The forests and mountains mottled by landslides are the traces left behind by the historic floods and storm No. 3 in Lao Cai province .
Bat Xat District is one of the localities that suffered heavy damage due to floods; in which, thousands of landslides have left many forests with only bare soil and rocks. Among these, there are many areas where it is very difficult or impossible to replant forests.
According to statistics from the Bat Xat District Forest Protection Department, floods have damaged 269 hectares of forest, of which more than 260 hectares are natural forests. According to Mr. Tran Van Hung, Deputy Head of the Bat Xat District Forest Protection Department, the unit has been and is continuing to collect statistics and review to develop a plan to plant and regenerate forest areas destroyed by floods.
“We have to review all land areas in localities, land areas planned for forestry, and vacant land to advise local Party committees and authorities to mobilize people to plant forests. However, landslide locations are basically on steep hillsides, near streams; not to mention that after the landslides, the topsoil was washed away, leaving behind rocky soil that cannot be replanted or some locations are very high… These are obstacles in the process of planting and restoring lost forest areas,” Mr. Hung emphasized.
To restore the forest area damaged by floods, ensuring seedlings is one of the important factors. Currently, nurseries and seedling production facilities are urgently repairing, cleaning, and disinfecting to restore production. Implement technical measures such as turning pots, spraying pesticides to prevent fungi and diseases that are likely to arise after flooding, etc. At the same time, deploy the production of seedlings for the new crop immediately after meeting the conditions to ensure the quality, quantity and variety of seedlings for planting and caring for damaged forests as well as planting new forests in 2025.
Mr. Vu Hong Diep, Deputy Head of Lao Cai Forest Protection Department, added: After reviewing, the unit confirmed that seedling production facilities are still capable of supplying about 30 million seedlings for 2024 and 2025 and selling them to neighboring provinces. However, the Department also recommended that seedlings when exported from the garden must meet standards, be of good quality and not be infected with diseases, especially fungal diseases caused by flooding.
“Regarding the funding for damage support according to Decree 02/2017/ND-CP dated January 9, 2017 of the Government on mechanisms and policies to support agricultural production to restore production in areas damaged by natural disasters and epidemics. Of which, support for 809,662 hectares of damaged production forests with a total funding requirement of nearly 3 billion VND…”, Mr. Diep said.
Floods have caused great damage to the Lao Cai forestry sector. Specifically, 1,154 hectares of forest were damaged; of which, 650 hectares were planted forests, 310 hectares of natural forests and some non-timber forest areas. Most of this area was completely lost due to landslides and complete burial of rocks and soil... Along with replanting in favorable locations, the provincial Forest Protection Department is proposing to keep the status quo, because natural forests have the ability to regenerate very quickly. In addition, the unit is also considering the solution of using Flycam to sow tree seeds in landslides in dangerous locations.
In addition to its economic value, forests are considered “green lungs” through their effects of regulating the air, combating climate change and the greenhouse effect, and preserving genetic resources and biodiversity. Along with that, there is the ability to mitigate natural disasters, especially floods and landslides, thanks to the ability to retain rainwater and regulate the flow of the forest vegetation layer. With many positive and appropriate solutions, Lao Cai has been focusing on “healing the green lungs” after the severe damage caused by floods.
Lao Cai: Monitoring and regulating, ensuring supply of breeding stock to restore livelihoods after floods
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