Payment for forest environmental services: Need to speed up disbursement progress

(Baonghean) - After 3 years of implementation, the Forest Environmental Services Payment Policy (PFES) has proven to be correct and has made an important contribution to forest protection. However, the payment for PFES is still slow, affecting the psychology of people protecting forests.

"Taking forest to nourish forest"

Ms. Lo Thi Loi in Xop Tu village, My Ly commune, Ky Son (in Ban Ve Hydropower basin) confided: "My family received a contract to protect over 18 hectares of forest, and enjoys the policy of paying forest environmental services of 232,000 VND/ha, so I am very excited because I have more money to cover my living expenses. Every week, my family arranges people to join groups of households to patrol and protect the forest." In Xieng Tam village, My Ly commune, there are 30 representative households receiving a contract for over 500 hectares of forest. Since the contract was assigned, people have organized protection very well, preventing deforestation.

People take care of and protect forests in Yen Na commune, Tuong Duong district.

According to Mr. Kha Ngoc Minh - Chairman of the People's Committee of My Ly commune, in previous years, due to not fully understanding the importance and meaning of forests, there were still some people secretly cutting down forests. Now that forest protection is paid from the source of payment for forest environmental services, people are very active. Over 6,000 hectares of forest benefiting from the policy from the source of payment for forest environmental services are basically well protected. From 2012 to now, the commune has not had any forest fires, has kept the forests well, and has contributed to ensuring underground water and stream water to serve the lives of the people.

In Que Phong district, Hua Na Hydropower Company with a total capacity of 180 MW has to indirectly pay nearly 10 billion VND for forest environmental service fees each year through the Nghe An Provincial Forest Environment Protection Fund so that Pu Hoat Nature Reserve can pay for forest caretakers and protectors. To protect the area of ​​protective forests and special-use forests, the Pu Hoat Nature Reserve Management Board has assigned 798 households in Dong Van and Thong Thu communes to take care of them. In 2014, Pu Hoat Nature Reserve started paying people. Mr. Quang Van Hieu, Muong Phu village, Thong Thu commune (Que Phong district) said: "In 2014, my family received 25 hectares of protection and was paid 7,500,000 VND/year. This source of income has improved our family's life; therefore, we are confident in participating in forest protection".

Currently, the Management Board of Pu Hoat Nature Reserve continues to contract forest protection to the buffer zone community. Up to now, the unit has contracted to more than 2,000 households with a total area of ​​62,000 hectares. The payment of forest environmental service fees will be made once a quarter. Mr. Nguyen Danh Hung - Director of Pu Hoat Nature Reserve (Que Phong district) said: "The policy of paying for forest environmental service fees is very sustainable because it is closely linked between forest protectors and the user company. If the forest is well protected, water resources will be created; when the factory has a stable power generation capacity, there will be money to reinvest in forest protectors."

The motto of "using forests to nourish forests" so that hydroelectric plants have water, localities have forests, people receive fees and can live thanks to the forests, is an effective way, contributing to stabilizing and protecting sustainable forests.

Slow disbursement

Although the payment for forest environmental services has brought great efficiency to forest protection work. However, the disbursement of this fund is slow, affecting the psychology of people protecting the forest. Mr. Kha Ngoc Minh - Chairman of the People's Committee of My Ly commune (Ky Son) suggested: "To protect the forest more effectively, we propose to pay the remaining 30% of the forest environmental services owed to people in 2012 and 2013 and pay the forest protection fee for the first 9 months of 2014. If the payment is disbursed in time, people will have more funds to stabilize their lives and focus more on forest protection". It is known that the Ky Son Protective Forest Management Board (PFMB) manages over 69,000 hectares of forest, currently 24,000 hectares of forest in the Ban Ve Hydropower Plant basin are entitled to the forest environmental services policy. Including 96 household groups (equivalent to over 900 households) are entitled to the forest environmental services policy. The Board has provided full payment documents to the Provincial Forest Protection and Development Fund. However, the disbursement speed is still too slow. From 2012 to 2013, the Fund has only paid 2 installments of over 8.6 billion VND (equivalent to 70% of the amount, the remaining 30% has not been disbursed). Mr. Cao Van Quynh - Head of the Ky Son Forest Protection Management Board said: "The policy of paying for forest environmental services is the right policy, bringing many benefits, changing awareness, encouraging people to protect forests. However, the disbursement is too slow, affecting the trust of some people assigned to protect forests, affecting the work that the Board is continuing to prepare documents for over 2,000 households managing and protecting 45,000 hectares in the Khe Bo Hydropower Basin to enjoy the forest environmental services policy. If the payment is slow, will people still believe?"

