A bridge across wetlands in U Minh Ha, the southernmost province of Ca Mau’s vast flooded forest.

A recent study by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in the southernmost province of Ca Mau concluded that there were 13 million tons of peat under the U Minh Ha forest, more than 4.2 million tons of which could be exploited.

 At a conference last month, the Mekong Delta province announced a plan to extract the 13 million tons over a ten-year period beginning in 2010. Ca Mau authorities said the project would bring total profits of VND1.5 trillion (US$84.2 million) over the period.

 Department Director Tong Le Thang said at the conference that peat could be found 0.4-1.5 meters thick on around 14,000 hectares of forest. Trees currently grow on more than one third of that land, he said.

 The department said it planned to exploit peat on roughly 4,000-5,000 hectares of that land. Thang said the peat would be used to produce fertilizer and that the area exploited would be transformed into farms to expand cultivation and fish breeding in the region.

 He added that companies undertaking any peat exploitation project in U Minh Ha would be required to evaluate the environmental impact of the extraction and also leave a 20- centimeter layer of peat once done.

 However, experts have said the 4,000-5,000 hectares designated for the project falls within a 25,000-hectare protected area that had been set aside to help revive several threatened endemic species.

 ‘Disaster’

 U Minh Ha, one of the Mekong Delta’s three flooded forests, is home to more than 250 native plants, 182 bird species, 40 mammals, more than 20 reptiles and amphibians, not to mention many fish and insect species.

 Huynh Bien Cuong, a retired provincial official, said it was not worth exploiting the forest for a decade only to earn money equal to the province’s annual budget.

 “VND150 billion a year is not much. Ca Mau has many other ways to raise money, why destroy the forest for peat?”

 Cuong said the profit would be dwarfed by the time, money and effort it would take to recover the forest afterward.

 Agricultural Professor Vo Tong Xuan, one of the Mekong Delta’s most respected authorities on the local environment, said Ca Mau Province should leave the forest as it is.

 “If not careful, the exploiter could disturb the layers of alum, which would in turn cost a lot of time and money to clean up so as not to harm the eco-system.”

 Nguyen Huu Chiem, head of the Natural Resources and Environment Management Faculty at Can Tho University, agreed with Xuan, saying the project would be a “disaster” for U Minh Ha.

 Chiem advised Ca Mau Province authorities to carefully calculate the pros and cons of the project.

 “The loss of the eco-system would be a terrible thing to exchange for the VND1.5 trillion that the peat can bring,” he said.