Coastal protection forest management: Difficult in many ways!

Recently, the case of Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh (Nam Hai village) and Mrs. Tran Thi Luyen (Bac Hai village), Thach Khe commune, arbitrarily cutting down about 135 casuarina trees in the local sand-blocking protective forest area has made public opinion indignant. Immediately after that, the functional forces coordinated with the local government to draw up a record to suspend the tree cutting, temporarily confiscated the illegally harvested wood to continue investigating and handling according to regulations.

The recent incident of people arbitrarily exploiting coastal protection forests in Thach Khe commune.

After the incident, many people have become more aware that exploiting coastal protection forests is a violation of the law. Many households that had intended to or were exploiting have stopped. However, some people are still concerned because the area of casuarina forest mentioned above was planted and cared for by them before it was designated as a protection forest. When the trees grew big and were old enough to be exploited, they were not allowed to harvest, causing many people to feel disadvantaged.

Mr. Nguyen Van Ai (Bac Hai village, Thach Khe commune) shared: "I have about 1,000 casuarina trees planted here since 1989. Now that the trees are ready to be harvested, I have received information that this area belongs to the coastal protection forest. I hope that the superiors will consider appropriate policies and solutions."

Mr. Nguyen Van Ai, Bac Hai village, Thach Khe commune (right) planted about 1,000 casuarina trees in the coastal protection forest area.

Mr. Nguyen Viet Hien, Head of the Economic Department of the People's Committee of Thach Khe Commune, said: "Currently, the whole commune of Thach Khe has 687 hectares of coastal protection forest, of which 247 hectares are planted forest, the rest is bare land under the management of the People's Committee of the commune. In the past, some people did not fully understand the law, so they arbitrarily cut down and exploited the protective forest. The People's Committee of the commune is conducting propaganda and mobilizing people to sign a commitment to keep these trees to develop in the direction of multi-use forests to promote the role of coastal protection but still bring economic benefits to the people."

Coastal protection forest area in Dong Tien commune.

Not only in Thach Khe commune, the same situation is also happening in Dong Tien commune. Due to historical factors, some areas of protective forests have been illegally exploited by people. Thanks to the propaganda and mobilization work of the government and functional forces, this situation has basically been rectified. However, the current difficulty is that many areas have not clearly defined the boundaries between protective forests and production forests, leading to inadequacies in management.

Dong Tien commune local authorities have increased patrols and management of coastal protection forests.

“The Economic Department of Dong Tien Commune People's Committee has assigned staff to regularly monitor and inspect coastal protection forests. At the same time, they have propagated and explained to people that planting trees on state-managed protection forests is not allowed to be arbitrarily cut down or exploited. Currently, there are no boundaries for protection forests and other types of forests, so patrolling and handling are difficult. The locality is coordinating with the forest rangers to measure,” said Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thai, Head of the Economic Department of Dong Tien Commune People's Committee.

Ky Anh Forest Ranger Force increases patrol and surveillance work.

In reality, the behavior of people arbitrarily exploiting coastal protection forests due to lack of understanding of the law or unclear boundaries between forest types has existed for a long time. However: "Currently, the most difficult thing is the sanctions to handle the behavior of people arbitrarily exploiting coastal protection forests without permission from competent authorities. Because there are no clear regulations on punishing this behavior, people can easily repeat similar behaviors" - Mr. Nguyen Dinh Luu, Head of Ky Anh Forest Protection Department said.

Coastal protection forest of Ky Anh commune.

“In the coming time, the forest rangers will continue to propagate and mobilize people; strengthen coordination with local forces such as the Commune People's Committee, Commune Police, and grassroots security forces to promptly prevent violations. In the long term, we will continue to propose to the Central agencies to have specific sanctions to make forest management more effective.” - Mr. Le Huu Tuan, Head of the Forest Use and Development Department ( Ha Tinh Forest Protection Department) said.

Source: https://baohatinh.vn/quan-ly-rung-phong-ho-ven-bien-kho-nhieu-be-post292107.html