In-depth
Central Highlands tradition destroying precious forest
  • | dtinews.vn | November 11, 2010 05:06 PM

>> Illegal loggers operating right under the nose of authorities

>> Loggers put up fierce fight

Hundreds of households in a commune in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak are illegally knocking down forest to build houses in line with an age-old tradition.

The illegal activity originates from an outdated concept that, in order to receive children’s gratitude, parents must build houses for their children when they get married. Therefore, the families in Ia Khuol, Chu Pah District are destroying forests to abide by their belief.

Rare timber piled under stilt houses

Ia Khuol is a commune where, as the state tries to improve forest protection and bans timber exploitation, local people are blatantly cutting down trees and pile them under their houses.

When arriving to villages in Ia Khuol Commune, timber can be seen piled under many stilt houses. People are holding onto rare timber such as Huong, Trac and Lim. Some use wood to make tools such as troughs for pigs, gates or anti-soil fences.

The timber is logged and then transported to homes by oxen. Local residents keep the wood under their stilt houses so that when their children mature and get married, it can be used to build them houses. “Able people can take axes to log timber. Those who are unable build temporary houses, some use bamboo for the house construction,” a local shared.

Dinh Chom, from the Fatherland Front Board of Tover Village and Forest Protection Board of Ia Khuol Commune, said the long-standing habit of villagers has unintentionally facilitated illegal logging.

“If we do not come to forests, where will we get wood? Not only people in our village cut down trees, but also those in Hoa Binh and Ha Tay communes do this, particularly Kinh people. Many times, I have taken violators to the commune authority for punishment,” Chom shared.

“We have to build houses for our children, so that they will express their gratitude to us.
This will help children to remember their parents after they die, which is a sign of gratefulness to their ancestors,” he further elaborated on the tradition.

Village leaders logging as well

From a distance, it can clearly be noticed that watershed forests have been destroyed, leaving low-quality wood lying behind. This is among the causes resulting in natural disasters over the past years. Not only villagers, but also local leaders reserve timber.

Dinh H’Leo, head of Tover Village, has logged the most timber here. Timber is not only piled under his stilt house but also under a rice store in the house.

Talking about this, H’Leo said, “I bought these Huong timber trees from kaingins at over one million VND each.” The explanation is completely contrary to Chom’s statement that it is very difficult to find such rare wood.

A leader of Ia Khuol Commune living in Broch Village said, to build a consolidated house, his family had to go to jungles to log timber because forests nearby have been destroyed. “I plan to build another house and I have collected enough timber from forests and sawed it already. I only need to hire buffaloes to take it home,” he said said proudly.

He also said that people in Kach Village destroy forest the most because they take wood for reserves and sell it to loggers as well. Rare wood such as Lim, Huong, Hen and Trac are sold at very low prices of just VND700,000 (USD35) per tree and VND120,000 (USD6) per plank.

“It is very easy to buy wood as you only need to book several days in advance. Many people who want to buy wood to build houses also come to Kach Village. Earlier, herds of oxen pull wood from forests for sale every day. At that time, it was very suitable for journalists to take photos. But now, we don\'t see it as often." he noted.

When DTiNews reporters asked whether the commune authority was aware of the ongoing logging a leader said, “They know, of course. They permit me to log but do not give the nod to many others.”

Tran Quoc Nghi, Chairman of Ia Khuol Commune People’s Committee clarified that, “People still have wood in their gardens and they will log it when they prepare to build houses. Cutting down trees in the forest is an illegal activity.”

Larger trees are reserved for funerals

Wood crossing the ditch is also cut from forests

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