VietNamNet Bridge – The Vietnam River Network (VRN), a well-known environment protection organization, has officially petitioned to remove the Dong Nai 6 and Dong Nai 6A projects from the hydropower plant development program, because the two projects are believed to have negative impacts on the society and the environment.

Biodiversity law not respected

The scientists of VRN, after considering the report on the possible impacts on the environment prepared by the hydropower plants’ investors, have come to a conclusion that the projects violate the biodiversity law.

The Article No. 7 of the law clearly stipulates the prohibited behaviors, including the building of the works and houses within the severely protected areas of the sanctuaries, unless these are the works for national defense and public security.

Since Dong Nai and Dong Nai 6A are not the works to serve the national defense or public security, the development of the two projects would violate the article No. 7 of the Biodiversity Law.

VNR has also pointed out that the two projects would violate the other articles of the law, because the investors plan to make some adjustments to the land area of the Cat Tien National Park, which is the nation’s programmed sanctuary.

Dong Nai 6 and Dong Nai 6A, with the total designed capacity of 240MW, are expected to be built on the main stream of the Dong Nai River by the Duc Long Gia Lai Group. Once the two plants are built, they would inundate a large forest area. Especially, it would encroach on a large area of 170 hectares of the Cat Tien National Park.

Environmentalists have also warned that the two projects would not only have negative impacts on the ecosystem, but would also cause a series of economic, social and cultural problems.

Environment reports “ignore” many problems

The scientists from VRN have found out that a lot of possible problems have not been mentioned in the investor’s revised reports on the possible impacts on the environment.

They said they could not find the map which showed the coordinates of the points where samples were taken for consideration.

The research team did not show the fact-finding routes, the number of samples taken, and the investigation time and analysis method.

It was not clear how it would affect the other species, when one or many individuals of some species bear negative impacts. The building of big water reservoirs and hydropower plant dams would stop the migration path of endangered individuals, while the serious impacts would not be fixed.

This is one of the big risks relating to the biodiversity of the Cat Tien National Park, which UNESCO is considering to recognize as the world’s natural heritage.

The investor committed to protect the forest flora by planting trees in allocated land areas and enriching the varieties in the forest. However, the report did not show the location for the forest re-plantation.

Meanwhile, there has been no proof showing that the Cat Tien National Park’s Board of Management and the local authorities of the three provinces where the projects are located have committed to allocate 372 hectares of deserted land to Duc Long Gia Lai Group to implement the afforestation project.

Thien Nhien