Forestry development commensurate with potential

Spectacular growth

A conference to review the activities of 2021 and deploy tasks in 2022 was held both in-person and virtually by the General Department of Forestry on December 28. It was attended by representatives of six national parks and chaired by Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Quoc Doanh.

The attendees heard the report on some results achieved by the forestry sector in 2021, presented by Deputy Director of the General Department of Forestry Bui Chinh Nghia. Specifically, the sector has achieved all and even exceeded the set targets of the year.

Some highlighted achievements: The export value of forest products reached 15.87 billion USD, exceeding 20% of the plan and up 20% compared to 2020; revenue from forest environmental services reached VND 3,115 billion, reaching 111% of the 2021 revenue plan and up 21% over the same period in 2020; the forest coverage rate reached about 42.02%, an increase of 0.01%, equivalent to about 3,300 ha compared to 2020 and reaching the set target.

In 2021, the number of violations and damaged forest areas have basically decreased compared to 2020.

Regarding international cooperation, the General Department of Forestry has strengthened cooperation in production and promoted the export market of forest products. A system of special-use and protection forests has its area and structure basically meet the requirements of nature conservation and biodiversity.  The functions of watershed protection, coastal protection, land erosion control, the prevention of desertification and natural disaster mitigation have also been reinforced.

Speaking at the conference, Deputy Minister Doanh said that the export result of $15.87 billion of the forestry industry in 2021 is a "super record" and "this number was unimaginable at the end of 2020".

"Forestry has contributed significantly to the overall success of the whole agricultural sector and rural development in the past year," he emphasized.

The Deputy Minister also assessed that the export value of the forestry industry accurately reflected the current quality of Vietnam's forests.

Over the past year, the General Department of Forestry has received advice on scheduling legal documents, programs and projects to mobilize resources for forestry development. In particular, the project of planting 1 billion trees in the period of 2021 - 2025 has attracted the attention and participation of relevant ministries, branches and localities.

In addition to the achieved results, the leaders of the Department of Forestry acknowledged the limitations and causes, especially the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on forestry production activities.

In addition, a number of hotspots on illegal deforestation, transportation and storage of forest products and against law enforcement officers in some key regions such as the Northwest, Central Highlands and South Central still exist. The aforementioned issues are caused by the lack of productive land, the situation of free migration, the conversion of forest land to industrial and agricultural crops and illegal exploitation of natural forests.

Solutions

In 2022, the forestry sector sets out the key tasks: Maintaining a stable forest coverage rate of 42%; improving forest quality; planting 230,000 ha of concentrated forest; planting 122 million scattered trees; exploiting 31.5 million m3 of timber; achieving export value of $16 billion USD; earning VND3,000 billion from forest environmental services.

To achieve the above objectives, the General Department of Forestry has proposed 10 groups of solutions, in which the focus is on ensuring the progress and quality of the development of legal documents while effectively organizing the implementation of key strategies, master plans, programs and projects.

The forestry sector commits to continue implementing Directive No. 08/CT-TTg dated March 28, 2019 of the Prime Minister on a number of tasks and solutions for sustainable development of the wood processing industry and non-timber forest products for export.

Other solutions include coordinating in preventing trade fraud of some exporting enterprises, controlling timber imported from countries with high risks of illegal timber origin; strengthening the management and protection of forests and forest fire prevention; implementing sustainable forest management and maintaining forest certification.

Prof. Dr. Vo Dai Hai, Director of the Vietnam Academy of Forestry Science, expressed his pleasure that the forestry industry had developed diverse revenue sources in 2021, especially from the export value of non-timber forest products.

Hai added that the orientation of linking tourism with sustainable forestry development was the proper direction. He also suggested a number of issues about the exploitation of natural forests, linking sustainable forest development with forestry planning.

Concluding the conference, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Quoc Doanh highly appreciated the efforts of the forestry sector over the past time. According to him, forestry currently accounts for about a third of the total export value of the agricultural sector. The sector is forecasted to continue to maintain the growth rate of export value in the coming time, he stressed.

Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh noted a number of issues that the forestry sector needed to focus on in the near future, such as developing forest environmental services and economy under the forest canopy, and selling carbon certificates to match Vietnam's potential.

He acknowledged that forest protection was currently in a passive position. The conversion of forest use purposes must be checked and reviewed closely to prevent any errors, he added.

He suggested the forestry sector actively participate in digital transformation, standardize databases, increase system administration skills; and at the same time develop further techniques of propagation, plant and protect forest sustainably.