Resettled villagers in Gia Lai Province in the Central Highlands have destroyed 13ha of protected forest in Sa Thay District, neighbouring Kon Tum Province, over the last few months because of a shortage of arable land.

Dip Village used to be located on the banks of the Se San River. The 166 households, with a population of 738 people, were forced to move 2km away to make way for construction of Se San 3 and Se San 3A hydro-electricity plants in 2002.

All the villages’ farm land was swallowed up by the plants, said Nguyen Hong Tanh, chairman of Kreng Commune in Chu Pah District, Gia Lai Province.

"For many generations, local residents earned their living by fishing, planting crops and breeding livestock and poultry. In the new village, they had land to live on but no land to live off. They had no choice but to resort to the forests as a means to make a living."

As many as 50 per cent of households in the village live below the poverty line, and the district does not have spare land for residents to farm, according Tanh.

"Moreover, the areas which residents cleared for cultivation were bamboo, so it will not affect the forest much."

Chairman of the Chu Pah District People’s Committee Huynh Van Dy said that authorities in Chu Pah and Sa Thay districts had met many times over the issue, but so far no action had been taken.

"We asked Sa Thay District to let the villagers continue using the land they cleared, but they did not agree," Dy said.

Officials in Chu Pah District also looked at 500ha of forest in Laly Commune, and decided to use about 100ha of bamboo forest as farming land for Dip villagers.

"We asked the provincial People’s Council for their agreement, and we will complete all legal procedure for residents’ land-use rights as soon as possible," Dy said.

Meanwhile, deputy chairman of Kon Tum People’s Committee Dao Xuan Quy said: "In principal, Gia Lai Province authorities are responsible for taking care of their residents’ farm land, and the way their residents cleared protected forest in our territory is not acceptable."