Society
PM attends inauguration of upgraded statue of President Hồ Chí Minh in Santo Domingo
1.
 |
| A semi-submerged forest in a hydropower dam in Bình Phước Province. — VNA/VNS Photo Đậu Tất Thành |
Viet Nam News
HCM CITY — The Bình Phước People’s Committee has decided to plant thousands of hectares of forests in areas semi-submerged by hydropower dams and irrigation reservoirs.
The south-eastern province has zoned 438ha in the Thác Mơ hydropower dam, 332ha in the Cần Đơn hydropower dam and 337ha in the Phước Hòa hydropower dam for such semi-submerged forests.
The forests are expected to help prevent land erosion, prevent silt build-up and provide habitats for mammals, birds, reptiles, and other species.
In 2004 the Cần Đơn hydropower plant was built and hundreds of hectares of semi-submerged areas became submerged deep under water in the rainy season when the storage peaked.
But in 2012 the Bù Đốp District Forest Protection Bureau began to grow gáo nước and cajeput trees on 30ha.
With the trial planting proving a success, the provincial People’s Committee gave the green light to expand cultivation in the semi-submerged area.
Now, six years later, the semi-submerged forest has expanded to more than 100ha and become an eco-tourism site.
The province has in all around 2,000ha of semi-submerged areas, most of them without any vegetation, according to the province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. — VNS
