Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung: 'Vietnam's forests play an extremely important role'

(Baonghean.vn)- This is the affirmation of the Deputy Prime Minister atConference on summarizing the plan on forest protection and development for the period 2011-2016 associated with restructuring the forestry sector byMinistry of Agriculture and Rural Development organized onmorning of 17/3.

The Central Party Committee members: Trinh Dinh Dung - Deputy Prime Minister, Nguyen Xuan Cuong - Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Nguyen Dac Vinh - Provincial Party Secretary, Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Nghe An province chaired the Conference. Representatives of ministries, central agencies and comrades Nguyen Xuan Duong - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; Dinh Viet Hong - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee attended the conference. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Implementing the policy of "Innovating the growth model and restructuring the economy" according to the Resolution of the 11th Party Congress and Decision No. 57/QD-TTg dated November 9, 2012 of the Prime Minister approving the plan for forest protection and development for the period 2011-2020, in recent times, the forestry sector has organized the implementation of targets and tasks for forest protection and development, associated with the implementation of the Forestry Sector Restructuring Project.

After more than 4 years of implementation, with efforts and many new initiatives and approaches, the forestry sector has achieved great achievements. Notably, forest coverage has continuously increased every year, from 39.7% in 2011 to 41.19% in 2016; forest productivity and quality have been gradually improved; afforestation work has been actively implemented by localities, with an average of 223 thousand hectares of concentrated forests planted nationwide each year;

The forestry production value grew strongly, reaching an average of 6.6%/year compared to 5.03%/year in the period 2010-2012; the export turnover of wooden furniture and forestry products continuously increased, 1.7 times within 5 years, from 4.2 billion USD in 2011 to 7.3 billion USD in 2016; Vietnam has become one of the top 5 countries in the world in processing and exporting wooden furniture.

Forest protection, fire prevention and fighting work continues to make progress, violations of laws on forest protection and development have gradually decreased in both the number of violations and the level of damage.

Delegates attending the conference. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Forest protection, fire prevention and fighting work continues to make progress, violations of laws on forest protection and development have gradually decreased in both the number of violations and the level of damage.

Policy mechanisms are gradually supplemented and amended, attracting economic sectors to participate in forest protection and development, creating more jobs and increasing income for forest workers.

In particular, the policy of payment for forest environmental services has really come into life, becoming an important and sustainable financial source, contributing to improving the effectiveness of forest protection and development, increasing income for people working in forestry: every year, the whole country earns over 1,200 billion VND/year, contributing to payment for over 5.0 million hectares of forest.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong delivered the opening speech at the Conference. Photo: Thanh Cuong.

Despite some outstanding achievements, the forestry sector has been facing many difficulties and challenges: The living standards of people in forest areas are still much lower than those in other economic regions; Violations of legal regulations on forest protection and development in many places are still complicated.

State public investment in forest protection and development and in the forestry sector is still limited, not really commensurate with the role and great value that forests bring; Forestry businesses are weak, with low competitiveness. Because the operating areas are mainly concentrated in mountainous areas, they are less attractive in mobilizing investment and finance from outside society.

Conference scene. Photo: Thanh Cuong.

Implementing the Resolution of the 12th Party Congress and implementing Resolution No. 73/NQ-CP dated26/8/2016According to the Government's Decision No. 106/QD-TTg, the Sustainable Forestry Development Target Program for the 2016-2020 period is identified as one of the 21 important national investment programs, following on from previous investment projects such as: Program 327, period 1992-1998; Project 661, period 1999-2010; Forest Protection Plan, period 2011-2015.

Exploiting planted forests in Quy Chau district. Photo archive.

Speaking at the opening of the Conference, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Cuong - Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development emphasized: "This program has set the goal of improving the productivity and quality and promoting the value of each type of forest, increasing the value of forests per unit area, contributing to meeting the requirements of natural disaster mitigation, protecting the ecological environment, effectively responding to climate change and rising sea levels. Creating jobs, increasing income, improving livelihoods for people associated with the process of building new rural areas, ensuring national defense and security and social order and safety".

“This conference is an opportunity for us to evaluate the achievements and share the difficulties in the past time; especially to discuss the tasks and very specific and breakthrough solutions to implement the target program assigned by the Party, National Assembly and Government to the forestry sector in the coming time” - Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong said.

Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung delivered a concluding speech at the Conference. Photo: Thanh Cuong

In his concluding remarks at the Conference, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung highly appreciated the enthusiastic and responsible comments of the localities. The Deputy Prime Minister emphasized: Forests play an extremely important role in Vietnam. Implementing the restructuring policy requires sectors, including agriculture and forestry, to develop a sustainable forest development program, continue to improve productivity, quality, and increase value per unit area.

According to Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung: Forest protection creates both direct and indirect economic growth. It meets the requirements of natural disaster mitigation, climate change response, livelihood creation for people associated with building new rural areas, ensuring national defense and security...

To achieve the goal of forest protection and development, three requirements must be met: nature protection is the number 1 task, developing and improving the productivity and quality of forests, and developing and enhancing the competitive value of forestry products.

Regarding solutions to protect and develop forestry, the Deputy Prime Minister emphasized: First of all, it is necessary to focus on perfecting legal policies and institutions, creating a legal environment, and supporting forest protection and development to achieve more results. Perfecting the construction of mechanisms and policies, creating more resources for forestry development.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and localities need to review and evaluate planning to improve state management capacity; review the status of agricultural land use to unify planning on maps and in reality; link forest development with restructuring the agricultural sector to improve competitiveness. Each region and locality must identify key agricultural products, focus on protection and investment.

Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung emphasized: 'First of all, it is necessary to focus on perfecting legal policies and institutions, creating a legal environment, and providing support so that forest protection and development can achieve more results'. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Linking forest development with restructuring the agricultural sector and combating climate change, creating motivation to mobilize the participation of the whole society in forest protection and development, mobilizing social resources to invest in forest protection. Allocating land and forests, assigning forest protection and development to enterprises, organizations and people. From there, encourage the formation of economic organizations, using enterprises as the driving force for forest development and forestry economy. Promote international cooperation, expand the market for forestry products, and enhance the competitiveness of Vietnamese forestry products.

Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung requested Party committees, authorities and people at all levels to raise awareness and responsibility in protecting and developing forests. The Deputy Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to complete the Law on Forest Protection and Development to submit to the upcoming National Assembly session; localities mustBuilding a program to implement the goal of sustainable forestry development for the period 2016-2020

Thanh Le