Forests stripped for farmingTags: vietnam illegal operations landuse planing overuse local people government
Lax management of an old growth forest in the central highlands province of Lam Dong has been blamed for widespread logging and land exploitation.
Deforestation in the environmentally valuable Yahoa forest over the past few years has been a tough problem to solve for local forest owners and rangers.
The authorities are fighting a losing battle for the forest which is in Don Duong District in Lam Dong Province and borders with Ninh Son District of Ninh Thuan Province.
Destruction
When Thanh Nien visited the area, groups of up to 10 people were seen with chainsaws to fell trees and transport lumber in broad daylight.
One man at a logging camp, T., said his workmates were pulling wood at Hill M. while he prepared a meal for 10 people.
According to T., they were all lumber workers and residents of Quang Son Commune.
Every week, they exploit about 20 cubic meters of wood which earns them about VND3 million (US$187.5) each after costs.
He estimated that hundreds of people with cattle-drawn carts and motorbikes enter the Yahoa forest for logging every day.
The older trees, too big to put your arms around, had all been felled and now younger trees, 10-20 centimeters in diameter, were the main target.
Mung, a resident of Yahoa Village in Ma Noi Commune, Ninh Son District, pointed out 10 motorbikes carrying logs past a shallow spring near Ts camp.
They transport wood through the forest in the daytime but no one stops them to check, he said.
Ta Thia Son, head of Yahoa Village, said, The forests here have owners but they are like forests without owners.
People have been destroying them for many years now.
Growing Cassava
Aside from illegal logging in uncontracted areas, many companies leasing parts of the Yahoa forest from Lam Dong Peoples Committee have been hiring people to fell trees and level the land to cultivate cassava.
In one section, dozens of people use chain saws to cut down young trees.
Ung, a worker, said, Hao Quang Company in Ho Chi Minh City hires Thuong, from Lam Ha District, Lam Dong Province, to fell trees and level the forest to grow cassava.
Ung and his group have instructions to fell more than 20,000 small trees (8-15 centimeters in diameter) and about 3,000 big trees.
Small trees are sold to Lam Dongs capital of Da Lat for VND8,000-15,000 (50-94 cents) each.
Other groups were cutting trees into sections to supply local paper mills.
Vui, an employee from Truong My Quang Company in Ninh Thuan Province, said Hao Quang Company hired his company to plow the land and grow over 400 hectares of cassava during the next two months.
In the next few days, the company will send bulldozers and plowing machines here to level the site, he said.
At Subzone 329, Lam Dong-based Hiep Doan Company continued plowing the land and hired tens of people to grow cassava on 200 hectares.
Tough battle
Pham Hien, chief of the Forest Protection Agency of Don Duong District, acknowledged that he cannot prevent the violation of the forest protection and development law at Yahoa.
Protecting the forest is the job of the Yahoa Forest Management Board (the forest owner) but in recent years the agency has seldom alerted the forest protection agency of illegal exploitation, he said.
According to Hien, it is difficult and dangerous to wipe out unlicensed loggers.
A patrol requires at least 10 people, while 30 or more are needed to pursue the loggers.
When the task force appears at the edge of the forest, the wood exploiters alarm each other and run away, Hien said.
Once we seized a fairly large quantity of illegal wood and hired vehicles to transport it but no one dared to drive the trucks for fear of revenge, Hien said.
Le Manh Khiem, head of the Yahoa Forest Management Board, said unlicensed loggers are too cunning for the small forest protection teams to be effective.
He pointed out that two forest rangers had been killed in fights with loggers, and between late March and mid-April three died in accidents transporting illegal wood.
He said the management board would invite businesses receiving or leasing forest land from the provincial government to establish a joint-sector task force.
He said he hoped the forest violations would decrease.
In areas of the forest that can be reclaimed for farming, Khiem said companies can either pay a fee to exploit the timber on the land or they have to give the wood to the forest management board.
Cat Quoc Khanh, head of the Lam Dongs Forestry Bureau, says the provincial governments policy to transfer parts of the Yahoa forest, and Don Duong Forest Plantation to businesses aims to improve poor, economically inefficient forests.
Businesses are then responsible for planting rubber or cajuput forests, for example, for commercial purposes.
Forests look disorderly and barren in the early stage, but they bring economic benefits, he said.
A forestry expert in Ninh Thuan said the policy to transfer land and forests was not wrong but without proper management, forests will be wiped out and resold for other purposes.
© Thanh Nien Daily (Vietnam) -- 2008-03-14
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