Gia Lai (VNA) - Due to insufficient management, hundredsof hectares of forest in Gia Lai province have been illegally converted todomestic housing and agricultural land.

The misuse of forest land has worsened over the past severalyears, making it difficult for authorities to persuade households to relinquishtheir encroached land, as households cited “lack of farmland.”

Back in 2002, the Gia Lai People’s Committee handed 1,570 hectaresof forest to Tan Tien One-member Co Ltd (based in HCM City) to be used in thedevelopment of industrial materials plantations, short-term agriculturalproducts and animal husbandry in Ia Dreh Commune. The project was expected tostart in 2003 and finish by 2010, with total investment reaching over 21trillion VND (925 million USD).

However, just four years into the project, by 2007, the companyhad failed to ensure progress, leaving vast tracts of land unused. The Gia LaiPeople’s Committee decided to reclaim, and handed 1,450 hectares to Krong Pa districtfor management. The remaining 119 hectares were still under the management of TanTien company.

While district authorities never made any plans to utilise thisforestland, many households in the vicinity in dire need of farmland – mostlyof J’rai ethnic minority – encroached into the forestland, converting theunused forestland into houses and agricultural land.

Over 10 years, 120 households have encroached on nearly 100hectares of forest land.

At the moment, there are still 78 households still refusing torelocate or return the illegally encroached land.

According to reports, the small ‘community’ established in theencroached land was quite remote; one has to cross dozens of kilometres offorest to reach it.

Due to its remote location, people’s living conditions are notablylow. Most seriously, children there don’t get to attend school.

More forest areas are still being destroyed to make room forfarming activities at the moment of reporting.

Ksor Gut, 1963, in Krong Nang commune ofKrong Pa district, said that before, his family owned some small fields,however, they were flooded as the results of the construction of Ba Hahydropower plant.

Withoutknowing any thing better, his family wasted the entirety of the compensationmoney, he said. And then, in 2007, he moved his family here to ‘clear’ about 2hectares of forest, turning them into farmlands.

“It’sbeen a decade now, the rice and cassava fields yield subsistence income andbarely help us not starve. If the state wants me to return, I hope I will getsupport in production land, otherwise, I can’t,” Gut said.

TaChi Khanh, Vice Chairman of the Krong Pa district People’s Committee, admittedthe current quagmire was caused by “lack of oversight and insufficientmanagement,” adding that the social policies that help to prevent forestencroachment is lacking while local people’s demand for agricultural land ishigh.

Accordingto Khanh, pursuant to government’s policy regarding the ‘closing up of forests’and forestry sustainable development, the forest area which was handed to KrongPa district will be transferred over to the Minh Phuoc One-member JSCheadquartered in Quy Nhon city, Binh Dinh province.

Authoritieswill ‘resolutely’ relocate those households encroaching on land under the TanTien Company’s management.

Duringthe process, “both the company and the district will provide households with financialsupport,” Khanh added.-VNA