Remove the 'barriers', build policies for forest rangers!

“Building” policy

After Nghe An Newspaper published a series of articles on the difficult situation of forest protection officers on December 11, 2022, a representative of the Forest Protection Department said that the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is currently drafting a Resolution regulating the policy of supporting funding for forest protection management for the specialized forest protection force.

The Forest Protection Department informed that in the province, there are 19 forest owners assigned by the State to manage and protect 427,698.67 hectares of forest, accounting for 35% of the total forest and forestry land area of ​​the province. Of which, there are more than 131 thousand hectares of natural forest far from residential areas and forest areas at high risk of encroachment that cannot be assigned to the community or households, but need to be protected by specialized forest protection forces. Therefore, these 19 forest owners are assigned specialized forest protection forces.

Specialized forest protection force of Pu Mat National Park on patrol. Photo: Contributor

Recently, the Forest Protection Department has compiled reports from 19 forest owners, determining that the total number of employees working at these units as of May 30, 2022 is 955 people. Of which, 172 people are civil servants; 6 people are on contracts according to Decree 68/2000/ND-CP; the rest are on long-term and short-term contracts. Decree No. 01/2019/ND-CP dated January 1, 2019 of the Government clearly stipulates the tasks, powers and ensures the operation of the Forest Protection Force of forest owners.

However, since the Forestry Law and Decree No. 01/2019/ND-CP took effect, the allocation of budget sources to ensure forest protection funding for the Forest Protection Force to perform forest protection management tasks has not had a clear policy mechanism (including both central and local budget sources). Therefore, it is necessary to issue a Resolution of the Provincial People's Council stipulating policies to support forest protection management for the Forest Protection Force in Nghe An province.

A meal on patrol by the forest protection force. Photo: Contributor

With the Resolution, a stable basic source of funding will be created, ensuring the operation of the specialized forest protection force in the province according to the provisions of Decree No. 01/2019/ND-CP of the Government. Thereby, stabilizing the lives of the specialized forest protection force, creating resources to attract the labor force to join the specialized forest protection force. At the same time, it will overcome the situation of specialized forest protection forces quitting their jobs, contributing to the good implementation of the province's forest protection goals.

Regarding the content of the draft Resolution, it clearly states the policy to support forest protection for the areas of protective forests, special-use forests, and production forests that are natural forests that are in the period of forest closure and are directly managed and protected by specialized forest protection forces of forest owners but have not been allocated funding for forest protection management; or have been allocated but the unit price is lower than 300,000 VND/ha/year to reach 300,000 VND/ha/year. Specifically, for areas that have not been allocated funding for forest protection management, the support level is 300,000 VND/ha/year. For forest areas that have been allocated funding 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 300,000 VND/ha/year, additional support will be provided to reach 300,000 VND/ha/year.

The representative of the Forest Protection Department said: “It is expected that the resources to implement the Resolution will come from the provincial budget. Relevant departments, branches and affected subjects have been consulted, and all agreed on the content of the draft Resolution. Currently, the dossier proposing the development of the Resolution is being appraised by the Department of Justice before being submitted to the Provincial People's Committee for consideration in the recent time…”.

According to Ms. Vo Thi Nhung - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, in recent times, many press agencies have been concerned about the issue of specialized forest protection forces resigning and leaving their jobs. This is a companionship and sharing not only with specialized forest protection forces but also with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development itself. From information from the press, society understands and sympathizes with the difficulties of forest protection workers; and the Resolution regulating the policy of supporting forest protection management costs for specialized forest protection forces will soon be considered, approved and implemented by competent authorities.

Ms. Vo Thi Nhung - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development talked with Nghe An Newspaper reporter. Photo: Dao Tuan

Ms. Vo Thi Nhung said that recently, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development held a meeting with the participation of units with specialized forest protection forces to collect comments on the draft Resolution before requesting the Department of Justice to appraise and submit to the Provincial People's Committee. At the same time, it has done ideological work for these units to encourage officers and employees to overcome difficulties. Ms. Vo Thi Nhung said: "We have discussed, the industry will be responsible for this issue. While waiting for the Resolution, we need to stabilize our thoughts, feel secure in our work, and perform well the task of protecting the forest. In general, everyone sympathizes and shares...".

Remove the "barrier" of Circular 12

Because the regulations on subjects assigned to forest protection in Circular No. 12/2022/TT-BNNPTNT do not mention specialized forest protection forces, on December 7, 2022, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development sent Document No. 4490/SNN.KL to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the General Department of Forestry.

Document No. 4490/SNN.KL of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development sent to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, General Department of Forestry. Photo: Nhat Lan

Here, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development reported: "Currently, in Nghe An province, there are: 697 long-term contract workers under the self-financed forest owners' unit and 162 short-term contract workers working for forest owners such as Special-use and Protective Forest Management Boards, Youth Volunteer Force Teams and Forestry One Member Limited Liability Companies assigned forests by the State". Thereby, it is requested to clarify whether this force is eligible for forest protection contracts according to the provisions of Circular No. 12/2022/TT-BNNPTNT or not? What is the applicable contract limit? In case of being contracted, can the career budget from the Sustainable Forestry Development Program be used for the contract or not?

On December 13, 2022, Nghe An Newspaper reporters received information that the General Department of Forestry held a meeting to discuss the contents requested by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to clarify. The meeting was chaired by Mr. Tran Quang Bao - Deputy Director General of the General Department of Forestry. And it was agreed that, based on the provisions of Decree No. 168/2016/ND-CP dated December 27, 2016 of the Government; Circular No. 12/2022/TT-BNNPTNT dated September 20, 2022 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Law on Residence 2020, contract workers not receiving salaries from the state budget, individuals legally residing in the locality where there are subjects contracted to protect forests are subjects contracted to protect forests according to the provisions of Decree No. 168/2016/ND-CP and Circular No. 12/2022/TT-BNNPTNT.

Leaders of Thanh Chuong Protective Forest Management Board encouraged the forest protection force of Khe Veu Station to overcome difficulties and perform their tasks well. Photo: Contributor

Regarding the contract limit, it is implemented according to the provisions of Clause 2, Article 6, Decree No. 168/2016/ND-CP "For work and service contracts, the contract limit is agreed upon by the contract party and the contractee. In case of stable contracts according to the production and business cycle, the contract party shall base on the scale of the contracted area and the needs of the contractee to negotiate and determine the appropriate contract limit, in which:...."; Clause 4, Article 3, Decree No. 168/2016/ND-CP: "4. Work and service contracts are the form of contracting one or more stages according to the process of planting and caring for forests, protecting forests, orchards, water surfaces or contracting according to the planting and harvesting seasons of the works and services"; Point a, Clause 1, Article 5, Decree No. 168/2016/ND-CP stipulates: "a) Contracting for forest planting, forest care, and forest protection for planned areas of protective forests, special-use forests, and production forests".

Mr. Nguyen Khac Hai - Head of Forest Use and Development Department (Forestry Sub-Department) talked with Nghe An Newspaper reporter. Photo: Nhat Lan

Head of the Forest Use and Development Department, Nguyen Khac Hai, said that he had also received this information. Mr. Nguyen Khac Hai said: “With the information from the General Department of Forestry, it can be seen that the 2022 salary issue for the specialized forest protection force has been resolved. Currently, we are waiting for the official document from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the General Department of Forestry to apply for implementation…”.