Afforestation in return for hydropower plants ignored

Though afforestation to compensate for the area of forests engulfed by hydropower plants is a must, Vietnam has still seen thousands of hectares of natural forests disappear in the past six years.

Part 1: Afforestation in return for hydropower plants ignored
Part 2: Loopholes in law abet hydropower deforestation

In addition, of the small amount of areas afforested, only 60 percent of trees have survived.

Apart from the exhaustion of rivers, hydropower plants have brought in more damage to the environment and their natural surroundings.

Re-planting trees merely for form’s sake

Six years ago, Vietnam had almost 20,000 hectares of natural forests in 29 provinces nationwide before it was turned into 160 hydroelectricity projects, according to a report by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

But only 735 hectares of forests have been afforested, meaning 1/27 of the forests lost.

Based on governmental regulations, it is obligatory for investors of hydropower projects to afforest the areas damaged by the plants. But it is of little avail in reality.

At the Song Ba Ha hydropower project in the central province of Phu Yen, 13 hectares of forests have been replanted, but only 60 percent of trees survive, said Cao Huu Loc, deputy director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) in Phu Yen.

It fails to meet standards on the density of live trees, which is at least 80 percent, and the quality of growth, he added.

Similarly, Quang Nam Province in the central region had 1,000 hectares of forests eaten up by hydropower projects in 2011, but only 66 hectares have been replanted, or a fifteenth of the area lost.

Environmental experts complained that the loss of forests happened in reality but replanting them is just for show.

Besides the dereliction of duty by authorities of the hydropower projects, another reason for this lack of follow-through is the low investment for afforestation as required.

The government rules it costs VND15 million (US$721) to replant a hectare of forest, but the real cost must be at least double, said Dr. Bao Huy, chief of the Agriculture and Forestry Department at Tay Nguyen University.

Immeasurable loss

Nguyen Thai Hoc, deputy chief of the Phu Yen province delegation to the National Assembly, said the government should regulate hydropower plants to pay expenses for forest planting based on the profits they earn.

The government should also add the true value of forests, land, rivers, water, and ecology into the calculation, as the share of the home province in the project, he added. That way, the projects will pay investments for provinces to replant forests.

In other terms, a hectare of replanted forest is incomparable to a hectare of natural forest, said Bao Huy.

Natural forest has other great and balanced values such as biodiversity of fauna and flora, ecology, and environment that an afforested area cannot duplicate.

The replanting of forests only offers the value of wood and green coverage, not biodiversity.

Realizing this will help hydropower plants share full responsibility with the community in return for the loss of natural forests, said Duong Chi Cong, DARD director of Quang Nam Province.