HCM City (VNA) – The targeted area for protective forest has not been met as localities’ budgets are insufficient to pay for new planting , according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).
Some of the zoned land for protective forests has also been encroached by farmers for crop cultivation and aquaculture, the ministry has said.
Protective forests are used to prevent soil erosion along embankments and coastal areas, and act as windbreaks in sandy areas.
According to the Forest Inventory and Planning Institute, Vietnam has currently 1.4 million ha of land zoned for planting new protective forests.
From 2007-07, only 98,700 ha of new forested areas were considered protective, although MARD’s target was 50,000 ha each year from 2006 to 2010.
MARD said it would focus on planting protective forests in coastal and border areas in the future.
It has also asked the Government to recommend that wages of forestry workers be raised from 25,000 VND to between 50,000-70,000 VND a day.
MARD said it would work with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and other agencies to prevent farmers or companies from encroaching the land zoned for protective forests.
In the first half of this year, only 12,500 ha, or 18 percent, of 68,900 ha of newly-planted forests were protective forests, according to MARD.
From 1998-2006, a total of 1.3 million ha of forest land were planted, with 50 percent of it protective.-Enditem
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