The illegal felling of trees in protected forests is rampant in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong.
Many parts of 30,000 hectares of forest leased out recently by local authorities in Lam Dong for protecting the forest, planting trees, developing eco-tourism projects, and intermixed cultivation are being cleared by the lessees.
The trees are being felled by local residents and enterprises to sell as timber or to set up plantations.
Until August, provincial authorities had leased out forest land to 190 enterprises.
A recent inspection by the Lam Dong Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) of 140 projects being carried out by the enterprises showed alarming levels of deforestation.
The inspection found one instance of up to 75 percent of leased forest land being cleared illegally.
Some of the violators include: the Lam Son Thuy Company, which cleared 128 hectares; the Thang Hoa Company, 68 hectares; Da Dang Company, 70 hectares; Son Hoang Company, 63 hectares; Tan Dai Thanh Company, 41 hectares; and My Hong Company, 17 hectares.
The department has also said that many enterprises have used bulldozers to illegally flatten the forest, including Ba Le Company and Thien Quang Company.
Many enterprises that had been allocated forest land for preservation at the Yahoa Forest in Don Duong District have planted cassava or coffee instead.
Loopholes galore
While the destruction of forests is apparent, authorities are finding that holding those responsible to account isnot an easy matter.
DARD Vice Director Le Van Minh says : “It’s very hard to penalize the enterprises because of inadequacies in the leasing contracts.
The lease mentions the land, but does not mention the forest.”
Another DARD official says that the deforestation problem is compounded by illegal occupation and logging.
In April, the Lam Dong People’s Committee had handed 129 hectares of forest in Lam Ha District to Mat Da Ltd. Co. to manage, protect and plant forest trees.
However, many residents had occupied 42 hectares of the leased land, and asked the company to compensate them with VND80 million (US$4,800) per hectare.
The illegal residents even threatened the company’s workers who were planting trees.
In Lam Ha District, the Phuong Nam Eco-Tourism JSC was given 300 hectares of forest land to protect, but a large area was occupied by 100 households from Dak Nong Province to cut down trees and plant coffee.
In the province’s famous resort town of Da Lat, a section of forest was handed to the Cat Minh Enterprise to carry out an eco-tourism project.
However, some of the land had been cleared by residents to plant coffee.
Director of Cat Minh Enterprise, Tran Thi Tuoi, says she could not carry out the project because the land was still occupied.
She said she had complained many times to the provincial People’s Committee, but the situation remained unchanged.
Free market forest
A recent visit by Thanh Nien to the forest Section No. 613 in Bao Lam District found the land could be easily sold to anyone.
Many camps were built on a vast deforested area where coffee had been planted, and the land was on sale.
The area was part of 331 hectares which had been handed to the Gia Linh Trading and Services Ltd. Co. for a period of 50 years to protect, and plant forest trees intermixed with industrial trees.
One of the residents at the site, Nguyen Van Huong, said he was a staff member of Gia Linh Company, who was given 15 hectares of the forest after contributing VND500 million ($30,000) to the company.
Huong said he was hiring workers to plant coffee, but he was ready to sell four hectares at a price of VND50 million ($3,000) per hectare, adding that he would hand over the land after planting the coffee.
“The land with coffee plants can surely be sold for double the price next year,” he said.
At a nearby hill, many forest trees had already been cut down to plant coffee.
The land was also on sale at a price of VND240 million ($14.500) for an area of four hectares.
Owner of the land, Tung, another staff member of Gia Linh Company, said he would sweeten his offer with a piece of land beside a stream for free.
The chief of Lam Dong park rangers, Nguyen Thanh Binh, says DARD had located and handed the forest section No. 613 area to Gia Linh Company in June, but the company wasn’t approved by other authorities.
Without the approval, it was illegal for the company to have cut down the trees, he said.
Thanh Nien Daily had last week exposed similar destruction by erstwhile protectors of a world heritage national park in the central province of Quang Binh.
Reported by Lam Vien |
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