"Slicing up" the coastal protection forest of Ha Tinh

Hundreds of casuarina trees in the coastal protection forest area in Thach Khe commune were mercilessly cut down.

In the coastal protection forest in Bac Hai village of Thach Khe commune (formerly Thach Hai commune, Ha Tinh city), hundreds of casuarina trees, which were used as a wave and wind barrier along the coast, were cut down, leaving only the stumps. After being cut down, the trees were divided into sections and piled up. The large logs were sorted by the people and gathered at a location for transportation. It is worth mentioning that the exploitation process took place openly in broad daylight.

People are unloading and gathering logs to transport them away.

A trader who is purchasing casuarina wood here said: “These coastal protection forest areas are sold by local people. I buy casuarina from people by the tree. Here, there are more than 200 trees, so I buy them for 35 million VND. After paying the people, I hire people to unload them, then transport them to Thanh Hoa to sell for charcoal.”

Large quantities of wood were piled up on the roadside.

Not only at this location, but about 300m away, more than 500m2 ^of coastal protection forest was also cut down. These were mostly casuarina trees over decades old, many with diameters ranging from 20 - 35cm.

More than 500 ^{square meters} of coastal protection forest in Thach Khe commune was also cut down not long ago.

At the scene, the tree trunks were transported away, only the stumps were left, the sap was still fresh, showing that the trees had been cut down not long ago. Ms. Tran Thi Tang (Bac Hai village, Thach Khe commune) said: “These casuarina trees were planted here from the early 1990s until now. Now that the trees are big, people have the right to sell them. The price of casuarina is 200,000 VND more expensive per tree, eucalyptus is sold for 100,000 - 150,000 VND per tree. Our ancestors also planted trees on this land, so our descendants will come here to plant trees.”

Ms. Tran Thi Tang said that the casuarina trees here are decades old.

Mr. Tran Van Tri (Bac Hai village, Thach Khe commune) - a resident living near this location - added: "Each person occupies a piece of land here, then plants casuarinas; when the trees grow big, people sell them and plant more. For example, in this area of casuarinas, I see that they have just sold them a few days ago."

According to the reporter's investigation, the unauthorized exploitation of coastal protection forests in Thach Khe commune is not a rare occurrence. Currently, Thach Khe commune has a protective forest area stretching along 9km of coastline managed by the commune People's Committee. Paradoxically, most of these areas are casuarina trees planted by local people more than 20 years ago, before being planned as coastal protection forests. Due to historical factors, many inadequacies and difficulties have been caused in the management and handling of these violations.

The only remaining traces are bare tree stumps.

Talking with Mr. Duong Dinh Toan - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Thach Hai Commune (formerly Ha Tinh City), now Thach Khe Commune, it is known that according to regulations, areas belonging to coastal protection forests are not allowed to be exploited without a certificate from the competent authority or without land allocation. However, up to now, this coastal protection forest area has been invested by the people to plant trees, take care of and preserve, so the local authorities do not know how to handle it in accordance with the law...

The cutting down of coastal protection forests is carried out openly.

Mr. Hoang Quoc Huan - Head of the Ha Tinh Forest Protection Department added: Based on the regulations on exploitation of protective forests, forest owners must develop an exploitation plan and submit it to competent authorities for approval; requiring forest owners or forest product owners to legally own the land, recognized by law, while in the coastal protection forest area in Thach Khe commune, the land is managed by the Commune People's Committee, the forest is planted by the people themselves. On the other hand, the regulations on the scale of the area of exploitation of protective forests, the width of the strip is not more than 30m; clear-cutting in patches, the area of the patch is not more than 3ha, while the people who plant the forest want to clear-cut the entire area of planted trees. Thus, comparing with the regulations is wrong but handling it is very difficult.

Recently, the Ha Tinh Forest Protection Department has coordinated with local authorities to record and handle a number of cases of illegal logging of coastal protection forests, while also stepping up propaganda to raise awareness of forest protection in the community. However, to completely prevent this situation is still a difficult problem...