Our Image of WAR
U.S. soldier from 1st Marine Expeditionary Force
stands guard at burning oil well at Rumayla Oilfields,
March 23, 2003 in Iraq.
Several oil wells have been set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops in the Ramayla area, the second largest offshore oilfield in the
country, near the Kuwaiti border. Story by IW/ac/HB , Photo by POOL – STAFF, REUTERS NEWS PICTURE SERVICE
Context of War Zones: Constraints
to Human Survival
• Few food options
• People dependent on extracting resources
from forests to survive
• Many people surviving in rural areas
• High economic value for timber
• Corrupt political, institutions common –
causes illegal logging
Percent people living in rural areas, %
Land Area & Change in Forest Cover
% Rural,
1999
Africa
Asia
Europe
N/C Am
Oceania
S Am
63
63
25
27
30
21
% Land Area Change in Forest
in Forests
Cover 19902000 (%)
22
18
46
26
23
51
-0.8
-0.1
+0.1
-0.1 (US +0.2)
-0.2
-0.4
In the forested Congo River basin near
Kinshasa, villagers gather wood to fuel a
charcoal-processing plant. The nation's
extensive rainforests are suffering under
too many human hands.
http://www3.nationalgeographic.com/places/photos/photo_kinshasa_kinshasa.html; Photograph by James P. Blair
Forest Resources
Economic Value – per hectare
per annum
Logging
$200 - $4,400
20 cents to $21 to high of
$9,177
$2 - $470
Pharmaceutical ‘hot
spots’ for companies
Recreation
Non-timber products
Fuelwood
Few dollars to ~$100
$40
Community based
wildlife management
-Pakistan, 1997 revenue Ibex
hunting to 120 households
-Costa Rica, 1996 revenue
turtle eggs to each 200
members community
-Botswana for 230 families
from cochineal [either legumes or
insects used for traditional red dyes]
Annual Incomes
(Note: not per hectare)
$35 or $0.29 per family
$1,150 or $5.75 per
community member
$7,200 or $31 per family
Cambodia – value timber exports
(Le Billon 2000)
1995
1996
1997
1998
Est. value
(US$ million)
423
248
188
218
Forestry
govt
revenue
27
<0.1%
11
12
5
<0.1% <0.1% <0.1%
(US$ million)
This table tells you that a lot of wood was being cut in Cambodia after the war
but most was illegal cutting and selling with the government of Cambodia
receiving a miniscule portion of those funds.
HOW WAR CHANGES FOREST
LANDSCAPES
Rural environmental changes due to people’s
behavior and politics
•
•
•
Forest become Refuge Sites, Emigration, People Mobility
Colonization Projects Frontier Regions, Political Boundaries
Forest Conversion, Removal of Forest Cover, Illegal
Harvesting Forest Products
Impacts on people
•
•
Human & Animal Disease Outbreaks; Lack Clean Water
Environmental Degradation due to Chemicals used to
Eliminate Forest Cover
Impacts of Rwandan Refugees (1994-98):
Scenario: international organizations built refugee camps - tents,
installed water pipes, public toilets BUT
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Increased deforestation
Increased soil erosion and landslides
Increased poaching
Changes in land uses
Refugees dug up tree stumps for firewood even though supplied
with fuelwood
Refugees took shelter in National Parks
Armed conflict = ~ 3 large-scale forest fires (1996-97)
Animal populations drastically reduced
Lost food plant species adapted to Congo (coffee)
MAIN IMPACT OF WAR RESULT OF TOO MANY PEOPLE
ATTEMPTING TO SURVIVE AS RESOURCE EXTRACTORS
IN FORESTS
“Buried children: Most of
the women we have talked
to tell us that they have
buried one or more of their
children in the forest”
“The first refugees: Bent
Rønsen together with the first
refugees. Some of them had
been refugees for six years and
were now hiding in the forest”
http://www.crn.no/page?id=1527&section=33&key=12144
Indigenous communities living in forests drastically impacted
by huge influx of people trying to survive from forests
Pygmy house made with sticks
and leaves in northern
Republic of the Congo. (Photo
courtesy of "Tornasole")
http://rainforests.mongabay.com/0702.htm
Bili, Democratic Republic of the Congo,
July 2001 “This traditional hunter uses a
poisoned arrow fired from a crossbow. He
wears traditional primate-hunting attire.
