War and Nature: The Environmental Consequences of War in a Globalized World Book

Figures and Tables ix

Acknowledgments xi

Preface xiii

Chapter 1 Globalization, Nature, and War 1

1.1 Natural Resource Consumption by Armed Forces 1

1.2 Nuclear War and Nuclear Weapons Testing 4

1.2.1 Nuclear War 4

1.2.2 Nuclear Weapons Testing 7

1.3 Need and Greed As Causes of War 11

1.4 Measuring the Environmental Consequences of War 19

1.4.1 Classifying War-Related Environmental Damage 20

1.4.2 The Data: Finding Out What Really Happened 26

1.5 The Environment in International Law of War 32

Appendix: Why Nuclear Weapons? 33

Chapter 2 The Vietnam War 45

2.1 Bombing, Bulldozing, and Other Nonherbicidal Destruction 46

2.1.1 Bombing 46

2.1.2 Bulldozing 48

2.1.3 Other Nonherbicidal Destruction 49

2.2 Herbicide Attacks 49

2.2.1 Background 49

2.2.2 Inland Forests: Terrestrial Plant Ecology and Forestry 52

2.2.3 Forest Fauna: Animal Ecology 58

2.2.4 Herbicide Persistence, Mobility, and Soil Ecology 62

2.2.5 Coastal, Marine, and Aquatic Ecology 64

2.2.6 Long-Term Effects 69

2.3 In Sum 72

Chapter 3 ThePersian Gulf War 81

3.1 The Persian Gulf 82

3.1.1 Scientific Missions and Data Gathering 82

3.1.2 Geography and Oceanography of the Western Persian Gulf 85

3.2 Marine Environments 86

3.2.1 Supratidal and Intertidal Areas 86

3.2.2 Benthic Communities, Fish, Shrimp, Coral Reefs, and Islands 93

3.2.3 Marine Mammals and Turtles 100

3.3 birds 102

3.3.1 Shorebirds 103

3.3.2 Seabirds 105

3.4 In Sum 108

3.5 Bibliographic Note 110

Chapter 4 Civil War and Borderland Effects 119

4.1 Rwanda and the Eastern Congo 121

4.1.1 Rwanda 123

4.1.2 The Eastern Congo 130

4.2 Afghanistan and Pakistan 139

4.2.1 Afghanistan 139

4.2.2 The Effects of the Afghan Wars on Pakistan 146

4.3 In Sum 148

4.4 Bibliographic Note 149

Chapte5 War and Nature in a Globalized World 155

5.1 Findings 156

5.1.1 Big Wars, Small Effects? Small Wars, Big Effects? 156

5.1.2 Firepower and Mobility 158

5.1.3 Refugees and Returnees 161

5.1.4 Conservation by Default 163

5.1.5 Benefits of War, Costs of Peace 166

5.2 A Way Forward 168

5.2.1 Perspectives and Standards Matter 168

5.2.2 Continuous Biomonitoring and Rapid Assessment Matter 171

5.2.3 Preparation and Communication Matter 174

5.2.4 Incentives in a Globalized World Matter 177

5.3 In Sum: Preventing War, Preserving Nature 182

List of References 187

Index 217

About the Author 233