Supervision of land and forest allocation at the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Department of Natural Resources and Environment

Comrade Giang Thi Hoa, Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council, delivered a concluding speech at the supervision session at the Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

According to the report of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, implementing Plan No. 2783 of the Provincial People's Committee, up to now, 9/10 districts, towns and cities have issued forest land use right certificates for over 37,400 hectares (reaching 39%). For non-forested forestry land, 7/10 districts, towns and cities have issued land use right certificates for over 54,200 hectares (reaching 35%). Total revenue from forest environmental services in the period of 2019-2023 reached over 1,150 billion VND; the amount of forest environmental services paid was over 994 billion VND for over 4,800 forest owners.

For the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, the total area of forestry land that needs to be reviewed and assigned is over 252,700 hectares. Up to now, the area of forestry land that has been allocated and granted land use right certificates is over 93,000 hectares (reaching 37%) for nearly 9,500 communities, households and individuals. The area of forestry land that has been measured and reviewed but has not been allocated land, allocated forests, or granted land use right certificates is over 159,000 hectares. In the period of 2019 - 2023, the Department has advised the Provincial People's Committee to allocate land and forests to organizations in the province with a total area of over 15,270 hectares. Conducting cadastral measurement appraisal, the Department has received and approved the dossiers and survey products of land allocation, forest allocation, and land use right certificates issuance projects with a total area of over 209,000 hectares. The process of land and forest allocation and issuance of forestry land use right certificates still faces many difficulties such as: Covid-19 pandemic affecting the progress of implementation; the farming practices of highland people cause the allocated forest area to be cut down due to the need to use land for farming, and land disputes still occur in the area. In addition, some fragmented and unconcentrated forest land areas cause difficulties in the process of checking and demarcating. The planning boundaries of the 3 types of forests have not been marked, causing difficulties in demarcating forest boundaries.

Members of the monitoring delegation pointed out limitations in the implementation process such as: The progress of land and forest allocation in districts, towns and cities is very slow compared to the requirements, planning tasks and general progress; forest protection and management work is still formal, deforestation and illegal logging still occur; many forest areas providing forest environmental services are located in the basins covered by forest environmental services but have not been allocated and do not have owners to manage them...

Comrade Giang Thi Hoa, member of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council, requested the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to continue to clarify the backlog and difficulties in the payment of forest environmental services. The Department needs to review the entire area of land and forest that has not been allocated, the beneficiaries of forest environmental services, along with solutions to advise the province to implement them in line with reality. For households that are not eligible to pay for forest environmental services through accounts, it is necessary to have measures to thoroughly inspect and handle them according to each roadmap. Regarding the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, the Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council requested to further enhance the responsibility in propaganda work, instructing the district level to remove obstacles and difficulties; focus on reviewing and avoiding overlapping conflicts in the process of planning 3 types of forests. At the same time, promptly complete the supplementary report, review and adjust the data and send it to the Provincial People's Council before April 10.

Source