The Management Board of Tuong Duong Forest Protection Area was also paid for forest environmental services for 22,428 hectares of forest, belonging to the Ban Ve Hydropower Plant basin including the communes of Mai Son, Nhon Mai, Huu Khuong, Luong Minh, Yen Na... But the payment in the first phase of 2012 - 2013 was only nearly 8 billion VND (70% of the payment amount), the remaining 30% has not been disbursed. Mr. Ngu Van Tri - Head of the Tuong Duong Forest Protection Management Board said: "In June 2014, the board continued to complete the dossier for an additional 4,337 hectares of forest in the Ban Ve Hydropower Basin to enjoy the forest environmental service policy, but up to this point, the disbursement has not yet been made. The current difficulty is that in addition to the fact that forest rangers are delayed in paying the forest environmental service fee, 19 forest rangers of the board, category 2B, also depend on the salary from the forest environmental service, and have not received their salary for more than 4 months. Many rangers, category 2B, have to borrow money to live and stay to protect the forest. We hope that the relevant sectors will resolve the problems to promptly disburse the forest environmental service fee to the people assigned to the contract and the rangers, category 2B, can feel secure in their forest protection work."

It is known that the Nghe An Forest Protection and Development Fund mainly mobilizes revenue from entrustment and payment of forest environmental services from hydropower plants, clean water production and supply facilities... Specifically, all hydropower plants in the Nghe An basin entrust capital through the Nghe An Forest Protection and Development Fund. After forest owners complete the documents according to State regulations, the fund will directly pay the above forest owners. Total revenue up to this point is over 109 billion VND, of which the total amount of expenditure is very limited, only over 29 billion VND. Of which, expenditure from forest environmental services is over 28 billion VND, reaching only 26%, the rest is fund management expenditure of over 4.4 billion VND, expenditure for reviewing hydropower basins of over 1.8 billion VND. The 3-year summary report of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on the implementation of the policy on payment for forest environmental services stated the reasons for low disbursement in some provinces, in which Nghe An is still confused in determining the objects of payment, and completely entrusts the implementation of the task of reviewing forest owners to consultants, so the deadline is prolonged and the quality of determining forest area to forest owners is not high.

Discussing the reasons for the slow disbursement progress, Mr. Nguyen Khac Lam - Director of Nghe An Forest Protection and Development Fund explained: Because the forest protection design assignment dossiers of forest owners have not been appraised and approved in time for payment. Specifically, the total forest area in the hydropower basins approved is 316,508.35 hectares, of which the forest owners are 236,331.57 hectares (accounting for 75%), but only 89,610.5 hectares have been fully documented and approved. Some areas have been approved but have not been converted into forest environmental service payment dossiers, the number of areas being submitted for approval is 68,400 hectares, and the number of areas yet to have design dossiers is 63,240 hectares. Regarding the forest area of ​​communes, communities and individuals, 80,000 hectares were assigned to 5 Forest Protection Departments of Ky Son, Tuong Duong, Que Phong, Con Cuong and Quy Hop districts to review and prepare records. However, the progress was slow, only Que Phong Forest Protection Department had prepared and was waiting for approval of 16,700 hectares. The reason for the slow progress of the Forest Protection Departments was because for some forest areas managed by individuals such as in Ky Son, the Land Use Right Certificates by the District People's Committee had not been issued to the people, so the field could not be determined to prepare records. The problem of confusion in determining the payment subjects leading to the remaining amount of "residual" money was because since 2011 the Forest Protection and Development Fund had not been established, so the forest owners had no records to pay. Not to mention that this was the first time implementing a new policy, so the fund had to both explore and draw experience.

Through research, it is known that the reason for the slow disbursement progress is partly due to the lack of determination in directing and organizing implementation and mobilizing the political system in some districts and communes. Therefore, the review and determination of specific boundaries, areas, and forest status to each forest owner and manager has not been completed, so there is no basis for payment. The reason for the payment of forest environmental services has been clearly pointed out, the most urgent issue at this time is that relevant levels and sectors need to urgently implement solutions to speed up the payment progress to forest rangers. In addition, the reason for the slow payment as well as the difference in payment between localities must be explained so that people know and feel secure in their commitment to forest protection work.

Article and photos:Van Truong - Van Thanh