioxin; and many fathered by men exposed to the spray (many of whom are now dead or suffering from cancers) have spina bifida and other congenital abnormalities
* War ‘has ruined Afghan environment’ – Two decades of war have laid waste Afghanistan’s environment so badly that its reconstruction is now compromised, the United Nations says. A UN Environment Programme (Unep) survey found more than half of Kabul’s water supply is going to waste.
Reference:
1. http://www.ppu.org.uk/learn/infodocs/st_environment.html
2. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2704989.stm
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