VietNamNet Bridge – Sua trees (Dalbergia cochinchinensis - Alstonia) on Hanoi’s Xuan Thuy Road have been put on with “armours” to be safe from loggers.

Nearly 30 sua trees on Xuan Thuy Road in Cau Giay district have been covered by iron fences which are two meters high.

The local authorities praised the idea as an “invention” while experts said that that method would kill the rare trees, make the street ugly and lead loggers right to the trees they want.

Some said that though the rare trees are assigned to local governments to protect sua trees but the authorities of Cau Giay district should not protect the trees that way.

“This road is long and beautiful but it becomes ugly when only sua trees are covered by iron fences,” said a local man.

Sua timber is rare and valuable, used for spiritual purposes and for disease treatment in China. In Vietnam, sua is considered a first-class timber, as it is hard, durable, easy to work with and resistant to insects. A teak or rosewood bed is priced at $500-600. The same bed made of sua timber costs at least $5,000.

Chinese merchants buy sua wood at over $100 per kilogram and Vietnamese traders pay $80-100 per kilogram. Chinese buyers also purchase sua timber sawdust at a high price. That’s why the unauthorized harvest of sua trees has developed across Vietnam, particularly in the central and Central Highlands provinces. The problem arrived in Hanoi several years ago. Many sua trees have been cut off by loggers.

Hanoi authorities have taken many methods to protect the trees but the trees are still chopped off.

Sua trees in iron fences:

Lan Thuong