He's trying to get the monkeys to react to
an elephant mask."
Conservationist and photographer Karl Ammann
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/09/photogalleries/bushmeat_1/photo
Rwandan war resulted in 1.5 to 2
million people fleeing into former
Zaire
Rwanda –
increased
poaching for
bushmeat
Uganda Kob
Photo by Rhett Butler. http://news.mongabay.com/2006/0620wcs.html
Wild meat significant protein source for landless, rural people
in Asia, Africa, Latin America
Without war, half protein consumption from bushmeat;
increases dramatically with war since agriculture ceases
because it is to dangerous to farm
Rebels in eastern Congo have agreed to
stop hunting mountain gorillas … after
two endangered silverback mountain
gorillas were killed and eaten by rebel
forces in Congo's Virunga National Park, a
protected area …. heavily impacted by
civil strife …, starting with the exodus of
refugees from Rwanda in 1994 and
continuing on through Congo's bloody
civil war. …. refugee put pressure
Silverback gorilla in
neighboring Gabon.
War-torn Congo Announces Two New Parks
WCS
September 18, 2006;
http://news.mongabay.com/2006/0918-wcs.html
on the Virunga's forests and
wildlife for fuel wood and food,
while park rangers were been
targeted by soldiers and rebels.
Africa Conservation Fund, a Londonbased conservation group, says that 97
Virunga National Park rangers have died
on duty since 1996. http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0124gorilla.html
http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/forests/problems/forest_fires/index.cfm
Buttress roots of rainforest tree in Uganda
Image Location: Kibali Forest, Uganda (East Africa)
Photographer/Camera: Photo taken by Rhett A. Butler
After a five-hour trek
through the jungle,
Australian tourists are
greeted by a rare mountain
gorilla in Congo's Virunga
National Park. Closed last
year when war swept the
nation (then known as
Zaire), Virunga park
reopened in September to
tourists willing to pay
$120 each for a chance to
see some of its remaining
great apes.
The Associated Press
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/get
aways/100997/destpix1.html
–Exploitation of forests
for economic value to pay
for war effort
–Illegal exploitation
rampant
A clearing in Gunung Palung National Park in Indonesian Borneo reveals an
illegal logging operation Photograph by Timothy G. Laman; http://green.nationalgeographic.com/environment/photos/rainforest-deforestaton/loggingsite.html
Forest Exploitation for Timber,
Diamonds, etc – mostly illegal
and widespread
Forests cut to pay for war, forests
cut and contaminated in search for
gold, diamond mining
http://www.diamond.com/detail.asp?pf_id=35190;
http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/diamonds.html
WAR IMPACTS ON HUMAN SURVIVAL
1. Increased number of people
surviving in forests that only provide
subsistence livelihoods
2. Illegal logging competes with
fuelwood used for energy
1. Food Production and Food Security - NO
– Lack food security
– Farmers unable to grow crops
– Greater dependence on wildlife
2. Sustainable Hunting, Fishing Practices - NO
– Hunting primary protein source for survival
– Over-hunting to sell or too many people surviving in
small area
3. Sustainable Logging Practices - NO
– Exploitation of forests for economic value
– War retributions paid by cutting trees (after WWII,
Germany paid by cutting trees, big building boom in US
had demand)
– Illegal logging rampant
4. Livelihoods from Non-timber Resources - NO
FOOD PRODUCTION
AND SECURITY
• few options to harvest food
crops in tropical forest so
bushmeat becomes more
important food source
• farming ceases during wars
because of insecurity problems
THIS STOPS
DURING A WAR
Millions of trees lost
in Iraq during 198088 war with Iran once the largest date
forest in the world were
either burned or felled
by shrapnel
Iraqi dates once more
desirable than crude oil ,
thriving industry gone after
war and economic
sanctions
James Hill for The New York Times. Feb 2003
Livelihoods from Non-timber Resources
Ecotourism
ceased with the
fighting in
Rwanda
Ecotourism income
generation based
on conservation
lost during fighting
WAR IMPACTS ON
CONSERVATION
1. Positive Influences
2. Negative Influences
Positive Influence on Conservation
Indirect – biodiversity protected since people kept
out of military training sites, or lands used for
military exercises or maintaining demilitarized
zones between two fighting countries
Ex:
• Ft. Lewis, Washington
•Camp Pendleton, California
•Lands used for military exercises in Germany
•Demilitarized zone between North and South Korea
“Ironically, twenty years of war saved
Cambodia’s forests from the destruction
associated with economic growth in the
ASEAN region. Despite heavy US bombing
and the murderous agrarian utopia of the
Khmer Rouge, forests survived the 1970s.
