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By Root 1572 0

distrust the Hoa, mainly because of their dominant commercial position and their close links with China. After 1975 the Hoa were badly hit when socialist policies were enforced, in what amounted to an anti-Chinese persecution. Tensions rose even further when China invaded Vietnam in 1979 and thousands of Hoa left the country to escape reprisals, forming a large majority of the “boat people” (See "The “boat people”"). It’s estimated that up to one third of the Hoa population eventually left Vietnam. Many settled in America, Australia and France, where they joined earlier refugees to become what the Vietnamese call Viet Kieu, or overseas Vietnamese, of whom there are perhaps as many as two million worldwide. In recent years the government has gradually made it easier for Viet Kieu not only to return to Vietnam but also to send money back to family members, providing an important source of extra income for individuals and becoming increasingly valuable in the wider economy, especially in the south. Not surprisingly, however, the attitudes of those who stuck it out in Vietnam towards Viet Kieu are ambivalent, and the government itself is unsure about how to handle relations with the Viet Kieu; in general their money and expertise are welcomed but not necessarily their politics, nor their Western ways.

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Environmental issues

Vietnam is endowed with a wide variety of fauna and flora, including an unusually high number of bird species and a rich diversity of primates. Current estimates suggest 16,000 plant species and 21,000 animals, including some 850 birds, though remote areas are still being explored. Over recent years, particularly in the forest reserves bordering Laos, the identification of several species of plants, butterflies, snakes, birds and even mammals that were previously unknown to scientists has caused a sensation in the scientific community.

Such diversity is largely attributable to Vietnam’s range of habitats, from the subalpine mountains of the north to the Mekong Delta’s mangrove swamps, in a country that is 75 percent mountainous, has over 3400km of coastline and extends over sixteen degrees of latitude. However, the list of endangered and critically endangered species is also long – over 120 types of animals and plants – as their domains are threatened by population pressure, widespread logging and pollution, particularly of the coastal zone. One of the biggest environmental challenges facing Vietnam is to preserve its rapidly diminishing forest areas by establishing methods of sustainable use.

Happily, the government does at least seem to recognize the value of Vietnam’s biodiversity and the need to act quickly. It has now put in place a number of laws dealing with environmental issues, the most important being the Environmental Protection Law, revised in 2005, which sets out national policy covering the prevention and control of pollution, the protection, conservation and sustainable use of natural resources, and improving environmental quality. 2005 also saw the promulgation of a new Law on Tourism, which for the first time contains provisions on sustainable tourism from an environmental and social perspective, aiming to encourage greater community participation and spreading the benefits more widely. The law also includes tougher regulations on tourism-related pollution, though ensuring these laws are effectively implemented is a more thorny problem.

Environmental issues |

Ecological warfare

The word “ecocide” was coined during the American War, in reference to the quantity of herbicides dropped from the air to deprive the Viet Cong of their safe areas, deep under the triple-canopy forest, and their food crops. The most notorious defoliant used was Agent Orange, along with agents Blue and White, all named after the colour of the respective storage containers. Their active ingredient was dioxin, a slowly dissolving poison that has a half-life of eight to ten years in the environment – but remains much longer in human tissue. It’s estimated that over eighty million litres of chemical