Following the forest rangers "in the village"

Following a rough, winding dirt road of nearly 3km, we went from the center of Phieng Pan commune to Co Hay village, a small village of the Xinh Mun people. On the car, the head of the Mai Son Forest Protection Department, Trinh Vinh Hien, said: Luckily it didn’t rain. If it had rained, we would have had to walk, and motorbikes often wouldn’t have been able to go.

A propaganda session on regulations on forest management and protection by local forest rangers in Co Hay village, Phieng Pan commune.

The village cultural house was crowded that day. All 27 households of the village were present early to listen to the propaganda session on forest management and protection led by Mr. Hoang Van Ky - a forest ranger of Phieng Pan commune.

Born in 1986, having worked in the highlands of Bac Yen, in 2017, Mr. Ky accepted a job at Mai Son Forest Protection Department. Mr. Ky is of Thai ethnicity, born in Tuong Tien, Phu Yen district. In January 2023, he was assigned as a local forest ranger, in charge of Phieng Pan border commune.

Immediately after being assigned the task, forest ranger Hoang Van Ky built a plan for village meetings and people's meetings of 19 villages in the commune to regularly organize propaganda on the regulations of the Forestry Law, forest management and protection work in the province, district, commune and regulations directly related to the rights and obligations of the people in forest protection and development.

The propaganda implementation process has the coordination and participation of the leaders of the Commune People's Committee, the commune's land and environmental officers and the border guards.

Mr. Ky and the commune authorities have reorganized the commune's working group and the village's forest protection team, ensuring that each village has 10-15 people/team, regularly patrolling and protecting the forest, especially during the hottest days. The commune also clearly assigned tasks to the teams to be on duty in key areas, prone to fires, ensuring timely implementation of plans when a fire occurs.

Forest ranger Hoang Van Ky pointed out that forest areas being assigned to people for management can be monitored via satellite images.

Having finished speaking, Mr. Ky hurriedly prepared for the propaganda meeting. The content of the propaganda meeting that day continued to focus on new regulations on penalties for violations of encroachment, occupation, and destruction of forests for farming; policies to support people contracting forest protection; policies of the People's Committee of Mai Son district on forest management, protection, afforestation, and scattered tree planting in 2023...

Located entirely in a small valley, the village is surrounded by the fresh green of forests. Before 2002, Co Hay had only 9 households, now it has increased to 27 households, 135 people, currently managing and protecting more than 100 hectares of forest with 12 forest owners.

Head of Co Hay village, Mr. Lo Van Dong said: Listening to the forest rangers, we know the benefits of forests. Protecting forests means protecting the living environment, protecting soil and water, limiting rain, floods, and erosion. The state's support capital for forest protection also creates income for people to develop the economy . Therefore, people always tell each other not to encroach, occupy, or destroy forests for farming. The village also established a team with forest rangers to regularly patrol and protect the forest. In recent years, there have been no violations of the forest in the village.

Leaving Co Hay, on the road along the highland villages, continuing the story of the first days coming to Phieng Pan, Mr. Ky confided: I usually come home on weekends, during peak times I stay in the commune and village. It is difficult to tell all the hardships and difficulties of local forest rangers when eating, sleeping in the forest, living in the forest for weeks, even months. However, although I have only been attached to this land for more than 7 months, overcoming the initial difficulties and confusion, I increasingly love the land and the people here.

Strengthen patrols and field inspections of forest resource developments

Phieng Pan is a border commune with many difficulties, with 19 villages, 100% of the population are ethnic minorities. Through the propaganda process, it is fortunate that the awareness of forest protection of Phieng Pan people is very high, people understand and grasp quite well the regulations on forest management and protection. Phieng Pan currently has more than 5,000 hectares of forest, the third highest in Mai Son district, with a coverage of over 52%.

However, people mainly live on corn and rice, and their lives are still difficult. Therefore, there are still some people who encroach and clear the forest. Although only a small area is cleared each year, if not handled promptly, it will create bad consequences.

Therefore, local forest rangers must always maintain a high level of vigilance, even if the area is small, they must handle the case and require households to sign a commitment not to re-offend. With encroached areas, they must absolutely not allow planting of short-term agricultural crops but must replant the forest.

Having said that, Mr. Ky said: Right in Co Hay village, recently, through monitoring the forest area using satellite images and field inspection, there were 3 households whose forest area had decreased. I coordinated with the commune cadastral officers to work with 3 households. Very honestly, the people said: They "accidentally" cleared a little bit of land into the forest to plant corn and cassava.

From the point of view of making people understand, not focusing on punishment, we told the households: If you clear the forest area assigned for protection, you will be punished; if you continue to violate, the forest will be confiscated and handed over to others. Is that a pity? After a moment of hesitation, they shook their heads: It is a pity, and committed to replanting the cleared area. That was a success!

Local forest rangers and forest protection patrol teams in villages strengthen forest management and protection.

Forest rangers "stay" in villages and hamlets, live together, speak the same language as the people, and are loved and trusted by the people. From there, they can mobilize the majority of people to actively plant and protect forests and protect the ecological environment.

However, making people live off the forest is still a thorny problem. Currently, Son La is in the process of building and implementing a pilot project on forest carbon credit trading. Hopefully, the forest carbon credit trading will create a stable source of income for forest owners every year, and will also help the forest rangers "staying in the village" here to reduce the difficulties and pressure of protecting the forest.

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