In fact, the difficulties in reforestation work have been identified by the competent authorities of the province and reported to the superior agencies. For example, on September 18, 2023, the Provincial People's Committee issued Report No. 686/BC-UBND on the implementation results of Resolution No. 135/2020/QH14 at the 10th session of the 14th National Assembly on changing the purpose of forest use to implement the Ban Mong Reservoir Project, sent to the National Assembly's Committee on Science, Technology and Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Accordingly, the total area of forest land allowed to change its purpose of use in the Ban Mong Reservoir Project is 1,131.22 hectares (312.95 hectares of upstream protection forest; 661.08 hectares of production forest; 157.19 hectares of forest outside the forestry planning) in the two provinces of Nghe An and Thanh Hoa. Nghe An alone has 544.77 hectares, of which 130.25 hectares are natural forests (39.07 hectares of protection forest, 86.25 hectares of production forest, 4.93 hectares of forest outside the forestry planning). To date, Nghe An province has changed the purpose of use of 360.12 hectares of forest to other purposes; the remaining 184.65 hectares is waiting for the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to allocate funds for replacement forest planting. At the same time, the technical design documents have been approved and are being planted on an area of 233.36 hectares (Ky Son Protection Forest Management Board 47.06 hectares; TNXP4 - Song Con Company Limited 15 hectares; Bac Nghe An Protection Forest Management Board 42.9 hectares; Tuong Duong Protection Forest Management Board 100 hectares; Pu Huong Nature Reserve Management Board 21.7 hectares; Tuong Duong Forest Protection Department 6.7 hectares).
Report No. 686/BC-UBND also stated that the investor of the Ban Mong Reservoir Project has paid 20 billion/36.23715 billion VND according to the approved plan, the remaining amount is 16.23715 billion VND. The delay in paying the replacement forestation fee according to the approved plan leads to the need to increase capital for this item in the coming time, due to the increasing prices of materials and labor to carry out the forestation work.
At the same time, according to the provisions of Circular No. 25/2022/TT-BNNPTNT dated December 30, 2022 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, determining the site of replacement forest planting in the locality is very difficult. The reason is that the regulations require planting on land without forests under the planning of protective forests, special-use forests and production forests managed by the Special-use Protective Forest Management Board; reforestation on the area of special-use forests, protective forests that have not become forests and have completed the liquidation of planted forests according to the provisions of law. Meanwhile, in the province, the area that meets the above conditions is mainly fragmented, with large slopes, divided terrain, far from residential areas, roads, etc., so afforestation is very difficult. Therefore, forest owners do not register for replacement forest planting for fear of planting forests but not becoming forests.
In addition, according to the provisions of Circular No. 25/2022/TT-BNNPTNT, the unit price for afforestation is determined at the time when the project owners propose a plan to pay for replacement afforestation, on that basis, the units assigned to afforestation prepare documents and estimates for replacement afforestation and submit them to the Provincial People's Committee for approval. At present, the estimated unit price for afforestation is much larger than the unit price collected for the Ban Mong Reservoir Project of 45 million VND/ha (the average unit price for planting protective and special-use forests in the province is currently about 90 million VND/ha), so the allocation and implementation of afforestation according to the unit price collected for the Ban Mong Reservoir Project of 45 million VND/ha is currently facing many difficulties.
On December 19, 2023, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development also sent Report 679/BC-SNN.KL to the Department of Forestry and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Here, the shortcomings and limitations in the work of reforestation were pointed out as follows:“The subjects eligible for replacement forest planting according to the provisions of Circular No. 25/2022/TT-BNNPTNT dated December 30, 2022 are very limited (only new forests can be planted, not reforested, except for reforestation on special-use forests and protection forests that have not become forests and have completed the liquidation of planted forests). Therefore, it is difficult to arrange land funds for replacement forest planting. The current situation of serving replacement forest planting is increasingly difficult, therefore, the amount of money for replacement forest planting in the Forest Protection and Development Fund is still large and has not been allocated to forest owners to organize replacement forest planting”; “Article 6 of Circular No. 25 stipulates on risk handling for replacement forests: “The area of planted forests from replacement forest planting funds that is damaged due to force majeure, leading to failure to form forests or loss of forests, shall be liquidated in accordance with the provisions of law on liquidation of planted forests”. However, there is currently no legal document guiding the order and procedures for liquidation of planted forests”.
About subjective causes:“Currently, vacant land planned for protective and special-use forests is mainly concentrated in mountainous districts (Ky Son over 63%; Tuong Duong 17%, Que Phong 14%), this area is far from traffic routes, deep in the surrounding area of natural forests, located in places with large slopes, terrain divided by rivers, mountains, streams; small, fragmented areas... some areas are rocky hills, some areas are located in areas with harsh climates such as Ky Son and Tuong Duong districts, making it very difficult to successfully plant forests, so forest owners do not register to do so”; “The regulation for protective and special-use forests requires priority to plant native trees with low forest formation potential, so forest owners do not dare to register to plant protective and special-use forests and replace them with replacement forests”…
In Report No. 679/BC-SNN.KL of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development sent to the Department of Forestry and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, it was mentioned that "the remaining amount of money for reforestation in the Forest Protection and Development Fund is still large and has not been allocated to forest owners to organize reforestation", we have requested the Provincial Forest Protection and Development Fund for detailed information.
In Report No. 16/BC-NAFF.KHNV dated January 17, 2024 on the implementation of replacement forest planting work of Nghe An Forest Protection and Development Fund, it is stated that: The total amount of money that projects have paid for replacement forest planting at the Forest Protection and Development Fund accumulated to date is 167,097,094 thousand VND; the total amount of money disbursed accumulated to date is 50,403,976 thousand VND. The amount of replacement forest planting collected at the Fund but not yet planned for allocation is 93,972,978 thousand VND (including the amount that has not been allocated and has been allocated but not implemented and not fully implemented). At the same time, it also mentioned that there was a report to the Vietnam Forest Protection and Development Fund requesting guidance on documents and procedures to transfer funds collected over 12 months to the Vietnam Forest Protection and Development Fund according to regulations (Report No. 274/BC-NAFF dated November 25, 2022; Latest Report No. 381/BC-NAFF dated November 17, 2023).
The responsible officer of the Nghe An Forest Protection and Development Fund discussed that according to regulations, the replacement forest planting fund that has been collected for more than 12 months without a plan for use must be transferred to the Vietnam Forest Protection and Development Fund to be transferred to other localities in need of replacement forest planting. The remaining replacement forest planting fund in the provincial Fund is more than 93 billion VND. This is a huge amount, however, we have requested it several times but there has not been any specific guidance from the Vietnam Forest Protection and Development Fund on how to pay it back. Therefore, we will continue to request the Central Fund for specific guidance for implementation in the coming time. Asked, does this mean that the replacement forest planting work when changing the purpose of forest use to another purpose in localities across the country is also facing difficulties? The answer was: We cannot accurately assess the replacement forest planting work in other provinces, but it can be understood that way...
On November 15, 2023, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development advised the Provincial People's Committee on Document No. 9775/UBND-NN requesting to pay replacement forestation money to the Vietnam Forest Protection and Development Fund to plant replacement forests in other localities for an area of more than 33.7 hectares of 3 projects: Project to exploit clay quarry for cement raw materials in Long Son commune (Anh Son); Project to build Quynh Phuong Border Guard Station in Quynh Phuong commune (Hoang Mai town); Project to exploit landfill soil in Nghi Kieu commune and Nghi Lam commune (Nghi Loc).
