Conference on forest management, protection and fire prevention and fighting

On May 5, in Kon Tum province, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang chaired an online conference on forest management and protection (QLBVR) and forest fire prevention and fighting (PCCCR) in 2023 and the first 4 months of 2024. Attending at the Ninh Thuan province bridge were comrade Le Huyen, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; representatives of leaders of departments, branches, localities and forest management boards in the area.

In 2023, 60/60 provinces and cities with forests have announced the forest status with a total forest area nationwide of 14,860,109 hectares (natural forests are 10,129,751 hectares; planted forests are 4,730,157 hectares). The forest area meeting the criteria for calculating the coverage ratio is 13,927,122 hectares (natural forests are 10,129,751 hectares, planted forests are 3,797,171 hectares), of which special-use forests are 2,198,773 hectares, protection forests are 4,618,453 hectares, and production forests are 7,109,196 hectares. The national forest coverage ratio reaches 42.02%. In 2023, authorities detected 3,327 violations affecting forests nationwide, a decrease of 597 cases compared to the same period in 2022, with an affected forest area of 1,047.8 hectares. In the first 4 months of 2024 alone, authorities detected 650 cases of deforestation with a total affected area of 182.2 hectares, a decrease of 75.7 hectares. The deforestation cases were mainly in the provinces of the Central Highlands, the Northern mountainous region and the North Central region. Regarding forest fire prevention and control, in 2023, there were 310 cases nationwide, with an affected forest area of 674.5 hectares, of which the forest area with the potential to recover was about 487.5 hectares (due to brush fires and undergrowth fires that did not affect the forest), and the forest area with the potential to self-recover was about 187 hectares. In the first 4 months of 2024 alone, there were 89 forest fires nationwide with an affected area of about 498 hectares, mainly planted forests, poor natural forests and young regenerating forests, an increase of more than 25% compared to the same period in 2023. The main cause is the impact of the EL Nino phenomenon, people's carelessness in slash-and-burn farming, using fire in the forest... has greatly affected forest management and protection work, causing economic losses and affecting the ecological environment.

Comrade Le Huyen, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee attended the conference at the Ninh Thuan province bridge.

Concluding the conference, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang requested the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to coordinate with ministries, branches and localities to continue reviewing forest areas to serve planning work, develop plans to implement policies on forest protection and development. Review, propose supplements and perfect mechanisms and policies on sustainable forestry development. Step up propaganda, raise awareness and responsibility for forest protection and forest fire prevention and control; proactively plan and implement forest fire prevention and control measures during the peak months of the dry season; pay attention to the lives of forest protection, forest development and forest fire prevention and control forces. Step up the application of information technology in forest protection and forest fire prevention and control to monitor and track forest developments, enhance the capacity of effective forest management and forest fire prevention and control, serve the direction and operation of all levels of forest protection and forest land management, forest fire prevention and control...

Tien Manh

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