Promote forest and forestry land allocation
(Baonghean) - Nghe An province is implementing the project of "allocating forests associated with allocating forestry land and granting Land Use Right Certificates (LURCs) to households, individuals, and communities in Nghe An province for the period 2018 - 2021.
This activity is actively carried out in conjunction with the implementation of the program to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+).
Limitations in forest protection
In recent years, although Nghe An province has implemented the policy of land allocation, forestry land lease and issuance of land use right certificates, it has not been linked to forest allocation and lease. Therefore, illegal forest exploitation conversion and transfer has occurred, but the handling of land users who violate the law has not been carried out. Because when allocating land, it is not linked to forest allocation, so there is not enough basis to handle violations.
According to the report of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, up to this point, the People's Committees at all levels have only assigned to households, individuals and communities over 108,234 hectares for forestry purposes, of which more than 96,671 hectares have been granted land use right certificates. Notably, since Circular 07/2011/TTLH-BNNPTNT-BTNMT took effect, Nghe An has only assigned 2,060.16 hectares of forest and land. Meanwhile, the area of forest and forestry land that has not been handed over is up to 157,537.23 hectares, including 150,676.56 hectares of natural forest and 6,680.67 hectares of planted forest.
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| Raw material forest in Quy Chau. Photo: VT |
Regarding objective reasons, in reality, the Central Government's documents guiding, directing and organizing implementation are not really synchronous and overlap, creating confusion in the local handling process; there is a shortage of implementation funding; the planning of 3 types of forests in many places is not really clear, making it difficult to determine cadastral boundaries.
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| Survey of land and forest allocation in Que Phong district. Photo: VT |
Land allocation without forest allocation has many consequences. In fact, some areas have been allocated land and granted land use right certificates but the boundaries on the ground have not been determined, leading to continuous disputes. This situation is common in Ky Son district. More dangerous is the problem of illegal buying, selling, transferring and misusing forestry land which occurs in most localities in the province in many different forms (borrowing, pledging, mortgaging, hand-to-hand selling, loss, etc.). According to the total data, the area of forestry land in this form is up to 10,038 hectares, mainly concentrated in "hot spots" such as Quy Hop, Que Phong, Quy Chau, Con Cuong or Anh Son.
Land allocation and issuance of forest land use right certificates without forest allocation or lease means that the forest does not have a real owner. The risk of negative impacts on the forest due to exploitation, deforestation, and forest fires is high.
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| People in Hamlet 8, Nghia Hanh Commune (Tan Ky) take care of seedlings for planting forests. Photo: Cam Tu |
It is necessary to allocate forests in conjunction with forestry land allocation.
According to the report of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development: Strive from 2018 to 2021 to basically complete the allocation of forests, which are production forests with a total area of 265,771 hectares for households, individuals and communities to manage and use effectively for forestry purposes. Of which, land with natural forests is 251,561 hectares, land with planted forests is 14,209 hectares.
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| Forest protection work in Con Cuong district is well implemented. Photo: PV |
Principles of forest allocation, linked to forestry land allocation: Forest allocation must be linked to land allocation, issuance of forestry land use right certificates. Forest allocation has the participation of local people and authorities, harmoniously resolving the interests of people and communities. Implementing the correct procedures according to the provisions of law, accurately and effectively; in accordance with the planning of 3 types of forests, the planning of local forestry land use and not overlapping on land already managed by owners; clear boundaries. Forests that are still in dispute, with unclear boundaries, have not been allocated forests or land, and have not been allocated land, issued land use right certificates. Forest allocation inherits the boundary area that households and individuals have been using stably up to now, ensuring stability, minimizing disturbance, avoiding conflicts and ensuring the rights of households and individuals living along the forest.
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| Planting raw material forests in the Western region (Yen Thanh). Photo: PV |
Based on the forestry land allocation documents, the Forest Protection Department, local authorities... carry out the forest allocation steps according to regulations. The total budget for implementing the Forest Allocation Project associated with forestry land allocation and granting of land use right certificates for the period 2018-2021 is over 108 billion VND allocated from the central budget, provincial budget and forest environmental services. Regarding the progress of project implementation according to the funding schedule. In case the funding source is not fully allocated according to the plan, the project implementation time will continue to be implemented until 2024. The viewpoint of "easy to do first, difficult to do later" is concentrated in localities with large forest areas and localities that have carried out field measurement procedures and are completing procedures for granting land use right certificates. In particular, priority is given to allocating pine forest areas and forestry land areas in resettlement areas. Early implementation of policies to benefit people in resettlement areas.
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