Hydrological impact of war-induced deforestation in the Mekong Basin

The Vietnam War played a decisive role in the pre-1990s deforestation of the lower Mekong Basin, which in turn likely influenced regional broad-scale hydrology. This note presents and discusses new analyses that strengthen this thesis. Although concurrent overestimation of discharge and underestimat...

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Autores principales: Lacombe, Guillaume, Pierret, Alain
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Wiley 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/40277
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author Lacombe, Guillaume
Pierret, Alain
author_browse Lacombe, Guillaume
Pierret, Alain
author_facet Lacombe, Guillaume
Pierret, Alain
author_sort Lacombe, Guillaume
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description The Vietnam War played a decisive role in the pre-1990s deforestation of the lower Mekong Basin, which in turn likely influenced regional broad-scale hydrology. This note presents and discusses new analyses that strengthen this thesis. Although concurrent overestimation of discharge and underestimation of rainfall, a couple of years after bombing climaxed in the early 1970s, could theoretically explain the sharp rise in water yield previously attributed to bomb-induced deforestation, new observations suggest that bombing has durably modified the landscape: by 2002, degraded forests still largely overlapped with areas heavily bombed 30 years earlier. This corroborates observed long-term hydrological changes and suggests that warfare-induced deforestation has more profound and durable hydrological effects than previously thought.
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spelling CGSpace402772025-06-17T08:23:38Z Hydrological impact of war-induced deforestation in the Mekong Basin Lacombe, Guillaume Pierret, Alain deforestation hydrological factors river basins data water levels flow discharge rain land cover The Vietnam War played a decisive role in the pre-1990s deforestation of the lower Mekong Basin, which in turn likely influenced regional broad-scale hydrology. This note presents and discusses new analyses that strengthen this thesis. Although concurrent overestimation of discharge and underestimation of rainfall, a couple of years after bombing climaxed in the early 1970s, could theoretically explain the sharp rise in water yield previously attributed to bomb-induced deforestation, new observations suggest that bombing has durably modified the landscape: by 2002, degraded forests still largely overlapped with areas heavily bombed 30 years earlier. This corroborates observed long-term hydrological changes and suggests that warfare-induced deforestation has more profound and durable hydrological effects than previously thought. 2013-06 2014-06-13T14:47:18Z 2014-06-13T14:47:18Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/40277 en Limited Access Wiley Lacombe, Guillaume; Pierret, A. 2013. Hydrological impact of war-induced deforestation in the Mekong Basin. Ecohydrology, 6(5):901-903. doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/eco.1395
spellingShingle deforestation
hydrological factors
river basins
data
water levels
flow discharge
rain
land cover
Lacombe, Guillaume
Pierret, Alain
Hydrological impact of war-induced deforestation in the Mekong Basin
title Hydrological impact of war-induced deforestation in the Mekong Basin
title_full Hydrological impact of war-induced deforestation in the Mekong Basin
title_fullStr Hydrological impact of war-induced deforestation in the Mekong Basin
title_full_unstemmed Hydrological impact of war-induced deforestation in the Mekong Basin
title_short Hydrological impact of war-induced deforestation in the Mekong Basin
title_sort hydrological impact of war induced deforestation in the mekong basin
topic deforestation
hydrological factors
river basins
data
water levels
flow discharge
rain
land cover
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/40277
work_keys_str_mv AT lacombeguillaume hydrologicalimpactofwarinduceddeforestationinthemekongbasin
AT pierretalain hydrologicalimpactofwarinduceddeforestationinthemekongbasin