Nghe An discusses solutions to speed up the progress of granting sustainable forest management certificates

Comrade Hoang Nghia Hieu - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee attended and directed the workshop.

Delegates attending the workshop. Photo: Phu Huong

Great potential

With an area of ​​over 1 million hectares of forested land, of which nearly 174,000 hectares are planted forests, nearly 46,000 hectares are not yet planted forests and nearly 789,000 hectares are natural forests, Nghe An's forested land area is increasing and is currently the province with the largest forest area in the country.

In particular, there are currently more than 200 thousand hectares of planted forests, the quality and output of planted forests have gradually improved, forest coverage is always at the top of the country, initially forming a high-tech forestry development associated with environmental protection and green growth. Nghe An has been permitted by the Prime Minister to establish a High-tech Forestry Zone in the North Central region.

Leaders of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development chaired the workshop. Photo: Phu Huong

Thanks to the efforts and effective solutions in recent years, up to now, the whole province has had 10,289 hectares of forest certified for sustainable forest management (FSC), of which the planted forest area is 9,450 hectares; there are more than 219,749 hectares of planted forest with the potential to implement sustainable forest management certification. In addition, it is expected that this year, 13,000 hectares of planted forest will be certified for sustainable forest management.

However, the forestry sector has not yet fully exploited its existing advantages and natural resources, especially in enhancing the value of forestry product chains.

One of the reasons for this situation is that the implementation of sustainable forest management and forest certification in Nghe An is still slow, development thinking is limited, and has not kept up with the development trend of the green forestry industry in the context of current climate change. Along with that, the forest product processing industry has not developed synchronously, and the chain linkage in production from planting, caring for, protecting forests to exploitation, production, and consumption of products is not sustainable.

Planting large timber forests will create conditions for the development of the processing sector. Photo: Phu Huong

From the delegates' comments and discussions, the workshop basically clarified the process of implementing sustainable forest management; the ability to access sustainable forest management certificates to meet the legal forest product requirements of the world market. At the same time, the difficulties and advantages were discussed, analyzed, and evaluated, thereby proposing solutions for the coming time.

Strive for most of the area of ​​raw material forests to be certified for sustainable forest management.

Towards the goal of most of the area of ​​raw material forests in the province being granted sustainable forest management certificates, speaking at the workshop, comrade Hoang Nghia Hieu requested: Along with continuing to promote propaganda, the forestry sector and relevant localities and units must resolutely speed up the implementation of investment contents in the High-tech Forestry Zone according to Decision No. 509/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister; continue to attract investment resources in the forestry sector, especially the forest product processing sector.

"It is necessary to promote the planting of raw material forests associated with deep processing, following the value chain linkage model in large-scale, highly intensive, concentrated production areas associated with forest certification to create development momentum," emphasized Mr. Hoang Nghia Hieu, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee.

Comrade Hoang Nghia Hieu - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee spoke at the workshop.

At the same time, there are solutions to promote the functions of each forest species such as special-use forests, protective forests, and production forests. Forestry processing enterprises need to focus on investing in technology to improve productivity, save raw materials, and protect the environment; expand and reach out to consumer markets, especially potential markets such as the US, the European Union, Japan, and South Korea, etc., and play a leading role in supporting people in granting and maintaining sustainable forest management certificates.

The leaders of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development also requested that forest owners who are state organizations speed up the progress of establishing and approving the Sustainable Forest Management Plan according to regulations, with completion date before December 31, 2022. By 2025, the whole province strives to have at least 50,000 hectares of planted forests granted forest certification.