"Double" benefits from forest land allocation

(Baonghean) - Pu Hoat Nature Reserve is located in the Western Nghe An Biosphere Reserve, with thousands of rare and endemic species of flora and fauna. In order to effectively manage and protect forests under pressure from the buffer zone with many ethnic minority villages, immediately after its establishment, Pu Hoat Nature Reserve has arranged reasonable forest management and protection, especially assigning forests to the people for protection. This solution not only ensures the lives of the people but more importantly, maintains the green color of the golden forest.

Remember that before 2012, the situation of illegal logging and transportation in Que Phong was very chaotic. All over the primeval forests in Tri Le, Thong Thu, Hanh Dich, Dong Van... were cut down indiscriminately. On the road from Thong Thu Border Gate to Phu Phuong, every day countless motorbikes and cars carrying illegal timber were seen, many precious wood forests were cut down. Faced with that situation, on March 26, the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 340/QD-UBND to convert the Que Phong District Protective Forest Management Board into Pu Hoat Nature Reserve. Pu Hoat Nature Reserve has a total area of ​​over 90,000 hectares, located in 9 communes: Tri Le, Tien Phong, Thong Thu, Hanh Dich, Nam Giai, Dong Van, Nam Nhoong, Cam Muon and Chau Thon. The establishment of Pu Hoat Nature Reserve Management Board will create favorable conditions for forest management, protection and construction, ensuring sustainable development, and providing a favorable basis for scientific research, genetic resource conservation, investment attraction and international cooperation.

Mr. Trinh Ngoc Luong - Head of Tri Le Forest Protection Management Station (4th person from the left) guides people through the process of receiving forest protection contracts.

From Phu Phuong junction, we followed the winding, steep and deep road to Thong Thu I Commune Forest Protection Management Station. The station is located on a hilltop, has only 3 officers but is assigned to protect over 10,000 hectares of forest, has a dangerous and complicated terrain, bordering Nam Tay village, Sam To district, Bolikhamxay province (Laos). There are 2 villages here, Muong Piet and Muong Phu, where people used to illegally cut down forest wood to sell to brokers. Mr. Luu Nhat Thanh - Head of Thong Thu I Commune Forest Protection Management Station confided: Faced with such a complicated situation, the station officers directly went to the villages to propagate and mobilize people not to illegally cut down forest products in the above 2 key villages. At the same time, they coordinated with Thong Thu Border Guard Station to increase patrols and control. Each forest patrol usually lasts 3 - 4 days, very hard and dangerous, the terrain is rugged, steep, deep, the first rains of the season have caused streams and streams to rise and separate.

To improve forest protection management, Pu Hoat Nature Reserve has arranged to establish appropriate Forest Protection Management Stations (FPMS), then conducted surveys to assign forests to people for management. Only when people and staff of Pu Hoat Nature Reserve work together can forest protection be effective. From only 4 FPMS, Pu Hoat Nature Reserve has now arranged to establish 4 new stations, a total of 8 FPMS on key routes such as Dong Van FPMS, Na Chang - Tien Phong, Nam Giai, Tri Le, Thong Thu I, Thong Thu II, etc.

After stabilizing the organization, Pu Hoat Nature Reserve directed stations and key teams to propagate forest protection work to every household, organize inspections and have owners of forest product processing establishments in the area sign commitments. At the same time, the forest rangers increased patrols and controls, visited and collected information about illegal logging and transportation of wood among the people. In particular, they focused on coordinating with sectors such as the army and police to patrol and protect the forest. In addition, at each station, every week and every month, a detailed forest protection plan and a forest patrol program were developed, bringing high efficiency. Mr. Le Phung Dieu - Deputy Director of Pu Hoat Nature Reserve, who just led the inspection team to repel illegal loggers, shared: Due to the "tension", some "illegal loggers" have secretly shifted to areas bordering the Lao border belt and the Thanh Hoa border area (Chu River, Tuc Stream) to illegally exploit wood. The working group burned more than a dozen illegal loggers’ huts in these areas and continued to “post” forces to monitor. Strengthening the fight against and handling violations has resulted in many positive changes in the situation. Since its establishment, Pu Hoat Nature Reserve has seized nearly 200 m3 of illegal timber of various types, confiscated chainsaws, and temporarily detained vehicles transporting timber.

