On February 15, 2023, the Provincial People's Committee issued Document No. 898/TTr-UBND "On the development of a Resolution of the Provincial People's Council stipulating support policies for forest owners to carry out forest management and protection in Nghe An province" to the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Council. Here, the Provincial People's Committee reported to the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Council the characteristics of the situation of forest management and protection and the necessity of issuing the Resolution.
Specifically, Nghe An is the locality with the largest forest area in the country with 1,008,740.67 hectares. Of which, natural forest is 788,991.10 hectares, planted forest is 173,905.87 hectares, planted forest is not yet a forest 45,843.70 hectares; forest cover is 58.41%. Currently, forest management and protection is divided into 4 groups. The group of forest owners with affiliated forest rangers (Pu Mat National Park and 2 Nature Reserves Pu Huong and Pu Hoat) is assigned to manage 277,435.64 hectares; the group of forest owners who are individual households, village communities, and People's Committees of communes manages 550,625.85 hectares; the group of forest owners who are armed forces and other economic organizations is assigned to manage 31,999.31 hectares. The remaining group, including 19 forest owners who are state organizations, are managed and protected by specialized forest protection forces covering 427,698.67 hectares.
427,698.67 hectares managed and protected by 19 forest owners who are state organizations account for 35% of the forest and forestry land area of the whole province, concentrated in key forests, rich in resources with high biodiversity, including 2,995.97 hectares of special-use forests; 293,115.08 hectares of protection forests; 121,153.51 hectares of production forests; 10,434.11 hectares of forests and land outside the planning of three types of forests. Regarding the tasks and powers of the specialized forest protection force, they are clearly stipulated in Article 14, Decree No. 01/2019/ND-CP of the Government with 6 basic tasks as follows: Patrolling, inspecting and protecting forests and forest land planned for forestry; preventing and stopping acts of deforestation, encroachment on forests, exploitation of forest products and other violations of laws on forest management and protection; Organize the implementation of plans and measures for forest fire prevention and fighting; propagate and mobilize people to participate in forest protection, forest fire prevention and fighting; inspect and prevent violations of the law on forest management, protection and development, and forest product management; make initial inspection records, protect the scene, preserve evidence of violations, promptly report to competent people and agencies for handling according to the provisions of law...
“Thus, it can be affirmed that the specialized forest protection force is the core force that helps forest owners carry out the tasks of forest management, protection and development. It is not only the force that directly patrols, inspects forest protection and development, but also propagates and mobilizes people and households that are contracted to protect forests to carry out the tasks of forest protection and development. Therefore, forest owners will not be able to organize forest management and protection if they cannot organize a specialized forest protection force to carry out the above tasks” –The Provincial People's Committee assessed the role of the specialized forest protection force.
Regarding the current difficulties, the Provincial People's Committee reported that most forest owners have not been allocated enough funds for the assigned forest area. On the other hand, the support level for the assignment has not been specifically regulated, is often low and unstable. Therefore, forest owners cannot balance their revenue sources to ensure the maintenance of the specialized forest protection force. Recently, the situation of quitting and resigning of the specialized forest protection force of forest owners in the province has tended to increase. Statistics from 2016 to 2022 showed that 130 workers have resigned or quit their jobs, of which 12 people resigned or quit their jobs in 2022 alone, while the remaining group is not really secure in their work and committed to their profession.
Meanwhile, the requirements for forest protection and management are increasingly high, and the work of preventing illegal logging and deforestation is increasingly complicated. Therefore, it is necessary to provide sufficient funding to cover the allocated area for forest owners so that forest owners can use the supported funds to ensure the livelihood of specialized forest protection forces, contributing to the effective implementation of the management and protection of allocated forest areas.
“The issuance of a Resolution of the Provincial People's Council regulating support policies for state forest owners, to contribute to the effective implementation of forest management and protection in Nghe An province in the coming period, is extremely necessary.”– Provincial People's Committee emphasized.
Reviewing 19 forest owners who are state organizations, the Provincial People's Committee determined that the current area of protective forests, special-use forests, and production forests is natural forests directly managed and protected by specialized forest protection forces, but has not been allocated funding for management and protection or has been allocated but at a low unit price of about 136,166.88 hectares. Therefore, in Document No. 898/TTr-UBND, the Provincial People's Committee specifically stated the support conditions, support content and support level as follows:
“Support conditions: Forest owners use specialized forest protection forces as contract workers to manage and protect forests for areas of protective forests, special-use forests, and production forests that are natural forests that have not been allocated funds for forest protection management or have been allocated but the unit price is lower than VND 300,000/ha/year. Support level: For areas that have not been allocated funds for forest protection management, the support level is VND 300,000/ha/year. For areas that have been allocated funds for forest protection from the forest environmental service payment policy, project programs, and other legal capital sources but the total supported unit price is less than VND 300,000/ha/year, additional support will be provided to reach VND 300,000/ha/year. Support content: Support funds for forest protection work for specialized forest protection forces according to the provisions of Decree No. 01/2019/ND-CP dated January 1, 2019 of the Government and Circular No. 12/2022/TT-BNNPTNT dated September 20, 2022 of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development".
The Provincial People's Committee also determined the capital source to implement the Resolution: "The provincial budget ensures a minimum of 15.0 billion VND each year; the remaining capital is mobilized from other sources including: Payment for forest environmental services, economic career of the Sustainable Forestry Development Program, other project programs".
The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is the agency assigned by the Provincial People's Committee to preside over the drafting of the Resolution "On the drafting of the Resolution of the Provincial People's Council stipulating support policies for forest owners to carry out forest management and protection in Nghe An province". Speaking to Nghe An Newspaper on February 15, 2023, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ms. Vo Thi Nhung, said that the draft Resolution was drafted according to a 2-phase process. Phase 1 includes making a proposal to draft a Resolution stipulating policies, including 9 steps; Phase 2 includes drafting a Resolution stipulating policies, including 5 steps.
The dossier proposing to draft the Resolution has been consulted with relevant departments, branches and subjects affected by the Resolution, posted for comments on the Provincial Electronic Information Portal; has been appraised by the Department of Justice. At the same time, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has reported on accepting and explaining the appraisal opinions of the Department of Justice; approved by members of the Provincial People's Committee at the regular meeting of the Provincial People's Committee in January 2023 on January 30, 2023, and agreed by the Provincial People's Committee in Notice No. 67/TB-UBND dated February 3, 2023. Currently, the dossier proposing to draft the Resolution has been sent to the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Council. After being approved by the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Council, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development will continue with phase 2 of drafting the Resolution.
Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ms. Vo Thi Nhung, added: “In phase 1 of proposing the development of a Resolution regulating policies, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has basically started to develop a draft Resolution, and has also received comments from localities, departments, and branches. Therefore, immediately after receiving consensus from the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Council, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development will direct the specialized agency, the Forestry Sub-Department, to complete the draft Resolution as soon as possible to submit to the Provincial People's Council for approval...”.