Promote forest certification and the planting of large timber forests.

On the morning of November 7th, the Rural Today/Dan Viet newspaper, in collaboration with the National Agricultural Extension Center, organized an online seminar on the topic "Improving the Value Chain of Forest Raw Materials," aiming to create a forum to resolve obstacles and facilitate the development of multi-valued plantation forest raw material areas, promoting sustainable timber exports.

In recent years, Vietnam's forest area has remained fairly stable, fluctuating around 14.6-14.7 million hectares. This confirms that the Government , local authorities, and the community are paying close attention to forest protection in conjunction with the development of planted forests.

Mr. Vu Thanh Nam, Head of the Forest Utilization Department, Forestry Department (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), said that forest area has been increasing very rapidly in recent years. This result is thanks to the comprehensive implementation of solutions from the Government, the Central Government, local authorities, and the people, contributing to achieving forest cover. In addition, the land and forest allocation process has been very effective, ensuring that forests not only have owners but also creating conditions for people to sell their products, contributing to achieving the set forest cover target. Furthermore, forest environmental policies, policies to plant 5 million hectares of new forests, and the 5-year sustainable forestry policy have all contributed to accelerating the rate of forest planting; the consumption of timber from planted forests has reached 20 million cubic meters, effectively providing raw materials for export.

Sharing the same view, Mr. Nguyen Van Dien, Head of the Information and Digital Transformation Department, Forestry Department (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), said that the forest area is increasing very rapidly. This achievement is thanks to the leadership and guidance of the Government and the National Assembly ; the involvement of ministries, departments and agencies; and the contributions of more than 6,000 wood processing enterprises.

Meanwhile, regarding sustainable forest certification, Mr. Tran Lam Dong, Deputy Director of the Vietnam Forestry Science Institute, said that Vietnam was an early adopter of forest certification, having received sustainable forest certification since 2006. However, the forests managed by local people are currently limited and fragmented. In 2017, when the Forestry Law was enacted, the area of certified forests was still modest, reaching only about 250,000 hectares. To promote implementation, in 2018, the Government approved the Sustainable Forest Management and Certification Project, which assigned the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to develop the National Forest Certification System (VFCS). The VFCS system is built according to the standards and requirements of the PEFC International Forest Certification System, and is recognized by PEFC, allowing for the use of labels and operation since 2019. To date, approximately 435,000 hectares of forest nationwide have been certified, including 150,000 hectares of VFCS/PEFC certified forests.

According to Mr. Tran Lam Dong, Vietnam is currently the 5th largest exporter of forest products and timber in the world, making the assurance of sustainable forest certifications even more important. To export more products to the US and other demanding markets, sustainable forest certifications are required, helping to increase the value of forest products and boost income for forest growers.

Analyzing the difficulties and obstacles in large-timber plantations, Mr. Vu Thanh Nam, Head of the Forest Utilization Department, Forestry Department, stated that planting large-timber forests not only brings higher economic benefits to households but also helps reduce erosion, contributing to environmental protection and combating climate change. The effectiveness of large-timber forests compared to small-timber forests has been confirmed, but this type of forest has not yet developed proportionally.

Further highlighting the difficulties and challenges in current forest protection work, Mr. Nguyen Van Dien, Head of the Information and Digital Transformation Department of the Forest Protection Department, stated: "Currently, forest management and protection face many difficulties. Although we have achieved many successes in forest protection, with the number of incidents and damages decreasing year after year according to the Forest Protection Department's statistics, there are still instances of deforestation and forest fires that affect the quality of the forest as well as the assets of the people and the country."

Drawing on experience from one of the localities that has achieved many successes in developing large timber forests and forest planting linkages, Mr. Ha Sy Dong, Permanent Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Quang Tri province, shared at the seminar that out of a total of 23,400 hectares of FSC-certified large timber plantations in Quang Tri, the majority are concentrated in forestry companies including Ben Hai, Trieu Hai, and Duong 9, accounting for over 17,000 hectares, with the remaining area owned by households and cooperatives. Quang Tri is also the first province in Vietnam to be granted FSC international certification for its natural forests. Accordingly, 2,145 hectares of natural forest in five villages of Huong Phung, Huong Son, Huong Viet, and Huong Linh communes in Huong Hoa district were granted FSC international certification for ecosystem services in carbon storage and absorption in October 2022, with a storage capacity of approximately 350,000 tons of CO2 and an annual absorption capacity of approximately 7,000 tons of CO2. This result provides opportunities for community forest owners to access funding and voluntary payments for ecosystem services initiated globally by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

According to Mr. Dong, this result has also impacted the implementation of the sustainable forestry development plan in Quang Tri, prompting the province to approve the plan for developing production linked to processing and consumption of tung oil for the period 2023-2026, with a vision to 2030, aiming to produce approximately 4,000 tons of tung seeds, equivalent to a commercial value of about 50 billion VND/year for farmers in mountainous areas.

Regarding the opportunities arising from planting large timber forests, Mr. Vu Thanh Nam, Head of the Forest Utilization Department, Forestry Department, stated that there are many mechanisms and policies to support forest planters, such as a subsidy of 8 million VND/hectare for those planting large timber forests. These include five-year plans such as those for the periods from 2015 to 2020 or from 2020 to 2025… Currently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is also submitting to the Government several policies on providing loans to large timber forest planters to develop their economy more effectively.

Pointing out some current issues of forest productivity degradation, Mr. Tran Lam Dong, Deputy Director of the Vietnam Forestry Science Institute, suggested that, regarding forestry tree species for reforestation, besides acacia and eucalyptus, which are easy to plant and familiar, we also have great potential in the area of non-timber forest products such as medicinal plants and other valuable timber trees. In line with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development's policy on developing the economy under the forest canopy, or the multi-purpose value of forests, the Institute has also conducted many studies in this field. The Institute also advises farmers to have knowledge of the terrain and refer to the Institute's guidelines on tree species and planting techniques to participate in developing the economy under the forest canopy.

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