Sources and Resources for "War and the Environment"

Websites

UN Environment Programme Post-Conflict and Disaster Management Branch
Conducts studies of the environmental effects of military conflict in various countries worldwide. Comprehensive (and relatively unbiased) publications available through this website cover Afghanistan, Sudan, Iraq, the Balkan region, and other areas.

Iraqi Marshlands Observation System
Another project of the UN Environment Programme, this effort uses satellite monitoring to help in the restoration and management of the Mesopotamian marshes. Photos and satellite images posted on this site tell a dramatic story.

Eden Again
A joint effort of Nature Iraq and the Iraq Foundation to promote the restoration of the Mesopotamian marshes. Good background on the history and ecology of the marshes on this site.

Wildlife Direct
A collection of blogs written by rangers and conservationists from the field. Strongest coverage of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya, including several blogs that focus on Virunga National Park and other areas affected by current/recent military conflicts. Moving descriptions and photos from voices seldom heard in the mainstream Western media.

War Legacies Project
Links to many scientific studies of the effects of Agent Orange, although primarily focusing on human health effects.

Biodiversity Support Program
Detailed reports on the environmental effects of recent conflicts in many African nations, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Central African Republic, Mozambique, and Ethiopia.

Articles

Jeanne Mager Stellman, Steven D. Stellman, Richard Christian, Tracy Weber, and Carrie Tomasallo. 2003. “The extent and patterns of usage of Agent Orange and other herbicides in Vietnam,” Nature 422: 681–7.

Watershed report drawing on newly uncovered archival data to reconstruct the precise flight paths of herbicide spraying runs in Vietnam.

Gordon H. Orians and E. W. Pfeiffer. 1970. “Ecological effects of the war in Vietnam,” Science 168: 544-554.

Arthur H. Westing. 1971. “Ecological effects of military defoliation on the forests of South Vietnam,” BioScience 21(17): 893-898.
Eyewitness reports from herbicide-damaged landscapes in Vietnam.