Reclaiming land for forests

128,000 hectares of forest encroached

According to statistics from the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Dak Lak province, the area of ​​natural forest is 1,307,041 hectares, the area of ​​forest land is 507,409 hectares. Of which, 128,000 hectares of forest have been encroached upon by people. Mr. Nguyen Quoc Hung, Head of the Dak Lak Provincial Forest Protection Department, said that forest land in the province is encroached upon, mainly by people illegally exploiting it for agricultural cultivation, building houses or illegally buying and selling and transferring land. This situation is common in the districts of Ea H'leo, Ea Sup, Cu M'gar, Krong Bong and Ea Kar. The encroachment subjects are mostly ethnic minorities.

Many forest areas were destroyed by people in Ea Sup district.

In order to reclaim the encroached forest land area, the Dak Lak Provincial People's Committee has a plan to handle and reclaim forestry land in the area. Accordingly, in 2025, the province will reclaim 30% of the encroached area and by the end of 2026, it will complete the reclamation of all encroached forestry land.

The People's Committee of Ea Sup District (Dak Lak Province) is a pioneer in reclaiming encroached forestry land. Recently, the People's Committee of Ea Sup District coordinated with relevant agencies to reclaim nearly 742 hectares of forest land encroached by people in sub-area 293, Cu Mlan Commune (Ea Sup District). In 2011, the People's Committee of Dak Lak Province assigned 1,165.2 hectares of forest land in sub-area 293, Cu M'Lan Commune to Anh Quoc Company Limited for rubber plantation, forest planting, forest management and protection. However, due to lax management, this enterprise has allowed hundreds of hectares of forest to be destroyed and forest land to be encroached. On February 23, 2017, the People's Committee of Dak Lak Province decided to reclaim this area and hand it over to the People's Committee of Cu M'Lan Commune for management. According to the administrative violation records of the Commune People's Committee, sub-zone 293 has 134 cases of encroachment with a total area of ​​981.7 hectares.

Similarly, in December 2012, the Dak Lak Provincial People's Committee assigned Thai Binh Phat Real Estate Joint Stock Company to lease 714 hectares of land in sub-areas 267 and 268 of Ea Bung (Ea Sup) commune to implement a project to invest in forest improvement, forest protection and management. This enterprise also violated the law on land management, forest management and protection, and encroached forest land. The Provincial People's Committee had to reclaim the assigned area. The Ea Sup District People's Committee mobilized and reclaimed more than 622 hectares of encroached forestry land in sub-areas 267 and 268 of Ea Bung commune without having to organize enforcement.

According to Mr. Nguyen Hong Hanh, Head of the Department of Agriculture and Environment, since the beginning of 2025, the People's Committee of Ea Sup district has reclaimed 1,458 hectares of forest encroached by people. The reclaimed area is mainly in Ea Bung and Cu Mlan communes. "The district's functional sector is still continuing to review the encroached forest areas and resolutely reclaim them in the coming time to replant forests," Mr. Hanh informed.

Be decisive but humane

In Krong Bong district (Dak Lak province), the district's functional sector is also thoroughly implementing a plan to review and count the encroached forest area to prepare recovery plans.

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Phap, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Krong Bong district, said that the whole district has 92,000 hectares of forestry land. In 1996, there was a surge of people migrating freely from the northern provinces (mainly the H'Mong ethnic group) to the locality, entering the core forest area to clear and encroach on land to grow agricultural crops. Therefore, the area of ​​encroached forest is very large and fragmented in many areas. Currently, the People's Committee of the district has also directed forest owners to focus on reviewing the encroached forest area. Thereby, making plans and organizing the recovery of encroached forest land.

Many forest areas in Krong Bong district have been encroached upon by people to grow agricultural crops.

“The plans to reclaim forest land must be implemented carefully, strictly and must ensure humanity. Priority will be given to reclaiming newly encroached areas. For households that do not have land for production or housing, the District People's Committee will also consider appropriate factors to propose the allocation of land for production or housing according to projects to stabilize spontaneous migrants so that people can live in peace,” Mr. Phap added.

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Hung, Head of the Dak Lak Provincial Forest Protection Department, said that in the coming time, the recovery of encroached forestry land will be carried out very drastically but also humanely. The province will review which areas are eligible for certificates according to the 2024 Land Law and will issue certificates to the people.

“We will reshape and re-plan the forest area on the ground. Based on the provincial planning and land use planning of each district, we will plan the arrangement of production land and residential land for the people. We will resolutely protect the areas that have been planned for forestry and have forests. We will plant forests in the areas that have lost forests,” Mr. Nguyen Quoc Hung emphasized.

MAI CUONG

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/lay-lai-dat-cho-rung-post795993.html