Policy cannot be a "pie in the sky"!

Many concerns

The community of Huoi Moi 1 village, Tri Le border commune, Que Phong district, including 83 households and 497 Mong people, participate in the protection of over 500 hectares of natural forest, belonging to Pu Hoat Nature Reserve. Coming here at the end of 2018, among many issues raised by village officials, hamlets and people, there were concerns about forest protection policies. Mr. Va Ba Thai - Village Chief, Mr. Va Tong Xu - Village Team Leader said that the Mong people of Huoi Moi 1 village live mainly on livestock and agriculture, their lives are still difficult, with up to 51% of households being poor. Therefore, when the State allows them to participate in contracting to protect natural forests and receive financial support, they are very happy. But that was before 2016. Since 2017, people have not received funding for forest protection. In 2018, people are looking forward to it and waiting, wondering if they will receive this funding or not?

Huoi Moi 1 Village, Tri Le Commune, Que Phong District. Photo: Nhat Lan

Responding to this content, according to the Pu Hoat Nature Reserve Management Board, before 2016, the Board assigned forest protection contracts to households in Huoi Moi 1 village from the 30a budget transferred by the Que Phong District People's Committee. In 2017, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development issued a document instructing that the forest protection budget in the 30a districts was taken from the 30a Program budget. However, in 2017, the 30a budget was cut, so the principle contract with households contracted to protect the forest was not implemented.

As for 2018, Pu Hoat Nature Reserve Management Board is implementing payments to the subjects contracted to protect forests according to Decree 75, with funds from the Sustainable Forestry Development Target Program for the period 2016-2020 according to Decision 886/QD-TTg dated June 16, 2017 of the Prime Minister. The subjects of the contract are now the communities of villages and hamlets (including the Huoi Moi 1 community). However, only 44 communities of villages and hamlets with 888 households in communes with particularly difficult socio-economic conditions have participated in the contract to protect 9,813.75 hectares of forest (including 4,321.14 hectares of special-use forests; 5,501.61 hectares of protective forests). Currently, there are still 10,152.22 hectares that have not been contracted to the people. The forest area managed by the Pu Hoat Nature Reserve Management Board is located in 9 communes and is mainly spread out in remote areas, bordering the Vietnam - Laos border, Thanh Hoa province, Tuong Duong district, with rugged and fragmented terrain. Therefore, if the allocation is not implemented synchronously, it will lead to difficulties in forest protection work. In addition, the Government's goal as stated in Decree 75 is to implement the policy of rapid and sustainable poverty reduction and support for ethnic minorities will not be realized.

Walking on Quy Chau land, everywhere you go you see forests. Photo: Nhat Lan

According to the officials of the People's Council of Que Phong district, voters in Que Phong are very concerned about the implementation of Decree 75. From the fact that a major policy for ethnic minorities in border areas still has many difficulties like Que Phong district, but is slow to be implemented; when implemented, it is not synchronous, some places have it and some do not, it will lead to many shortcomings.

According to the 2016 forest inventory results, the entire Que Phong district has more than 170,000 hectares of forestry land. Of which, over 142,000 hectares of forestry land have natural forests. Currently, in Que Phong district, Decree 75 has only been implemented with an area of ​​over 15,000 hectares (Pu Hoat Nature Reserve is contracted with an area of ​​9,813.75 hectares; Pu Huong Nature Reserve is contracted with an area of ​​2,180.68 hectares; contracted according to Resolution 30a with an area of ​​3,021.14 hectares).

In Quy Chau, the total area of ​​forestry land with natural forests is 69,000 hectares. Photo: Nhat Lan

In Quy Chau district, through monitoring the implementation of Decree 75, the Provincial Fatherland Front Committee also pointed out many shortcomings. According to Report No. 1964.BC/MTTQ-BTT dated November 21, 2018 of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Fatherland Front Committee, in this district, only more than 2,632 ha/19,939.63 ha of protective forest were implemented under the policy of Decree 75 with an amount of more than 1 billion VND in 2016 (directly implemented by the Quy Chau Protective Forest Management Board). From 2017 to now, it has not been implemented. The main reason is that the funding source for implementing the policy is insufficient and slow. According to the Quy Chau Protective Forest Management Board, in 2017, due to lack of funding, the Board had to stop the principle contracts signed with households assigned to protect the forest. In 2018, the policy of Decree 75 will continue to be implemented. The forest protection assignment is done by the Board of Contracts with the communities of villages and hamlets. However, it will only be implemented on an area of ​​1,500 hectares from the 30a budget transferred by the People's Committee of Quy Chau district.

