Illegal logging is rampant in Vietnam, according to a new report from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development's General Forestry Department.
As reported by Viet Nam News, there have been 2,463 illegal logging cases across Vietnam in 2010. Action to address logging has resulted in 44 forest rangers being injured and four deaths.
Illegal logging was worst in the northern provinces of Bac Kan, Lang Son and Thai Nguyen; the central provinces of Quang Binh, Quang Nam and Khanh Hoa; and the Central Highland province of Dak Lak. according to the report.
but according to the FAO, Vietnam has seen a reversal in net forest loss in recent years due to reforestation: forest cover increased by roughly 50 percent between 1990 and 2010, including 2.5 million hectares of new planted forests. But while plantations are expanding, old growth forests have continued to fall, with primary forest cover plunging 79 percent over the period. Today about 80,000 hectares of primary forest remains in Vietnam.
Primary forest - the most biologically-rich and carbon dense form of forest - is a top conservation priority for Vietnam. Nevertheless primarily forest cover declined by 5.9 percent over the past five years.