WHERE WE REPORT


Project December 20, 2022

Sacrificing Forests for Economic Development

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Almost 90% of the forest area in Dak Doa township and two communes, Glar and Tan Binh of Dak Doa district in Gia Lai province in Vietnam’s Central Highlands, will be obliterated to give way to the 517-hectare Dak Doa Complex, which will include a golf course and residential and resort facilities.

The Vietnamese government has approved this project, which is owned by FLC Corporation, one of Vietnam's largest conglomerates. However, FLC has been facing a financial crisis since its president, Trinh Van Quyet, was arrested for manipulating the stock market.

This project will investigate how the authorities have taken advantage of legislation to legalize the project, despite dire warnings from scientists about its potentially negative impacts on the local environment, community and livelihood, especially of the local ethnic minority.

After a series of resort-real-estate development projects mushroomed across many other regions in Vietnam, this affliction has started to spread to the Central Highlands.

The forests of the Central Highlands (including five provinces: Gia Lai, Kon Tum, Dak Lak, Dak Nong and Lam Dong) are indispensable in the livelihoods of ethnic minority people. They play an important role in maintaining biodiversity, providing water resources and tempering the climate not only for the highlands but also for coastal provinces in central Vietnam, as well as the whole Mekong Delta.