It’s Not Clear How Many Ancient Trees There Are: CBCGDF is Concerned About the Destruction of Guangzhou Huangpu Ancient Trees- 中国生物多样性保护与绿色发展基金会

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It’s Not Clear How Many Ancient Trees There Are: CBCGDF is Concerned About the Destruction of Guangzhou Huangpu Ancient Trees

2020/7/13 11:03:00 本站

On July 6, Guangzhou volunteers discovered that the ancient litchi forest on Dakeng Mountain, Bi Village, Yunpu Street, Huangpu District was suddenly felled by a large area, some young trees were directly felled, and some large trees were hit by large hook machines. Digging up and transporting away by truck resulted in the destruction of a large number of litchi trees.

“The district planning and natural resources department knows that there are centuries-old trees on this plot, but to openly grant logging permits to cut down the trees," the volunteer said. In September 2019, in the area where the ancient litchi forest of Dakeng Mountain in Bi Village was located, a land was taken by the Science City. It is said that the related enterprises are planning to build a hydrogen energy industrial park on the land that has been transferred. However, in the process of land expropriation, because it involves the protection of this large area of ancient litchi forest, since November last year, local villagers have gone to Guangzhou Forestry and Landscape Bureau to carry out complaint reporting.

"These ancient litchi trees have nurtured dozens of generations in Bi Village. Our ancestors set up inscriptions more than 400 years ago, asking us to protect these old trees. If they are all cut down now, it is a great pity. Is there any possibility for these ancient litchi forests to survive?" Last year, a villager in Bi Village complained to the CBCGDF about this matter.

Promoted by the villagers, the Guangzhou Forestry and Garden Bureau carried out the identification of ancient trees in this ancient forest last year. According to statistics, there are 351 trees with a tree diameter of more than 30 centimeters, 1010 trees with a diameter of more than 10 centimeters and less than 30 centimeters in the litchi forest within the expropriation scope of Bi Village. In addition, within the scope of the expropriation, one of the litchi trees was listed in 2013, its number: 01132815, which shows that the tree is more than 264 years old, and it is been 270 years old.

But what caught people by surprise was that on July 2, the Huangpu District Bureau of Guangzhou Municipal Planning and Natural Resources Bureau clearly knew that there were a large number of ancient trees in the expropriated area, and blatantly approved the logging permit. On July 3, The bulldozers and other equipment began to cut trees, resulting in the destruction of a large number of ancient trees.

What the volunteers did not understand is, "Previously, the urban greening departments at both levels indicated that there were ancient trees on the requisitioned plots, and the corresponding identification work is still in progress, and the Huangpu District Bureau of Guangzhou Municipal Planning and Natural Resources Bureau has also promised that after the results of the tree identification came out, the construction land planning and other related work were promoted. Why are they suddenly entering the site and destroying the trees?"

In response to the destruction of the ancient litchi forest in Bi Village, Guangzhou volunteers rushed to the Huangpu District Bureau of Guangzhou Municipal Planning and Natural Resources Bureau and the Guangzhou Forestry and Garden Bureau to reflect the situation. It has been confirmed by knowledge that the location of the trees harvested on the site is inconsistent with the scope of the logging permit, and has been suspected of exceeding the scope of the logging permit; At the same time, there are indeed resources of ancient trees within the scope of the logging permit, and the issuance of the logging permit is also suspected of being illegal.

In the past few days, during the period when the ancient litchi forest in Bi Village was cut down, some forest policemen rushed to the scene to stop the logging, but after they left, the logging continued.

According to volunteer, the forest public had basically confirmed the actual scope of the logging on the site, which has exceeded the scope of the approval of the permit, and engineers will be arranged to conduct surveys to finalize the confirmation.

At the same time, the identification of ancient trees on the plot is still in progress, and the identification results have not yet been announced. However, the Huangpu District Bureau of Guangzhou Municipal Planning and Natural Resources Bureau has not explained why the ancient trees were cut before the ancient trees’ identification is complete.