For my first blog, I would like to link the relationship between ecology vs tourism/economy. And there is no place better than my own country to start with. Vietnam is widely known as a tropical, hot and moist region. But there is a place in Vietnam where we have mild, chilly climate. We call it Dalat- the city of flower Located 1500m above sea level, the city has temperate climate with average temperature was about 10 C. Dalat is best known for historical attractions as well as flowers. In the last two decades, tourism and farm-product trade had boosted the economy of the city, transformed it from remote French colony to a modern, developed area. However, the downside of this is the increase in number of large greenhouses throughout the heart of the city, which brought vast ecological and physical ramifications to Da Lat as a whole.
Greenhouses used for vegetable and flower captured the sunlight, warmed Dalat “up to 1-1.5 degree and is predicted to increase within a margin of 3 degrees in the coming decade” – Southern Institute of Ecology. Greenhouses also destroyed the geological structural of the place, leading to the increase of mass wasting and flood events in the present. Air and water pollution are also witnessed as we travel further deep inside the city.
I remembered when I first came here, it was so fresh, peaceful and romantic. A perfect choice for escaping from busy and stifling daily life. In 2018, I had a chance to come back, but this time, all the good that I felt in love with had gone. Dalat was “bleaching”, losing its beautiful landscape. What remain now is just a broken fraction of nature and an ugly evidence of unstainable economy.
Applied Plant Ecology Winter 2020 