Decades After the Conflict: RENEW’s Integrated Model for Post-War Land Release and Community Recovery in Quang Tri, Vietnam

Abstract

The end of armed conflict does not mean the end of its consequences. In Quang Tri Province, Vietnam, explosive remnants of war continue to affect land use, livelihoods, human security, disability, and community development more than five decades after major hostilities ended.

Project RENEW, established in Quang Tri in 2001, represents a long-term, locally based response to these persistent effects. Its work combines explosive ordnance survey and clearance, land release, risk education, survivor assistance, rehabilitation, disability support, and measures that strengthen community recovery.

This experience shows that clearance alone cannot resolve the legacy of war. Sustainable recovery requires a broader transition from hazardous and restricted territory toward safe land use, restored livelihoods, rehabilitation of affected people, and renewed opportunities for local development. Land release therefore has both a technical and a social meaning: it removes immediate danger while restoring the relationship between communities and their territory.

The presentation examines RENEW’s integrated model and highlights the temporal dimension of post-war recovery. Some consequences persist across generations, requiring long-term coordination between mine action, rehabilitation, social support, and local development. Quang Tri may offer lessons for other societies facing enduring post-war similar legacies.