In recent times, Quang Ninh is one of the few localities in the country that has issued many effective policies to develop sustainable forestry. At the 19th Session, the 14th Provincial People's Council passed a resolution stipulating a number of specific policies to encourage sustainable forestry development in Quang Ninh province and received the attention of many people. Reporters from the Provincial Media Center interviewed Director of Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Minh Son about this content.
- Could you please tell us what is the significance of the resolution stipulating a number of specific policies to encourage sustainable forestry development in the province at the present time?
+ Quang Ninh has a large forest area, ranking 18th out of 63 provinces and cities nationwide. The forest coverage rate of the whole province is 55%, with over 370,000 hectares of forested land. The forests not only create stable income for people, but also act as a border protection belt, prevent natural disasters, and respond to climate change.
To expand large forests, especially large timber forests, the Provincial Party Committee issued Resolution No. 19-NQ/TU (dated November 28, 2019) on sustainable forestry development in the province. The Provincial People's Council has developed and issued many mechanisms and policies to encourage forestry development, afforestation, and reforestation of bare land and hills, typically Resolution No. 337/2021/NQ-HDND stipulating a number of specific policies to encourage sustainable forestry development in Quang Ninh. The Resolution was piloted in Ha Long City, Cam Pha City and Ba Che District with 921 forest owners, households and individuals, participating in the policy of developing large timber and native tree forests, with an area of over 1,400 hectares; the total provincial budget supported 28.8 billion VND.
In the process of implementing this resolution, there are still limitations, such as the scope and beneficiaries of the applied policy are still narrow. Based on the assessment of the implemented policies and the Government's regulations in Decree No. 58/2024/ND-CP (dated May 24, 2024) on a number of investment policies in forestry, the issuance of new policies is very necessary to ensure the scope and beneficiaries, with strong and comprehensive policies, creating a breakthrough in the development of large timber forests and tree species under the forest canopy, improving the lives of forest growers.
The newly passed resolution certainly creates more motivation for people, organizations and businesses to promote the planting of large timber forests and native trees in the cultivation process, develop sustainable production in terms of both forestry economy and environment, and implement the goal of a carbon credit market that brings high efficiency to forest growers.
- What are the new and different points in the Resolution stipulating a number of specific policies to encourage sustainable forestry development in the province compared to Resolution 337/2021/NQ-HDND, sir?
+ In reality, the biggest obstacle that causes the rate of large timber forests to remain low is mainly due to the lack of economic resources for people to switch from planting acacia and eucalyptus to planting large timber trees and native trees. Therefore, the newly passed resolution has adjusted and supplemented the principles and conditions for applying the policy of supporting the planting of large timber forests; supplementing the policy of supporting production under the forest canopy for cooperatives, households and individuals.
The new Resolution has a number of changes compared to Resolution 337/2021/NQ-HDND dated March 24, 2021, such as: Expanding the scope of application from 3 localities (Ha Long, Ba Che, Cam Pha) to apply to the whole province; expanding the beneficiaries of the policy, from only supporting households and individuals to supporting organizations, enterprises, cooperatives, household groups, households, and individuals; increasing the level of support for planting large timber forests, from only supporting the cost of buying seedlings at 15 million VND/ha to supporting the cost of buying seedlings and care at 20 million VND/ha; at the same time, increasing the level of support for loans from the Bank for Social Policies from 20 million VND/ha to 30 million VND/ha. Supplementing policies to support economic development under forest canopy, including support for households and individuals who have participated in the policy of planting large timber forests at the rate of 10 million VND/ha of large timber forest area to grow non-timber forest products, raise livestock and poultry.
Adjustments to forestry development support policies will contribute to removing "barriers" in forest development resources, contributing to promoting sustainable forestry development in Quang Ninh.
- To put the resolution into practice soon, what key solutions will the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development implement, sir?
+ To create unity in awareness and action in leadership, direction and implementation, the entire political system from the province to the grassroots level will participate. The work of propagating and widely disseminating the resolution stipulating a number of specific policies to encourage sustainable forestry development in the province must be promoted, especially new perspectives on forestry development; programs, plans, and key tasks for forestry development and sustainable forest development have been approved by the province.
Specifically, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development will advise the Provincial People's Committee to direct the implementation of the resolution; Party committees and authorities at all levels will have specific plans to implement the resolution, bringing practical results in sustainable forestry development in the area. In particular, it is necessary to pay attention to the biggest goal of the resolution, which is to build a mechanism to encourage people to participate in protecting and developing forests effectively; to preserve special-use forests, natural forests, protective forests, mangrove forests and gradually convert production forests to large timber forests.
The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development also continues to work with the Bank for Social Policies to implement solutions to help households and individuals access support loans in accordance with regulations. At the same time, closely coordinate with localities to increase land allocation, forest allocation, replacement forest planting, production forest planting, application of science and technology to create breakthroughs, increase forest value, effectively use forest resources and forestry land, mobilize investment resources to develop forests and forestry economy, improve the lives and income of people planting forests.
Thank you very much!
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