All Rights Reserved, The Harrowing History of Vietnam's Rubber Plantations, plantation employee and writer Tran Tu Binh, plantation owners were rumored to be so rich, sent Hevea seeds to the Saigon Botanical Garden, Data from 11 of the 20 biggest plantations, The earlier murder of Alfred François Bazin, annual salaries of VND7 million per month, national average of VND3.2 million a month, complicated set of international and cross-sector factors, threatens to further depress Vietnam’s rubber profits, still faces the risk of the South American Leaf Blight. A rubber plantation in Bien Hoa, 1964. Vietnam’s forest recovery efforts have been driven in part by Phung Tuu Boi, a forester who experimented with various regeneration projects after the war. When establishing new plantation areas, workers were forced to labor from sunrise to sunset, chopping down gargantuan trees and clearing thorn-strewn brush beset by menacing sun and swarms of biting insects, tigers, elephants and poisonous snakes. In truth, numerous quasi-nomadic ethnic minorities, such as the Stieng, lived on the land. Japan’s arrival in Vietnam in 1940 stymied rubber production. Attempting to land a plane with synthetic tires would put all cargo and passengers at great risk every flight. Even if native Dipterocarps are valuable in the long term — Hopea odorata logs are worth at least three to four times more than acacia logs — they take at least 30 years to mature, as opposed to five years for acacia. Binh claims it was rare for a week to pass without someone being crushed by a tree, while broken limbs were commonplace. Investigating their complex history and ecological footprint helps articulate the complex interplay between commodities, exploitation and development, as well as man and nature. At the end of the film, the ghosts of abused workers rise from the earth to enact their revenge on their villainous overseers. After the villagers handed over all their land, they only had some 12ha fields of rice left. To explore the role of rubber in Vietnam, we have to first look to Henry Ford, the namesake founder of Ford Motors. Perhaps most troubling is the industry’s use of child labor. The surrounding forest had served as a haven for the Viet Cong; 10 miles away the Communist guerillas had dug a network of tunnels. How could we produce enough to fill our bellies with those little fields?". It provides more than 5,000 jobs with annual salaries of VND7 million per month, compared to the national average of VND3.2 million a month, though figures vary greatly across region and occupation. Reintroducing native Dipterocarps in Vietnam — under a communist, one-party government — isn’t as transparent or straightforward a project as it might be in a developed country. The Trees of Vietnam’s Tropical Forests SEARCH NEWS 03/10/2019. Photo via Flickr user manhhai. Beatings and rapes accompanied lesser forms of torture, including meager wages and insufficient food. Colonial opinions were not much more united. Rather than the previously offered idea that the parasite can’t take hold in Vietnam’s ecosystem, it is possible that the geographic distance that has so far kept it out, but experts are not quite sure why an outbreak hasn't occurred here yet. “During the Vietnam War, I was a child. Widgets. These French operators were often caught between adversaries and played one off another as it suited their interests. Founded in 1995 by Danaan Parry and Jerilyn Brusseau — whose brother, U.S. Army helicopter pilot Lt. Daniel Cheney, was shot down and killed during the Vietnam War in 1969 — PeaceTrees Vietnam is a shining example to the world of how tragedy and conflict can be transformed into peace and partnership. “Now I’d like to return to natural forests. Financial support aside, many Vietnamese agricultural extension workers lack proper training on how to reintroduce native trees, said Christopher Beadle of Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO. An Australia-based forestry expert, Tran Lam Dong, reports that defoliants destroyed about 7,700 square miles of forests — six percent of Vietnam’s total land area. Rising sea levels threaten key coastal areas like the Mekong Delta, which produces the majority of Vietnam’s rice. As of 2018, Vietnam is the world’s third-largest producer and exporter of rubber, boasting shipments of 1.58 million tons, worth over US$2.1 billion, a 14.5% increase in volume over the previous year. Another significant area of concern involves Vietnam’s apparent assumption of the role of colonizing force in respect to rubber plantations in neighboring nations. Horrific crimes against humanity accompanied the wealth. Complete with housing, churches and community buildings, Fordlandia was a massive development. Photo via Flickr user manhhai. To justify such mistreatment, owners depicted the Vietnamese in exceedingly degrading ways. It's hard to find a Vietnam war movie that DOESN'T come full of distortions based on the film makers political agendas; it's just this time "The Green Berets" comes from the pro-involvement side. “That’s what you have to do to meet the needs of the rural poor.”. In the Many Vietnam veterans who had been exposed to Agent Orange during the war have shown an increased risk of cancer. The Ben Hai river region, where the acacia forests are situated, was heavily destroyed during the Vietnam War and is therefore in need of further development. Whether it is fish placed neatly inside rectangular tins or uniform meat slabs stored in cylindrical cans with colorful packages, eating canned food is a strange experience. Intrigued by latex, European explorers quickly imported it from the Americas, but the long ocean voyage revealed a critical flaw in the raw good: when it becomes too cold it cracks; when too warm, it melts. Agent Orange An herbicide dropped on the forests and bush in Vietnam to defoliate (strip the leaves from plants and trees) an area. The road turned to clay and snaked into a dense bamboo canopy. A retired US Marine has shared the extraordinary story of how he travelled from New York to Vietnam during the Vietnam War to deliver beers to friends serving in the US Army. Mui sat under a portrait of former Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh. Download Vietnam palm tree stock photos. Rubber production. But I cannot forget what happened in our fatherland. In addition to the general funds it brings to the country, the rubber industry is quick to point to the way in which a commodity positively impacts the lives of people, especially ethnic minorities and those in rural locations. