Nghe An Provincial People's Committee unanimously approved the draft Resolution on funding support for specialized forest protection forces.

On the morning of May 29, comrade Nguyen Duc Trung - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee chaired the regular meeting of May 2023 of the People's Committee of Nghe An province.

At the meeting, the Provincial People's Committee listened to and commented on the draft Resolution of the Provincial People's Council on regulations on support policies for forest owners to carry out forest management and protection in Nghe An province.

Overview of the regular meeting in May 2023 of the People's Committee of Nghe An province. Photo: Pham Bang

Previously, the proposal for drafting the Resolution was approved by the Provincial People's Committee at the regular meeting in January 2023. After that, the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Council issued an official dispatch agreeing with the proposal for drafting the Resolution. The Provincial People's Committee assigned the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to preside over drafting the Resolution according to step 2 procedures.

Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Thanh Vinh said that the subjects of application of the Resolution are the Management Boards of special-use forests, Management Boards of protective forests where no forest ranger organizations have been established; State-owned enterprises, organizations not belonging to the armed forces to which the State has assigned forests, leased forests and forest land and organized specialized forest protection forces; Specialized forest protection forces are contract workers of forest owners; Departments, branches, sectors and other relevant organizations and individuals.

The support condition is that forest owners use specialized forest protection forces as contract workers to manage and protect forests for areas of protective forests, special-use forests, and production forests that are natural forests that are in the period of forest closure but have not yet been allocated funds for forest management and protection or have been allocated but the unit price is lower than 300,000 VND/ha/year.

Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Thanh Vinh presents the draft Resolution. Photo: Pham Bang

The support level for areas that have not been allocated funding for forest protection management is 300,000 VND/ha/year; For 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 support content is to support the cost of assigning forest protection to the Forest Protection Force according to current regulations. Currently being implemented according to Decree No. 168/2016/ND-CP of the Government.

The implementation funding is from the provincial budget, supporting no more than 15 billion VND per year; mobilizing other legal sources including: Forest environmental service funding; economic career sources of the Sustainable Forestry Development Program; payment sources for greenhouse gas emission reduction in the North Central region, and integrating from other project programs to ensure policy implementation. The draft Resolution will be submitted to the Provincial People's Council at the next session.

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

According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the issuance of a Resolution of the Provincial People's Council on regulations on support policies for forest owners to carry out forest management and protection in Nghe An province is extremely necessary.

Thereby, contributing to the effective implementation of the goal of protecting the existing forest area in the province; ensuring the operation of the specialized forest protection force in the province, overcoming the current situation of workers quitting their jobs and quitting their jobs among the specialized forest protection force.