Strictly implement the '4 on-site' principle in forest fire prevention and control

Attending and directing the conference at Kon Tum bridge were comrade Tran Luu Quang - Deputy Prime Minister, representatives of ministries, departments and branches. At Nghe An bridge, there were comrade Nguyen Van De - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; representatives of leaders of departments, departments, branches, and localities with forest areas in the province.

There were 89 forest fires nationwide.

According to the report of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, currently, 60/63 provinces and cities with forests have announced the forest status with a total forest area of ​​14.8 million hectares, of which natural forests are 10.1 million hectares and planted forests are more than 4.7 million hectares. The national forest coverage rate is 42.02%.

Regarding forest management and protection, in 2023, authorities discovered 3,327 violations affecting forests nationwide, a decrease of 597 cases compared to the same period in 2022, with an affected forest area of ​​1,047.8 hectares.

First 4 months of 2024,Authorities have discovered 650 cases of deforestation, affecting 182.2 hectares, a decrease of 75.7 hectares. The deforestation cases are mainly in the Central Highlands provinces, the Northern mountainous region and the North Central region such as Bac Kan, Son La, Dien Bien, Nghe An, Thua Thien Hue, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Phu Yen...

Although the number of violations of the law on forest management and protection has decreased over the years, deforestation and illegal logging still occur frequently in some key areas, border areas between provinces, especially in the Central Highlands and the Southeast.

Regarding forest fire prevention and fighting, in 2023, there were 310 incidents nationwide, with 674.5 hectares of affected forest area, of which: Forest area with the ability to self-recover is about 487.5 hectares, forest area with difficulty in self-recovery is about 187 hectares.

In the first 4 months of 2024, there were 89 forest fires nationwide, with a preliminary estimate of the affected forest area of ​​about 498 hectares, mainly planted forests, poor natural forests and young, recovering forests, an increase of more than 25% over the same period in 2023. The main cause is the impact of the EL NINO phenomenon, the temperature and the number of hot days are higher than the average of many years, especially from February to April, along with the carelessness of people in slash-and-burn farming, using fire in the forest, near the forest has led to many forest fires.

Forest fires have greatly affected forest management and protection, causing economic losses, affecting the ecological environment, and in particular, some forest fires have caused human casualties. In the first 4 months of the year, 3 people working to fight forest fires died, specifically, the forest fire in Tay Con Linh special-use forest killed 2 forest rangers, 1 person in Muong Cha district, Dien Bien province.

A representative of the General Department of Hydrometeorology said: In the first 4 months of 2024, the average temperature of the whole country increased higher than previous years, especially during the record heat wave in April 2024. This year's heat wave came earlier and was more intense, which is rare in many years. The main cause of the record heat wave is the impact of the EL NINO phenomenon and climate change. In the coming time, the heat wave will continue, which poses a high risk of forest fires.

Maintain forest cover ratio

Speaking at the conference, comrade Nguyen Van De - Vice Chairman of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee said: Nghe An is the province with the largest forest area in the country, with over 1.0 million hectares (of which: natural forest over 790 thousand hectares; planted forest over 210 thousand hectares), forest cover in 2023 reached 58.33%. Forests are mainly concentrated in the West, bordering Laos, rugged terrain, fragmented, steep slopes; extremely harsh climate, hot and dry, especially in the summer with hot and dry southwest winds.

In particular, Nghe An currently has over 15,476 hectares of pine plantations and more than 42,900 hectares of natural bamboo forests, which are key areas that are very susceptible to forest fires.

During the recent heat wave, Nghe An had a forest fire right on the occasion of the April 30 and May 1 holidays: The fire area is the border area between Thanh Chuong and Nam Dan districts where the terrain is steep, the main tree species are pine, acacia... the fire spread over an area of ​​about 18 hectares, mainly pine, acacia, grass, reeds, and sedge...

Immediately after the forest fire broke out, leaders of the Provincial People's Committee, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, forest rangers; local authorities and functional agencies promptly arrived at the scene to direct and organize forest fire fighting plans, completely extinguish the fire, and prevent it from spreading widely.

In recent times, the management, protection, development, use of forests, and development of the forestry economy in Nghe An province have achieved many positive results, with an average annual planting of over 18,000 hectares of new forests; implementation of sustainable forest management, and issuance of forest management certificates according to international standards (FSC) have increased sharply, reaching 24,826 hectares; the wood processing industry and non-timber forest products have been relatively developed; forest environmental services have still affirmed their role as an important source of financial income in the management, protection, and development of forests in the province.

At the conference, representatives of provinces and cities presented the current status of forests in their localities, and at the same time, made recommendations and proposals to the Government and central ministries and branches to consider a number of issues such as: Early approval of the National Forestry Planning for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision to 2050 as a basis for localities to implement forestry tasks and targets in the area; Funding support for forest fire prevention and fighting to clear undergrowth under forest canopy, repair, build firebreaks, purchase tools, install camera systems, build forest fire warning systems; Consider the policy of maintaining the staffing for forest rangers and specialized forest protection forces (without reduction) in accordance with the direction of the Secretariat in Directive No. 13-CT/TW on "Building a strong enough forest rangers force to effectively carry out forest management, protection and development"...

Concluding the conference, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang assessed and acknowledged that in recent times, localities have strengthened forest management and forest fire prevention and fighting; people's awareness of this work has been significantly raised...

The Deputy Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to coordinate with ministries, branches and localities to review and complete the forestry policy system on the basis of the Forestry Law to improve capacity in forest management, protection and forest fire prevention and fighting, meeting the requirements of sustainable forestry development. Ministries and branches should promptly report on weather conditions; effectively carry out propaganda work on forest fire prevention and fighting...

Localities must not be negligent or subjective, especially in erratic and extreme weather conditions; promote the responsibility of local leaders in forest fire prevention and control; continue to implement the motto "4 on-site", "4 ready", proactively organize resources to mobilize forces to participate in controlling and extinguishing forest fires in the shortest time. Review plans and sample scenarios and adjust them to suit practical conditions; take care of appropriate remuneration for forest rangers and forest protection forces; apply technology to forest management and forest fire prevention and control...