According to the Quy Chau Forest Protection Department, the figure of 19,939.63 hectares of protective forest is only under the management of the Quy Chau Protective Forest Management Board. In Quy Chau, the total area of ​​forestry land with natural forest is 69,000 hectares. Of which, about 58,000 hectares of forest are beneficiaries of the policy from Decree 75. Therefore, the actual demand for annual forest protection funding is up to about 24 billion VND. An officer of the Quy Chau Forest Protection Department confided: When Decree 75 was issued, we directed and propagated very carefully to the people about the policies that the people would benefit from. However, the implementation process has always encountered bottlenecks. The policy has not reached the people, now going down to the grassroots to meet the people is difficult to eat, difficult to talk. Proposing policies but not implementing them can easily lead to adverse effects...

Deadlock?

According to the Forest Protection Department, the unit has recently received many petitions from people in mountainous districts reflecting that forest protection policies under Decree 75 of the Government have not been implemented. The reason for this situation is because there is no funding source. The representative explained that Nghe An is a province that has not been able to balance its budget. According to the provisions of Article 9, Decree 75, the funding source for implementing forest protection policies will be 100% allocated from the central budget and will be arranged in the Sustainable Forestry Development Target Program for the period 2016 - 2020.

Officials of Huoi Moi 1 village (Tri Le commune, Que Phong district) talk to Nghe An Newspaper reporters about the implementation of forest protection policies. Photo: Nhat Lan

However, in 2016, the Provincial People's Committee sent a document to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Planning and Investment, reporting that the capital demand to implement the forest protection policy in the area is more than 200 billion VND per year. However, each year, the central government only provides 51 billion VND (22% of the demand) for the implementation of the province's sustainable forestry development target program. Therefore, the province has balanced this source to implement the forest protection contract policy according to Decree 75/2015/ND/CP for more than 8 billion VND; in which, focusing on prioritizing the contract for protection of protective and special-use forests, which are forests with high reserves and risk of forest encroachment, with an area of ​​more than 29,000 hectares. For support for the protection of natural forests, which are production forests; planting production forests, developing non-timber forest products; The project of zoning and reforestation with additional planting for ethnic minority households and poor Kinh households in communes in areas II and III that have been allocated forests has not yet been able to balance the funding source for implementation as voters have reflected.

Pu Hoat Nature Reserve officials and Tri Le Border Guards discussed with Huoi Moi village officials and people about forest protection. Photo: Nhat Lan

Decree 75 is a major policy, why can't appropriate solutions be proposed for implementation? According to the representative of the Forest Protection Department, according to the response documents of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the support for ethnic minorities under Decree 75 does not include districts 30a. Meanwhile, the area of ​​natural forests in the province is very large, mainly located in districts 30a. The capital for Program 30a and the capital for implementing the Sustainable Forestry Development Target Program are limited, while many other areas also need investment attention. Therefore, once the annual budget allocated by the Central Government is not guaranteed, the implementation of the forest protection policy under Decree 75 cannot be guaranteed.

According to the available documents, including Official Dispatch No. 9390/BNN-TCLN dated November 6, 2017 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on the implementation of the Sustainable Forestry Development Program, Official Dispatch No. 5212/BTC-HCSN dated March 7, 2018 of the Ministry of Finance on funding for purchasing vaccines and supporting forest care and protection in the National Target Program for Sustainable Poverty Reduction for the period 2016 - 2020, the contents discussed by the Forest Protection Department are a reality. And this reality is very worrying and sad.

According to Official Dispatch No. 4933/UBND-NN dated July 4, 2017 of the Provincial People's Committee sent to relevant ministries and branches, the funding demand for implementing the policy of Decree 75 in 2018 is over 287 billion VND. Of which, the budget for forest protection is nearly 102 billion VND/254,909.01 ha. Nghe An has nearly 1.2 million hectares of forestry land, of which more than 877,000 hectares of forestry land have forests. In the coming years, the implementation of forest and land allocation, associated with the granting of forestry land use rights in the province will be promoted. At that time, the funding demand for implementing the policy under Decree 75 will be much greater. Now that this is the case, how will the implementation of Decree 75 be resolved in the future?

A responsible official of the Agriculture and Rural Development Department said: This is a sad reality. But there is no solution yet...!?.