Their exploitation during the 1980s remained
limited, the result of continuing war and a
trade embargo by the West.” (Le Billon 2000, p.
785)
Le Billon P. 2000. The political ecology of transition in Cambodia 1989-1999: War, peace and forest exploitation.
Development and Change Vol. 31, pages 785-805.
Germany – sites of military exercises
(Hopkin 2005)
• Lands used for military exercises have more
endangered species present than even found
in national Parks
• Two American bases in the state of Bavaria,
Germany comprise less than 1% of land
area of the state but contained 22% of its
endangered species
http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9711/18/panama.watershed/index.html
Positive Influence on Conservation
US controlled Panama Canal for 90 yrs
until 1999 – a 10-mile strip along canal
protected deforestation
70% of Panama’s forests already cut
down
Contains most undisturbed forests in
Central America – many endangered
animals & plants
Forests preserved by US Army –
critical watershed (streams, rivers flowing
into lakes supply fresh water needed to
operate the canal’s locks); erosion,
sedimentation threaten canal’s future
http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9711/18/panama.watershed/index.html
Deforestation claims a swath of tropical rain forest along the Rio
Chagres river basin. The river is a primary water source for the
Panama Canal, and deforestation of the surrounding rain forest
causes erosion and sedimentation that can clog the canal and
increase the need for dredging.
Photograph by Tomas Munita/AP Photos
http://green.nationalgeographic.com/environment/photos/rainforest-deforestaton/deforestationpanama.html
Today Threat is uncontrolled urban
expansion, not slash and burn agriculture
Negative Influences on Conservation
-Loss of biodiversity
-Nature reserves not
protected, managed (used
subsistence survival)
-Animals living in forests
picking up diseases from
closer contact with humans
-Economic gain from
Mt. Gorillas, Rwanda –not killed selling animals or parts of
directly by war but indirectly by animals for medicinal
people moving into area and
qualities
searching for food
Negative Influence on Conservation
Conservation
and wildlife
management
stops – which
had goals of
reviving
populations
becoming
depleted
50% of elephants poached and eaten by
Rwandan refugees who fled to a Park in Zaire
Negative Influence on
Conservation
Thriving trade refugees planning
ahead to make money
in future by illegal
hunting, trading in
wildlife (and parts of
wildlife as medicinals);
private collectors & even
zoo’s buy since people
want to see exotic animals
Human / Animal Disease Outbreaks
1) Poor nutrition
2) Contact with disease vectors (malaria),
disease carriers eaten as food source
(Ebola virus)
3) Chemicals used
http://news.mongabay.com/2006/1207gorillas.html
Last Wednesday’s lecture
Chimpanzees & gorillas in
West Africa populations
reduced due to: HUNTING,
EBOLA VIRUS.
Bushmeat trade threaten near
town, Ebola virus in remote
regions.
Ebola spreads from apes to humans when
apes hunted for food or human contact
dead infected ape.
