As November 6 brings renewed attention to the environmental costs of armed conflict, Southeast Asia’s forests, farmland and coastal waters tell a continuing story. War’s damage can outlast the fighting by generations, leaving contaminated soil, dangerous agricultural land and weakened ecosystems that communities depend on.
Established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2001, the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict connects environmental protection with lasting peace.
Recovering Landscapes, Rebuilding Lives
Vietnam’s wartime defoliation remains one of the region’s starkest examples. According to the US Congressional Research Service, American forces sprayed an estimated 18–20 million gallons of herbicides over southern Vietnam between 1961 and 1971, including approximately 11–12 million gallons of Agent Orange. Subsequent investigations identified dioxin contamination hotspots at former military facilities, including Da Nang and Bien Hoa.
Environmental historian David Biggs’s research shows why recovery requires more than counting trees. Vietnam’s postwar expansion of forest cover has relied substantially on plantations, which do not necessarily recreate the biodiversity and ecological relationships of the forests they replace.
Nevertheless, cooperation can repair part of the damage. The US–Vietnam remediation project at Da Nang Airport, completed in 2018, excavated approximately 162,567 cubic metres of soil and sediment for treatment or containment. It demonstrated how former adversaries can work together on a shared environmental burden.
Making the Land Safe Again
In Laos, unexploded ordnance connects wartime history directly to present-day land use. More than 270 million cluster submunitions were dropped between 1964 and 1973; an estimated 80 million failed to explode. These historical estimates describe the scale of contamination left by the war, rather than a precise inventory of devices remaining today.
For rural communities, clearance supports safe farming, construction and access to land. Environmental recovery therefore includes removing explosive hazards before people can safely cultivate fields or restore damaged landscapes.
Protecting Forests from Conflict Financing
Myanmar illustrates how natural resources can help sustain violence. Investigations have documented links between the timber trade and military revenue, exposing the gap between international sustainability claims and the origins of valuable wood.
“Forest exploitation is still going on in areas where there are more high-value commercial species like teak,” Myanmar forestry expert Win Myo Thu told a 2023 investigation published by Inside Climate News.
That connection makes traceable supply chains, credible enforcement and scrutiny of buyers essential. Protecting forests requires attention to the financial networks behind extraction as well as the trees being removed.
Keeping Shared Seas Alive
Environmental damage also accompanies strategic competition outside active battlefields. A 2025 satellite-based assessment by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative reported that dredging and landfill by several South China Sea claimants had destroyed more than 7,000 acres of coral reef.
Philippine maritime law specialist Jay Batongbacal warned in 2015 that the effects of reclamation “extend well beyond the South China Sea,” explaining how lost breeding grounds affect connected marine ecosystems. His argument places fishing livelihoods alongside territorial concerns.
Joint scientific monitoring and habitat protection offer practical areas for cooperation. Proposed marine peace parks could contribute, but proposals should not be mistaken for established protection, nor conservation labels for guarantees against exploitation.
This November 6, Southeast Asia’s experience points toward a concrete peace agenda: clean contaminated ground, clear explosive remnants, scrutinise resource revenues and protect shared ecosystems. Recovery becomes meaningful when communities can safely use the land and waters that sustain them.
