Statistics summary
Vietnam is a densely populated, developing country in South East Asia of which 44% is forested. The forests in Vietnam are made up of 74% naturally regenerated forest, 25% of plantation forest and 1% of primary forest. Vietnam is a highly biodiverse country, with 1534 known species of amphibians, birds, mammals and reptiles. Of these, 8.2 percent exist in no other country. Between 1990 and 2000, Viet Nam gained an average of 236,200 hectares of forest per year, with deforestation rates for primary cover forests decreasing by 77.9%. However, despite an overall increase in forest area since the early 1990s, various regions of Viet Nam – including the Central Highlands, the Central Coast and the East of southern region – still have high rates of deforestation. Between the years of 2005 and 2010, the annual change rate of forest cover was 1.08%. The drivers of deforestation in Vietnam are varied. They include infrastructure improvement to support a rapidly developing economy, as well as forested areas being converted to agricultural cultivation to support the lives of rural Vietnamese, which make up 71.7% of the population. Illegal logging is a continuing problem. There is an estimated 30 - 50,000 forest violations per year, very few of which result in criminal prosecution. Vietnam’s economy continues to grow, with GDP for 2010 being USD 91.8 billion. Its major industries are food processing, garments, shoe making, mining, coal and steel making. Vietnam’s main agricultural products are rice, coffee, rubber, cotton and tea.
