VietNamNet Bridge – Illegal logging and other forestry violations are on the rise and the operations of criminals are becoming more complex, leading to concerns that forestry authorities need more help in protecting forests.

Officers from the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry's Directorate of Forests handed out about 2,000 forestry violations last year, nearly 200 more than the previous year, according to Tran The Lien, director of the Nature Conservation Department under the directorate.

The violations occurred in 23 out of 26 national parks across the country, with hot spots including Yok Don National Park in the Central Highlands and Cat Tien National Park in the south-eastern region, said Lien.

Illegal loggers and poachers usually targeted areas with high levels of bio-diversity or border areas between provinces that are difficult to police.

"The criminals use small vehicles including bicycles and three-wheeled vehicles to carry forestry products along narrow and meandering paths that are difficult for authorities to trace," said Lien.

Cat Tien National Park's director Tran Van Thanh said he was increasingly concerned about poachers who used firearms to hunt animals and attack forestry officers. Last year, the park reported 147 violations that involved the use of firearms, with officers seizing 19 hunting guns. However, most violators who used firearms for poaching activities only received fines.

Director of Yok Don National Park Truong Van Truong said he shared Thanh's concerns over attacks on forestry officers.

"On average, there was one forestry violation in the park each day," Truong said.

"Last year there were nine cases in which violators did not follow the orders of forest officers and even attacked them."

In 2010 alone, the local authority fined 397 violations, seizing 93 motorbikes used to transport illegal products and detaining four people involved in two criminal cases.

The 115,000-ha Yok Don National Park was a hot spot for forest violations because of its prized trees in the forest whose timber fetches high prices.

In addition, many of the 42,000 people living in seven communes around the forest were poor, and had little option but to derive their incomes from the forest as resources in buffer zones had run out, Truong said.

"Consequently, local residents enter the conservation area to illegally exploit the resources," he said.

Truong said living conditions in the area had seen few improvements during the past several years, and five-year-old plans to expand irrigation works to facilitate local agriculture production have not been carried out.

Truong said forestry officers could not deal with the problem alone and urged local authorities at communes to boost co-operation.

In addition, forestry protection forces needed to improve consultation with local authorities about forestry management and protection.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News