The Legacy of the Vietnam War: Making a Living amid Unexploded Ordnance in Xieng Khouang Province, Northern Laos

Ounmany, Kiengkay; Andriesse, Edo

doi:10.1080/10357823.2018.1481365

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…The craters detected in this study allow for a detailed analysis of the impact of bombing on post-conflict land-use changes, which have previously been linked to deforestation (SDG 13, SDG 15), reduced agricultural productivity (SDG 2) and hindered infrastructure development (SDG 1, SDG 9, SDG 11) (Clerici et al, 2020;E. Lin, 2022;Martin et al, 2019;Munteanu et al, 2024;Ounmany & Andriesse, 2018).…”

Section: Implications For Sustainable Developmentmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…In 2022 alone, the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) reported more than 3,000 casualties from explosive remnants of war, which include UXO and abandoned explosive ordnance, across 15 countries and numbers of UXO are increasing due to ongoing conflicts such as in Ukraine (Cluster Munition Coalition, 2023;UNMAS, 2019). UXO has negative long-term impacts on public health, livelihoods and ecosystems in contaminated areas (Frost et al, 2017;Hofmann & Juergensen, 2017;Nguyen, 2020;Ounmany & Andriesse, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Detecting Vietnam War Bomb Craters in Declassified Historical KH-9 Satellite Imagery

Barthelme,

Darbyshire,

Spracklen

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Thousands of people are injured every year from explosive remnants of war which include unexploded ordnance (UXO) and abandoned ordnance. UXO has negative long-term impacts on livelihoods and ecosystems in contaminated areas. Exact locations of remaining UXO are often unknown as survey and clearance activities can be dangerous, expensive and time-consuming. In Vietnam, Lao PDR and Cambodia, about 20% of the land remains contaminated by UXO from the Vietnam War. Recently declassified historical KH-9 satellite imagery, taken during and immediately after the Vietnam War, now provides an opportunity to map this remaining contamination. KH-9 imagery was acquired and orthorectified for two study areas in Southeast Asia. Bomb craters were manually labeled in a subset of the imagery to train convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for automated crater detection. The CNNs achieved a F1-Score of 0.61 and identified more than 500,000 bomb craters across the two study areas. The detected craters provided more precise information on the impact locations of bombs than target locations available from declassified U.S. bombing records. This could allow for a more precise localization of suspected hazardous areas during non-technical surveys as well as a more fine-grained determination of residual risk of UXO. The method is directly transferable to other areas in Southeast Asia and is cost-effective due to the low cost of the KH-9 imagery and the use of open-source software. The results also show the potential of integrating crater detection into data-driven decision making in mine action across more recent conflicts.

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Section: Implications For Sustainable Developmentmentioning

confidence: 89%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detecting Vietnam War Bomb Craters in Declassified Historical KH-9 Satellite Imagery

Barthelme,

Darbyshire,

Spracklen

et al. 2024

Preprint

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show abstract

“…Although UXO clearance constitutes a major development challenge and is Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 18 of Laos (https://www.la.undp.org/content/lao_pdr/en/home/sustainable-development-goals.html), the problem has received little interest from scholars. Some studies focus on UXO and human security and development (Howe & Sims, 2011), the history of the bombing in Laos (Khamvongsa & Russell, 2009), and the livelihood development in the UXO contamination areas (Ounmany & Andriesse, 2018). This briefing examines the impacts of UXO clearance on wet rice production in Xieng Khouang Province, Northern Laos.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“… 1. The findings were derived from a research project, where data were collected from six structured interviews, five semistructured interviews, eight focus group discussions, and 194 household questionnaire surveys. See Ounmany and Andriesse (2018) for in-depth description of the methods. …”

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confidence: 99%

Impacts of Unexploded Ordnance Clearance on Wet Rice Farming in Xieng Khouang Province, Northern Laos

Ounmany

2021

Journal of Peacebuilding & Development

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The legacy effect of unexploded bombs on educational attainment in Laos

Guo

2020

Journal of Development Economics

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The Legacy of the Vietnam War: Making a Living amid Unexploded Ordnance in Xieng Khouang Province, Northern Laos

Cited by 5 publications

References 26 publications

Detecting Vietnam War Bomb Craters in Declassified Historical KH-9 Satellite Imagery

Detecting Vietnam War Bomb Craters in Declassified Historical KH-9 Satellite Imagery

Impacts of Unexploded Ordnance Clearance on Wet Rice Farming in Xieng Khouang Province, Northern Laos

The legacy effect of unexploded bombs on educational attainment in Laos

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