We traveled uphill to the border commune of Tri Le, where the vast green forests were. Entering Nam Chot village, we saw Mr. Trinh Ngoc Luong - Head of the Tri Le Forest Protection Station, discussing with the village chief and contracted villagers about forest protection management. Mr. Luong Van Phuc in Nam Chot village said: After approval in 2013, my family was assigned to protect more than 12 hectares of protective forest. According to the contract, we received 200,000 VND/ha for forest protection. Forest protection money is paid annually, and the additional 2.4 million VND from forest protection also contributes to improving our lives.

According to Mr. Luong Nhan - a forest protection participant in Tri Le, in addition to receiving forest protection salary paid by the State, our villagers also benefit from secondary forest products such as dong leaves and bo bo. In the past 2 months alone, collecting bo bo with only 2 laborers, my family has earned over 5 million VND. Not to mention that during Tet, we also have additional income from wild banana stems, dong leaves... Therefore, it is necessary to protect the forest, consider the forest as our own field to earn a living. Every week, we walk to check the forest, if we detect signs of "forest bandits" entering to cut down trees, we immediately report to Tri Le Forest Protection Station. Mr. Luong Van Hoa - Head of Nam Chot village happily said: Nam Chot village has 73 households, currently Pu Hoat Nature Reserve has assigned 22 households to manage 120 hectares of forest. All of the above households have been voted by the village and commune to be contracted and prioritized for poor households to improve their lives. It must be said that the policy of assigning forests to the people to manage and protect the villagers is very encouraging. Many households who previously followed "forest bandits" to cut wood for hire for brokers have now quit their jobs to carry out forest protection work.

Mr. Trinh Ngoc Luong - Head of Tri Le BVR Management Station added: Tri Le BVR Management Station is assigned to protect over 11,000 hectares of forest (of which over 4,000 hectares are forested), while only 3 officers cannot manage it. Thanks to the forest allocation to the people, the BVR management work has been better implemented. Up to now, the station has allocated over 2,000 hectares of forest to the people and organizations to manage, of which 268 hectares of forest (mainly near the border areas) are assigned to Border Guard Station 515, the remaining forest area is assigned to the people.

In Muong Piet village, Thong Thu commune, there are 226 households. Before 2012, the village had about 40 households that illegally cut down forest timber for brokers. Mr. Lo Van Lan - Head of Muong Phu village admitted: Due to difficult conditions, many people had to illegally cut down forests. Now that there is a policy of allocating forests to people, many people have realized that they will have long-term income, so most of them have stopped cutting down forests. For example, Mr. Ha Van Nam's household used to also cut down timber for brokers, but now they have stopped and have been contracted to protect the forest. Up to now, Muong Phu village has 73 households assigned to protect over 150 hectares of forest in 3 sub-areas, Sub-areas 22, 27, 41.

It is known that Thong Thu 1 BVR Station manages more than 10,000 hectares of forest, currently over 7,000 hectares have been assigned to the people, most of the assigned area has been well protected up to this point. Mr. Nguyen Danh Hung - Director of Pu Hoat Nature Reserve and Head of the Sub-Department added: Realizing the issue of relying on people to protect the forest, in 2013, Pu Hoat Nature Reserve surveyed and assigned 36,000 hectares of forest to the people, since the beginning of 2014, the total has increased to 50,000 hectares of contracted forest (of which more than 40,000 hectares have been assigned to the people, the remaining 10,000 hectares of forest are assigned to the BVR officers of Area 2B and the armed forces). Currently, Pu Hoat Nature Reserve is continuing to prepare documents for the allocation of about 15,000 hectares of forest to the people, and plans to hand over the forest to the people for management by the end of August 2014, bringing the total number of forests allocated to the people and organizations in the area to 65,000 hectares. The remaining 25,000 hectares will be divided for protection by the Forest Protection Stations under Pu Hoat Forest Protection Department. The total annual expenditure for forest protection allocation is about 20 billion VND, the main source of capital is from Program 30a, the public budget, and the capital for forest environmental services. The allocation of forests to the people for management not only helps the forest not to be encroached upon and to be better protected, but also helps the people have more income and improve their lives, because most of these areas have a high rate of poor households.

Article and photos:Van Truong