Timely overcome existing problems and difficulties in forest management, protection and development.

16:17, 30/08/2023

On the morning of August 30, the Provincial People's Committee held a conference to review the work of forest management, protection and development in the first 7 months of 2023 and deploy key tasks for the last months of 2023. Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Thien Van chaired the conference.

In the first seven months of the year, the Provincial People's Committee proactively directed all levels and functional agencies to decisively and comprehensively implement solutions for forest management and protection; strengthened inspection and supervision of state management of forests and forest land for district and commune-level People's Committees and forest management entities. Several serious cases of illegal deforestation were brought to trial, ensuring deterrence and education …

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Thien Van spoke at the conference.

Currently, the forested land area in Dak Lak is 497,018 hectares (413,845 hectares of natural forest and 83,173 hectares of planted forest); the non-forested land area is 239,689 hectares; the forest cover rate is 38.03% (a decrease of 0.32% compared to the same period last year). To date, concentrated reforestation efforts in the province have covered over 1,098 hectares, reaching 58.6% of the plan; scattered tree planting has reached 65,755 trees, achieving 32.9% of the plan.

Forest management and protection efforts have been strengthened with more effective preventive measures, and many violations have been detected and handled promptly. Accordingly, 604 violations were detected, a decrease of 169 cases compared to the same period in 2022; 532 cases were processed (including those carried over from 2022), with a total amount of 536 million VND collected for the state budget…

At the conference, delegates noted that although the situation of illegal deforestation, exploitation, transportation, and storage of forest products in the province had decreased compared to 2022, it remained complex. Prominent among these were illegal deforestation in Krông Bông, Cư M'gar, and Ea Súp districts, and illegal logging in M'Drắk district. Despite implementing numerous preventative measures, in the first seven months of the year, functional forces recorded and processed 442 cases of illegal deforestation, resulting in 152 hectares of damaged forest. In addition, many areas of forest and forest land have been illegally cleared, encroached upon, and occupied, but have not yet been cleared, reclaimed, or repurposed according to plans and schemes. The reasons for this are that most people lack land for production, and the violators are often poor households facing significant living difficulties.

Furthermore, the support policies for those assigned to protect forests are inadequate, leading to workers changing jobs, quitting, or taking on additional occupations, affecting forest protection efforts; the management of agricultural and forestry projects leasing land and forests by district-level People's Committees is still limited, resulting in many projects being poorly managed, causing forest area to decline and land encroachment to a large extent.

Representatives from Ea Súp district gave their opinions.

Speaking at the conference, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Thien Van emphasized: Currently, Dak Lak still has 5 out of 9 targets regarding forest management, protection, and development that have not met the set plan. Therefore, in the coming time, all levels and sectors, based on their functions and tasks, will synchronously and effectively implement solutions for forest management, protection, and development; strictly implement solutions to strengthen forest protection and restore natural forests that have been degraded in recent years in the province. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development will coordinate with relevant departments and sectors to advise on re-evaluating the operation and effectiveness of agricultural and forestry companies; conduct a review of forest and forestry land areas that have not been allocated or leased, and are currently temporarily managed by the commune-level People's Committees, in order to organize the planning and completion of forest allocation and leasing dossiers for 2023; and strengthen the management of land areas recovered from agricultural and forestry farms and transferred to local management. The People's Committees of districts, towns and cities continue to materialize the Party's resolutions and the State's policies and laws on forest protection, development and forest fire prevention and fighting in order to organize serious and effective implementation...

Minh Thuan

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