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Vietnam's ecologically sensitive wetlands, which produce much of the country's food staples, including rice, fish and fowl, are now beginning to suffer the effects of over-exploitation. ''Environmental protection and economic development sometimes contradict each other,'' Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment (NRE) Pham Khoi Nguyen said, spelling out the government's dilemma. But Nguyen indicated that the time had come for drastic measures to protect a vast region of shimmering paddies and mudflats, stretching from the Red River valley in the north to the Mekong Delta in the south, which ''plays a crucial role in ensuring the national food supply but is also home to delicate ecosystems''.