Commercial poachers hunt bushmeat for sale in
urban regions of Africa, most West African
immigrants buy ape meat. Used to think unsustainable
exploitation was poverty & have-to-eat-today principle but increasing
prosperity in Asia led to booming commercial markets
Environmental Degradation and Human
Health Problems resulting from Chemical
Use during Wars
• Many weapons of war comprised of chemicals
toxic to humans and other animals
1. Long-term chemical legacy in Vietnam - Agent
orange (contaminated with dioxin)
- Human health effects – leukemia, cancer (10
diseases linked to spraying)
2. Exploded / Unexploded ammunition remaining in
the landscape
Vietnam –
agent orange;
1961-1971, US
sprayed
defoliants
(chemicals
cause trees to
drop all their
foliage) over
>10% of South
Vietnam,
Pre-application
Post-application ~14% forests
of Vietnam
Reasons used chemicals:
destroyed
1) remove forest cover so can’t hide in forests
(Mydans 2003)
2) easier to mobilize troops, move vehicles to
conduct war
3) remove food source
Vietnam
– Agent Orange (herbicide
contaminated with dioxin)
Results chemical defoliant use:
1) toxic chemical residues in
soil, plants, humans (high
levels lead and nickel in plants –
dangerous pollutants);
2) contaminated food
production systems
3) Increased killing of
animals as a food source
- frequently
contaminated since
animals eating plants
chemically contaminated
Human health
problems – not
only US soldiers
but millions of
Vietnamese
exposed
Vietnamese Boy Disabled by
Agent Orange in a Ho Chi Minh
City Hospital
VIETNAM : February 28, 2005
A Vietnamese boy disabled by Agent Orange gets the attention of a
volunteer while sitting in his cot in a Ho Chi Minh City hospital,
February 25, 2005.
“On
Monday, a New York court will begin hearing
a lawsuit brought by more than 100 Vietnamese
seeking compensation and a clean-up of
contaminated areas from more than 30 firms,
among them Dow Chemical Co and Monsanto
Co, the largest makers of Agent Orange. Agent
Orange, named after the colour of its containers,
is blamed for nightmarish birth defects in
Vietnam where babies appeared with two heads
or without eyes or arms.”
Story by Adrees Latif AL/CCK, Photo by ADREES LATIF, REUTERS
NEWS PICTURE SERVICE
Not only direct
effects but chemical
legacies: CHEMICAL
CONTAMINATION OF
THE SOILS AND
FOOD CROPS
Kashmiri Villagers Walk Past a
Crater Caused Due to a Landmine
Explosion at Village Pahloo
INDIA: October 1, 2002
Story by FK/AH, Photo by FAYAZ KABLI, REUTERS NEWS PICTURE SERVICE
WHY DO THESE CHEMICAL
PERSIST IN THE
ENVIRONMENT?
Many chemicals derived from
complex polyphenolics (= plant
derived secondary chemicals used
by plants so animals don’t eat
them because they are toxic or
cause indigestion) - MANY
FROM TROPICAL PLANTS
Romanian Soldier Wearing a Gas Mask
Checks a Tester to Detect a Possible
Chemical Contamination
ROMANIA: February 20, 2003
They have long persistence in
environment because of chemical
composition resistant to microbial
breakdown
LIGNIN
Six-carbon ring
structure (benzene) –
same structure as
pesticide
Makes plants woody
Very resistant to
decay
Complex enzymes
needed to break down
http://www.eng.rpi.edu/dept/chem-eng/BiotechEnviron/FUNDAMNT/lignin.htm
Removed from wood
to make paper, what
is left after
composting
Forced translocation of people:
1) fleeing war, fighting,
2) maintenance of political boundaries
in contested border areas (e.g.
Guatemala) using colonization
projects run by governments to
move people to border regions
Amazon – Large
areas of the borders
isolated (easily
occupied by
inhabitants of
adjacent countries)
Building roads to
develop political
boundaries where
multiple ownership
claims
Governments
encourage, subsidize
people to move to
borders
Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire) eastern region with 8 national
parks & reserves had human density = 49 persons/km2;
Rwandan civil war 1994, Zairian civil war 1996-97 = 1.5-2 million refugees
Forest remaining (% of Total)
Rwanda has population density of 293.3 people/km2 in 2000 (ANY FORESTS
LEFT BASED ON DIAGRAM BELOW?)
Maya
90
80
70
WA-state (1992)
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
10
34
40
100
Population Density (persons/km2)
200
This increase in
population density bad
when subsistence
survival dominates
Zaire has 64.6% of land in
forests
38.3% of the people live in
rural areas in 1999
Zaire loosing capacity of
forests to provide safety valve
for people since lost 17% of its
forest cover between 19902000
Rwanda has 12.4%
land in forests in 2000
Significant portion –
93.9% - live in rural
areas in 1999
No room for forests
to be safety valve
during war; lost 15%
forest cover 19902000