Green border of hope: Part 1 - Diversifying forms of forest protection

17:21, 06/09/2023

BHG - In the far North of the country, forests are "flesh and blood" to the people, forests protect life, provide many livelihoods, and sustainably reduce poverty; therefore, protecting the "green lung" is an urgent task that the entire political system and the entire population are actively carrying out. After 5 years of implementation, Directive No. 13 of the Party Central Committee Secretariat on strengthening the Party's leadership in forest management, protection and development has created a strong spread, contributing to spreading more green hope on the border land.

Leaders of the Forest Protection Department inspected forest management and protection work in Vi Xuyen.

One day in late May, the sun was blazing. The forest patrol of the Hoang Ly Pa village forest protection team, Minh Tan commune (Vi Xuyen) started at 6 am. 20 members of the team were present at the village headquarters, exchanging information and plans, coordinating with local forest rangers, and dividing into 4 groups to patrol the forest in different directions. Team leader Vang Seo Sinh quickly deployed: "It's been sunny these past few days, the risk of forest fires is high, in addition to patrolling the forest, everyone needs to observe locations prone to forest fires, especially areas adjacent to people's fields to promptly warn". Deep in the core of Phong Quang special-use forest, ancient Nghien trees with a diameter of up to ten people's arms stand tall and reach out to the sun, carefully numbered for strict protection. The members of the forest patrol team check and record each detail and area. Team leader Vang Seo Sinh walked and talked: “The total forest area that the team is patrolling and protecting is more than 290 hectares; the team regularly coordinates with local forest rangers to patrol the forest, actively propagates and mobilizes people to sign a commitment to protect the forest. Ten years ago, Hoang Ly Pa was a “hot spot” for deforestation, but now, people consider the forest as “flesh and blood”. Mr. Nguyen Duc Luan, an officer of Hoang Ly Pa Forest Ranger Station shared: “The station has 3 officers, in charge of nearly 3,000 hectares of forest, the force is thin, the terrain is complex and difficult while the area of forest management and protection is large, so coordination with forest patrol teams and people is very important, they are the “extended arms” of the force”.

Forest protection team of Khuon Lang village, Tung Ba commune (Vi Xuyen) patrols and protects the forest.

Every year in February and July (lunar calendar), the Nung community in Hoang Su Phi solemnly organizes the Forest Worship Ceremony. The village elders say that: In the past, when the Nung people were living peacefully, the enemy came to invade their land and property. The Nung leader, Hoang Van Thung, fought bravely with the enemy, was injured and died of illness. The Nung people had to flee into the deep forest to hide. To commemorate the leader, the Nung people set aside lush old forests in beautiful, sacred locations to build temples and worship him as Dong Tru (Forest God). The Nung people's forest worship ceremony is held annually, a unique cultural feature, recognized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage. Tran Chi Nhan, Deputy Head of the Culture Department of Hoang Su Phi district, shared: "From the custom of worshiping the forest god, the work of protecting forests in Hoang Su Phi has been carried out very well. Regulations on forest management and protection have been included in village conventions and covenants. Forbidden forests are strictly protected. People must be responsible for protecting forests, planting trees, and living in harmony with nature."

To effectively manage and protect forests, all levels and sectors have promoted propaganda andeducation in many forms, creating strong changes in the awareness and actions of cadres, party members and people; protecting forests in association with protecting the ecological environment, limiting the negative impacts of climate change; replicating good practices, effective and creative models at the grassroots level. The Provincial Forest Protection Department has been consolidated and reorganized to ensure that it is suitable for requirements and tasks in the direction of reducing office staff, increasing the number of forest rangers in charge of the area; consolidating the operations of the Forest Protection and Development Fund, the Management Boards of special-use and protective forests. Applying information technology in detecting and giving early warning of forest fires. The province has proactively and actively participated responsibly in international conventions, multilateral and bilateral organizations, and forestry forums; Maintain close cooperative relationships with many international and local donors and organizations in the QLBVPTR border area.

In addition, forest allocation and contracting has also brought about clear results; to date, the total forest area has been allocated over 103,268 hectares, of which over 43,084 hectares have been allocated to special-use forest management boards, over 39,589 hectares to protective forest management boards, over 14,664 hectares to families and individuals, and 2,559 hectares to household groups and village communities. Director of Vi Xuyen Protection Forest Management Board Nong Viet Hung said: “The Management Board is assigned to protect protection forests with an area of over 16,767 hectares, located in 14 communes. Every year, the Management Board closely coordinates with the Forest Protection Department, People's Committees of communes, and village forest protection teams to regularly patrol and protect forests, promptly detect and handle acts of encroachment on protection forests; raise awareness among people and sign commitments to protect forests, prevent and fight forest fires; pay forest environmental services (FES) to the community; direct forest planting and care and protection of planted forests”.

The diversity of forest protection and management forms has mobilized the entire political system to take drastic action and mobilize resources to effectively protect forests. The whole province currently has over 576,300 hectares of forestry land, accounting for over 72% of the natural area, of which the natural forest area is over 381,820 hectares, the planted forest area is over 78,220 hectares, and the regenerated forest area is 33,272 hectares. Up to now, 11.6 million scattered trees of all kinds have been planted; over 9,162 hectares have been certified with sustainable forest certification (FSC); and the forest cover has increased from 55.57% in 2017 to 58.58% in 2022.

The above results are vivid evidence, affirming that strengthening the leadership of the Party, improving the effectiveness of state management, strictly controlling planning and socio-economic development projects that impact forests, promoting the role of the Forest Ranger force, effectively using money for forest environmental services, allocating land and forests, promoting propaganda, enhancing international cooperation... in the spirit of Directive No. 13 has truly entered life on the border land.

Article and photos: DISCUSSION

Green border of hope: Part 2: Love the forest, the forest "repays"

Green frontier of hope: Final episode - Sustainable forestry development

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