Part 2. The great benefits of forests

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• Part 1. When the forest turns green again

Developing a green economic model

Forest restoration not only protects the living environment but also brings great economic benefits, when people can exploit wood, medicinal herbs, honey, bamboo in a harmonious and sustainable way, creating stable livelihoods. Developing ecotourism in forests planned as ecotourism destinations, attracting tourists and creating more income for local communities. Improving people's lives through afforestation programs combined with hunger eradication and poverty reduction.

Taking tourists to experience some special-use forest areas is one of the new forms, bringing income to people in Ba Be district.

To support people to earn income from green economic models and minimize impacts on forests and the forest environment, in recent years, Bac Kan province has focused on supporting people through community models and projects.

In particular, the National Target Program on Socio-Economic Development of Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Areas for the 2021-2030 period, Phase 1 from 2021-2025, is invested by the Department of Agriculture and Environment. The joint venture is led by Dong Nam Viet One Member Co., Ltd. (Hanoi) with a scale of more than 225 hectares, including a precious medicinal herb growing area of ​​150 hectares in many localities in the province. The total investment of the project is nearly 230 billion VND, capital from the State budget, credit capital, enterprises and people.

Planting medicinal plants in production areas to increase income and minimize impacts on forests is a focus of many localities.

Under the well-protected natural forests, poetic natural scenery with fresh, cool air and especially clean water from Pu Lau area, Phieng Phang village, Yen Duong commune (Ba Be), Mr. Dang Hanh Dung, a Dao ethnic person, has taken advantage of the situation to raise salmon and sturgeon to serve tourists who come to visit and experience ecotourism. From this method, his family has been developing the model very well, earning high income from fish farming. Up to now, he has also developed into a Salmon - Sturgeon Cooperative with 08 members participating, raising fish on an area of ​​nearly 4,000 square meters, with an average selling price of 300 to 450 thousand VND/kg, after deducting expenses, his Cooperative still earns over 1 billion VND per year.

According to Mr. Dam Van Linh, a resident of Nam Mau commune, Ba Be district, the special-use forests in Ba Be National Park have not had any major encroachments since they were contracted and the forests are growing very well. Many tourists who come here want to experience and visit forest areas with large trees or visit limestone mountains or caves... and are all organized by the locals to take them. The locals are paid and earn income from guiding tourists. In return, tourists can take photos in many beautiful locations, so more and more groups come to experience, including many foreign tourists.

Coming from Hanoi, Mr. Nguyen Ha Trung expressed his amazement at the majestic beauty of Ba Be Lake and Phieng Phang eco-tourism area. His family learned about Ba Be Lake and Phieng Phang through the media and decided to come and experience it. When arriving here, feeling the fresh, cool air, clean environment, everyone felt very comfortable. Thinking that in the highlands, the roads would be very difficult to travel, but in fact, the roads have been paved with concrete to the destinations; many locations are high up looking down, the natural beauty of the green forests, interwoven with ripe rice fields come into view like a painting... "Bac Kan is so beautiful" - Mr. Trung exclaimed.

Point out the difficulty to overcome

Mr. Nguyen My Hai, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Bac Kan province.

Bac Kan province has a total forest area of ​​over 396,357 hectares (of which natural forest is over 264,072 hectares, planted forest is 86,244 hectares, planted but not yet forested land is over 46,040 hectares) and non-forested land is over 36,844 hectares. Forest protection and development in the province in recent years has been paid attention to by local Party committees, authorities at all levels and functional sectors, who have directed the implementation of support policies according to programs, projects or self-investment by people and have initially brought about positive results in forest protection and development, contributing to environmental protection, natural disaster mitigation, climate change response, job creation, income increase, hunger eradication, poverty reduction, and improving people's economic life. The disbursement result for forest protection contracts and forest protection support in the period 2021-2024 is more than 124 billion 750 million VND (annual average 31 billion 187 million VND).

Evidence of a natural forest clearing case in Cho Don district in early 2025 was confiscated by forest rangers for processing.

In addition to the achieved results, forest management and protection work also has some limitations such as: Staff working on advising and proposing to Party committees and commune-level authorities on preventing deforestation in many places have not been timely, leading to a number of forest encroachment cases that have not been discovered, prevented, and handled immediately when they arise at the grassroots level. Violations of the Forestry Law still occur in many localities and have not been completely and thoroughly handled; in particular, the situation of people arbitrarily or intentionally cutting down and destroying forests for timber, firewood or land for afforestation still occurs. Propaganda work on forest protection, forest development, and forest fire prevention and control has not been strict, so forest fires still occur every year in some localities.

The reason for the above limitations is that the authorities of some localities have not been really determined in implementing solutions to combat deforestation, and have not fully performed the tasks according to Directive No. 10-CT/TU dated August 24, 2021 of the Provincial Party Standing Committee on strengthening prevention, suppression and handling of illegal exploitation, transportation and processing of minerals and forest products in Bac Kan province.

The lives of people in remote areas still face many difficulties and mainly depend on forests; the value of exploiting planted forests is increasingly high, so a part of people have intentionally or unintentionally cut down forests to plant forests, participate in violating regulations on forest protection, causing a lot of pressure and difficulties in preventing and handling.

Mr. Vu Van Thinh, Head of Cho Don District Forest Protection Department, discussed some solutions to protect forests in the upper reaches of the Cau River.

To overcome the above limitations, in order to protect and develop forests sustainably, it is necessary for Party committees and authorities at all levels to further strengthen the leadership role of the Party, raise awareness among people about forest protection, development and forest fire prevention and fighting. Strengthen inspection and supervision to promptly prevent and handle violations of the Forestry Law, especially illegal deforestation. On the other hand, continue to study specific policies and mechanisms for people to develop agricultural and forestry economic models associated with forest protection and development, ensuring social security and sustainable economic development for people, especially ethnic minorities living in highland areas./. ( continued )

Dinh Van

Source: https://baobackan.vn/ky-2-nhung-loi-ich-to-lon-tu-rung-dem-lai-post70109.html