The
government’s tree-felling project may have started in 2013 when the Hanoi
Department of Construction came up with the plan of “overhauling and replacing
urban trees in Hanoi during the period 2014-2015.” Or it may have started
earlier in 2010 with a government decree, called Decree 64.
* * *
May 14, 2010
June 11, 2010
The Hanoi People's Committee issues Decision 19/2010/QD-UBND enacting the “Regulation on managing the green urban trees, public parks, gardens, and zoos in the city of Hanoi” whose Article 3, point 2, stipulates that “the selection of trees... shall not damage or adversely impact the infrastructure beneath, on or over the ground, and shall be based upon the list of trees eligible to be grown in urban areas.”
The Regulation also includes Article 14 on “trimming, cutting and replacing green trees,” Article 17 on banned activities, including “wrongful or unpermitted trimming, cutting and replacing green trees” (point 2) and “growing trees in unconformity with urban planning or trees that are not in the permitted categories” (point 8).
Article 14
also provides that only in the following cases that tree felling is exempt from
license: trees that need felling immediately in case of emergency due to
natural disasters; decayed trees. A tree, prior to being chopped down, must be
inspected and the status quo must be documented with its snapshot taken.
November 1,
2013
The Hanoi
Department of Construction submits the Hanoi People’s Committee with Proposal
No. 8542/TTr-SXD, asking for the approval of the scheme of “overhauling and
replacing urban trees in Hanoi during the period 2014-2015”. The scheme will
later be referred to by bloggers as “Project 6700 green trees” for short.
Under the
scheme, the process of “overhauling and replacing urban trees” will take place
over two years in the following locations:
- 2014: 46 streets in Ba Dinh district, 60 streets in Hoan Kiem district, 25 streets in Hai Ba Trung district, 16 streets in Dong Da district.
- 2015: 07 streets in Tay Ho district, 05 streets in Thanh Xuan district, 09 streets in Long Bien district, 06 streets in Hoang Mai district, 06 streets in Ha Dong district.
Estimated cost for the project is 73.38 billion Vietnamese dongs. The total number of trees being cut down and/or replaced is 6708 on 190 streets.
November 11,
2013
The Hanoi
People’s Committee issues Decision No. 6816/QD-UBND, approving the scheme
drafted by the city’s Department of Construction.
January 25,
2014
The Hanoi
Department of Construction submits Proposal No. 718/TTr-SXD to the Hanoi
People’s Committee for the approval of “planning the system of trees, parks,
gardens and lakes in Hanoi until 2030, with a vision for 2050.”
March 18,
2014
The Hanoi
People’s Committee issues Decision No. 1495/QD-UBND to adopt the above proposal
by the Department of Construction.
August 20,
2013
The Hanoi
Department of Natural Resources and Environment submits Proposal No.
4585/TTR-STNMT-CCMT to the People’s Committee, requesting the approval of a
biodiversity conservation plan for Hanoi until 2030.
September 24,
2014
The Hanoi
People’s Committee issues Decision No. 4924/QD-UBND to approve the above
proposal by the local Department of Natural Resources and Environment.
November 4-5,
2014
More than 500
trees on Nguyen Trai street are felled to serve the high-speed railway between
Cat Linh (Hanoi) and Ha Dong. Many are big trees with diameters ranging from 50
to 80cm.
* * *
2015
January 29
150
mahoganies along the streets of Nguyen Trai (Hanoi) and Tran Phu (Ha Dong),
some up to 30 meters high with diameter of over 50 centimeters, are massively
cut down. The office in charge of chopping down these trees is the state-owned
Hanoi Green Tree company, and they does so at the request of the Hanoi
Department of Construction and with the prior permission of the Hanoi
authorities, who explain that trees must be chopped down to get more space for
the high-speed railway between Cat Linh (Hanoi) and Ha Dong.
January 30
In a document
numbered 695/UBND-XDGT, the Hanoi People’s Committee approves the January 14
proposal by the Department of Construction.
February 10
The
Department of Construction, in the implementation of “the guidance by the Hanoi
People’s Committee, as written in Document 695/UBND-XDGT”, requests some other
relevant offices to “socialize the replacement of trees that do not fit in the
category of urban green trees or meet required standards” on the 5 streets
mentioned above. “To socialize” is an euphemism for “privatization”,
“equitization”, or simply “doing together”. The Department also urges relevant
authorities to rapidly implement the guidance so that “all things are done
within May.”
So the
tree-felling project commences. Trees have been chopped down in different parts
of Hanoi starting in early March.
March 14
Trees
alongside Nguyen Chi Thanh, the street once elected as “the most beautiful road
in Vietnam”, are felled.
