Thanh Chuong: Need to strengthen forest protection solutions

(Baonghean.vn) -Thanh Chuong is a district with a large area of ​​natural forest with many rare and precious woods. For many years, some areas in Thanh Chuong have always been hot spots for deforestation and illegal transportation of forest products. Faced with this situation, the People's Committee of Thanh Chuong district has implemented solutions to preserve the forest.

At this time, at Thanh Thuy border gate (Thanh Chuong), according to observations by reporters, there is still a situation of "forest bandits" using motorbikes and buffalo carts to transport wood in a small-scale manner. Mainly, the "forest bandits" use motorbikes to pull the wood, the back is "camouflaged" with fresh grass. This activity usually takes place between noon and evening. Mr. Phan Duy Trinh - Chairman of Thanh Thuy Commune People's Committee, said: Although the commune has propagated and mobilized people, many greedy people still follow the profession. The difficulty of Thanh Thuy is that the land for rice cultivation is small, the whole commune has only 110 hectares, the terrain is complicated, the commune is in dire need of State investment and support for people to develop tea trees and plant raw material forests, and change occupations to minimize deforestation.

It is known that Thanh Chuong has a forest area of ​​64,000 hectares, of which more than 41,000 hectares of natural forest are concentrated in 6 communes along the Vietnam-Laos border, including Thanh Son, Ngoc Lam, Thanh Thuy, and Thanh Ha communes. These are forests with a large amount of rare and precious wood with great value for watershed protection, and rugged terrain... To minimize deforestation, the People's Committee has developed solutions to protect forests. First, the district has identified key communes with natural forests with large timber reserves to focus on protection. Specifically, Thanh Son, Ngoc Lam, Thanh Thuy, and Thanh Ha have 3 large forest owners: Thanh Chuong Forest Protection Management Board, Youth Union 5 and 2. Key communes with people regularly entering the forest to illegally exploit, buy, sell, and transport forest products are Thanh Khe, Vo Liet, Thanh Thinh, Thanh Huong, Hanh Lam, and Thanh Hoa. Key communes for storing and processing forest products are Thanh Thuy, Thanh Yen, Dung Town, Dong Van, and Thanh Tung.

Implement solutions to prevent deforestation and protect forests at the root for each forest area. First of all, the upstream protection forest area includes 2 communes Thanh Thuy and Thanh Ha with 2 forest owners, Thanh Chuong Forest Protection Management Board and Youth Volunteer Team 5. This area has 9,372 hectares of forest, of which 7,853 hectares are natural forest. It is necessary to arrange 2 forest protection stations in Khe Cam and Khe Mu (forest area managed by the Forest Protection Management Board). Youth Volunteer Team 5 coordinates with Thanh Thuy Forest Ranger Station and Thanh Thuy Border Guard Station to regularly organize checkpoints. Forest rangers strictly manage 5 wood processing factories in the area, coordinate with border guards to monitor and detect illegal timber transportation across the border in the border gate area and border patrol roads.

Zone 2 includes Ngoc Lam and Thanh Son communes, which are resettlement sites with rugged terrain and 1,800 hectares of natural forest. People's lives are difficult, lacking land for cultivation and production, mainly dependent on forests. The forest owner, the Forest Protection Management Board, needs to strengthen forest protection stations in Khe Tron and Khe Mang (Ngoc Lam) and Khe Tron and Khe Ly (Thanh Son). The Forest Protection Department coordinates with the Forest Protection Management Board and the authorities of the two communes above to strengthen inspections along key routes and border patrol routes.

People use buffaloes to illegally transport wood on the Thanh Thuy - Thanh Chuong border gate road.

Zone 3 includes Hanh Lam and Thanh Duc communes. This is an area with 13,000 hectares of natural forest, managed by the Youth Volunteer Force 2. This is a forest area with large timber reserves, the main exploiters are the people of Cao Veu village (Anh Son). It is necessary to develop a coordination regulation with Border Guard Station 557 and the authorities of Phuc Son commune, Anh Son district to protect the border forest. For the Khe Suong route, forest rangers should coordinate with forest owners and the authorities of Thanh Duc commune and Border Guard Station 557 to increase patrols, inspections, detection and timely handling of new situations that have begun to arise. In particular, ambushes should be set up to pursue and handle subjects and ringleaders who gather timber and build rafts right at the headwaters of the Giang River.

In addition, Thanh Chuong determined the responsibilities of forest owners, commune People's Committees, forest rangers, police and border guards. First of all, it is the responsibility of commune People's Committees for forest management and protection work. Coordinate with forest owners and forest rangers to develop a plan for forest patrol and protection. Make a list and take measures to manage and educate individuals who specialize in illegal exploitation, transportation and trading of forest products. Handle and review disciplinary actions against party members who violate regulations on forest management and protection or assist illegal loggers. Commune People's Committee Chairmen who do not perform their duties well and cause forest loss will be reviewed and disciplined according to the law.

To protect the forest well, Thanh Chuong needs to step up propaganda work to the people, make statistics to specifically identify each timber trader and those who often enter the forest to cut down trees, their forms and methods of operation, and their areas of operation (river routes, roads) to destroy and handle. Make statistics on the number of sawmills processing wood, determine the scale, capacity, form and purpose of processing for management. Resolutely handle processing facilities without business licenses, or with licenses but still illegally cutting wood. Do a good job of managing and educating forest rangers, linking local forest rangers with each specific area, and strictly handle forest rangers who collude with illegal loggers. In addition, for communes with State forests, there must be a policy mechanism to change occupations. Specifically, in Ngoc Lam - Thanh Son commune, the resettlement areas are all located close to the edge of the forest, while there is a shortage of production land. People really need investment support in planning production land to grow rice, tea, sugarcane, cassava, and at the same time need support for people to borrow preferential loans to develop livestock, limit deforestation, and stabilize the economy.

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