Exploiting revenue sources well to protect and develop forests

Attending the meeting were comrade: Dinh Viet Hong - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; comrades Deputy Heads of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation: Nguyen Thanh Hien; Tran Van Mao. Photo: Thanh Le

Increase financial resources

The provincial forest protection and development fund was established in 2012. This is a state financial institution, operating under the mechanism of a public service unit under the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Accordingly, the Fund has organized the operation, management and use of funding sources at the Fund for payment of forest environmental services (DVMTR), replacement forestation, and organization of fund activities.

After 7 years of implementing the policy of payment for forest environmental services, the Fund has mobilized social resources to carry out the task of protecting and developing forests, contributing to the implementation of the policy of socializing forestry.

The Forest Protection and Development Fund has collected a total of over VND 423.5 billion, creating a new, stable, and sustainable non-budgetary financial resource to serve forest management, protection, and development.

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Dinh Viet Hong - Chairman of the Provincial Forest Protection and Development Fund said that the Forest Protection and Development Fund needs to expand and exploit revenue sources well in the direction of improving forest quality, developing forest ecosystems as well as promoting the export of wood processing products. Photo: Thanh Le

In addition, the Fund has also carried out the task of collecting money for forest conversion and controlling the disbursement of replacement forest planting according to regulations, contributing significantly to forest protection and development. To date, the Fund has disbursed VND 414.7 billion for forest protection and development and management activities.

In 2018 alone, the amount of money from DVMTR spent on forest protection and development reached over 100 billion VND. The area of ​​forest plantation benefiting from the DVMTR money reached over 400 thousand hectares, contributing to basically covering the important forest areas that need to be protected.

Problems and obstacles

At the meeting, members of the monitoring delegation requested the unit to clarify the implementation of recommendations after inspection and examination, the expansion and exploitation of revenue sources as well as shortcomings and difficulties in implementing legal documents, the payment rate for forest owners, and the slow payment of forest environmental services.

Director of the Provincial Civil Judgment Enforcement Department Hoang Thi Thu Trang requested the Protection and Development Fund to clarify whether there are any other sources of revenue besides the revenue from DVMTR and the payment rate to the people. Photo: Thanh Le

“According to regulations, reforestation to replace special-use forests and protective forests must be planted with trees in accordance with regulations. However, in reality, reforestation mainly consists of planting native production trees such as acacia trees, which does not comply with regulations,” said Dang Quang Hong, Deputy Head of the Economic and Budget Committee of the Provincial People’s Council.

Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Tien Lam reflected on the inadequacies and difficulties in implementing legal documents such as: The application of 16 coefficients K to pay for forest environmental services according to the origin of forest formation, forest quality, forest type use planning, and the level of difficulty in forest protection is still inadequate and inconsistent with reality.

The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development inspects forest planting in Yen Thanh district. Photo: Thanh Le

“The Government needs to clarify the integration mechanism and have documents regulating the integration of capital sources for forest protection. Speed ​​up the progress of land allocation associated with forest allocation” - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development suggested.

Concluding the meeting, Deputy Head of the Provincial Delegation of National Assembly Deputies Nguyen Thanh Hien affirmed that the Forest Protection and Development Fund manages and uses the Fund in accordance with regulations; has promptly advised the province on implementation guidelines, ensuring contribution to protecting and increasing forest cover, improving forest quality as well as increasing income for people.

Mr. Nguyen Khac Lam - Director of Forest Protection and Development Fund reports on the management and use of the Fund. Photo by Thanh Le

The Deputy Head of the Provincial Delegation of National Assembly Deputies suggested that the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development should pay attention to the dissemination of the Forestry Law into life. As a public service unit, according to the roadmap, the Forest Protection and Development Fund will operate under an autonomous mechanism, so the unit needs to arrange an effective and efficient organizational structure as well as have solutions to expand the Fund's revenue sources in the direction of improving forest quality,...

Regarding the recommendations of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Provincial National Assembly Delegation received and synthesized the recommendations to the National Assembly, the Government and relevant ministries, branches and sectors.