Greening hills and forests in Quang Binh

BHG - The figure of 69.5% is the current forest coverage rate of Quang Binh district, 10% higher than the average of the whole province. Striving to reach 70% forest coverage rate of Quang Binh by the end of 2025, completing the target of the 2020-2025 term.

Deputy Head of Quang Binh District Forest Protection Department Linh Van Huan said: In order to carry out the goals and tasks of forest protection and development (FPD), in recent years, the Party Committee and authorities from the district to the commune level, and the functional forces have always paid attention to leading and directing and achieved positive results; awareness of forest protection (FP) among all classes of people has been raised, people have actively participated in planting, caring for, and FPD; forest resources and forest land have been used more and more sustainably, the income value in the forestry sector has been improved, gradually contributing to stabilizing the economic life of the people, many households have escaped poverty from forest planting and business.

Patrol and protect the upstream forest of Yen Binh town.

Quang Binh currently has a total forestry land area according to the planning of 3 types of forests of over 61,639 hectares. Of which, the forested area is over 55,194 hectares, the non-forested area is over 7,400 hectares. In addition, there are over 883 hectares of forest but not belonging to forestry (outside the 3 types of forests), of which nearly 842 hectares are forested and over 41 hectares are not yet forested. In order for the leadership, direction and implementation of the tasks of forest protection and development to be implemented synchronously and continuously, from 2020 to present, the District Party Committee and People's Committee of Quang Binh district have issued 2 resolutions, 2 programs, 4 directives, 18 decisions, 21 plans, 2 options, 21 official dispatches and 2 notices assigning tasks.

With over 42,388 hectares of natural forest, of which over 18,266 hectares are upstream protection forests and over 47,528 hectares of forests are paid for forest environmental services. Therefore, Quang Binh district pays special attention to forest environmental service protection work. From 2021 to present, the whole district has organized 344 propaganda sessions/23,246 participants; trained 4 professional courses on forest environmental protection and fire prevention for 340 people; coordinated with the Provincial Forest Protection and Development Fund to organize a propaganda contest on "Staging" forest environmental protection and payment for forest environmental services according to the Forestry Law. Promote propaganda and law enforcement on biodiversity conservation, especially endangered, precious and rare species... Review, identify, and delimit key areas at risk of violations, strengthen patrols and guarding, and organize simultaneous deployments of patrols and sweeps. Do not let violations become complicated, prolonged, and become hot spots. Develop plans to ensure forces, supplies, equipment, and logistics, be on standby, and be ready to coordinate with forces to respond to and handle urgent situations in forest fire prevention and fighting.

People of Yen Lap village, Yen Thanh commune take care of cinnamon forest.

Thanks to the drastic measures, in the period of 2021 - 2024, Quang Binh district only had 1 forest fire; detected, promptly prevented, and handled 53 violations of forestry laws, collecting 464 million VND for the State budget. Thanks to the good work of forest protection, in 4 years, Quang Binh district was paid over 26.4 billion VND for forest environmental services. This source of funding creates more motivation for people to take care of and protect forests, while helping the community invest in improving their spiritual life and building a new countryside.

There is potential for forestry economic development with nearly 42,500 hectares of forestry land planned for production forests, of which over 10,600 hectares of planted forests have become forests, over 908 hectares of planted forests have not yet become forests. In the period of 2021 - 2024, the whole Quang Binh district planted new concentrated forests on over 5,341 hectares, reaching 121.47% of the planned target; planted 337.4 thousand scattered trees, reaching 145.1% of the plan, equivalent to over 340 hectares. Planted forests have brought stable income to forest growers. In 2024 alone, nearly 3,000m3 of wood will be exploited; the average productivity and quality of planted forests will reach 45 - 65 m3/ha, planted forests over 10 years old or more with good care can reach a productivity of over 70m3/ha. The value of forest product exploitation in 2024 is estimated at 3.5 billion VND.

As a household developing its economy from afforestation, Mr. Vuong Van Minh, Hamlet 1, Group 5, Yen Binh Town shared: In the hamlet, there are about 60 households, of which 80% develop their economy from afforestation. The household with at least 1 hectare has an area of ​​1 hectare. My family currently has 7 hectares, of which 3 hectares have been planted for 8-9 years, reaching the exploitation cycle; the remaining 4 hectares were exploited in 2023, earning more than 200 million VND and have been replanted for more than a year now. With an average selling price of about 1.1 million VND/m3 or 900 thousand VND/ton of chopped wood, forest growers can earn from 50 - 60 million VND/ha, minus the cost of seeds and fertilizers, they can earn about 35 - 40 million VND/ha. This is a stable source of income for families.

The increasingly green forests in Quang Binh not only contribute to protecting the ecological environment, combating climate change, and mitigating natural disasters, but also create livelihoods, increase income, and improve the lives of people. Forest economy has become one of the main economic sectors in Quang Binh.

Article and photos: Duy Tuan

Source: https://baohagiang.vn/kinh-te/202504/phu-xanh-doi-rung-o-quang-binh-c4a509f/