Menaces sur les forêts vietnamiennes : guerre, pratiques post-guerre et plantations

Nowadays, Vietnam is one of the few countries in the intertropical area, whose forests are on the increase. Yet, during the 20th century, these forests were faced with deep threats, leading to their decline. One of these threats was the war, which is often mentioned as a major factor of deforestation, with irremediable consequences. However, is the war the only threat which affected the Vietnamese forests ? This article is based on results obtained of PhD research, which focused on landscape dynamics and their factors (practices and policies) in a province of central Vietnam, Thùa Thiên Huê. This research shows that the war contributed to the forest decline but, above all, this process was accelerated after the war, due to civilian practices. Since 1990’s, the trend was reversed, at the instigation of the authorities. Replantations were encouraged, and, consequently, the forest area was able to increase. However, these plantations are realized with fast-growing species and thus they may also represent a new threat to spontaneous forests, even if they have environmental as well as economic benefits.