Due to insufficient management, hundreds of
hectares of forest in Gia Lai Province have been illegally converted to
domestic housing and agricultural land, Viet Nam News Agency reported. The
misuse of forest land has worsened over the past several years, making it
difficult for authorities to persuade households to relinquish their encroached
land, as households cited “lack of farmland.” Back in 2002, Gia Lai People’s
Committee handed 1,570 hectares of forest to Tân Tiến One-member Co Ltd (based
in HCM City) to be used in the development of industrial materials plantations,
short-term agricultural products and animal husbandry in Ia Dreh Commune. The
project was expected to start in 2003 and finish by 2010, with total investment
reaching over VND 21 trillion (USD925 million). However, just four years into
the project, by 2007, the company had failed to ensure progress, leaving vast
tracts of land unused. Gia Lai People’s Committee decided to reclaim, and
handed 1,450 hectares to Krông Pa District for management. The remaining 119
hectares were still under the management of Tân Tiến company. While district
authorities never made any plans to utilise this forestland, many households in
the vicinity in dire need of farmland – mostly of J’rai ethnic minority –
encroached into the forestland, converting the unused forestland into houses
and agricultural land. Over 10 years, 120 households have encroached on nearly
100 hectares of forest land. At the moment, there are still 78 households still
refusing to relocate or return the illegally encroached land. According to
reports, the small ‘community’ established in the encroached land was quite
remote; one has to cross dozens of kilometres of forest to reach it. Due to its
remote location, people’s living conditions are notably low. Most seriously,
children there don’t get to attend school. More forest areas are still being
destroyed to make room for farming activities at the moment of reporting. Ksor
Gút, 1963, in Krông Năng Commune of Krông Pa District, said that before, his
family owned some small fields, however, they were flooded as the results of
the construction of Ba Hạ hydropower plant. Without knowing anything better,
his family wasted the entirety of the compensation money, he said. And then, in
2007, he moved his family here to ‘clear’ about 2 hectares of forest, turning
them into farmlands. “It’s been a decade now, the rice and cassava fields yield
subsistence income and barely help us not starve. If the state wants me to
return, I hope I will get support in production land, otherwise, I can’t,” Gút
said. Tạ Chí Khanh, Vice Chairman of the Krông Pa District People’s Committee,
admitted the current quagmire was caused by “lack of oversight and insufficient
management,” adding that the social policies that help to prevent forest
encroachment is lacking while local people’s demand for agricultural land is
high. According to Khanh, pursuant to government’s policy regarding the
‘closing up of forests’ and forestry sustainable development, the forest area
which was handed to Krông Pa District will be transferred over to the Minh
Phước One-member JSC headquartered in Quy Nhơn City, Bình Định Province. Authorities
will ‘resolutely’ relocate those households encroaching on land under the Tân
Tiến Company’s management. During the process, “both the company and the
district will provide households with financial support,” Khanh added.
Viet
Nam News – May 18 - http://vietnamnews.vn/society/376527/hundred-of-hectares-of-forestland-encroached-upon-in-central-highlands-province.html#oc4xmXE41iJaGGt5.99
Hundred of hectares of forestland encroached upon in Central Highlands province
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