March 16
Journalist
Tran Dang Tuan sends an open letter to Nguyen The Thao, Chairman of the Hanoi
People’s Committee, suggesting a delay in cutting trees for more research.
March 17
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| Photo courtesy of VNN |
Reporter:
“You mean, the citizenry has not been consulted?”
Phan Dang
Long: “Do you mean we have to consult the people on everything? It’s just a
project to cut trees. I am asking you: If we have to consult the people about
everything, what is the point of electing the government?”
March 18
Regarding the
open letter from journalist Tran Dang Tuan, a spokesman for the Hanoi People’s
Committee says Mr. Nguyen The Thao, Chairman of the Committee, has instructed
the Department of Construction to “directly supervise the overhaul and
replacement of trees in the city and make sure that it complies with urban
planning and meets the requirement in urban management and development.” At the
same time, the Department of Construction is requested to “work closely with
the local authorities and the media to release information and create consensus
in the implementation of the project.”
March 19
On the same
day, three lawyers Tran Vu Hai, Nguyen Ha Luan and Le Van Luan co-signed an
urgent letter to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, requesting him to stop the
tree-felling project and seriously punish those who are involved and have
violated laws.
March 20
In the
morning, dozens of people launch a protest against tree felling in Hanoi.
In the
afternoon, the Hanoi People’s Committee hold a press conference on “Project
6700 trees”. Reporters raise dozens of questions, which demonstrates a public
concern about the massive felling of trees. However, Deputy Chair of the
People’s Committee, Mr. Nguyen Quoc Hung, does not answer any question. He just
says the Project is a good policy, only that “the impatience of the sponsors,
added with a lack of transparency in the implementation period, makes the
public unconsenting.
While all
reporters are asked to submit their official press card and official invitation
to attend the press conference, there is an individual introducing himself as
“a representative of the people” and praising the Project. This “representative
of the people” also criticizes the press for raising such questions.
March 21
A
spokesperson for VP Bank confirms to the press that VP Bank, as a sponsor of
the Project, only finances planting, not felling trees in Nguyen Chi Thanh
street, implying that they are not impatient as mentioned by the authorities in
the previous press conference. Another sponsor, VinGroup, also says they support
this Project at the request of the Hanoi authorities.
Many young
people in Hanoi begin to participate in the campaign “Tie a yellow ribbon
around each tree trunk”. Wherever the ribbons are tied, the police and civil
defense forces come and “confiscate” them.
March 22
In the
morning, many people join the Tree Hug event held by some civil society
organizations at Thien Quang lake. People take photograph and pose with trees,
singing, holding banners, wearing advocacy T-shirt, and calling to stop cutting
trees and protect the environment.
In the
evening, a group of people hold a commemoration ceremony between tree stumps in
Nguyen Chi Thanh street. The commemoration is aimed to pray for the “souls” of
the trees that have been chopped down so that they will rest in peace.
March 23
Professor
Pham Ngoc Dang, Deputy Chair of the Vietnam Association for Conservation of
Nature and Environment, even adds, “The project of Cat Linh-Ha Dong high-speed
railway does not mention chopping down the mahoganies alongside Nguyen Trai
street.”
According to
lawyer Tran Vu Hai, felling 6700 trees, including 500 mahoganies alongside
Nguyen Trai street, constitutes a violation of the 2012 Capital Law and the
government’s Decree 64/2010/ND-CP “on the management of urban trees.”
March 29
A rally called
Green Walk is held in Hoan Kiem Lake area. Hundreds of people are walking
around the lake, holding banners protesting the tree cutting and urging the
government to be transparent and accountable.
April 2
Five lawyers
Tran Vu Hai, Nguyen Ha Luan, Tran Thu Nam, Le Van Luan and Truong Chi Cong
write an open letter to the Hanoi People’s Committee and the Department of
Construction, urging them to be accountable for the felling of mahoganies
alongside Nguyen Trai street and the replacement of green trees in Nguyen Chi
Thanh street with cheap manglietia conifer.
April 5
Despite
strict police siege, around 50 people hold a bike from West Lake to Hoan Kiem
lake to advocate environmental protection and oppose the felling of trees in
the capital. They are obstructed and split by the police into small groups
before they reach the final destination at Hoan Kiem lake, where they are
disturbed by police and civil defense forces.
Under cold
rain, a group of 20 students cycle 10 kilometers around Hanoi in T-shirts
advocating for tree protection. This is part of their activities to raise
public awareness of environmental protection and preservation and to pressure
the government to be transparent and accountable.
April 12
About 200
people in Hanoi, including largely NGO workers, business staff, civil servants
and students, march around Hoan Kiem lake, chanting slogans requesting for
environmental protection, government transparency and accountability. The march
is organized by a Facebook group, For A Green Hanoi, which is considered to be
an “anti-state” organization because it is not legally registered.
