Storm No. 3 (Yagi) made landfall in Quang Ninh in early September, destroying over 133,000 hectares of forest. Immediately after the storm dissipated, forest owners including households, forestry enterprises, forest management boards and authorities, as well as the entire political system in the province, urgently took action to overcome the consequences caused by the storm and restore forestry production, with the key task being reforestation.
The determination is very high, however, in the current context, the task of planting and re-greening the forest is not simple. Reporters from the Provincial Media Center interviewed Mr. Vu Duy Van (photo), Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, in charge of the agricultural sector, on this issue.
- Can you share your feelings when witnessing the forests being destroyed by the devastation of storm number 3?
+ Pain, that is the feeling of a person who is attached to the forestry industry like me. More than 133,000 hectares of forest that have been broken down are the result of many years of labor, care, and protection by businesses, households, and individuals who invested in planting forests in the province. Without forests, people have no income; forestry companies do not have the resources to replant forests for the next season, as well as to pay salaries and social insurance for employees; forest product processing enterprises lack raw materials for production in the coming time.
The consequences of storm No. 3 on forests not only cause economic consequences, but also directly affect the welfare of those who live on forestry, especially ethnic minority areas, remote areas, border areas, and islands; greatly affect the ecological environment, water resources, and landscape; the risk of forest fires is very high.
- In your opinion, how much work is needed to restore the forest?
+ The amount of work needed to overcome the consequences of storm No. 3 is huge, it cannot be solved in a short time, but must be done over a long period of time. However, in the immediate future, priority should be given to building firebreaks in areas that prevent the risk of forest fires spreading over large areas and being difficult to control; in addition, it is necessary to step up propaganda to raise awareness and responsibility of forest owners, organizations, communities, households and individuals regarding forest fire prevention and control, voluntarily clean up and clear forests, firebreaks, and handle vegetation to ensure fire prevention and control safety conditions, avoid widespread and passive forest fires... At the same time, it is necessary to solve the difficulties of forest growers, support forest growers in reforestation through the implementation of support mechanisms and policies.
In the long term, it is necessary to urgently establish and implement a project to restore, reconstruct and develop sustainable forestry after storm No. 3 until 2030, integrated into the project to restore and reconstruct the economy of Quang Ninh province after the storm.
- Could you tell us about the advantages and difficulties in forest restoration work in Quang Ninh?
+ Regarding advantages, the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial People's Committee have resolutely directed the work of overcoming consequences and implementing solutions to support businesses and people in planting forests. The province has launched a peak period of mobilizing forces and means (military forces, forest rangers, youth volunteers, etc.) according to the "4 on-site" motto to launch a campaign of "30 days and nights of support for forest owners in cleaning up forests"; cleaning up and ensuring traffic on production and transportation routes for forest products.
Functional units and localities have collected statistics and assessed the extent of damage, and immediately implemented support mechanisms and policies according to Decree No. 02/2017/ND-CP (dated January 9, 2017) of the Government. Banks have implemented credit support mechanisms and policies for companies and households receiving contracts to handle risks (restructuring debt repayment time, debt freezing, debt extension, debt interest cancellation); and provided loans to damaged forest owners with preferential interest rates for reinvestment, restoration, production, and business. Tax, social insurance, port authorities, etc. have proactively created maximum conditions to support and guide businesses and forest owners to overcome difficulties, consume, and export damaged forest products.
Forestry One Member Limited Liability Companies complete the records of inspection and verification of damage, especially the area of planted forests from the State budget and replacement forest planting capital; complete the records, procedures, and debt settlement order according to regulations; proactively source seeds to serve the implementation of the 2025 forest planting plan. Enterprises purchasing, processing, and exporting wood chips promote the purchase, processing, and consumption of planted forest wood in the province; implement publicity and transparency so that forest owners know about the purchase price of wood products with the accompanying criteria in the spirit of joining hands to share the damage and provide maximum support to help people reduce difficulties and soon restore forestry production; proactively coordinate with wood chip purchasing partners, port management units, and other necessary conditions to improve wood purchasing capacity...
Quang Ninh also applies existing support policies in Resolution No. 37/2024/NQ-HDND (dated July 10, 2024) of the Provincial People's Council on stipulating a number of specific policies to encourage sustainable forestry development; Decree 58/2024/ND-CP (dated May 24, 2024) of the Government on a number of investment policies in forestry; capital for replacement forestation from the Forest Protection and Development Fund.
However, Decree No. 02/2017/ND-CP (dated January 9, 2017) of the Government is currently not suitable for the actual situation. Specifically, the applicable subjects have not covered all damaged forest owners, the support level of 2 million VND/ha for areas damaged by 30-70% and 4 million VND/ha for areas damaged by over 70% is not suitable for current relevant regulations.
Currently, the Central Government has no regulations or guidelines on liquidation of forests planted with State budget capital and capital for replacement forests. According to regulations, this forest area must remain in its damaged state, while this is a risk of large-scale forest fires, affecting the ecological environment, and will lead to waste of State investment resources. Along with that, the debt of credit, insurance, tax, and loans for re-production and business of forest owners also faces many difficulties.
- As a state management agency, what solutions has the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development had to solve the above difficulties, sir?
+ Quang Ninh is urgently developing and implementing a project to restore, reconstruct and develop sustainable forestry after storm No. 3 until 2030. This includes restructuring forestry crops, prioritizing the planting of large timber species suitable for climate and soil conditions, long-term and sustainable development; linking production according to value chains; attracting investment resources from appropriate funds and projects to create resources for forest reconstruction. The province is also implementing specific policies to encourage sustainable forestry development in the area according to Resolution No. 37/2024/NQ-HDND of the Provincial People's Council and policies according to Decree No. 58/2024/ND-CP of the Government to support investment in planting production forests and developing non-timber forest products, this is a practical solution.
Along with that, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has advised the Provincial People's Committee, reported, proposed, and recommended the Government and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to soon issue detailed guidance documents on the implementation of regulations on forest liquidation; amend and supplement Decree No. 02/2017/ND-CP dated January 9, 2017 (additional subjects and increased support levels). The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development also encourages forest owners to choose suitable tree species with high economic value, combined with reforestation with native species, large timber trees, short-term use for long-term use, minimizing risks due to natural disasters... to increase the value of forests per unit of planted area.
In addition, Quang Ninh needs to consider attracting investment in high-tech forestry zones to research, apply, develop and produce high-tech products, new technologies, forestry varieties, mechanization in afforestation, forest care and exploitation, forest product processing and production of ancillary products for the wood and forestry processing industry.
With the above solutions, along with the efforts of people and forest planting businesses, Quang Ninh forests will certainly recover and become green again.
Thank you!
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