According to the Dak Nong Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, more than 6.20 hectares of forest have been destroyed since the beginning of the dry season in October.
The MTV Dak N’tao Company is currently managing nearly 8,000 hectares of forest and over 3,000 hectares of forest land in the two districts of Dak Song and Dak Glong. The company has reported forest land being stolen by local people to grow coffee and pepper.
"More forest destruction cases have been seen recently," the company said. "The most recent case was found earlier this month with 8,590 square metres of forest being destroyed. We've co-operated with local police to arrest the illegal loggers who said that they wanted to take some land for farming."
Forest rangers in Dak Rmang Commune, Dak Glong District have also co-operated with the management board of Dak R’mang Protective Forest to detain over 10 people who were caught red-handed felling trees on an area of 8,446 square metres.
Speaking about measures to curb the problems, Phan Ba Nha, director of the MTV Dai Thanh Company which is managing over 18,000 hectares of forest and forest land in Dak Mil District said that they have had to send more teams to patrol the area.
"Our forest protection teams are now walking an average 10 kilometres and driving between 30-40 kilometres on motorbikes around our forest area every day to keep an eye out for illegal loggers," Nha said.
The Dak Nong Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development have asked local districts to set up stations that work round the clock to intensify patrols and checks along local forests for proper protection, especially during the coming Tet Lunar New Year Holiday.
