Desertification in Vietnam

What is the Issue?
Vietnam is having issues with desertification of its land. Vietnam is struggling to control this issue and because of this, Vietnam is now home to 90 million square meters of uncultivable land. This is 28% of the entire land mass which is now unusable. This major problem is being caused by uncontrolled forest exploitation and prolonged droughts as well as logging and slash-and-burn agricultural practices. Slash-and-burn agriculture is the practice of cutting and burning forests in order to create fields for agricultural uses or to create more pastures for livestock. This is partially due to ignorance of conservation because the people are destroying forests for economic gain right now in the present but they are not thinking of the impact it will have on the future. Of the 90 million square meters of land that is uncultivable, 50 million square meters of that is wasteland, 20 million square meters is seriously degraded and 20 million square meters of that is under the serious threat of degradation. One of the reasons slash-and-burn agriculture is such a problem is because the majority of the labor force in Vietnam is in agriculture. 51.8% of the labor force works in agriculture.

Reasons for the Problem
One reason for the desertification of Vietnam is a rising migration into forested areas. In June 2007, there was a rise in migration, especially to the provinces of Dak Lak and Dak Nong. The authorities in Dak Lak were concerned by the influx of people because these people were moving into the forests and making livings by cutting down trees. The Director of the Planning Office under the Dak Lak Settlements Committee, Pham Van Nagn said that "the situation is becoming uncontrollable." He said that the forests were in danger of disappearing and the government needed to step in and do something to stop this issue. The flood of immigrants began in 2005 and from 2005-2007, authorities recorded 2,321 new people moving into the province. According to the Dak Lak Forest Management Department, nearly 1 million square meters off forest is now occupied for cultivation by immigrants. In the first four months of the immigrants being there, at least 200,000 square meters of forest were cut down.

Desertification is also a problem because with the destruction of the forests, Vietnam is made vulnerable to natural disasters. In September of 2009, Vietnam was hit by Typhoon Ketsana. The desertification had taken away natural defences that Vietnam had with the forests and because of this, there was major flooding damage. It was one of the biggest floods that Vietnam had had in decades. 32 people were killed because of the major flooding, 32 lives which could have been saved if desertification was not such a problem in Vietnam.

What is being done?
So far, not much has been done to resolve the problem. Government officials are aware of the problem and are trying to make it more well known and educate people about the issue, but so far no plan of action has been put forth to prevent more desertification and reverse the desertification that has already occurred.

Sources:
Cotthem, Willem Van. "Increasing Desertification in Vietnam." Desertification. N.p., 29 June 2007. Web. 26 Oct. 2010. http://desertification.wordpress.com/2007/06/29/increasing-desertification-in-vietnam-google-alert-nhan-dan/

"Migration and Deforestation in Vietnam." Desertification. N.p., 29 June 2007. Web. 26 Oct. 2010. http://desertification.wordpress.com/2007/06/29/migration-and-deforestation-in-vietnam-ccd-colaition-olyecology/.

"Vietnam: Efforts to Combat Desertification." Desertification. N.P., 20 June 2008. Web. 26 Oct. 2010. http://desertification.wordpress.com/2008/06/20/vietnam-efforts-to-combat-desertification-google-nhan-dan/

"Vietnam." The CIA World Factbook. N.p., 20 October 2010. Web. 26 Oct. 2010. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/vm.html