VietNamNet Bridge – Nearly 100 hectares of the artificial forests in A Luoi district have been chopped down by local residents for timber and farming, while local authorities have been powerless. The deforestation has made drinking water of hundreds of households severely polluted.

Forest devastated

One of the “hottest points” of the deforestation in A Luoi district is the 321 ward, somewhere between Huong Nguyen and Hong Tien communes. The red earth road linking the 49A highway to the ward 321 has been ploughed up by the trucks which carry timber on the road every day.

What Lao dong’s reporters could see in the ward 321 after one hour of walking on a track through the forest, was the wild land plots.

Big timber boards had been carried away before the reporters arrived. The forest did not have trees. It only had burnt tree roots and the piles of small timber planks which were put on the ground, waiting to be carried away.

Tien, a local resident, who was seen collecting the timber planks, said that big timber boards have been taken by other people. “We just try to pick up small planks to sell to brick kilns. A cubic meter can be sold for 500,000-800,000 dong,” he said. “If I work hard, I can earn 150,000-200,000 dong a day.”

Also according to Tien, the forest areas all have their “owners” already who have the right to collect timber on their land, and no once can encroach on others’ “territories”.

Ho Xuan Kho, Chair of the Huong Nguyen Commune People’s Committee, has admitted that local residents began chopping down trees and burning the forest in late 2010. To date, more than 30 hectares of the forest have been burnt. Timber has been exploited and carried away for sale, while people have brought new cajuputs to plant on the devastated area.

Kho said that the commune people’s committee has set up a taskforce in charge of preventing forest crimes. However, to date, the taskforce has just captured several buffalos which were used to carry timber. The taskforce cannot seize timber and punish the violators, because this is beyond its power.

In fact, the people, who chopped down trees and burnt the forest, are from other localities. Rangers and policemen also tried to block the people to illegally exploit the forest, but the people still return to exploit timber underhand.

“We have also worked out with the Hong Tien commune People’s Committee, asking them to instruct the residents in the commune not to try to illegally exploit the forest. However, no improvement has been made,” he said.

Not only 321

In fact, Lao dong’s reporters have found out that the deforestation for timber and cultivating land not only occurs in the ward 321, but also in many locations of the A Luoi district.

For the last six months, since a new road was open to serve the border patrolling and people’s welfare, people have been rushing to the A Bia area in Hong Bac commune to chop down trees to get timber for sale and land for cultivation. The A Bia hill is an important historical site of the Thua Thien-Hue province, which once witnessed the days of the resistance against the US imperialist.

There one can see the forest areas along the tourism route to the A Bia hill which have been burnt to the ground, and a lot of people growing corn and rice.

According to the Hong Bac People’s Committee, to date, more than 20 hectares of forests have disappeared. The local authorities have caught red-handed violators in 95 cases. However, people have not paid the fines because they do not have money. With the limited knowledge and the high demand for earning for living, people still try to chop down trees for money.

Source: Lao dong