Upland rice cultivation on the mountain in slash and burn (swidden) method
Vangvieng, Laos

Only 30-40 percent of the native trees planted on Arbor Day each year by the Forestry Department survive, with the rest being neglected due to a lack of local resources.

“After planting the trees we need more resources to enable us to take care of them for four to five years until they are mature enough to survive,” the Director General of the Forestry Department, Mr Veunvang Boutalath, said yesterday.

“Only commercial plantations such as teak and eucalyptus, which benefit from local and international investment, are kept in good condition, while the native trees, which contribute to environmental sustainability, are being ignored.”

He said most native trees such as hardwood, dipterocarpus and ornamental varieties planted each year on Arbor Day were not cared for, despite the department initially paying a lot to select the plants as well as holding tree planting ceremonies in each province.

This year the government will provide 10 billion kip for reforestation and the maintenance of trees planted on Arbor Day on June 1.

“We hope that this financial support will ensure that 70-80 percent of the trees planted in the future survive,” Mr Veunvang said.

The department will plant more trees around the country to increase native forest coverage, but better maintenance of the young saplings is needed to keep them alive.

Some provinces will use the same area to plant trees on Arbor Day this year as they did last year. Those planted last year died from a lack of water, flooding or lack of protection against livestock, he explained.

Mr Veunvang said that last year the department initially planned to plant 20,000 hectares of native and commercial tree species, but in the end planted almost 35,000 hectares because of the increasing number of commercial plantation investors.

This rainy season the department aims to plant 25,000 hectares of native and commercial plantations, and it is again expected that the number will exceed expectations.

By 2010 the government aims to reforest 70 percent of total land area. To this end, the forestry department is trying to raise awareness among farmers and local people of the need to reduce slash and burn farming and illegal logging, and is training forestry employees to strictly implement forestry management practices.

“There are two areas we need to focus on in managing the deforestation problem. One is getting locals to use the land sustainably, and another is to control the way businessmen are taking advantage of existing forest areas,” Mr Veunvang said.

The department will encourage people to comply with government strategies in selecting appropriate areas to plant trees. It will also attempt to manage commercial plantations to assist farming families and offer training in reforestation principles and practices, he said.

In the past many provinces have cleared protected forest areas to create farmland and commercial plantations.

He called on all farmers and government authorities to be attentive to proper forestry management to help Laos to have a greener future.

“People don't yet realise how far-reaching the effects of forest destruction are. If we don't look after our natural forests we will eventually suffer from a shortage of water, we will sustain more damage from natural disasters, temperatures will become more extreme, and we can expect more droughts and flooding,” Mr Veunvang said.

By KHAMPHONE SYVONGXAY
(Latest Update May 10 , 2007)