Gia Lai (VNA) - The Central Highlands province of Gia Lai has beengrowing new forests and protecting existing ones in recent years to expandforest cover and improve people’s livelihoods.

The province, which has the largest forest cover in the Central Highlands region,planted nearly 25,300ha in 2017-20, 6.3 times its target.

In Mang Yang District’s Hra Commune, the Hra Protective Forest management boardallocated more than 6,300ha of forests last year to individuals, households andcommunities to exploit while also protecting them.

Nguyen Van Chin, head of the board, said besides planting and protectingforests, the board focuses on advocacy activities to enhance awareness ofhouseholds and communities living near forests of the need to protect them.

Together with local authorities it organises advocacy activities to annuallyreach around 1,500 people in the commune’s 12 villages.

With these and support for illegal loggers to overcome their family’s financialdifficulties, it has managed to stop the logging and make loggers forestguardians.

Seeing the good examples set by the former illegal loggers, other residents inthe commune have also stopped cutting trees and are instead keen to be allottedtracts of forest for protection.

The money authorities pay them for this task helps them have a stable life.

Krong Chro district is one of the localities to do well in growing andprotecting forests through advocacy.

Nguyen Lam, deputy head of its forest protection bureau, said the districtorganises meetings in villages to encourage people to grow trees on deforestedlands.

“The new forests are growing well, creating jobs and improving people’sincomes.”

There were nearly 200 households in the district registering to grow nearly400ha of new forests last year, according to the bureau.

Around 700 households in the district, mostly ethnic minorities, registered toplant trees on nearly 2,250ha in 2017-19, comfortably higher than the targetthe province People’s Committee set the district.

The province’s Forest Protection Sub-department has petitioned the Governmentto increase the fee paid to ethnic households for forest protection.

Gia Lai wants to increase its forest cover rate to 47.5 percent by 2025.

It has 633,325ha of forests now, including 543,131ha of natural forests,according to the department./.