Quang Ngai (VNA) - A planned wood-pulp plant in Binh Sondistrict of central Quang Ngai province would destroy 50ha of nipa palm forest,causing pollution, loss of biodiversity, and irrevocable damage to locallifestyles, biologists and residents warn.

Biologist and vice rector of the Da NangTeachers’ Training College Vo Van Minh made the case against theplant in a petition to the provincial People’s Committee last week.

As planned, the province will allow the agricultural irrigationdevelopment company VNT 19 to build a paper mill in Long Phu village in thedistrict’s Binh Phuoc commune. The mill would require the construction of an85ha lake in the commune, of which 50ha are to be built where a century-oldnipa palm forest now stands. Construction on the plant will likely not beginfor two to three years, as ministries and departments conduct assessments onthe planned facility. 

Local residents said they rely on the forest for survival. NguyenNgoc Minh, 70, said he grew up with the nipa palm forest, and it creates amajor income for some households living around the forest.

“Local residents still fish in the forest and collect leaves ofnipa palm for house building. We could earn 300,000 VND (13.3 USD) each dayfrom fishing in the area,” Minh said.

“The forest creates a ‘green’ landscape and shelter for aquaticfish, shrimp and oyster. It also protects our farming land from erosion andsalinity,” he said, adding that the forest had sheltered the army’s soldiersand guerillas during wars in the 20th century.   
Vo Van Minh said that 400 households in the area rely on theforest for income from fishing and leaf collecting.

Nguyen The Nhan, chairman of the Binh Phuoc commune People’sCommittee, said the province had asked the company to replant an area of forestequivalent to which would be cleared to build the lake. Theprovince proposed a 25 billion VND (1.1 million USD) payment from the companyfor the replanting.

Minh said the province should conduct an assessment of theenvironmental impact on nipa palm forest and coastal mangrove swamps in Binh Sondistrict before approving an industrial project.

Minh, who is head of Environment Biological Resource TeachResearch Team (DN-EBR), said the team, in co-operation with the Centre ofBiodiversity Conservation, GreenViet, a NGO, had surveyed the biodiversity inthe nipa palm forests and mangrove swamps in the district and found themextremely rich.

“Seventy five species of flora and fauna were found on total 120haof nipa palm forest. The 100-year-old forest area is also a safe shelter for 26migrant bird and waterfowl species. Almost 90 per cent of aquatic animals andfishes in the coastal area are grown in the ecological system of nipa palmforest before moving to the sea,” Minh said.

The controversy over the wood-pulp plant comes as the regionstruggles to balance conservation with economic development. According tolatest report from the provincial agriculture and rural development, theprovince has 197ha of coastal mangrove forest, nearly 60 per cent decrease from2002.

In 2015, the province grew 45.7ha coastal mangrove forest in threecommunes of Binh Phuoc, Binh Dong and Binh Duong in the district under theClimate Change Resilience and coastal mangrove swamp project.  

But re-growth projects can’t keep pace with the destruction offorests. Last month in Binh Son district, a microorganism, Sphaeromaterebrans Bate (a mangrove-boring isopod) killed 32.4ha ofmangrove.-VNA