RESTORATION OF ECOSYSTEMS
DAMAGED BY THE WAR IN QUANG TRI, VIETNAM
 

The war in Vietnam has left a devastating legacy which includes:

(1) a widespread ecological destruction;
(2) a devastated landscape (denuded, contaminated with dioxins and scarred with bomb craters);
(3) the long-lasting effects of the most toxic chemicals (dioxins) to people (with high incidence of genetic damage in affected populations), to wildlife (not known) and to the environment (toxic residues in soils, river beds, and the food chain);
(4) a landscape with the presence of extremely hazardous objects still buried in the ground: landmines, unexploded bombs and other ordinances (UXO's)  which continue to cause injuries and deaths;
(5) the shattered social economic conditions of indigenous inhabitants;
(6) the widespread poverty.
 

Over 30 years after the war, forest ecosystems on these hills south west of Cam Lo and most landscape in Quang Tri Province, Vietnam, damaged by Agent Orange and by heavy bombing have not been able to recover. Dioxins in the soil, river bed, and in the food chain are serious sources of health threat; bomb craters (encircled) dotted the landscape, obstruct farming and provide excellent breeding ground for malaria, dengue and other disease transmitted mosquitoes; and UXO's still buried in the ground continue to be extremely hazardous to people living in the area  (Photo by Dr. P.T. Dang, 2004)..     NEXT>>>