In late June, we arrived at an area introduced as a protective forest in the mountainous commune of Tan Thang (Quynh Luu). Here, we had to rely on a commune official to show us the map and locate it many times before we dared to believe that this was a protective forest. Because all around were vast fields of pineapple and sugarcane. As far as the eye could see, there was no trace of a forest. "How can this be called a protective forest?", a person in the group exclaimed when witnessing the pineapple protective forest.
Not far away is Vuc Mau Lake - the green lung of Hoang Mai town and Quynh Luu district. The lake has a total water catchment area of 215km2, design reserves 75 million m3water, when Ban Mong lake has not been completed, Vuc Mau is still considered the largest irrigation lake in Nghe An province. This is the source of water supply, ensuring domestic water for 40,000 households; irrigating more than 4,600 hectares of cultivated land; aquaculture in the lake bed and creating a water source for aquaculture of 400 hectares in the area, at the same time reducing floods for the downstream... However, the basin around the lake now has very poor forests.
Being here, it is not difficult to see households openly cutting down protective forests. In Quynh Thang commune, when we arrived, a 60-year-old man was waiting for a large truck to come and buy acacia wood. This acacia forest is located in a protective forest area, less than 1km from Vuc Mau lake. According to this man, more than 20 years ago, his family was assigned more than 2 hectares of forestry land under Decree 02 here, with full legal documents. Meanwhile, it was not until 2007 that the Bac Nghe An Protective Forest Management Board was established. "I don't care if this is a protective forest or anything else. This land has been assigned to us for a long time, we planted the forest ourselves, so we exploit it ourselves, why do we need to ask for permission from anyone?", he said, adding that every time people exploit, officers of the Bac Nghe An Protective Forest Management Board often come in to make a record and request a stop. However, the record was just a formality, because afterwards, everything went back to normal. No penalty decision was issued. Therefore, people continued to exploit and replant without permission.
While people believe that forest exploitation is legitimate, the Protection Forest Management Board said that even if the forest is planted by people with their own capital, exploitation must have a design plan and be permitted by the authorities. In particular, it is not allowed to clear-cut, and new trees must be planted that are suitable for the characteristics of the protection. Therefore, people's arbitrary exploitation is a violation of the law.
Mr. Tran Van Son - Head of the Management Board of the Northern Nghe An Protective Forest, said that in recent days, the number of forest exploitation cases like this has decreased. A few months ago, the unit had to continuously inspect and make records. The peak was that within just 18 days, from March 20, 2022 to April 8, 2022, this unit discovered up to 14 cases of illegal destruction of protective forests, mainly occurring in Quynh Tan and Quynh Thang communes. There were days when up to 3 cases of protection forest exploitation were discovered. After discovering the incident, the Management Board of the Northern Nghe An Protective Forest made a record and sent the file to the Forest Protection Department for handling, but as before, it could not impose a penalty.
Not only do people arbitrarily clear-cut the forest and plant new trees, there is another problem here. Dozens of large and small farms, along with many solid houses, have been nestled in the middle of the protective forest for many years. The household of Mr. Dau Ngoc Can (75 years old, hamlet 4, Quynh Tan commune, Quynh Luu), is one of them.
Mr. Can used to be in the army, after being discharged, he returned to his hometown Quynh Tan to teach. His family has long lived on the shore of Vuc Mau Lake. In the early 90s, after the State had a policy of allocating land and forest according to Decree 02, Mr. Can quit his job as a teacher, becoming one of the pioneers to receive land and forest. In 1996, he was granted a forest register with dozens of hectares, with a term of 50 years for production.
Regarding residential land, in 2006, implementing the province's policy of population dispersion and new economic development, his family and 24 other households agreed to move from the lake bed to a higher location, about 500m away from the old location. This still requires many legal documents and procedures. However, in 2007, when the Protection Forest Management Board was established, Mr. Can's house and many other households were planned into the protection forest area without his knowledge.
Mr. Can said that he was not aware that the area where his family lived was part of the protected forest planning. In 2011, his family was even awarded a certificate of meeting farm economic criteria by the People's Committee of Quynh Luu District. However, in the past few years, Mr. Can said that every time his family renovated their house, the staff of the Protection Forest Management Board came to request a suspension and issue a fine.
Not only with farms built before the protective forest, but also with large-scale farms built later, the Protective Forest Management Board is helpless. That is the pig farm of Mr. Vu Van Toan's family, a few hundred meters from Mr. Can's house. Mr. Toan lives in Quynh Xuan ward (Hoang Mai town), and bought land to build a farm here. Because the surrounding area is mainly pineapple and sugarcane fields, he did not know that this land was located in the protective forest.
In 2016, after discovering this livestock farm, the Management Board of the Northern Nghe An Protective Forest drew up a record and sent a series of official dispatches to competent authorities for punishment. Not long after, Mr. Toan was fined 15 million VND by the People's Committee of Quynh Luu district for illegal construction. However, Mr. Toan still did not dismantle the construction but continued to build more despite the helplessness of the Management Board of the Northern Nghe An Protective Forest. According to the reporter's records, after 6 years, there have been many meetings and many official dispatches issued regarding Mr. Toan's pig farm, but up to now, this farm is still raising pigs normally.
The Management Board of the Northern Nghe An Protective Forest also admitted that many large-scale, solid farms were illegally built in the protective forest. In addition to people's houses, there are also factories, coal kilns, brick kilns, etc. Specifically, in Hoang Mai town, there are 16 farms, 1 coal kiln, 1 factory and 1 large-scale brick kiln built in the protective forest. In Quynh Luu district, there are 19 large and small farms built in the protective forest. Although they are called farms and houses built in the protective forest, in reality, most of these areas currently do not have forests. Surrounding them are mostly pineapple and sugarcane fields that people have been cultivating for a long time.
In Quynh Tan commune, not only Mr. Toan and Mr. Can, but also nearly half of village 4 with about 70 households are currently trapped in the protective forest. In Tan Thang commune, Mr. Nguyen Quoc Khanh - Chairman of the People's Committee of the commune said that through inspection in the area, 5 camps were discovered built on protective forest land. Of these, 1 camp was built in 2007 and has been requested by the authorities to be dismantled. The remaining 4 camps were built before the establishment of the Northern Nghe An Protective Forest Management Board, so the authorities can only request that people not build new ones.
