Prevent illegal logging and exploitation of forests

Resolutely handle violations

In the first quarter of 2024, the provincial Forest Protection force inspected, detected and handled 28 violations, including 4 cases of illegal exploitation; 1 case of violating the State's general regulations on forest protection; 13 cases of illegal deforestation; 3 cases of illegal transportation of forest products; 3 cases of violating regulations on management of forest product records in transportation, trading, storage and processing; 4 cases of other violations. Accordingly, 21 cases were administratively sanctioned and 7 cases were transferred for criminal handling. Compared to the first quarter of 2023, the number of handled violations decreased by 11 cases, a decrease of 28.21%. The unit has collected and paid to the State budget over 303.6 million VND (including 252.5 million VND in fines; over 51.1 million VND in proceeds from the sale of confiscated exhibits and means).

Officers of Cham Chu Special Use Forest Ranger Department (Ham Yen) patrol the special use forest.

According to the above results, the number of violations of forestry laws has decreased but is still complicated and sophisticated, typically the incident on the evening of February 4, 2024, the Mobile Forest Protection and Forest Protection Team discovered a truck with license plate number 38C-087.59 driven by Mr. NVN, address in Trung Truc commune (Yen Son) moving at high speed on DT185 road, Tan Minh village, Kien Thiet commune. The patrol team signaled to stop the vehicle. Conducting an inspection, it was determined that Mr. NVN was transporting forest products in the form of round wood (common wood), with a volume of 1.585 m³, without legal forest product documents. Through the investigation, the violation was identified and a decision was made to impose a penalty according to the law.

At a recent conference on forest management and protection of the provincial forest rangers, the leaders of the Forest Protection Department requested the Forest Protection Sub-Departments and Mobile Forest Protection Teams to promptly and strictly handle violations of the Forestry Law, resolutely criminally handle large-scale violations that cause great damage, and handle the responsibility of irresponsible forest owners who allow forests to be destroyed. In addition, it is necessary to strengthen inspection and sweep areas at risk of deforestation, illegal logging and transportation of forest products such as district and provincial roads with complex terrain in Chiem Hoa, Na Hang, Lam Binh, Yen Son districts; some high-risk areas in areas bordering other provinces; strictly manage wood processing facilities, strictly handle violators, etc.

Recently, violations have mainly occurred in the forest areas of forest owners assigned by the State to manage and protect forests. Therefore, forest owners need to rectify the management and protection of forests in the assigned areas, not allowing deforestation to cause serious consequences to be discovered. Forest owners must have a firm grasp of forest developments in their forest areas, especially areas at high risk of encroachment due to illegal exploitation of forest products, deforestation for production land, etc. From there, arrange specialized forest protection forces to regularly patrol and sweep deep into the forest to promptly expel subjects from the forest, protect the forest from the roots; immediately notify the relevant agencies and local authorities to coordinate patrolling and handling when the situation tends to become complicated.

Applying 4.0 technology to protect forests

To improve management efficiency, promptly monitor and detect changes in forest resources, recently, the provincial Forest Protection force has actively updated information technology applications and digital transformation in forest management and protection.

Provincial forest rangers inspect Tan Trao special-use forest on GPS.

Comrade Duong Van Xy, Deputy Head of the Provincial Forest Protection Department, said that currently, the Forest Protection Departments in the province are actively using software to manage and protect forests such as Locus Map, remote sensing equipment... These software are integrated into tablets and smartphones, supporting many features such as: measurement, field inspection support, forest lot management, forest status, forest owner name, tree type, planting year, reserves... effectively supporting forest rangers in the process of performing their duties. From there, it helps the forest rangers detect and warn early of unusual changes, accurately updating fluctuations in forest resources.

Cham Chu Special-Use Forest has a total area of nearly 15 thousand hectares, located in 83 villages and hamlets in 5 communes: Trung Ha, Ha Lang, Hoa Phu (Chiem Hoa district); Yen Thuan, Phu Luu (Ham Yen district). Comrade Nong Giang Nam, Deputy Head of Cham Chu Special-Use Forest Ranger Department, said: Currently, the total number of forest rangers and forest patrol staff of the department is 26 people. With a large management area and wide area, previously, it was very difficult and time-consuming to grasp information about forest developments.

Since 2013, by simply accessing the Locus Map software, the unit can easily obtain images and grasp the situation of the forest areas. The application provides a current map, determines the user's location, the boundaries of the sub-areas, takes photos with coordinates, records videos, and uses the phone as a GPS device. In particular, it always updates specific information about the location, forest type, name of each village chief, phone number, etc. Thereby, helping forest rangers monitor and grasp what is happening in the assigned forest area for management, promptly instructing forest owners to implement the plan when necessary.

Through the practice of forest protection work, it is shown that it is necessary to have close leadership attention from Party committees and authorities, especially to enhance the role and responsibility of heads of agencies and organizations in forest protection and development; ensure synchronous and effective coordination between functional sectors and local authorities, forest owners and people, along with modern technological equipment to ensure forest protection.

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