Hydropower plant project threatens Yok Don National Park While the Ea K’tour hydropower project is feared to damage the Chu Yang Sin National Park in Dak Lak province, the projected Drang Phok hydropower plant threatens the Yok Don National Park, the biggest one in the Central Highlands.   Rangers in the Yok Don National Park. The Drang Phok hydropower plant would be located on the Serepok river section which runs across the core area of the Yok Don National Park, which may devastate the environment, damage the natural resources and the biodiversity in the locality. According to the documents released by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the 26 MW hydropower plant, developed by TECCO, would permanently occupy 302.5 hectares of land, including the 295.4 hectares of the Yok Don National Park’s area. Hoang Vinh, Deputy Head of the Forest Ranger Unit No. 9, warned that if a hydropower plant is developed there, a big construction site with hundreds of workers and noisy machines would be arisen and working for several years. “We cannot imagine how the national park will be like by that time,” Vinh said. “There are only 16 of us who take the responsibility of protecting the 16,000 hectares of forests. How can we control so many people?” he questioned. “The noise from machines, the tumultuous noise from detonated mines will keep animals away,” he said. According to the consultancy firm, the Drang Phok hydropower plant would gobble up a large area of forest, including both the poor and rich forests with precious wood. Vinh has expressed his worry that the “khop forests” as called by local people, or the type of forest with typical Dipterocarpaceae plants only existing in South East Asia, would be affected by the water level rise of the water reservoirs. The Serepok River with many precious creatures may get exhausted because their living conditions change. The managers of Yok Don National Park, who feel unhappy about the hydropower plant project, have voiced their warnings about the serious damage the hydropower plant project may cause. The national park not only has the environment and biodiversity value, but also has precious wood. The survey has found that in the rich forests in the area where the Drang Phok power plant would be located, there are 255 plants standing on every hectare of land on average. The plants have the average  trunk diameters of 42 cm and the average reserves of 227 cubic meters per hectare. The medium forests are also considered the forests rich in reserves, 175 plants per hectare, 155 cubic meters per hectares with typical precious wood. Tran Van Thanh, Director of the Yok Don National Park, warned that if the hydropower plant project is carried out as planned, the forest protection would be uncontrollable. The Dong Nai 6 and Dong Nai 6A hydropower plant projects have threatened the Cat Tien National Park, the Ea K’tour project is believed to bring danger to the Chu Yang Sin National Park. And now the Yok Don National Park is threatened by another hydropower project. According to Thanh, the land areas in Cat Tien and Chu Yang Sin, where the hydropower plants would be located belong to the strictly protected areas. However, the areas lie on the edges of the parks. Meanwhile, the Drank Phok plant would be located in the core area of the park, which is believed to cause more serious impacts. Source: Dan Viet