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, a... Vietnam’s first craft brewery continues to ingratiate itself with local audiences. With large swaths of forest destroyed by wartime defoliants, and even larger areas lost to post-war logging, Vietnam has set an ambitious goal for regenerating its woodlands. Vietnam – good growing conditions for acacia trees. Michelin Rubber Plantation was located near Dầu Tiếng District in Bình Dương Province, 72 km northwest of Saigon.The plantation was established by the Michelin company in 1925 and at 12,400 hectares (31,000 acres) it was the largest rubber plantation in Vietnam. While treatment at the hands of colonial exploiters sets an exceedingly low bar that is easily surpassed today, the work remains physically demanding and dangerous, with risks from snakes and insects, as well chemical poisoning during processing. The French defeat at Dien Bien Phu and subsequent national partitioning did little to stabilize conditions on the rubber plantations. In a trend eerily reminiscent of colonial activities, these corporations are rarely snatching up unoccupied lands; instead, they force ethnic minorities to relocate, often through illegal or immoral means. Yet we paid the owners of the Michelin plantations $600 for each rubber tree we damaged, while the family of a slain Vietnamese child got no more than $120 in payout for a life.”. And most of them are poor, so planting acacia is easier.”. 16, 2004. This list may not reflect recent changes . Colonial officials knew it was in their best interest to present the region as uninhabited, and thus free for the taking. A rubber boom in the late 19th and early 20th centuries resulted in enormous colonial plantations and collection efforts in South and Central America, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Africa. When displaced to new land they are unfamiliar with, the people struggle to adapt their traditional ways of life and agriculture, as depicted in the short film, Rubber in a Rice Bowl and Rubber Barons: Growing rubber on an industrial scale can devastate natural environments. As Big Energy Gains, Can Europe’s Community Renewables Compete? In some cases, people that sold land to large companies in exchange for promised jobs have been left waiting with nothing to support themselves while the large enterprises decide not to tap the rubber trees planted because of economic circumstances. Authorities point to the efficiencies of large plantations — owning only 38% of land, they produce 60% of total latex — and higher quality standards stemming from technological advantages to justify the continued support of them at the expense of small plantations. Phung Tuu Boi stands in front of a hopea tree at the Forest Inventory and Planning Institute in Hanoi. The Viet Minh successfully used them as examples of colonial exploitation and placed them at the center of propaganda campaigns while recruiting among their workforce. Despite this financial success, rubber plantations were becoming increasingly dangerous places, as political hostilities festered. On a muggy morning near Vinh Cuu, a town about 60 miles north of Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam, a blue Toyota pickup whizzed by dense tropical scrub. Pages in category "Trees of Vietnam" The following 200 pages are in this category, out of approximately 222 total. The earlier murder of Alfred François Bazin, a Hanoi-based labor recruiter for the company, revealed both the resentment plantations had fomented and the lengths at which Vietnamese were willing to go to put an end to them. Photos via Belle Indochine. The name “Vietnam” derives from “Nam Việt”, which literally means “Southern Viet”, with “Viet” simply being a name for a group of people living in present day Vietnam and southern China all the way as far back as 200 BC. Inside the home of a plantation operator. Therefore, rubber plantations occupied a formidable role in the political structures, aims and experiences of indigenous resistance that would manifest itself in the nation’s subsequent wars with France and the United States. Acting as huge natural filters to clean the air and waste water coming from industrial zones along … Illustration via National Geographic. The slavery, murder and battles accompanying the collection and trade of rubber continued into recent times, as exemplified by its role in supporting Liberia’s murderous warlord Charles Taylor. Moreover, plantation development results in roads, schools and other key infrastructure projects in remote regions of the country, including northern areas where production has expanded with the advent of hybrid species and advanced cultivation methods. Although the trees were good for business — by 2008, 850,000 hectares of domestic acacia and eucalyptus trees were supporting Vietnam’s $185 million-per-year wood-chip export industry — it became clear that acacia and eucalyptus monocultures didn’t protect watersheds or conserve biodiversity as native trees did. These rubber efforts brought about enormous wealth. Vietnamese members of rubber unions in particular, argued that while they could serve important roles in resisting and overthrowing the French, their basic functionalities and infrastructure needed to remain intact so as to provide the future Vietnamese economy with necessary funds. The colonial government nevertheless made vast swaths of forest available to European companies to start plantations while also establishing necessary transportation infrastructure and providing financial support. When America ramped up its presence, it mostly picked up where the departing French left off. like a bird of prey, the profile at night . Sign up for the E360 Newsletter →. Ink on dead trees More commonly known as words on paper. There also are numerous species of woody vines (lianas) and herbaceous plants. A chilling report issued by the Vietnamese government estimated that 10,224 children were involved in rubber production, 42.5% of whom were below the legal working age of 15, and 22% of the children were between five and eleven years old. “I just fly with my knife,” Lim Khim Katy explains of the process behind her striking landscapes. Considering the living and working conditions, it should be of no surprise that colonial plantations became places of radicalization and rebellion. This article was part of Saigoneer's 2019 April Fools' Day celebration. A third one kneels behind the sandbags, forlornly holding an empty helmet in her hand. In his expansive book, Rubber and the Making of Vietnam, historian Michitake Aso goes into great detail about that process and its particulars, of which this article provides a shallow overview. While broken limbs were commonplace labor struggles and increased likelihood of landslides or wildlife. ” as observed Tran! 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