VietNamNet
Bridge – Soil erosion has become rampant
in most river banks and river islands in southern Vietnam, with the exception
of Long Hoa Island in Tra Vinh Province in the Mekong Delta.
Locals
on the islands have discovered an ancient method to prevent erosion:
reforestation. Trees surrounding an island help expand it gradually by creating
a flooded alluvial plain, which then becomes a fishing area for locals to earn
their living thanks to an abundant amount of sea products such as fish and
shellfish.
Tran
Huu Chi, 55, a farmer living on Long Hoa Island in Chau Thanh District, pointed
towards a forest growing up from the flooded alluvial plain surrounding the
island and said, “We farmers joined hands to cultivate indigenous trees to
create that forest.”
“Thanks
to the forest, we no longer lose land to soil erosion. It has even helped
expand our island by some ten kilometers, a new area which has become a habitat
for fish and shellfish.
“The
alluvial plain has become the food pot for our farmers,” Chi said, implying
that it is a means of living thanks to the abundant amount of sea products
located there.
All
river islands, river banks and alluvial plains in the Mekong Delta were once
completely covered with aboriginal plants such as mangroves and nipa, or a kind
of coconut tree that grew in flooded sites. Soil erosion only appeared when the
forests were chopped down.
Over
ten years ago, Long Hoa Island suffered from soil erosion, Chi said. It
worsened following a storm in 1997. Numerous houses fell into the river. Even
Chi’s house, which is located over a hundred meters from the river’s edge, was
affected, said Nguyen Van Nhanh – deputy chairman of Long Hoa Commune’s
People’s Committee.
Once,
when Chi rowed his small boat to adjacent islands to catch fish and crab, he
recognized that the islands with trees surrounding them weren’t suffering from
erosion, and that they were even expanding. Chi began planting trees and one
year later, soil erosion had almost stopped.
Other
farmers worked with him to nurture trees around the island and it became a
green forest as it is now, Chi shared.
A few
years after beginning the reforestation, a flooded alluvial plain has formed,
acting as a door step of the island opening towards the river. Numerous kinds
of sea creatures such as fish, shrimp and shellfish grow there, making the area
fishing field where locals earn their living.
“From
bare land suffering severe soil erosion, Chi has become a pioneer in planting
trees to protect his land and other locals have imitated his successful model,”
said Long Hoa’s People’s Committee chairman, Le Van Tri.
Not
only does Chi protect land, but he has even dug ponds to keep shrimp in, and
his business gives him a net profit of over VND100 million every shrimp season.
“Now, I
am protected from both erosion and poverty,” said Chi. “Reforestation is the
eternal rule. We just follow the natural rules to survive.”
VietNamNet/Tuoi
Tre
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