The environmental effect of these wars that had took place centuries ago, are some of the major issues we are struggling against right now
By: Danah Kaouri
Photo by: Taton Moise
The major wars humanity has faced lead to excessive damages of land, water and air quality. The environmental effect of these wars that had took place centuries ago, are some of the major issues we are struggling against right now, which proves that war have a long term effect on our environment and health
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During Word War |, alteration of ecosystems took place on every fighting front. Soldiers in the East ate European bison, which almost eliminated the key species in the great boreal forest of Bialowieza. There were also landscape changes as a result of trench warfare. Digging stamped grassland, crushing plants and animals and damaging soil. To expand the network of these trenches came at the price of soil erosion.
Another damaging influence was the use of poison gas. Gases were released in trenches to kill soldiers from the opposing side. Examples of these gases are mustard gas which causes blistering and bleeding, tear gas, causing eye irritation etc.
WW||
World War || played a major role in shaping the current environmental problems. With increased building of roads, railroads, ports and airports, invasive species and industrial pollution to untouched areas were brought in.
Prior to the war, pest control was essentially based on natural methods, but to counter the fleas spreading spotted fever and mosquitoes spreading malaria and agricultural pests such as beetles, DDT and several other toxins were adopted.
Additionally, the two atomic bombs dropped in Nagasaki and Hiroshima lead to the loss of 413,171 lives to radiation related illnesses; deformities and mutations like hair loss, cancerous lumps, blindness, rashes, coughing, urinating blood and more. These bombs killed plants and animals, caused air pollution radioactive debris, hundreds of fires, polluted drinking water and damaged agricultural production.
Furthermore, WW|| carried deliberate efforts to damage the environment for instance, the blast of the Huayuankow (Chinese Nationalist Party) dike across the Yellow River in China in 1938; Kuomintang had hoped to block the advance of the Japanese, but essentially succeeded in flooding several million hectares of farm land and drowned about a 100,0000 Chinese. The unpopular extent of the German occupation forces, retreating under Russian attack in 1944, devastated the human ecosystem of the northernmost settlements in Norway, slaughtering domestic animals, burning buildings and more.
Vietnam War
The Vietnam war had a decisive role in the extensive deforestation from 1960-1980 in the Lower Mekong Basin. During the war, there were deliberate massive removal of vegetation by bombing, chemical spraying was a military tactic to deny shield and land to the opposite side.
Examination of bombing and hydro-metrological data suggests that these environmental damages altered watershed hydrology, specifically in 2 sub-basins of the Makong River that was heavily bombed.
The southern catchment sub-basin has been one of the heavily bombed areas in Indochina. The land damage resulted in the displacement of significant amounts of soil, disrupting soil horizon, fragmenting bedrock and exposing water table.
The Gulf War
The Gulf War affected air and marine environments and terrestrial eco-system. In early 1991, more than 800 oil wells were blown up, around 700 of these caught fire and burned. Approximately 50 of these wells gushed oil onto the ground.
The levels of particles in the air a few kilometres from the burning oil fields was 10 5 cm3, this added 10% of the global contribution from anthropogenic burning of fossil fuels.
The high volume of particles in the air had a very pronounced effect on the climate in the gulf. The area also suffered soot and oil coverage in certain extensive areas. Additionally, vegetation and wildlife were exposed to this fall out.
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