Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Founding of the Vietnam Forest Ranger Force

Attending the ceremony were comrades: Hoang Nghia Hieu - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee; Ho Le Ngoc - Member of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee, Head of the Provincial Party Committee's Internal Affairs Committee; Nguyen Van De - Member of the Provincial Party Committee Executive Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; Phung Thanh Vinh - Member of the Provincial Party Committee Executive Committee, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, and representatives of leaders of provincial departments, branches, and sectors, districts and towns.

Historical milestones

Nghe An Forestry Departmentwas established on February 3, 1974. From the beginning, there were 535 cadres and employees. By the time of merging with the province in 1976, it had increased to 820 cadres and employees.

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Van De spoke at the ceremony. Photo: Van Truong

In 2008, the Department handed over 3 affiliated units: Pu Mat National Park to the Provincial People's Committee, Pu Huong Nature Reserve to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, and the Center for Forest Resources and Environment Protection to the Plant Protection Department.

In early 2001, to meet the urgent requirements of forest management and protection in the new period, Nghe An Forest Rangers developed the Project "Innovation in organization and bringing forest rangers to commune areas".

In 2016, implementing the project to streamline the organizational structure of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, on the basis of reorganizing the Forestry Sub-Department and the Forestry Sub-Department, the organizational structure of the Forestry Sub-Department includes: The Sub-Department's leadership; 5 professional departments; 3 Mobile Forestry Teams and Forest Fire Prevention and Fighting Teams; 21 District-level Forestry Sub-Departments.

Panorama of the 50th anniversary celebration of the Vietnam Forest Ranger Force. Photo: Van Truong

By 2021, the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 24/2021/QD-UBND dated August 13, 2021, merging and establishing inter-district Forest Protection Sub-Departments, reducing the number of district-level Forest Protection Sub-Departments from 21 to 17. From here, the tasks of the Forest Protection Sub-Department are combined with the tasks of the old Forestry Sub-Department, such as converting forest use purposes, appraising forestry projects, plans, programs, projects, forestry policies, etc.

Currently, Nghe An Forest Ranger force has 328 officers and employees, organized into 17 working units in districts, towns and cities with district-level Forest Ranger Divisions, 3 Mobile Forest Ranger Teams and forest fire prevention and fighting teams.

Over the past 50 years, Nghe An Forest Protection Department has always proactively advised the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Provincial People's Committee on forest management, protection, use, development and forest product management. It has well organized and implemented propaganda, inspection and legal activities in the field of forest management, protection and development (789,933 hectares of natural forest).

Strengthen patrol coordination,protect the forest at the root, prevent acts of encroachment on forest resources; proactively implement forest fire prevention and fighting, thereby achieving forest coverage of 58.36% in 2022.

In recent years, Nghe An Forest Rangers have done a good job of applying scientific and technological advances in forest management and protection, such as applying digital transformation in land allocation and forest allocation, monitoring forest developments, and preventing forest fires. Implementing projects on forest management and protection, afforestation to reforest bare hills and mountains, and socio-economic development in mountainous areas such as projects: PAM 2780, 4126, 4304, and program 327.

Comrade Hoang Nghia Hieu - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee presented the Emulation Flag of the Provincial People's Committee to the Forestry Sub-Department for its excellent performance in leading the patriotic emulation movement in 2022. Photo: Van Truong

During the 50 years of construction and development, Nghe An Forest Rangers have been honored to receive many noble titles from the Party and State. Hundreds of collective units, officers and soldiers have been awarded rotating flags, certificates of merit from the provincial to government levels, the title of Emulation Fighter, and the Third and Second Class Labor Medals.

Strengthening forest protection at the root

Speaking at the ceremony, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Van De acknowledged, commended and congratulated the achievements that Nghe An Forest Rangers have achieved over the past 50 years.

At the same time, the Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee emphasized that forests and forestry land play an important role in the life, economy and society of the locality. The pressure of demand for forest products, timber and non-timber forest products, and production land is increasingly fierce. The situation of encroachment, disputes over forest land; illegal exploitation of forest products and deforestation for afforestation, and forest fires are still unpredictable, so the work of forest management and protection in the coming time will be extremely difficult.

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Van De presented the Forest Protection Department with a banner "Forest Protection Department 50 years of establishment and development". Photo: Van Truong

Meanwhile, the staff of the Forest Ranger force has not been increased and has not been supplemented in a timely manner, while the regulations and legal requirements for work are increasingly strict with many new regulations. Therefore, it requires officers, soldiers, civil servants and public employees of the Forest Ranger force to be good at professional capacity, professional proficiency and ideological stance and moral qualities.

Deploy and strictly implement the Party's guidelines and policies and the State's laws on forest protection and development. Well implement the organization and staffing, adhere to the development strategy of the forestry sector and the directions of the Provincial Party Committee, People's Council, and Provincial People's Committee. Join hands with the agricultural sector to successfully implement the restructuring project of the agricultural and forestry sectors.

Forest rangers patrolling the forest in Ky Son district. Photo: Van Truong

On this occasion, Nghe An Forest Protection Department was awarded the Emulation Flag by the Provincial People's Committee for excellently completing the task of leading the patriotic emulation movement in 2022 and the banner "50 years of construction and development".

The Department and 2 individuals were awarded Certificates of Merit by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development for "Outstanding achievements in contributing to the development of a strong Vietnamese Forest Ranger force". 2 units under the Department and 13 individuals were awarded Certificates of Merit by the Provincial People's Committee for their achievements in the process of building and developing the Nghe An Forest Ranger force.