Removing obstacles related to funding for forest protection and development.
(Baonghean.vn)On April 13th, the People's Committee of Nghe An province held a meeting to discuss the handling of funds for forest protection and development in 2012. Mr. Dinh Viet Hong, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, chaired the meeting. Representatives from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Department of Finance, and the Department of Planning and Investment also attended.
In 2012, the Provincial People's Committee assigned targets to focus on protecting the existing forest area of 884,240 hectares, enclosing and nurturing 55,000 hectares of natural forest, planting 10,000 hectares of new forest, and achieving a forest cover rate of 53.62%. After the Central Government's Program 661 on planting 5 million hectares of new forest ended, mobilizing capital for forest development and protection faced considerable difficulties. The central government's allocation of capital to Nghe An for forest development and protection in 2012 was only 24.5 billion VND out of 115 billion VND, reaching only 21.3%. To date, capital under Program 30a has not yet been allocated to the districts; the WB3 project on production forest planting currently lacks counterpart funding as committed by the Provincial People's Committee to the donor; and funding for the project to replace shifting cultivation with new forest planting remains problematic…
At the meeting, relevant departments proposed that the Provincial People's Committee address several difficulties, including: balancing the provincial budget for planting over 17,546 hectares of new forest; directing relevant departments to allocate 1,576 million VND from Program 30a for forest planting activities in three poor districts; developing specific solutions to ensure that businesses allocated land for investment in forest planting in 2012 achieve their target of 2,000 hectares; directing districts to monitor reforestation activities after logging; and repaying rice debts to households participating in the project to replace slash-and-burn farming with new forest planting...
Concluding the meeting, Comrade Dinh Viet Hong requested the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to prepare a good plan for forest protection and development funding for the following years; for districts under Program 30a, the plan for forest protection and development in 2012 must be completed before April 30th; assigned the Department of Planning and Investment to coordinate with relevant departments to review slow-progressing and unnecessary projects to reallocate those funds for forest protection and development; assigned the Department of Planning and Investment and the Department of Finance to advise the Provincial People's Committee on balancing and adjusting funding for forest protection and development in 2012, the province's counterpart funding for foreign programs and projects on forest planting and protection, and simultaneously authorized the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to allocate forest protection and development funds.
Phu Huong
