Biodiversity and the natural environment in central Vietnam are being
increasingly degraded due to economic development, according to a recent
study by the Vietnam Environment Administration's Biodiversity
Conservation Department.
The study, part of the Greater
Mekong Sub-region Biodiversity Conservation Corridors Initiative,
reviewed the impacts of macro-economic development on forests and
biodiversity in three central provinces of Quang Nam, Quang Tri and Thua
Thien Hue.
Serious environmental degradation during the
past 50 years has been blamed largely on the development of dams and
hydro-power stations, mining and illegal logging and hunting.
There are 86 hydro-power plants with total capacity of nearly 2,000MW
in the three provinces, noted the study, adding that each new plant
takes up valuable land, not only for space to built dam reservoirs but
also to resettle people displaced by the power plants.
This demand for land for power projects has put added pressure on
forests in the area, which have already long suffered from illegal
logging.
Forest loss due to illegal logging and fires are
still at high levels in all three provinces, according to the study,
with a total of 3,700 hectares of forest lost during the past decade.
Hunting was identified as the most significant threat to biodiversity at local nature reserves.
Circumstantial evidence indicates that hunting has intensified in
recent years, partly due to easier access to the area following the
construction of the Ho Chi Minh Highway but also due to a nationwide
trend which has seen the expansion of the illegal wildlife trading
network.
Deputy Director of the Vietnam Environment
Administration Nguyen The Dong said only a large-scale effort aimed at
striking a balance between social, economic and environmental needs
across the entire land could secure the area's natural wealth for the
future.
James Peters, Chief Technical Advisor at the
Greater Mekong Sub-region Environmental Operations Centre of Asian
Development Bank, said that to address the drivers and pressures of
changes, there is a need to streamline strategic planning processes and
facilitate cross-sectoral dialogue as well as identify sustainable and
low impact/high benefit development options.
This should
begin with establishing green economic accounting systems and
harmonising provincial land-use plans and tenure systems, said Peters.
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