April 15
At the
quarterly press conference, Deputy Inspector General Nguyen Duc Luong says the
Hanoi People’s Committee reported to the Government Inspectorate two days
before on the process of dealing with wrongdoings in the project of
“overhauling and replacing green trees in Hanoi.” However, he does not
elaborate on who commit the wrongdoing or how they will be sanctioned. Rather,
Nguyen Duc Luong repeats the rhetoric that “this issue will be settled” and
that Hanoi is still working on it.
April 19
The
unregistered group “For A Green Hanoi” organizes the second march around Hoan
Kiem lake.
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| Photo courtesy of RFA |
Blogger Trinh
Anh Tuan (aka. Gio Lang Thang – Wandering Wind), one of the admins of the
Facebook group “For A Green Hanoi”, is assaulted by plainclothes police. The
group calls for the third march which adds issues of violence and police
harassment to the agenda in addition to tree protection and government
transparency.
April 26
The third
march organized by the group “For A Green Hanoi” is suppressed by hundreds of
police and “civic order defenders”. The police arrest 22 people, including five
women in Vietnamese traditional ao dai, take them in a bus to the Long Bien
police station for interrogation, and try to accuse them of “causing public disorder”.
The detainees are released in the afternoon that same day.
May 6
Representatives
of the group “For A Green Hanoi” bring the open letter of April 2 composed by
lawyers to the headquarter of the Hanoi People’s Committee as a reminder to
them that there are questions they must be answerable for.
May 8
Young members
of the group “For A Green Hanoi” go to the Hoan Kiem district hall with a list
of queries for the National Assembly deputies. They were notified on the day
before that the Hanoi National Assembly delegation will meet constituents of
Hoan Kiem district on May 8, and that of Ba Dinh and Tay Ho districts on May 9.
So they believe the meeting will be an opportunity for the group to exercise
their citizens’ rights by questioning their representatives.
However, all
the young constituents are stopped outside the hall. Dozens of police and
plainclothes security agents are developed in the area to prevent them from
getting inside.
May 11
Western
diplomats in Hanoi visit Nguyen Chi Tuyen and express their concern over the
abuse of violence as a tactic to curb dissent voices in Vietnam, while the
local authorities remain absolutely silent.
May 17
Despite
police harassment and intimidation, nearly 100 members of the group “For A
Green Hanoi” visit Nguyen Chi Tuyen at his hometown near Chua Huong [Huong
Pagoda], a scenic tourist spot in the suburb of Hanoi.
May 28
The 22
protesters contemporarily arrested in the march “Walking for the Green Trees”
of April 26 file a complaint to the police department of Hanoi, denouncing
police and the so-called “civil order defense” forces for arbitrary detention
of peaceful activists. This is the first time Vietnamese protesters take a
legal action against those who suppress them, although there is very little
chance that any authority will deal with their complaint.
The “For A
Green Hanoi” group hands their second reminder to the Hanoi People’s Committee
that there are unanswered questions regarding the “6700 green trees” project.
Hanoi suffers
from the first heat wave in this year’s summer, with daily temperature reaching
42 Celsius degrees (approximately 107 Fahrenheit degrees). According to Mr. Le
Thanh Hai, Deputy Director of the National Hydro-Meteorological Service, this
is the most excessively hot weather in northern and central Vietnam in the
recent 15 years.
May 29
June 13
Questioned by
Huynh Nghia, a deputy from Da Nang, in one morning session of the seventh
meeting of the 13th National Assembly, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc
says “there are some shortcomings in
bringing trees down in Hanoi, but just to the extent of incorrectness. What is
more important is that Hanoi has gained some experience and has reported to the
Government and the Politburo how it earnestly rebuked those who committed
wrongdoings in the process of overhauling and replacing trees. The Government
highly appreciates that earnestness.”
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| Photo courtesy of VTC |
Worse still,
most of the old trees planned to cut down stand strong in the wind while the
others, including the newly planted trees, fell over. Many uprooted trees are
found with nets and nylon bags covering their roots, and these nets and nylon
bags stay intact, showing how recklessly the trees have been planted so that
the roots cannot penetrate the nylon.
Photo courtesy of VNN
June 23
More than twenty environmental activists of the “For A Green Hanoi” group respond to an apparent invitation to talk from the local People’s Committee. However, local government's representatives tell them that in this case, the people shall not have the right to ask for accountability and government officials do not have an obligation to answer any question from the people.
July 2-3
With temperature reaching 40 Celsius degrees, young members of the “For A Green Hanoi” group take to the streets to distribute pamphlets on how to avoid heatstroke.
