More than a month ago, the Executive Board of the Forest Protection and Development Fund inspected the area and status of some forest plots with fluctuations that are receiving payment for forest environmental services in communes/towns in the districts of the Da River basin: Dien Bien, Muong Cha, Tuan Giao, Tua Chua, Nam Po, Muong Nhe and Muong Lay Town. Sharing about the method of inspecting forest area, Mr. Phan Anh Son, Deputy Director of the Forest Protection and Development Fund, said: To inspect the forest, we presided over and coordinated with the forest rangers and professional civil servants of the communes/towns to operate and present the results of overlapping the map monitoring forest changes in the first 6 months of 2023, the map of forest environmental services payment in 2022. Combined with drawing on satellite images Planet, Sentinel-2, Google Earth, synthesizing the area of changes. Then, the area and status of the changing forest will be agreed upon with the forest owners at the headquarters of the People's Committee of the commune/town. If the forest owner does not agree with the results, a field inspection of the location, area and current status of the forest will be conducted.
Through the overlay of digital maps on remote sensing images with the total area inspected in the following localities: Dien Bien (771.91ha), Muong Cha (over 14,100ha, Tuan Giao (6,728ha), Tua Chua (10,444ha), Nam Po (29,001ha), Muong Nhe (10,976ha) and Muong Lay Town (1,269ha). Through the inspection, forest owners with fluctuating forest areas all recognized and clearly identified the locations, locations, and areas that were not eligible for providing forest environmental services, the forest areas that were eligible for providing forest environmental services, and acknowledged the inspection results of the working group; signed a working record to unify the status and area of the forest with the inspection team.
Checking the forest area eligible for payment for forest environmental services is extremely important to promptly generate income and, more importantly, to motivate people. Ensuring the rights of forest owners in a timely manner has affirmed the effectiveness of the policy on payment for forest environmental services in the process of implementing the goal of socializing forestry and reducing the rate of poor households. According to statistics from the Forest Protection and Development Fund, in 2023, the average income of each household participating in forest protection and receiving payment for forest environmental services was more than 2.3 million VND/household/year. Typically, in Sen Thuong commune, Muong Nhe district, there are a number of households with high income from payment for forest environmental services such as: Pa Ma village community, each household in the community receives an average of 130 million VND/year; Ta Lo San village community, each household in the community receives an average of 121 million VND/year; Long San village community, on average each household in the community receives 67 million VND/year... After checking, the forest areas are eligible to provide forest environmental services, people will be quickly guided to complete the procedures to soon receive payment for forest environmental services. Thus, the income of many forest owners will be higher, not only used for management and protection of the assigned forest area but also to help cover daily living needs, improving their lives.
In fact, in recent times, the policy of paying for forest environmental services has brought income to people, contributing to improving their lives; this is a prerequisite for people to actively participate in forest protection and management. The consensus and enthusiastic response of people throughout the province have created positive signals. Ms. Dang Thi Thu Hien, Director of the Forest Protection and Development Fund, said: Forest protection and development management in 2023 has many positive changes . The close coordination between forest owners, households contracted to protect forests with local authorities and the Forest Protection Department has contributed to improving forest protection and development as well as preventing and combating acts of encroachment on forest resources. In areas receiving payment for forest environmental services, people pay more attention to forest protection, significantly reducing deforestation, encroachment on forest land, and illegal exploitation of forest products. In addition, the policy of paying for forest environmental services has mobilized a large human resource for regular forest patrolling and protection, increasing the number of households directly participating in forest protection every year: more than 75,000 households (in 2019), more than 85,000 households (in 2020), more than 95,000 households (in 2021), nearly 96,000 households (in 2022) and more than 96,000 households (in 2023).
From that, it can be affirmed that the policy of paying for forest environmental services has linked the responsibility and benefits of people to the forest; at the same time, it has made an important contribution to ensuring political security, social order, and stabilizing the population in the province, helping people in remote areas gradually improve their lives and increase their income.
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