Planting large wooden trunk forests, the 'passport ticket' to the international market

Growing large wooden trunk forests is a trend

Acacia once could enrich people in Ha Tinh's mountainous area for many years. However, the overheated development of acacia has disrupted the planning, and the deforestation of the watershed to grow acacia has many potential risks and causes unpredictable consequences.

In 2016, after the first forest owner (Huong Son Forestry and Service One Member Co., Ltd.) was granted an FSC certificate and realized the positive values of large wooden trunk plantations, Ha Tinh people began registering to participate in sustainable forest development.

Le Huu Tuan, Head of the Forest Use and Development Department (Ha Tinh Forest Protection Department), said that Ha Tinh currently has more than 359 thousand hectares of forest and forestry land distributed in 13 districts and city (accounting for over 60% of the natural area). Over the past time, the Sub-department has actively coordinated with localities to research and plan to issue FSC, VFCS/PEFC certificates for satisfactory forest areas in the province.

Units and enterprises also invite experts to survey and guide; open training courses to improve capacity on afforestation, implement the process of caring, exploiting, avoiding environmental destruction, not using pesticides banned from circulation according to regulations of FSC certificate, VFCS/PEFC for forest owners and people.

Along with that, focus on propagating the benefits and meanings of participating in large wooden trunk plantations and developing forest timber material areas that have obtained certificates for export. As a result, Ha Tinh has more than 25,700 hectares of forests certified by FSC, VFCS/PEFC.

“The FSC, VFCS/PEFC certificates are the “passport” to support Ha Tinh plantation timber to penetrate the international market, especially in difficult markets such as the US, Japan, and countries in the bloc. European Union (EU),” Tuan said.

According to him, businesses purchase large wooden trunk forests at 15 - 20% higher prices than regular forests. Economic efficiency is 1.2 - 1.5 times higher than before. Therefore, it is of great interest to forest growers.

Nguyen Khac Quyen, Quang Diem commune, Huong Son district, has 4 hectares of acacia planted since 2020. Previously, the exploitation cycle of this area averaged 3 - 4 years. However, after being trained and propagated on developing large wooden trunk forests, his family registered to participate in FSC certification.

“If I follow the old cycle, I will harvest by the end of this year, but I see many households selling large wooden trunks with much higher economic efficiency than uncertified timber, so I decided to take care of it for another 3 - 4 years before harvesting,” said Mr. Quyen.

Renewing the awareness of forest growers

In Cam Xuyen district, the awareness of forest growers about registration for FSC, VFCS/PEFC certification is completely renewed. Instead of planting forests without any rules, buying varieties of unknown origin, exploiting when the age of acacia trees is only 3-4 years old, etc., people have now complied with the criteria for sustainable forest management set by the Vietnamese Government and international organization regulations.

Most recently, Thua Thien Hue forestry cooperative, in Cam Xuyen district, was the first unit in Ha Tinh province to be granted the PEFC certificate on an area of more than 1,058 hectares, with the participation of 339 afforestation households belonging to 7 communes: Cam Due, Cam Hung, Cam Lac, Cam Minh, Cam My, Cam Quan, and Cam Son.

According to cooperative leaders, households implementing forest development according to regulations will have precise management, and timber reserves per unit area will also increase. Also, forest owners know their responsibilities in environmental protection, biodiversity conservation, water source, and habitat protection.

Le Huu Tuan informed us that, at present, the world's demand for wood products and non-timber forest products with clear origins and a friendly environment is increasing; The requirements for the quality and use value of the product are also extensive. Therefore, Ha Tinh strives to have about 37,000 hectares of forests by 2030, granted sustainable forest management certificates.

"To achieve this goal, relevant departments, sectors, and units will strengthen training to improve capacity and awareness on sustainable forest management, international and Vietnamese policies and regulations on implementation sustainable forest management; support organizations and individuals to access forestry policies; improve forest management capacity for forest owners; at the same time, continue to strengthen sustainable forestry cooperative," emphasized the Head of Forest Use and Development Department.

VFCS/PEFC is the English name of the National Forest Certification Scheme (Vietnam Forest Certification Scheme). This forest certification system was built under the Prime Minister's Decision No. 1288/QD-TTg dated October 1, 2018, "Approving the scheme for sustainable forest management and forest certification". The Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) recognized the national forest certification system in October 2020.

FSC is an acronym for NGO established in 1993 (Forest Stewardship Council). This organization is the only globally recognized organization for developing forest certification standards. The FSC Organization recognizes the FSC certificate after the assessment and certification of a country's forest resources has been completed.