Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee inspected forest protection work in 3 districts in Western Nghe An

Also attending were comrade Phung Thanh Vinh - Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Forestry Sub-Department and a number of relevant departments, offices, localities and units.

During the working program in the western districts of Nghe An on August 13, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Van De grasped the situation and results of forest protection work of the forest protection force in Con Cuong, Quy Hop and Tuong Duong districts.

The working delegation also inspected the Xieng My Commune Forest Management and Protection Station under the Tuong Duong Protective Forest Management Board and the Nga My Commune Forest Management and Protection Station (Tuong Duong), the Binh Chuan Commune Forest Management and Protection Station, Con Cuong District under the Pu Huong Nature Reserve... Here, the Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee visited, presented gifts and encouraged the officers and employees of the forest management and protection stations.

Tuong Duong Protective Forest Management Board manages 86,200 hectares of forest. In the first 7 months of the year, forest management and protection stations have organized 320 patrols and forest inspections with 1,597 participants. The unit has detected and recorded 14 violators of illegal exploitation and transportation of forest products, and recorded 20 illegal plantations encroaching on protective forest land, with an area of ​​5.97 hectares. Payment for forest environmental services is over 9.5 billion VND.

However, in some communes, there is still a situation of unconcentrated slash-and-burn cultivation, and production land is not strictly planned. In particular, the awareness of some households living near forested areas is still limited about forest management and protection.

Pu Huong Nature Reserve is located in the Northwest of Nghe An province with a total natural area of ​​46,468.66 hectares, under the administrative boundaries of 15 communes of 5 districts including Quy Hop, Con Cuong, Tuong Duong, Que Phong and Quy Chau. In the first 7 months of the year, the forest protection unit conducted 484 patrols and inspections, promptly detecting and handling violations right in the forest.

In addition to forest protection, the unit also carries out well the programs of investigation, monitoring and research on biodiversity in the reserve such as: Investigation, assessment of the current population status and development of monitoring programs for viverridae species; investigation, assessment of the current status and development of solutions for conservation of plants in the Magnoliaceae family.

Research on screening the activity and chemical composition of some potential medicinal plants and proposing solutions to create sustainable livelihoods for the buffer zone community in Pu Huong Nature Reserve.

At the end of the working trip to 3 districts in Western Nghe An, comrade Nguyen Van De highly appreciated the efforts of the Tuong Duong Protective Forest Management Board, Con Cuong Protective Forest Management Board, and Pu Huong Nature Reserve in forest protection and forest capital development. The forest security situation in protective forests and special-use forests in recent years has been basically stable.

However, there are still areas of production forests managed by some forest owners, organizations, People's Committees of communes and households in the province that are being encroached upon.

Although the cases were detected early and prevented and handled promptly, with the pressure of people's need for forest planting, the situation of deforestation, encroachment on forest land, cutting down natural forests of poor forests, mixed forests of bamboo and wood to get land for planting raw materials always poses a potential risk.

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Van De requested localities, Pu Huong Nature Reserve, Protective Forest Management Board, Forest Protection Department of Con Cuong, Tuong Duong, Quy Hop districts to regularly disseminate and promote the sense of responsibility of forest owners in performing the tasks of forest management, protection, fire prevention and fighting.

Strengthen inspection, promptly detect, prevent and strictly handle cases of lax management, failure to properly implement fire prevention and fighting, or forest loss. At the same time, promote the movement of all people to participate in forest management and protection, denounce violations, take good care of planted forest areas, and increase forest cover according to the set plan. Pay more attention to propaganda and mobilization work for local households in preparing suitable land funds to implement new forest planting in 2024 to ensure quality and targets.

The Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee believes that with the consensus and determination of the functional forces and the people to protect the forests, the work of protecting and developing forests in the western districts of Nghe An will become better and better, keeping the forests greener forever.