Nghe An currently has a total area of over 1.018 million hectares of forestry land, accounting for nearly 75% of the province's natural area. Currently, forested land is over 1 million hectares (including 790,352.86 hectares of natural forest and 171,421.51 hectares of planted forest); non-forested land is over 271 thousand hectares (of which 70,004.23 hectares have been planted but have not met the criteria for becoming a forest).
For a long time, the forestry sector has played an important role in the economic, social and national security development of Nghe An province. From an economic perspective, the forestry sector has contributed to increasing the export turnover of wood and non-timber forest products of the province in the period of 2021-2023, always reaching over 5.5%. Specifically, the growth rate of forestry production value in 2021 reached 7.85%, in 2022 reached 9.07%, in 2023 reached 6.67%. Meanwhile, the export turnover of wood and non-timber forest products from 2021 to 2023 reached 821.25 million USD, of which in 2021 it reached 207 million USD, in 2022 it reached 344 million USD, in 2023 it reached 270.25 million USD and in the first 6 months of 2024 it reached 161 million USD.
Forestry is gradually becoming an important economic sector of the province. This is further confirmed by the annual increase in the area of planted forests. Since 2010, the area of planted forests has reached more than 15,000 hectares/year and the total area of planted forests is currently more than 220,000 hectares; of which, the area of production forests is more than 178,000 hectares. Thanks to that, the forest cover of Nghe An has increased and currently reaches 58.33%. This is a lever to increase the biodiversity of the forest, while opening up more opportunities for exporting carbon credits.
Looking from Con Cuong district, the locality with the largest forest coverage in the province, with more than 84%, on average, 1,500 - 1,800 hectares of concentrated forest are newly planted each year. And the forest is providing food and clothing for forest growers. Mr. Ha Van Quyet, a Thai ethnic in Thanh Dao village, Bong Khe commune (Con Cuong) shared: My family has more than 1 hectare of meter trees and 18 hectares of hybrid acacia. It turns out that each hectare of meter and hybrid acacia has a stable income of over 100 million VND/year. I also intercrop cassava, and each year cassava also yields a harvest of over 70 million VND.
Developing the forest economy has been creating sustainable livelihoods for people in many areas with difficult economic conditions. In Quy Chau district, the locality has a fairly large forestry land area, with more than 95,000 hectares, distributed in 12/12 communes and towns. Forests are creating jobs and income for people, contributing to sustainable hunger eradication and poverty reduction in the locality. Quy Chau district leaders said: In total, Quy Chau has a planted forest area of 3,000 hectares each year and currently the planted forest area is more than 23,000 hectares, with annual revenue reaching more than 350 billion VND.
The dream from the forest is growing with the amount of money from selling carbon credits. Through the North Central Region Emission Reduction Payment Agreement (ERPA) program, Nghe An has collected more than 282 billion VND since October 3, 2023. The above amount is converted from 789,462 hectares of natural forest area in the whole province.
In the context of limited resources allocated by the central and local governments to the forestry sector, Nghe An province in general and forest owners in particular have high expectations from the sale of forest carbon credits. The revenue is very large, which in theory will contribute significantly to reducing the heavy pressure on forest management and protection.
Another important driving force to realize the dream of living and getting rich from the forest of Nghe An people is the goal of developing sustainable agricultural and forestry economy associated with forest protection and increasing income for people according to Sub-project 1, Project 3, National Target Program 1719 in Nghe An.
Currently, the districts have prepared and approved technical design documents for forest protection estimates with the following contents: Support for forest protection contracts for special-use forests and protection forests of 101,630.44 hectares; Support for protection of planned forests, protection forests and production forests which are natural forests assigned to communities and households of 151,982.15 hectares; Support for planting production forests, exploiting the economic forest canopy and developing non-timber forest products of 3,580 hectares; The amount of subsidized rice for afforestation for poor households participating in planting production forests, developing non-timber forest products and protection forests of 84.83 hectares. In total, with the above support contents, there are 25,613 households benefiting from the forest.
Mr. Phung Thanh Vinh, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Nghe An emphasized: Nghe An is taking drastic measures to improve the quality of forest capital and develop sustainably from forests. In reality, that is becoming a reality. Sustainable development from forests will limit deforestation, forest fires, etc., creating a clean and green ecological environment.
Having a stable life and getting rich from the forest is real. The legal corridor for forest development and forestry development is even more certain when on August 24, 2024, the Prime Minister approved Decision No. 895/QD-TTg on the National Forestry Planning for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050 and a number of mechanisms, policies, and orientations for forestry development in the period 2026-2030.
The new forestry planning will create a legal corridor for the province to develop programs, projects, plans, mechanisms and development policies. From there, it will create a vibrant emulation movement, contributing practically to the successful implementation of the forestry development goals in line with the orientation to 2030, with a vision to 2050.
Nghia Dan (Nghe An): Ensuring social security and supporting livelihoods helps many ethnic minority households escape poverty
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