VietNamNet Bridge – Trees are considered as the lungs of Hanoi, but in the past three years, more than 300 trees were compromised by different ways, such as cutting down branches, dissecting the skins or pouring acid into the tree roots.
Hanoi’s rare trees protected by armours
Mr. Do Ngoc Hoang, Director of the Hanoi Park and Green Tree Company says that many people intended to kill trees on the street. He quotes some examples: someone chopped down branches of a big tree at No. 441 Kim Ma Street, drilled a hole at the foot of an ancient tree at No. 15 Ly Nam De and poured acid into it, dissected the skin of a sua tree and dusted salt around the foot in Vinh Phuc residential area, etc.
In the last three years, more than 300 trees in Hanoi were abused. There are two main reasons for the act. Some families that own houses fronting the street wanted to increase the space in front of their house to do business so they tried to kill trees on the pavement. In addition, many rare trees such as sua were cut off for profit.
The sua tree (Dalbergia tonkinensis Prain) has been listed as an endangered flora species in Vietnam and is on the international red list. Sua timber is rare and valuable, and as per local myth, can be used for spiritual purposes and treatment of some diseases in China. Sua trees, as a result, are the target of thieves.
Hanoi had to take many measures to protect the remaining sua trees, such as building concrete or iron fences around the trees.
In 2013, the Hanoi authorities keep numbering the trees in the city and marking them with code plates for better management.
Nam Son