'The danger of unprotected forests is imminent'

Difficulties piled up

Thanh Chuong Protective Forest Management Boardhas the task of managing and protecting 22,226.15 hectares of forest and forestry land; of which, the area of ​​natural protection and production forest is 19,361.73 hectares. Most of the natural forest area is located along the Vietnam - Laos border, in 5 communes: Hanh Lam, Thanh Thuy, Thanh Duc, Ngoc Lam, Thanh Son.

The entire Thanh Chuong Protective Forest Management Board currently consists of 49 people, of which only 14 are permanent employees receiving salaries from the budget, 1 has a labor contract according to Decree 68/ND-CP; the remaining 33 are long-term contract workers specializing in forest protection.

Specialized forest protection forces of Thanh Chuong Protective Forest Management Board patrol to protect the forest. Photo: Contributor

These 33 specialized forest protection contract workers are responsible for regularly being on duty at forest protection stations located in communes with forests to perform the following tasks: patrolling the forest; blocking at the forest gate 24/7 to promptly detect and prevent illegal exploitation and transportation of timber, forest products, and wildlife; at the same time, patrolling to detect and prevent illegal cutting, encroachment, and conversion of forest use purposes. In short, for Thanh Chuong Protective Forest Management Board, specialized forest protection contract workers are the most important core force in forest management, protection, and forest fire prevention and control.

However, according to Mr. Le Phung Thieu - Director of Thanh Chuong Protective Forest Management Board, from 2019 to now, the Board has had 4 people apply for early retirement; 5 people quit their jobs to change jobs. At present, there are 2 people applying for early retirement according to Decree 108/ND-CP; and up to 10 people applying for temporary leave from paying social insurance to find jobs with income to take care of their families. "The risk of the forest having no one to protect it is imminent. The end of the year is a time when developments in exploitation, transportation of forest products, and change of forest use purposes are extremely complicated, the Board is very worried about this..." - Mr. Le Phung Thieu worried.

Regarding the reason why full-time forest rangers quit their jobs and change to other jobs, according to Mr. Le Phung Thieu, it is because the salary is too low, not ensuring a living for themselves and their families. In addition, the work is extremely hard and dangerous, but there is a lack of sharing and encouragement when mistakes occur in forest protection work.

At Khe Veu Forest Management and Protection Station, the lives of full-time forest protection workers are extremely difficult without electricity, phone signal, or clean water. Photo: Contributor

Specifically, because the contract for specialized forest protection is not on the payroll of the State budget, the salary regime is based only on the funding source for natural forest protection allocated by the State budget. At Thanh Chuong Protective Forest Management Board, from 2016 to 2021, the support unit price is only 100,000 VND/ha/year, therefore, there is not enough funding to pay according to the monthly salary standard for workers. The average income of specialized forest protection workers is only 4.5 - 5 million VND/person/month.

Another thing worth mentioning is that in recent years, the budget for forest protection has been allocated very slowly, from about June to November. Therefore, full-time forest rangers often have to endure more than half a year (from July to November) without income, but still have to carry out the task of protecting the forest and preventing and fighting forest fires. The life of a full-time forest ranger is already difficult, so it is compounded by difficulties.

Looking for a solution

According to the Thanh Chuong Forest Protection Management Board, because this situation is really worrying, a number of documents have been continuously sent to the competent authority, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, in recent times. The two most recent ones are Document No. 179/BQLRPH-KH.BVR dated November 17, 2022 and Document No. 192/BC-BQLRPH dated December 2, 2022.

Document No. 179/BQLRPH-KH.BVR dated November 17, 2022 of Thanh Chuong Protective Forest Management Board sent to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development stated the inadequacies of forestry sector policies. Photo: Nhat Lan

In Document No. 192/BC-BQLRPH dated December 2, 2022, Thanh Chuong Protective Forest Management Board clearly informed the situation of 2022, that more than 11 months have passed but the Board has not yet been allocated forest protection funds from sustainable forestry development target programs, so the lives of workers in general are extremely difficult.

At the same time, the analysis shows that based on Circular 12/TT-BNNPTNT dated September 20, 2022 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the provisions of Decree 168/ND-CP, contract workers at the Protection Forest Management Boards are not yet eligible for forest protection contracts. In addition, these legal documents do not stipulate the source of funding to support the protection of protection forests and production forests that are natural forests. While the Protection Forest Management Boards of the province in general, and the Thanh Chuong Protection Forest Management Board in particular, are mainly tasked with protecting natural forests, the forests are closed and have no source of income. Therefore, there is a risk that there will be no funding to pay for specialized forest guards.

Mr. Le Phung Thieu said: “Faced with such policy inadequacies, we have met and encouraged our specialized forest protection force to share and overcome the difficult period together to perform the task of protecting the forest well. However, if the mechanism and policy are still not considered for change, the income regime is low and unstable as it is now, while the work pressure is very heavy, the risk of being disciplined and criminally prosecuted for negligence in forest protection work is very high, it will be difficult to retain specialized forest protection staff.”

Forest rangers of Thanh Chuong Forest Protection Management Board on a patrol. Photo: Contributor

The Director of Thanh Chuong Protective Forest Management Board also said that in order to remove difficulties and stabilize the lives of specialized forest protection forces so that they can work with peace of mind, the Board has proposed that the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development report to the Provincial People's Committee. "We propose that the managing Department report to the Provincial People's Committee on the current difficult situation of specialized contract labor force of protective forest protection boards in general and Thanh Chuong Protective Forest Management Board in particular to have mechanisms and policies to support and ensure the lives of workers" - Mr. Le Phung Thieu said.

General situation

Currently, the whole province has more than 318,000 hectares of natural forest managed and protected by specialized forest protection forces of the Protection Forest Management Boards, Forestry Companies and the Youth Volunteer Corps. If based on Circular 12/TT-BNNPTNT of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, contract workers of specialized forest protection forces of the Protection Forest Management Boards are not eligible for the mechanisms and policies according to Decision 809/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister.

This means that hundreds of contract workers specializing in forest protection of the Forest Protection Management Boards, Forestry Companies, and Youth Volunteer Teams do not have the resources to pay for forest protection wages and social insurance, health insurance, and unemployment insurance contributions. And so it can be understood that if the policy does not change, the future life of contract workers specializing in forest protection will be filled with hardship. As a result, there will be more resignation letters, and units of the Forestry sector will have more difficulties in forest management and protection.

Lunch on patrol of the Pu Mat National Park forest protection force. Photo: Contributor

According to statistics from the Forest Protection Department, from 2016 to now, the entire Forestry sector has had 158 people quit their jobs; most of them are specialized forest protection staff. “This is the general situation of the province’s Forestry sector. If there is no timely change, as the Thanh Chuong Protective Forest Management Board has reported, the risk of the forest having no one to protect it is imminent…” - a responsible officer of the Forest Protection Department discussed.