VietNamNet Bridge – The deforestation has not been stopped as promised by local authorities and forest ranger units. Vietnam’s forest coverage has dropped to less than 40 percent.

Local newspapers have repeatedly reported about the serious deforestation cases recently.

Vietnam has 13,118,773 hectares of forests, including 10,348,591 hectares of natural forests and 2,770,182 hectares of planted forests. In September 2010 alone, 1,553.68 hectares of forests were devastated and 5,364 hectares were burnt to the ground.

Lam Dong province alone witnesses 1,000 deforestation cases every year. In Loc Tan commune of the province alone, 16 hectares of forests were reportedly devastated within just two days in February 2011.

Doan Tat Chuan, Director of the Song Tranh 2 preventive forest’s management board, said that 3,500 people had to leave their homeland to give place to the hydropower plant project. In the resettlement area, they tried to set a forest on fire to get the land for cultivation.

“What should we do to earn our living if we don’t deforest?” the people questioned when they were asked why they tried to chop down trees.

The Vietnam National Television some days ago broadcasted a reportage showing people deforesting in the daytime. “Where are the local authorities’ officials and forest rangers?” reporter Nguyen Trung, the author of the reportage, raised a question.

Dan Viet some months ago reported that about 20 cubic meters of round wood were found on the Serepok River just within 5 days of December 2012, which meant that the trees were chopped down by illegal lumberjacks some days before who then tried to carry the timber to the lowland for sale.

The noteworthy thing was that the high amount of precious wood was found just in a 10 kilometer river section of Serepok which runs through the Yok Don National Park. Therefore, people had every reason to think that more precious wood would be found in the other 50 kilometer river section, if the competent agencies continued their investigation.

Especially, the illegally chopped down wood was discovered in the place which was just 2-8 kilometers far from the waterways checking station.

Doan Van Thien, an officer of the Yok Don National Park, has asserted that illegal lumberjacks have been existing in the forest rangers’ units, or they have been lending a hand to illegal lumberjacks to deforest and carry timber out of the forest.

The 11th Communist Party resolution decided that the forest coverage in Vietnam needs to reach 42 or 43 percent by 2015, which means that it has only 3 more years ahead to fulfill the plan.

Experts have warned that this is really a difficult task, because the illegal lumberjacks could be anyone. They could be the professional lumberjacks who earn their living by illegally chopping down trees and selling precious wood.

They could also be the normal people, who have to leave the home land to unsuitable resettlement areas, where they have no other choice than firing the forest for cultivation. They are might be the high ranking officials of the local authorities who can earn money by turning a deaf ear to the deforestation.

Cong An Nhan Dan has reported that the Ha Tinh provincial police have prosecuted the people who felled the trees at the Vu Quang National Park. Lumberjacks were found as felling 464 pomu trees to obtain 700 cubic meters of wood. The deforestation here has become so serious that 8 pomu trees were chopped down in every one hectare of forest.

Compiled by Kim Chi