Although the forest coverage has increased, the quality of Vietnam’s forests have been declining, Director of the Silviculture Research Institute Tran Lam Dong said at a discussion in Hanoi on July 24.
Hanoi (VNA) – Although the forestcoverage has increased, the quality of Vietnam’s forests have been declining,Director of the Silviculture Research Institute Tran Lam Dong said at adiscussion in Hanoi on July 24.
At the event, held by the People and NatureReconciliation (PanNature), Director of the Research Institute for SustainableForest Management and Forest Certification Nguyen Ngoc Lung said thecontribution from forests to economic development is being hampered as manyforest areas are facing degradation due to the expansion of agriculturalactivities.
To recover natural forests, it is necessary tomake more concentrated efforts and have intensive preparatory measures in theface of climate change to create an environment for the country to developsustainably, he noted.
A report on Vietnam’s forest situation in 2017showed that forests covered 14.4 million ha of land, including over 10 millionha of natural forestry and 4 million ha of planted forests, accounting for41.45 percent of the country’s surface area. Those figures had slightlyincreased from the respective 14.3 million ha and 41.19 percent in 2016.
However, the area of natural forests last year shrankfrom that in 2016. Protection forests have suffered from the biggest areachange, dropping by 2 percent each year on average.
Dong said the area of exhausted forests has beenon the rise. Even when new forests are planted, the density of forest trees isstill declining.
Therefore, it is a must to accelerate forestrecovery programmes, he noted, highlighting one to plant 5 million ha offorests between 1998 and 2010. This drive has recovered more than 2 million haof protection and special-use forests, and supported the afforestation ofnearly 3 million ha of production forests.
Dong pointed out many challenges facing therecovery of natural forest ecosystems, including limited forest managementcapacity, obstacles to accessing capital, seedling sources and afforestationtechniques, and forest owners’ modest capacity in acquiring new techniques.
He called for more measures to support andencourage the protection and recovery of forests such as giving training andtransferring techniques to relevant sides, stressing that afforestation effortsalone are not enough to recover the degrading ecosystem.-VNA
Vietnam has over 14.41 million hectares of forest, of which, standardized area is over 13.71 million hectares, with forest coverage ratio of 41.45 percent, according to latest statistics announced by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).
The Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang will carry out an action programme for sustainable forest management in its three coastal districts under the project “Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation” (REDD+).
Up-to-date information on forest coverage, forest fires, and silviculture are fully integrated in the Management Information System for Forest Sector in Vietnam (FORMIS) software, which is useful for the State management and the building of forestry strategy.
The Government of Vietnam has been implementing drastic measures to increase forest coverage in the Central Highlands region, while improving output of coffee and high value crops in easing deforestation.
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Illustrative photo (Source: tinmoitruong.vn) 
