Ensuring that people living near the forest can live with the forest

(Baonghean.vn) - TCreating conditions for people living near the forest to live with the forest is a proposal ofMs. Cao Thi Xuan - Vice President of the National Assembly's Ethnic CouncilWorking session with Nghe An Provincial People's Committee on the morning of September 8.

According to the inventory results, Nghe An province currently has 25,843.03 hectares of forest and forestry land managed by village and hamlet communities and 8,223.20 hectares of non-forested land. Of which, ethnic minority communities manage 25,199.52 hectares, and have issued land use right certificates for 10,695.63 hectares (accounting for 42.44 hectares).

However, due to the unclear legal nature, the number of communities assigned forests is still limited, although the forest land area is very large, currently assigned to the Commune People's Committee for management.

Overview of the meeting. Photo: Cong Kien

As of 2016, the province had 183,425.07 hectares of forest and forestry land (including 181,060.76 hectares of forested land and 59,016.10 hectares of non-forested land) allocated to households. Of which, the forest area allocated to ethnic minority households was 183,425.07 hectares (accounting for 76.4%). The number of ethnic minority households allocated land was 112,401, of which 96,023 households were granted land use right certificates.

The area of ​​forests and forestry land allocated to ethnic minority communities and households for management has contributed to fundamental changes in forest management, protection and development. In the period 2006 - 2016, the area of ​​planted forests increased by 65,284.1 ha (from 88,282.1 ha in 2006 to 153,566.2 ha in 2016). Forest cover increased from 47.15% to 57% in 2016.

Taking care of cinnamon raw material forest in Hanh Dich commune (Que Phong). Photo: Cong Kien

The policy of allocating land and forests to communities and households is the right solution in exploiting potential and promoting socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas. Specifically, it mobilizes capital and labor to improve production efficiency, create raw materials for industrial development, and contribute to political stability, social order and security.

However, land and forest allocation still has shortcomings and weaknesses. In some places, the boundaries are not clearly defined and overlap, leading to conflicts and disputes. Some forest owners belonging to state organizations are assigned too large forest areas, but cannot manage them all, so they are encroached upon, while a part of families living on forest land still lack land for production...

Mr. Nguyen Tien Lam - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said that for a long time there has been an equivalence between the allocation of forestry land with natural forests and the allocation of land for forest planting, which means separating forests from land, making it difficult to manage. Photo: Cong Kien

Members of the monitoring delegation questioned and exchanged opinions on the issue of a large amount of forest land allocated to organizations and enterprises for ineffective exploitation, while people lack land for production. Forest land is recovered to serve too large projects, forest development planning is associated with processing; efficiency, costs and difficulties and obstacles. Solutions for the shortage of production land, illegal transfers; costs for implementing land and forest allocation and output planning for products. Issuance of related documents; propaganda content; use of labor by enterprises renting forest land; policies to support forest development; human resources for forestry management and forest protection.

Discussing the above issues, Mr. Nguyen Tien Lam - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said that for a long time, there has been an equating of the allocation of forestry land with natural forests and the allocation of land for forest planting, which means separating forests from land, making it difficult to manage. Along with that, the policies to support ethnic minorities are still overlapping, causing difficulties in the implementation process. Regarding processing facilities, Nghe An currently has 3 large wood processing factories, which can ensure output for raw wood products.

Representatives of provincial departments and branches also discussed the issuance of documents, dissemination of policies and guidelines; the process of land allocation and issuance of land use right certificates; plans to rearrange agricultural and forestry farms and agricultural and forestry companies, and land recovery for households for production, with priority given to ethnic minorities. On this issue, the Government needs to have specific instructions, support funding for forest measurement and protection, and ensure that people living near the forest can live with the forest.

Speaking at the meeting, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Le Minh Thong accepted the opinions of the Supervisory Delegation and promised to direct the implementation of inspection and review of the policy to better implement the land and forest allocation policy.

On behalf of the monitoring team, Ms. Cao Thi Xuan proposed creating conditions for people living near the forest to live with the forest. Photo: Cong Kien

On behalf of the monitoring delegation, Ms. Cao Thi Xuan acknowledged the results that Nghe An has achieved in implementing land and forest allocation. At the same time, she noted that the province is concerned about the large forest area of ​​the Commune People's Committee and the State Forestry Farms but ineffective production, while the number of households lacking production land is still very large, leading to conflicts of interest.

Therefore, the province needs to direct relevant departments and agencies to review and find solutions to reclaim ineffective forestry land to hand over to the people, arrange funds for surveying, promptly resolve forest land disputes, promptly handle violations of the law and illegal transfers of forest land. In short, it is necessary to ensure creating conditions for people living near the forest to live with the forest.

Cong Kien