It is necessary to develop and promulgate policy mechanisms for sharing benefits from forests.

(Baonghean.vn) - Working with the Provincial National Assembly Delegation, the Management Board of Pu Hoat Nature Reserve recommended that the Central Government should develop a specific policy mechanism for the forestry sector.

Delegates attending the Conference. Photo: Thanh Le

Pu Hoat Nature Reserve is a forestry unit under the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. The unit is assigned to manage, protect and develop forests on an area of ​​over 85,231 hectares of forest and forestry land distributed in 9 communes of Que Phong district.

At the conference, the staff of Pu Hoat Nature Reserve Management Board proposed that the Central Government should develop a specific policy mechanism for the forestry sector, especially the mechanism for investment and use of investment capital in forestry projects and scientific research.

At the same time, the Central Government needs to develop and promulgate policy mechanisms to share forest benefits with communities, especially those living in the core areas of national parks and nature reserves.

Propose that the Provincial People's Committee direct relevant departments, branches and sectors to consider preferential allowances for the Forest Protection sector for the unit's civil servants working at Forest Protection Management Stations and Mobile Forest Protection Teams.

Mr. Nguyen Van Sinh - Director of Pu Hoat Nature Reserve Management Board reported on the unit's performance. Photo: Thanh Le

Making a recommendation to the National Assembly Delegate, Mr. Nguyen Van Sinh - Director of the Pu Hoat Nature Reserve Management Board said: Currently, the entire forest area assigned to the Pu Hoat Nature Reserve Management Board has not yet been granted land use right certificates according to regulations.

“The entire area has only been identified on the map and has not been marked in the field, especially the boundary markers with buffer zones and residential areas. This problem causes difficulties in the management and enforcement of forest protection laws. On the other hand, the unit has 8 forest protection management stations that have not been granted land use right certificates,” Mr. Sinh emphasized.

Talking to the National Assembly Delegate, Mr. Nguyen Van Sinh said that according to the current regulations on the approved job position project, the number of civil servants and public employees of the unit has only been arranged for more than 1/3 of the prescribed number of staff. Therefore, the implementation of tasks is facing many difficulties. Due to the lack of human resources, each officer has to manage an area 7-8 times larger than the regulation, so the unit is mainly focusing human resources on the task of forest protection, while the issue of scientific research is still limited.

Pu Hoat Nature Reserve Management Board staff give comments on the Draft Law on Forest Protection and Development (amended). Photo: Thanh Le

In addition, the Forest Ranger force often has to patrol the forests in remote areas, sensitive border areas and always has to face with reckless and daring loggers. However, the state has not yet issued any document regulating the management and use of weapons.

Commenting on the Draft Law on Forest Protection and Development, the Forest Management Board of Pu Hoat Nature Reserve said that the current name "Law on Forest Protection and Development" does not fully cover the content of the Law because the Law mostly contains regulations on Forestry. On the other hand, the content of this Law deals with many other issues besides forest management and protection, so the name "Law on Forest Protection and Development" is no longer appropriate.

Clause 3, Article 19 on Principles of forest allocation, forest lease, change of forest use purpose and forest recovery stipulates: "Forest owners to whom the State allocates or leases natural forests or planted forests invested by the State are not allowed to sublease those forest areas to other organizations or individuals."

According to the Management Board of Pu Hoat Nature Reserve, this regulation is correct and appropriate in terms of overall state management. However, in reality, areas with potential for tourism and service exploitation in national parks and nature reserves are often associated with natural landscapes and forests.

The investment in tourism and service exploitation by investors is often linked to forests and forest land. Thus, with this regulation, it will be difficult for forest owners to exploit services and tourism. Therefore, the Law needs to have open regulations for these subjects.

The unit's opinion is that the Law needs to have specific and unified regulations on the management organization system of national parks and nature reserves. In reality, the management organization system of national parks and nature reserves is not really unified.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hien - Deputy Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation acknowledged the comments of Pu Hoat Nature Reserve. Photo: Thanh Le

Currently, in national parks and nature reserves, there is a large force of civil servants assigned to the Forest Protection Department and working as Forest Rangers. Delegates wonder how this force will be handled when the Law is promulgated and takes effect?

On behalf of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hien acknowledged and highly appreciated the dedicated and responsible comments of the officials, civil servants and public employees of the Pu Hoat Nature Reserve Management Board, and at the same time responded and clarified the opinions of the voters of Pu Hoat Nature Reserve.

Regarding the comments and recommendations of the unit, the Provincial National Assembly Delegation will make recommendations to relevant agencies, departments and branches at the National Assembly forums, contributing to the good work of forest protection and development./.

Thanh Le