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

ABSTRACT

Laos was drawn into the Second Indochina War, making the country the most heavily bombed country on earth. Although the war ended more than four decades ago, unexploded ordnance (UXO) continues to kill and injure civilians. In many provinces UXO constitutes the major hindrance to socioeconomic development and obstacle to local people earning a decent living. The aim of this article is to examine the ways in which local people have developed livelihood strategies to survive in dangerous environments through the lens of sustainable livelihood perspectives. This article argues that livelihood improvements in Xieng Khouang Province should be characterised as a bottom-up phenomenon. UXO is still a major concern for the government and local people with respect to achieving development objectives. As the financial resources for UXO clearance are limited, education is a powerful tool for creating awareness of UXO risks among local people. The research suggests that more resources should be mobilised to deal with UXO problems.

KEYWORDS:

• Livelihood trajectories
• unexploded ordnance
• poverty reduction
• Xieng Khouang Province
• Laos

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers and the journal editor, Michael Barr, for their useful comments and suggestions.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. www.cia.gov/libary

2. http://www.la.undp.org/content/lao_pdr/en/home/sustainable-development-goals.html

3. “Landmine use ‘highest since 2004’ despite record clearance”, BBC, 23 November 2011.

4. US$ 1=8,182 LAK on 16 March 2017.

Additional information

Funding

This research received financial support from the International Scholar Exchange Fellowship (ISEF) Programme, 2016–2017, Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies.