Recovering encroached forestry land: Synchronously implementing solutions

Sub-areas 267 and Sub-areas 268 (Ea Bung commune, Ea Sup district) have a total area of ​​over 1,877 hectares. In December 2012, the Dak Lak Provincial People's Committee leased more than 714 hectares of land in these two sub-areas to Thai Binh Phat Real Estate Joint Stock Company to implement a project to invest in forest improvement, forest protection and management. However, due to ineffective project implementation and the enterprise's violations of the law on land management, forest management and protection, in February 2017, the Provincial People's Committee decided to reclaim the land and hand it over to the Ea Sup District People's Committee for management.

After receiving the land, the district reviewed and assessed the current status of forest management, protection and land management in this area. At the same time, implementing the policy of the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial People's Committee on reclaiming encroached and occupied forest land, especially piloting the reclamation and site clearance (GPMB) on an area of ​​over 1,000 hectares of forest land in Sub-zone 267 and Sub-zone 268 (including the reclaimed area transferred by Thai Binh Phat Real Estate Joint Stock Company).

Authorities dismantled illegally built shacks on forestry land in Ea Bung commune (Ea Sup district).

After completing the field measurement, establishing a file for handling administrative violations..., the People's Committee of Ea Sup district has developed plans, scenarios, established committees and working groups to carry out enforcement tasks, plans to ensure security and order, logistics for enforcement...

In 2024, the District People's Committee has directed in a focused, drastic and flexible manner, with special attention paid to propaganda and mobilization work combined with professional measures of the police force; promptly taking care of people's daily lives, guiding and facilitating the settlement of administrative procedures on household registration, land and the legitimate needs of each violator, supporting and mobilizing children to go to school... so that households trust and agree with the government and voluntarily return the land. Therefore, the district does not have to organize enforcement, thus saving the budget and reducing the pressure on security and order in the area.

As a result, the Ea Sup District People's Committee has propagated, mobilized, and persuaded 129 households to voluntarily return their land (an increase of 25 households compared to the decisions of the Provincial People's Committee); the recovered area is more than 622 hectares (equal to 111% of the planned recovered area). The district has organized land acquisition and clearance on the entire area, including cutting down 169 hectares of perennial trees; plowing and destroying 227.6 hectares of annual trees; dismantling 79 huts and sheds; the remaining more than 225 hectares are vacant land.

After the land acquisition, Ea Sup district directed the commune government and specialized agencies to receive and strictly manage the recovered land fund, not allowing re-encroachment and occupation; review the land funds planned to allocate residential land and production land for people, and propose to request approval for the project to relocate residents in eligible areas.

 

"All violations must be detected promptly and prevented from the beginning. If violations occur without measures to prevent and thoroughly handle them, allowing forests to continue to be destroyed and forest land to be encroached upon, the forest owner must be held responsible and must be handled according to the provisions of the law" - Acting Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee

Chairman of the People's Committee of Ea Sup District, Do Xuan Dung, said that through the work of reclaiming encroached and occupied forestry land in Sub-zone 267 and Sub-zone 268, the first lesson learned is to strengthen land management really closely; closely follow the direction and guidance of superiors; do a good job of propaganda and mobilization; make plans, plans and manage land use plans to effectively manage land funds; strengthen coordination between functional agencies; carry out social security support well; be flexible in land reclaim plans and options; strictly manage land after reclaimation. At the same time, evaluate work efficiency associated with the responsibility of cadres and civil servants and continuously improve working methods.

According to incomplete statistics from localities and forest owners, the whole province has 127,770 hectares of forestry land originating from forestry farms that have been illegally encroached upon and occupied by people. Specifically, encroached land at one-member and two-member forestry LLCs: 20,670 hectares; forest management boards, national parks: 6,330 hectares; land managed by commune-level People's Committees: 94,500 hectares; forest protection and management projects, combined agroforestry: 6,200 hectares.

To date, the district People's Committee has only been able to recover about 1,460 hectares. The handling and recovery of encroached and occupied forestry land has encountered many difficulties, obstacles and shortcomings. Faced with the above situation, the Provincial People's Committee issued Plan No. 188/KH-UBND, dated October 24, 2024 on handling and recovering encroached and occupied forestry land in Dak Lak province, with the goal of recovering 100% of the encroached and occupied land area by the second quarter of 2026.

An area of ​​encroached forestry land in Ea Sup district has been recovered.

To complete this task, the acting Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Nguyen Thien Van, requested districts, towns and cities to strengthen propaganda, mobilization and persuasion so that people understand and strictly comply with the State's policies and laws on forestry and land; encourage people to voluntarily return the encroached and occupied forest land area, and limit the implementation of compulsory recovery measures. The work of drawing up administrative violation records and establishing records of administrative sanctions for acts of encroachment and occupation of forest land must be carried out in accordance with regulations, in order to create favorable conditions for competent persons to make decisions on administrative sanctions without having to consolidate records and verify before issuing a sanction decision.

The Department of Agriculture and Environment shall strengthen the inspection and examination of the use of forestry land by agricultural and forestry projects leased by organizations and individuals and promptly handle violations of land laws. Direct the Forest Protection Sub-Department to strengthen forest protection and management, promptly detect violations and coordinate well with competent authorities to handle violators; proactively fight to prevent and combat acts of encroachment on forest resources and land encroachment.

The Provincial People's Committee requested the Provincial Police to direct the police of communes, wards and towns to coordinate with local authorities to propagate, mobilize and persuade people to voluntarily return encroached and occupied forestry land; to strengthen and promote the role of religious dignitaries and prestigious people among ethnic minorities to serve the propaganda work, mobilize people to voluntarily return encroached and occupied land.

For forest owners, strengthen patrolling, inspection, and protection of forests at the root, and protection of forests in border areas; specifically identify "hot spots" of forest encroachment in managed forest areas to arrange checkpoints, organize raids at hot spots of deforestation, encroachment, and occupation of forest land; make inspection records, reports, and transfer files to competent authorities for handling within the prescribed time.

Source: https://baodaklak.vn/kinh-te/202505/thu-hoi-dat-lam-nghiep-bi-lan-chiem-thuc-hien-dong-bo-cac-giai-phap-8e11d0d/