Need to quickly remove difficulties for protective forest growers

Thousands of hectares of forest were destroyed by storm No. 5.

Mr. Tran Dinh Hoa in Cam Due commune was assigned by the Management Board of Ke Go Nature Reserve to plant 12 hectares of acacia trees in the protected forest area. According to the plan, he will exploit them this year. However, storm No. 5 at the end of August - with strong winds - knocked down almost the entire area, causing huge damage. What he is worried about now is waiting for the exploitation license to be granted so that he can salvage some capital from the number of acacia trees that have fallen.

Mr. Tran Dinh Hoa shared: "The area of fallen acacia trees is too large, so cleaning up the forest is very difficult. We hope that the authorities will soon issue a license so that we can exploit and sell this acacia as soon as possible because if we leave it for too long, the trees will deteriorate and lose value."

Mr. Tran Dinh Hoa cleans up acacia forest after storm No. 5.

Mr. Hoa's difficulty is the common situation of thousands of people who are also forest owners throughout Ha Tinh . In Ke Go Nature Reserve alone, more than 1,000 households with 4,000 hectares of protective forest have been affected. According to regulations, forest exploitation, even if the forest has been destroyed by storms, must still comply with strict administrative procedures. People must submit applications, wait for the authorities to come and assess, measure and grant permits.

Mr. Hoang Van Luc (Cam Lac commune) said: "My family still has more than 4 hectares of acacia trees deep in the forest, which the authorities have not been able to access. We hope to soon complete the licensing procedures so that we can exploit, clean up, and plant additional replacement trees."

It is known that currently, Ke Go Nature Reserve is the first unit to carry out procedures to grant exploitation permits for a number of areas of fallen protective acacia forests located at the edge of the forest. However, the number of fallen areas is large, scattered in many places, in remote areas, so the authorities have not been able to access to inspect, assess and carry out procedures to grant exploitation permits.

Forest rangers assess and inspect damaged forest area.

Mr. Phan Duy Khai - Deputy Director of Ke Go Nature Reserve said: Currently, the unit has assessed and granted permission for people to exploit more than 380 hectares of fallen acacia trees, the remaining area is being inspected and evaluated, submitted to the authorities for licensing. However, the biggest difficulty of the unit is the large area of fallen protective forest, many areas are located deep in the forest, trees are lying around, making it difficult to travel while human resources are limited.

This delay not only causes economic losses but also poses many risks in forest fire prevention. In the face of the urgent situation, the authorities have established many working groups to go to the site to inspect and guide people to prepare plans to clean up fallen forests.

Mr. Ho The Nam - Deputy Head of Hong Linh - Nghi Xuan Forest Protection Department said: "The forest rangers have surveyed and inspected almost all of the fallen forest area in the area. The unit has collected, counted and submitted documents to the Department of Agriculture and Environment for licensing. During this time, local forest rangers continue to propagate and mobilize people and forest owners to do a good job of forest fire prevention".

Many areas of fallen forest have not yet been assessed and licensed for exploitation.

The efforts of the authorities, though commendable, are not enough to completely solve the problem. While thousands of people are still waiting for administrative procedures, the economic value of the damaged forests is gradually lost day by day, leading to the risk of forest fires. Obviously, simplifying and shortening the licensing process for exploiting storm-damaged forests is not only a lifesaver for people's livelihoods but also an urgent task to protect forest resources.