Gia Lai loses forest land to illegal rubber plantation
Nguyen Anh Vu, head of the Management Board for Protection Forests in Ia Puch Commune said 359.8ha of forest land had been destroyed and 200ha of which has been replaced with illegal rubber plantation.
Two years ago, they had already noticed dozens of people going to the forest to collect rubber but they were not able to find out which company destroyed the forest. The employees said they were from other districts and provinces.
"Those rubber trees look like they were planted from 2008 to 2010," Vu said.
Over 1,200ha of forest land under the Management Board for Protection Forests in Ia Puch Commune has been destroyed. The authorities have identified the culprits who destroyed 870ha. Most of the land was encroached by local people.
For the rest of the land, an investigation in 2019 was carried out and concluded that the managing companies did know about the deforestation but failed to file a report to the authorities.
In 2019, the police in Gia Lai prosecuted Nguyen Thi Huong and Phan Quoc Huy for irresponsibility. Huong and Huy were directors on the Management Board for Protection Forests in Ia Puch Commune from 2008 to 2012.
The forest land was allocated to Quoc Cuong Gia Lai JSC, Quang Duc Company, Chu Prong Rubber Company and Trung Nguyen Rubber Company. However, the authorities said they had not been able to find the culprit.