Nghe An Provincial People's Committee directs strict handling of deforestation and assault cases

On March 16, 2023, the Provincial People's Committee issued a document on handling the information sent by the newspaper.Department of Agriculture and Rural Developmentand the People's Committee of Quynh Luu district, with the following content:

“Nghe An Electronic Newspaper on March 13, 2023 published an article “The painful case of forest destruction and beating people in Quynh Chau” reflecting: When discovered destroying the forest and having their motorbikes temporarily seized, the forest destroyers gathered a large number of people to overwhelm them to disperse the evidence, then beat a forest guard of the Northern Nghe An Forest Protection Management Board, causing him to be hospitalized. The incident occurred on March 6, 2023 in a forest area in Quynh Chau commune (Quynh Luu).

Cover of the article "The painful case of deforestation and beating people in Quynh Chau". Photo: Nhat Lan

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Van De commented as follows:

The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development shall preside over and coordinate with the People's Committee of Quynh Luu district and relevant agencies to promptly inspect the content of the report and strictly handle it according to the provisions of law. Report to the Provincial People's Committee and the Department of Information and Communications before March 25, 2023."

Regarding the case of deforestation belonging to the forest area of ​​the Northern Nghe An Protective Forest Management Board, in Quynh Chau commune, it was particularly serious when the destroyed forest area was up to 2.2 hectares. In addition, the deforester also intentionally seriously injured the forest protection officer in order to disperse the evidence from the scene.

A pine and acacia forest belonging to Project 661 was destroyed. Photo: Nhat Lan

The destroyed forest area belongs to Lot 1, Section 3, Sub-area 343B, directly managed and protected by Len Ngoi Forest Protection Station, Northern Nghe An Protective Forest Management Board. According to the authorities, this is a forest area planted with two species of pine and acacia trees under the 5 million hectare reforestation project in 2000 (Project 661).

According to the description, the forest covered a large hill, but on March 9, only a patch remained at the top. At the foot of the hill, the hill trunk was strewn with pine and acacia stumps, and scattered with piles of branches and leaves, along with cut tree trunks. It was easy to see that this was a large-scale deforestation, involving many people and motorbikes, and the goal was to occupy land for growing acacia.

Mr. Nguyen Khac Hoan, a forest ranger of the Northern Nghe An Protective Forest Management Board, was treated at Nghe An Orthopedic Trauma Hospital. Photo: Tien Dong

According to the Quynh Luu – Hoang Mai Forest Protection Department, officials from the Quynh Chau Commune People’s Committee and the Northern Nghe An Protective Forest Management Board, the incident was discovered on February 28, then on March 2, the subjects returned to continue their deforestation. In the deforestation on March 2, when discovered, the subjects fled, leaving behind their vehicles and chainsaws.

On March 6, the subjects mobilized more people to return to dismantle the vehicle and assaulted a forest protection officer of the Northern Nghe An Forest Protection Management Board, Mr. Nguyen Khac Hoan, to the point of hospitalization.