At dawn, Ms. Chu Thi Huong (58 years old, Dong Cong village, Chau Binh commune, Quy Chau district) had to go into the forest to work in nurseries. Her job was to clear grass, with a salary of only 100,000 VND/day. Although the salary was cheap, Ms. Huong said that she was lucky to have a job. Having no fields or forest land, Ms. Huong, like many other households in Dong Cong village, had to work for hire to make a living. Her children had left to work far away, so Ms. Huong lived alone in a rickety wooden house next to National Highway 48. "If we don't work for hire like this, we don't know how to make a living. It's so hard," Ms. Huong said.
Mr. Pham Quang Tan - Head of Dong Cong village said that the village has more than 170 households but only has a few hectares of forest for production. Therefore, many households do not have forest land or fields, so they have to work for nurseries and forestry farms. "Nowadays, most of the people in the village are old. The younger generation has to go to work for foreign countries after finishing school, because they do not know how to make a living in the countryside," said Mr. Tan.
Not far away, in Lau 1 village, Lo Van Giang and his wife and four children also do not have any land to work on, and have to rely on a few acres of their parents’ fields, but that is not enough to eat. With no jobs, both husband and wife leave their children with their parents and go to work for hire everywhere. “In the past, there were still bamboo shoots in the forest, and during the bamboo shoot season, they could pick and sell them to earn rice to eat. Now there are no more bamboo shoots, because the forest has been cleared, so there is almost nothing to cling to for a living…”, Giang said with a sigh.
Having no land to make a living, while thousands of hectares of forest land are being assigned to Co Ba Forestry for management and production, makes people angry. In 2013, about 1,000 people in Chau Binh went into the forests managed by the forest farm to cut down trees and take over land for production. The Provincial People's Committee then had to issue a decision to reclaim 1,135 hectares of forest land from the forest farm and hand it over to the people. However, most of this area is natural forest, not allowed to be destroyed for acacia plantation, the rest is on people's land. Having no land for production, many people have to wander around to work for a living, while the acacia forest land surrounding the village is all assigned to the forest farm for management.
In 2017, Co Ba Forestry continued to allocate more than 300 hectares of land, part of which had been settled by local people so it could not be divided for production. The good land for production was planted with acacia trees, which had not yet reached the harvesting period so it had to wait. Co Ba Forestry currently manages 5,000 hectares of forest land, including 1,100 hectares of acacia and rubber forests. According to the roadmap of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee, by 2023, the forestry must return 900 hectares of land to the commune to divide among the people.
Mr. Kim Van Duyen - Secretary of Chau Binh Commune Party Committee said that the locality has a gemstone mine that is likened to a treasure in the house, but the people's lives are still very difficult. After the whirlwind of searching for red stone, poor Chau Binh is still poor. During the process of exploitation by enterprises, the people have almost no benefit from this gemstone mine. More than 10,000 people in the commune, of which about half are Kinh people from the districts in the lowlands who went to the new economic zone, came to work as forestry workers since the 1960s to have children, still live in difficulty. "The most difficult thing is the land for production and business of the people, without land, people have to go abroad to work for a living. Many criteria on poverty reduction, infrastructure, and culture are also difficult to implement," said Mr. Duyen.
During the red stone fever in the early 90s, some households in Chau Binh were lucky to become rich overnight because they found red stones. However, they only lived in luxury for a short time. “Many people think that Chau Binh people are lucky because they have a precious stone mine, but it turned out to be a tragedy. The red stone fever caused people to abandon their land and rush to find luck. Every hill and stream bank was dug up and turned upside down to find red stones. After that, it took many years of renovation to be able to continue farming. Meanwhile, the few lucky ones who found red stones now live in poverty for many reasons,” added the Chau Binh Commune Party Secretary.
Nghe An has rich and diverse mineral resources, including many types of minerals with economic value and potential such as white marble, tin ore, gold, lead - zinc, iron ore, precious stones, cement limestone, cement clay, sand and gravel, landfill, minerals for construction materials, etc.
In recent years, the province's policy has been to limit the licensing of mineral exploitation, in addition to essential minerals such as land for leveling, sand, gravel, and construction stone. Along with that, the province has also strengthened measures and solutions for state management; clearly assigned authority and responsibility to each level, each sector, and locality in protecting and managing minerals... In addition, Party committees and authorities at all levels in the province have also paid attention to leading, directing, and issuing many documents guiding the implementation of State regulations on mineral management, protection, and management of mineral activities, organizing and synchronously implementing solutions, closely coordinating with socio-political organizations and local people to actively participate in the management of mineral exploitation, processing, trading, and transportation activities; gradually bringing state management of minerals in the province into order.
It is undeniable that mineral exploitation activities have made an important contribution to the overall economic development of the province. However, some mining enterprises are irresponsible towards the environment and local people, causing serious consequences. Violations in mineral exploitation activities still occur frequently.
A leader of Quy Hop district said that the activities of mineral mining enterprises in the area in recent times have caused many inconveniences to local people, making them afraid when they see enterprises coming to mine. “In theory, the local people should have a prosperous life if they are rich in mineral resources. However, it seems that mining activities are making the lives of residents worse because of dust, air and noise pollution,” he said.
A former leader of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment said that mineral exploitation activities have very specific impacts on the environment. Unlike other industries, mineral exploitation can destroy geological structures and landscapes, creating large waste dumps or reservoirs. Not to mention the situation of landfill landslides, ground subsidence, dust pollution, water sources... directly affecting the lives of local residents. Meanwhile, for each enterprise, the first goal when participating in any field is economic profit. And without strict management and supervision by local authorities, environmental issues will certainly be "traded off" by enterprises for their own interests.
“In the coming time, we need to aim to ensure that the lives of local people with abundant mineral resources are abundant. We cannot let the current paradox happen: the richer a locality is in minerals, the more difficult and struggling its people are,” added the former leader of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment.