Lam Dong: Red pine under special protection

Hanoi Times – The Forestry Department of the Central Highland province of Lam Dong has started a comprehensive check over areas that have red pines to zone and protect this rare and precious tree.

According to experts from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Lam Dong is among o­nly a few regions in Asia to have red pine communities (Taxus wallichian Zucc). Currently there are over 200 red pine trees o­n Lang Biang Plateau – Nui Voi.

Red pine is a rare and valuable tree, but without the local government’s attention and local residents’ understanding of red pine’s value, this kind of tree has been exploited as a normal tree.

To put an end to this situation, Lam Dong will take measures to protect this red pine. Specifically, the province will raise local people’s awareness about red pines and set up stations to protect the trees from illegal and unplanned exploitation.

According to scientific documents, Taxus wallichian Zucc has great value in terms of biodiversity and the essence extracted from the tree can be use to produce medicine to treat cancer.