Consecutive months of hot and dry weather have damaged An Khê Forest. The whole area has become highly fire-prone. According to the protected forest management board, a forest fire breaks out nearly every day. Although these fires aren’t large, they still pose significant problems.
Gia Lai Province has more than 700 thousand hectares of forest, half of which is particularly fire-prone. During the peak of the dry season, vegetation and trees are easy to catch fire and the area’s lakes and ground-water are close to running dry. Once a fire occurs, there is hardly any water to extinguish it.
Gia Lai possesses the second biggest area of forested land in the country. However, in the past two years the province had to suffer severe drought. Daily activities and business of locals are affected. The forest protection faces difficulties as well. Gia Lai’s local authorities are doing their best in the meantime to reduce the risks of forest fires and wait for the rains to come.
