Gia Lai: Promoting the advantage of 'golden forests' for sustainable development goals

After the merger, Gia Lai has the 4th largest forest area in the country and the largest in the Central Highlands. With its large scale and high biodiversity, Gia Lai has many conditions to attract investment from the central, international and local budgets.

Gia Lai province is taking drastic actions to achieve the target of more than 16,000 hectares of new forest by 2025, paving the way for a modern, efficient and environmentally friendly forestry industry.

According to the provincial Forest Protection Department, by the end of September, Gia Lai had planted 8,520 hectares, reaching more than 52% of the yearly plan. Along with that, 996,000 scattered trees were planted in residential areas, farms, and along inter-commune roads, contributing to increasing the province's forest cover to more than 45%.

Actual records in localities show that the afforestation movement has spread widely, becoming a bright spot in socio -economic development. Many forestry socialization models have been formed, attracting the participation of businesses and communities; thereby creating more jobs and stable income for workers, while reducing pressure on natural forest exploitation.

The program "Planting 1 billion new trees" in the 2021-2025 period is being implemented synchronously, helping localities plant more than 3.4 million trees of all kinds.

Not only expanding the area, the province also focuses on improving the quality of forests by converting small timber plantations into large timber plantations with an area of 41.5 hectares, bringing the total area of large timber forests in the province to more than 10,290 hectares. This is a necessary step towards the goal of improving productivity, quality of plantations and increasing economic efficiency from sustainable timber exploitation and processing.

Gia Lai implements the Project on developing the multi-purpose value of forest ecosystems by 2030, with a vision to 2050, focusing on five key tasks: developing legal wood resources and enhancing value for the wood processing industry; developing non-timber forest products and medicinal herbs; developing agro-forestry models; developing forest environmental services; developing ecotourism and resorts.

Not only stopping at new planting, the province is strongly shifting to in-depth forestry development, focusing on quality, productivity and economic value of forests. The province has assigned the Forest Protection Department to preside over the development of the Large Timber Forest Planting Project for the period 2026-2030 to form a forest-processing-export value chain, combining carbon credit business, creating a stable and sustainable source of income.

This orientation not only helps improve economic efficiency from planted forests but also creates a basis for localities to develop green economies and adapt to climate change.

Along with key forestry programs, many local businesses have proactively participated in linking large timber plantations, investing in deep processing technology, creating wood products that meet export standards. This is an important direction to help Gia Lai increase the value of planted forests, while opening up opportunities to access international markets with strict requirements on legal origin and sustainability certification.

On May 9, 2022, Gia Lai issued Action Program No. 899/CTr-UBND on sustainable forestry development, enhancing livelihoods, and increasing forest cover to adapt to climate change in the 2021-2030 period.

Due to the large area, complex terrain, and limited traffic, patrolling and inspection in remote forest areas are difficult, resources are limited while the forest area is large, and equipment does not meet the reality. In that context, to effectively manage forests, the provincial forestry sector is promoting the application of information technology, using a system to warn of deforestation and forest fires through satellite images and drones to promptly detect and handle violations. At the same time, building a database and early warning system to serve patrolling and monitoring forest changes.

Recently, the province has focused on propaganda and raising awareness of the community and forest owners through coordination with local authorities and related sectors. The Forest Rangers have closely coordinated with local authorities, functional units and forest owners to ensure consistency, unity and promote the responsibility of each unit.

Along with that, the Department of Agriculture and Environment has implemented land allocation, forest allocation, land and forest leasing for households, communities and organizations for better protection. At the same time, it has reviewed and adjusted the areas under the responsibility of forest rangers, arranged human resources reasonably, covered the area, especially key areas of deforestation, illegal exploitation, and forest fire risks, to improve management efficiency.

Great efforts and drastic actions are vivid proof that Gia Lai is striving to form a sustainable forestry value chain, create jobs, increase people's income, protect the ecological environment, and promote socio-economic development.

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