VietNamNet Bridge – Thousands of people have been in a state of anxious suspense as an afforestation yard sprayed herbicide in big quantities to treat the vegetation cover before the afforestation.

According to Nguyen Xuan Thanh, Deputy Chair of the Xuan Trach commune people’s committee, the 6,000 local people in the commune have lodged a complaint about what the Bo Trach afforestation yard did in Ngam Hien area.

The people’s committee later found that the forests in the area are very steep (15-20o), located near streams, which may cause landslide in the downstream, thus affecting the local environment. Therefore, it has requested the afforestation yard to stop doing that.

However, the yard still tried to clear another 15 hectares in steeper area. In late August, the Xuan Trach commune local authorities once again had a working session with the afforestation yard, requesting to stop the work.

However, the request of the local authorities was ignored. Just one day later, some people saw the yard’s workers spraying herbicide in the area of the watershed.

The commune’s authorities came to a conclusion that the spraying of herbicide seriously violated the laws, harmed the water resources and affected the local people’s daily lives. They have called on competent agencies to take investigation and supervise the afforestation yard’s behaviors to be sure that no more actions which may harm people’s health would be taken again.

A lot of local people have pointed out that the afforestation yard, reasoning the planting of cajuput, has chopped down old trees to exploit precious wood. A man said that he saw the big trees, hundreds of years old, being cut down.

After chopping down the trees, the wood has been sold, while small tree branches and leaves have been set on fire for treatment before acacia trees are planted.

“A lot of trucks rolling on the roads carry the wood away everyday, while no local official appears to stop them,” he said. “However, if you goes to the forest and chops down a tree, you’ll be punished immediately.”

Dao Huu Lam, the legal officer of the Xuan Trach commune, said the provincial authorities plan to develop an irrigation project on Khe Sen area. However, he fears that after the afforestation yard cleared the forests, there would be no more water source for the irrigation work.

According to Nguyen Xuan Thanh, there are 6,000 people in Xuan Trach commune, but there are only 600 hectares of agriculture land and 2,000 hectares of forest land.

In the area, people dream of having enough clean water for daily life. In general, they don’t have enough water for irrigation works. Therefore, they have been living in very difficult conditions.

Lam said the hard living conditions there explains why local people still try to go to the forests exploiting wood to earn their living, though they know it is illegal.

What the local people want is that they can get forest land allocated to protect, organize the production, or at least, get jobs at afforestation yards. Lam said a reasonable policy would better help protect forests than any punishments.

K. Chi