Hanoi (VNA) - Developing tourism and services inprotective and special-use forests in parallel with conservation will become akey part of the national economy in the future, said Minister of Agricultureand Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong.

The forests will be an advantage for thecountry if they are managed effectively, Cuong said at a national workshop onprotective and special-use forest management held in Hanoi on December 19.

Cuong told participants that protective andspecial-use forests play an important role as they have high biodiversity andare a place for the conservation of rare and precious plants and animals,tourism and service development and a valve regulating the climate for eachsub-region.

Data from the Ministry of Agriculture andRural Development (MARD) showed that the country now has 2.15 million hectaresof protective forest and 4.6 million hectares of special-use forest.

It is estimated that 54 out of 63 provincesand cities have protective forests and 59 out of 63 provinces and cities havespecial-use forests. Dak Lak province ranks first in having the largest area ofspecial-use forest while Bac Lieu province has the smallest area of special-useforest. Nghe An province has the largest area of protective forest and Bac Ninhprovince has the smallest.

Cuong asked the Vietnam Administration ofForestry to pay more attention to the two kinds of forest.

It should concentrate on both conservation ofbiodiversity and economic development, rather than just focusing onconservation, he said.

There are 231 protective forest managementboards and 164 special-use forest management boards throughout the country.

The administration was told to classify,assess and point out typical models to improve management.

Nguyen Duy Thinh, Deputy Director of Hoang LienNational Park in the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai, said the park’smanagement board planned to submit a project to develop eco-tourism in thespecial-use forest soon.

Thinh said the park currently managed tworoutes for tourists in the forest and charged fees. After collecting the fees,the park was allowed to keep 20 percent while 80 percent would be sent to theState budget.

He said the money the park kept was barelyenough to pay salaries, with no money left to develop tourism. In the meantime,the demand for tourism was increasing.

Thinh suggested the ministry allow the parkto keep 90 percent of the collected fees to invest in tourism development.

Nguyen Quoc Tri, General Director of the VietnamAdministration of Forestry, said management boards of protective andspecial-use forests were expected to gradually apply financial autonomy bycollecting payments for forest environmental services and fees from developingeco-tourism.

By 2025, it was hoped that half of protectiveand special-use forests would run eco-tourism services./.