Background to the MOSAIC project

A bitter heritage, a challenging future

In addition to the threats posed by poachers in pursuit of their ivory or the loss of their forest habitat by the encroachment of agriculture, elephants, along with people living in the area, also face the ever present danger of unexploded ordinances, which still litter these mountains 30 years after the end of the American war. And these bombs are not the war's only legacy.

The forests of central Vietnam took a direct hit during the decades of armed conflict that engulfed the country from which they have never fully recovered.

Chemical assault and lingering effects
Large areas were wiped out when the Americans dropped millions of litres of Agent Orange, and other defoliants containing lethal toxins such as dioxin.

The brunt of this chemical assault was borne by the Central Annamites, where, in the foothills were concealed a web of jungle paths the world later came to know as the legendary Ho Chi Minh Trail. Huge trees were destroyed along with the wildlife which inhabited them. Decades later, much of this forest has still not regenerated and soil deterioration and destruction have resulted in massive problems.

Across the whole of the Central Annamites, the residual effects of Agent Orange are still being felt, not only by the children born each year with deformities, but by the forests and freshwater ecosystems in which the toxins have seeped.

Present demands and ambitious plans
Along with the lingering legacy from the war, present demands and ambitious plans for the future are exerting their own pressures. Despite determined efforts on the part of the province to conserve its natural resources by banning logging and turning management over to local communities, Quang Nam's biodiversity is still in danger of being destroyed.

Understandably, the government's top priority is to alleviate the country's grinding poverty, but the push for development has comprised the integrity of the natural environment. The construction of intrusive and disruptive roads have fragmented the forests and cornered wildlife in pockets too small to sustain them.

Ongoing degradation
Meanwhile, these same roads give easy access to hunters and poachers profiting from the trade both domestic and international, of wildlife. Furthermore, the forests of the foothills, where most of the larger mammals reside, are being cleared to make way for cultivation by local farmers who still practise slash and burn agriculture.

As a result, the annual floods and subsequent soil erosion have increased, leaving not only the people but the landscape even more impoverished and in greater peril. Pursuit of the power needed to fuel economic development is increasing the pressure on the freshwater resources as Quang Nam's mountain rivers and streams, which support a number of specialized species, are slated for hydroelectric development.

The Ho Chi Minh highway brings mixed blessings
An example of the dilemma facing the government as it tries to improve the lives of the people while at the same time preserving the province's biodiversity is the construction of the Ho Chi Minh Highway.

Built along a lifeline of jungle tracks that played a pivotal role in enabling Vietnam to eventually win its liberation after more than a century of colonialism, the Ho Chi Minh Highway is seen as essential for the development of rural and remote areas that often lack even the most basic amenities.

In it wake, however, the highway also brings with it an influx of people encroaching on the forests with new settlements and over exploiting the natural resources. The future of the landscape depends on the successful mitigation of the highway's inevitable negative impact.