In the past, Indochina disposed of vast forest reserves of different types. Although there are no exact figures for the size of the flora or the number of endemics, plant species richness is considered to be highs1. In the last decades the total land area under closed forest cover has declined rapidly in all three countries; Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. The main causes of forest degradation and destruction have been uncontrolled or poorly controlled logging and shifting cultivation. Shifting cultivation in particular is a major cause of deforestation where lowlanders with poor agricultural practices inadequate for upland plots, have taken up upland agriculture in large numbers.
1
About 12,000 species of plants are estimated to occur in Vietnam of which only 7,000 have been described; up to 1,000 species are known to be endemic to the country (Vo Quy, quoted in Ministry of Forestry, 1991: 42)
The extent to which the region can capitalize on its rich potential of NWFPs depends primarily on the extent to which the countries of Indochina will be able to reverse the negative trend of deforestation. On the other hand, strengthening the NWFP sector can also contribute to forest conservation, as this would enlarge the benefits from forests for rural people in the region, and therefore the impetus for resources conservation.
Vietnam
Vietnam has 65 million inhabitants, with an average population of 190/km². However, population densities vary widely between the different provinces.
In 1943 Vietnam had extensive tropical forest, with an estimated area of 14.3 million hectares, corresponding to a forest coverage of 43%. The latest inventory shows that the forest area in 1987 was 9.3 million hectares or 28% of the national land area.
According to estimates made by the Ministry of Forestry, the annual loss of forests is some 110,000 hectares. The rate of reforestation is 130,000 - 150,000 hectares per year. This rate compensates for the annual forest loss and has led to some expansion of the forested area. However, in terms of biodiversity, these new plantations are empty, if compared with the natural forest they gradually replace, as they consist of rather uniform stands of only a few exotic fast growing species. At present, large natural forests are only found in the Southern Highlands and in border areas with Laos (Ministry of Forestry, Socialist Republic of Vietnam 1991:33,34). Because of overlogging the forests of the Southern Highlands (central Vietnam) are at present becoming severely degraded.
Laos
Laos has a population of about four million people, of which 85% are living in rural areas. With an average population of 15 people/km², it has one of the lowest population densities in Southeast Asia.
There are large areas of more or less evergreen forest which originally covered about 160,000 km² or about 70% of the land area. Lowland and mountain rainforests occupied much of the northern part of the country, the Annamite mountains along the border with Vietnam, the Boloven plateau and the Mekong plains.
Data on forest cover and rates of forest loss in Laos are in short supply. Perhaps the best estimate is that approximately 29% of the land area is at present under closed forest cover and a further 25% is covered with degraded forest (Collins et al., 1991). There is no doubt that forest destruction and forest degradation have been serious in the recent past. Nevertheless, at present Laos still has considerable natural NWFP stocks.