More resources to preserve the great forest

Quang Tri has great potential for reducing emissions and absorbing carbon from forests nationwide. This is not only a favorable condition for the province to develop forestry economy but also contributes to sustainable forest management, protection and development.

The joy of ethnic people in Pha Mu commune, Than Uyen district, Lai Chau province, next to forest trees. (Photo: Viet Hoang/VNA)

Over the years, funding from the North Central Region Emission Reduction Payment Agreement has helped people in the province have additional income, create stable livelihoods, and improve forest resource management.

Improve people's livelihoods

Quang Tri Province With a total forest area of 841,224 hectares (natural forest 596,230 hectares, planted forest 244,933 hectares), the forest cover rate reaches 61.47%. With great potential for natural forests, Quang Tri is allowed by the Government to participate in the pilot transfer of emission reduction results and financial management of emission reduction payments in the North Central region (ERPA) according to Decree No. 107/2022/ND-CP dated December 28, 2022, the amount allocated is more than 364 billion VND (the old Quang Binh province is allocated 298 billion VND, the old Quang Tri province 65.3 billion VND).

By the end of June 2025, the whole province had disbursed nearly 329 billion VND, reaching more than 90% - a disbursement level among the high-ranking provinces implementing ERPA. This resource has contributed to supporting the forest protection and development tasks of 121 forest owners, improving the livelihoods of more than 11,900 households.

Director of the Dong Chau-Khe Nuoc Trong Nature Reserve Management Board Bach Thanh Hai said that the unit is assigned to manage, protect and develop forests, conserve biodiversity, store and develop rare animal and plant genetic resources with a total forest area of over 34,200 hectares. Of which, the forest area is paid for greenhouse gas emission reduction costs of over 10 billion VND per year for nearly 29,000 hectares, which the Management Board has used for essential purposes, such as strengthening law enforcement on forest protection and development; contracting forest protection and supporting livelihoods for the community in Kim Ngan commune (formerly Kim Thuy and Lam Thuy communes).

Rum Ho village Party Secretary Ho Van Vang said that the village has 120 households, 372 people, and is assigned to protect 1,840 hectares of special-use forest. From 2024 to now, the villagers have received many payments for forest protection from ERPA, each payment of 3.6 million VND/household. In addition, every year, Rum Ho village is also supported with additional livelihood models, helping 3 households in especially difficult circumstances, each household with a breeding cow. Similarly, Phu Minh village, Kim Phu commune (formerly Thuong Hoa commune) is managing and protecting more than 720 hectares of community forest with many types of precious wood with large reserves. Currently, the village community receives more than 170,000 VND/year for each hectare of forest from the sale of carbon credits.

Mr. Thai Xuan Hong, Head of the Phu Minh Village Community Forest Management Board, shared that with additional support, people are very happy and see that the community's responsibility for the forest is increasing. For the past three years, hundreds of households in the village have received support money for forest protection, some households have received more than 5 million VND/period from wages for patrolling and protecting the forest. Also benefiting from ERPA funding, 60 communities and groups of households of ethnic minorities in the Huong Hoa and Dakrong regions that are managing 12,300 hectares of natural forest have been paid more than 1.5 billion VND; more than 80 households managing 557 hectares of natural forest have been paid more than 70 million VND. Every year, each community is also supported with an additional 50 million VND to develop livelihoods, repair community houses, and install electricity to light up internal village roads.

Removing obstacles for a successful pilot

In the 2023-2025 period, implementing Decree No. 107/2022/ND-CP of the Government, Quang Tri province has actively implemented the agreement on payment for greenhouse gas emission reduction in the North Central region signed between the World Bank and the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, with more than 596,000 hectares of natural forest being paid. By the end of June 2025, the whole province had 127 communities who were forest owners receiving 8.2 billion VND from ERPA; 92 communities participating in forest protection contracts from forest owners; 160 communities were supported with 50 million VND per community/year.

Currently, the province has 28 forest owners who are organizations receiving ERPA payments with an area of nearly 431,000 hectares; 93 forest owners who are commune-level authorities are assigned the responsibility of managing natural forests with an area of more than 87,650 hectares.

Standing Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Quang Tri province, Hoang Nam, assessed that over the past 3 years, forest environmental security in the province has been basically stable. forest protection are kept at the root, avoiding hot spots. In addition to providing a significant source of income to help improve people's lives, ERPA implementation also connects communities through making important decisions together such as agreeing to participate in forest management activities and building livelihood development plans.

The results after 3 years of implementing the contents of ERPA have helped Quang Tri maintain a forest coverage rate of nearly 61.5%, among the highest in the country. However, the implementation of ERPA also encountered difficulties and obstacles, the actual disbursement rate of forest owners, organizations and commune-level authorities was still low, and the progress of payment to forest rangers in some places was still slow. The slow opening of payment accounts for beneficiaries and the lack of specialized human resources at the grassroots level affected the progress of disbursement and payment. The merger and consolidation of provinces and the establishment of new communes required more time to determine forest areas and beneficiaries to check and review before allocating money to the final beneficiaries, who were assigned to protect the forests.

Therefore, although the program ends at the end of this year, the ERPA funding source at the forest owners' organizations is still quite large and has not been disbursed. Faced with this reality, the leaders of Quang Tri province have directed localities, units and forest owners to speed up the disbursement of ERPA funding in 2025, ensuring publicity, democracy, fairness, and the right subjects, striving to complete the program's disbursement; at the same time, summarize and evaluate the pilot process to report to the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment to serve the expansion and institutionalization of forest carbon absorption and storage services nationwide in the coming time.

Quang Tri Provincial leaders proposed that the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment consider and report to the Prime Minister for permission to continue implementing the ERPA program until the end of 2026. In particular, it is proposed to consider amending and supplementing Decree No. 107/2022/ND-CP in the direction of allowing expansion of the subjects receiving contracts and the contract limit for forest protection; using ERPA sources integrated with the budget for forest protection and forest protection contracts.

Source: https://baolangson.vn/them-nguon-luc-de-gin-giu-dai-ngan-5059892.html