Following a rough, winding dirt road nearly 3km long, 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 Mai Son Forest Protection Department, Trinh Vinh Hien, said: Luckily it is not raining, if it rained, we would have to walk, motorbikes sometimes cannot go.
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 was assigned to work 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 developed 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 participation and coordination 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 that are prone to fire, ensuring timely implementation of plans when a fire occurs.
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 Mai Son District People's Committee 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 in Phieng Pan, Mr. Ky confided: I usually only come home on weekends, and during peak times I stay in the commune or village. It is difficult to tell all the hardships and difficulties of local forest rangers when eating, sleeping, and 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.
Phieng Pan is a border commune with many difficulties, with 19 villages and 100% of the population being ethnic minorities. Through the propaganda process, it is fortunate that Phieng Pan people have a very high awareness of forest protection, and they 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 rate 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 it and require households to sign a commitment not to repeat the offense. With the area that has been encroached upon, it is absolutely forbidden to plant 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 the 3 households. Very honestly, the people said: We "accidentally" cleared some of the forest to plant corn and cassava.
From the viewpoint 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 reclaimed and handed over to others, so 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!
Forest rangers "stay" in villages and hamlets, live together and 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 reduce the difficulties and pressure of protecting the forest.
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