Vietnam News 11 Aug 09;
HCM CITY — Forest rangers and the local administration should preserve HCM City’s Can Gio mangrove forest using scientific forestry methods, ensuring the trees grow naturally, a city official said.
Nguyen Trung Tin, deputy chairman of HCM City People’s Committee, told the forest rangers and Can Gio District officials during a trip there last Friday that the forest is the city’s "green lung".
"It also shields the coast from the intrusion of salt water and strong winds," he said.
Trees in many parts of the forest have died of pests been destroyed by people trying to catch peanut worms that live in the marshy area.
Experts say the mangrove trees in Can Gio, a reforested area, should be trimmed when they reach the age of 15 or 16 to create space for other trees to grow and check the spread of pests.
In some areas, however, this has not been done, stunting the trees’ growth.
Tin praised the authorities for handing over the upkeep of the forest to local residents late last year.
The district chairman, Nguyen Huu Hiep, said 137 families maintain around 26,000 ha, generating a stable income from the forest and climbing above the poverty line.
Forest rangers and other officials manage the remaining 4,398ha.
Nguyen Dinh Cuong, director of the city Forest Guard Station, said thanks to handing over the forest to the residents, the incidence of logging and other illegal activities has decreased by 15 per cent compared to last year.
Le Van Sinh, director of the Can Gio forest administration committee, said hundreds of students come to the forest to do researc. They include foreign students, mainly from Japan.
He said that the city plans to earmark 50ha in Tam Thon Hiep Commune to develop an environmental study camp for students.
The Viet Nam Forestry Sciences Institution, the Southern Forestry Planning Sub-Institution, and the HCM City Agriculture and Forestry University are also carrying out four research projects in the forest.
The Can Gio mangrove forest, the world’s only regenerated reserve, is a symbol of Viet Nam’s efforts to recover forests and lands devastated by toxic chemicals and bombs the US used during the war. — VNS
