People still try to chop down trees for money.

Regenerating forests in Thua Thien-Hue chopped down completely

September 24, 2011  about Uncategorized

LookAtVietnam - 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

On the Brink: Only 80 Wild Elephants Remain in Vietnam : EcoWorldly

Only 80 wild elephants are left in Vietnam, according to Vietnam’s state-run newspaper, Lao Dong. Experts at the Vietnam Forest Management Agency workshop, held earlier this week, reported the elephant population in Vietnam is in rapid decline. .

In 1975, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development estimated that up to 2,000 wild elephants were left in Vietnam. In 1992, the Vietnam elephant population dropped to between 400 and 600. Today, it is estimated only 80 elephants remain in the wild. The decline is being blamed on illegal wildlife trade, poaching and deforestation.

Sadly, poaching for ivory and bones is reportedly on the increase. And the increased demand for illegal ivory drives the price of the ivory up. While Vietnam banned the trade of ivory in the 1990s, a loophole allows stores to sell ivory left in inventory.

Over the years, human conflict, population and economic growth have all contributed to the decline in the elephant’s natural habitat. As its habitat shrinks, the elephants have reportedly become more aggressive. Several incidents of elephants charging villagers and destroying homes and crops have been reported. Elephants have been driven away or killed as a result of human-elephant conflicts.

Asian elephant photo Julie Langford

New colony of Rare Monkey's 'found' in Vietnam

London (PTI): In what could ignite fresh hopes for the species' survival, researchers have discovered a new population of one of the world's rarest monkeys in the remote forests of northern Vietnam.
In fact, the extremely rare Tonkin snub-nosed monkey, so-called due to its unusual and distinctive up-turned nose, dwindled to the brink of extinction because of loss of habitat and hunting by humans. And, in the 1980s, it was even believed to be extinct.
Now, a team at Fauna and Flora International has made the discovery of the new colony of 20 monkeys, including young species, in a remote forested area of Vietnam.
"All recent indications suggest we have a fantastic opportunity to secure this population and significantly increase the chances of survival of this species. Most significant is all the excitement this has generated locally and the support that is coming from the local Vietnamese government agencies and Caritas Switzerland.
"With almost half the world's primate species under threat from extinction, we must do everything we can," Paul Insua-Cao, who led the team, was quoted by leading British newspaper 'The Daily Telegraph' as saying.
According to the researchers, the monkeys were more wary of people issuing warning signs to each other, suggesting they may be the target of hunters.
"When I saw the Tonkin snub-nosed monkeys... I was overjoyed. There is still time to save this unique species, but with just 200 or so left and threats still strong, we need to act now," team member Quan Ba said.
In interviews with the researchers, villagers near the border between Vietnam and China indicated that there could be another larger group of the moneys in the nearby forests.

Delhi will soon get another forest

As part of its "Green Delhi" drive, Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit formally inaugurated a new city forest to come up at Chhawla village on the bank of Najafgarh drain in southwest Delhi on Saturday. On the occasion, over 160 children went about planting 1,000-odd saplings in the designated space. Some 12,000 more saplings are to be planted at the site over the next few weeks.
In all, the Delhi government plans to set up nine forests in different parts of the city during the drive.
Speaking on the occasion, Ms Dikshit said that Delhi was one of the greenest capitals in the world. Delhi would soon have 32 city forests, she said. Nine of them were set up last year whereas 14 were in existence before that. With this, Delhi’s green cover would go up beyond 20 per cent of its total area, she said.
Chhawla city forest is being developed on a 12-hectare piece of land which belonged to the department of irrigation and flood control.
This has now been handed over to the department of environment which has constructed a boundary wall around the land.
The location was chosen keeping in view the need for urban recreation and quality green spaces in the city from the point of view of the environment.
It would also act as potential habitat for resident and migratory wildlife in urban and nearby areas. Among tree species that will find a home at the new forest are neem, jamun, arjun, kajalia, amaltas, shisham, begonia, bakain etc.

“Asian Bill Gates” $200mil project in Vietnam

Around 300,000ha of bare hills in Vietnam will be covered with green thanks to an afforestation project, which is said to be the largest so far. The project was initiated by Steve Chang, who is called the “Asian Bill Gates”.
Dean Wu, General Director of InnovGreen, which is implementing this project in Vietnam, talks about the project.
Why did you think of planting forests in Vietnam?
We see that Vietnam has vast vacant, unproductive forest land. Vietnam has many unused natural sources and it lacks capital to invest in this field.
There are three advantages in Vietnam that are good for this project. They are good weather, spacious unused forest land, and an abundant workforce.
We also see that the global environment is getting hot and we lack trees, but in many developing countries where there are rich resources, they invest in building factories. So we want to be an example of a business that makes the environment green.
What is the purpose of this project? Where will the project be carried out and how did you choose the places?
We selected areas where there are many unused bare hills. We will grow forests in five provinces: Quang Ninh, Lang Son, Nghe An, Kon Tum, and Quang Nam. Last year we planted eucalyptus in Quang Ninh and some trees are now over 5m high.
We plan to build a 40ha nursery with a yearly capacity of 5 million saplings. This year we will grow forests in all five above provinces.
The project aims to create jobs for local people. In Quang Ninh, we brought jobs for over 1,000 farmers during their leisure time.
Based on this project, other projects to produce bamboo products, pulp, paper, and cardboard for export will be implemented and they will create more jobs for local residents and contribute to hunger eradication and poverty reduction, improve the environment and mitigate natural calamities.
In the past 30 years, our Chairman, Steve Chang, has followed and has succeeded in protecting network security and now he wants to test his ability in environmental protection.
Last year Trend Micro’s profit was $300 million. If we relied on afforestation, when would we be able to obtain such profit? Our goal is building a social business, a green business to protect the environment, not seeing profit as top priority.
The eucalyptus forest in Quang Ninh Province
Some scientists say growing forests with only one kind of tree will lessen the biodiversity of that region. What do you think about this? And how will your project contribute to Vietnam’s biodiversity?
I think that opinion is correct. But we are trying to diversify trees in our forests. We will invite experts to help us in this field.
Some modern technologies will be used in this project. What are they?
We are using the latest GIS and GPS technologies to supervise and manage the forests. We also stick chipsets to some trees to watch the growth of trees scientifically. Advanced technologies are applied at our nursery to reduce environment pollution and raise the ratio of living trees.
Steve Chang is the Chairman of Trend Micro (Taiwan), one of the world’s leading groups in developing anti-virus software. In 1988 Steve Chang established Trend Micro with $5,000. In 2006, Trend Micro’s turnover was $850 million and employed over 2,000 employees in 137 countries and territories. Trend Micro accounts for 55% of the Asian market for anti-virus software. He is called the “Asian Bill Gates”. He was on the list of the 22 most powerful persons in Asia in 2001 released by ZDNET Asia. He was presented the Asian Star Award in 1999 by Business Week, and called The Founder of 2004 by Asia Business Leader Awards.
Steve Chang recently decided to invest $255 million in afforestation and processing wood in Vietnam through InnovGreen Group. This firm is the largest foreign investor in Vietnam’s forestry sector.