Members of the Nam Cát Tiên Protection Forest Management Board in Đắk Nông Province’s Đắk R’lấp District have instructed locals to patrol and protect forests. – VNA/VNS Photo Ngọc Minh

ĐẮK NÔNG — The Đắk Nông Province's People’s Committee has assigned localities and forest owners to grow an additional 72.9ha of forests this year.

It aims to have a forest coverage rate of 42 per cent next year.

With the new planting, the Tây Nguyên (Central Highlands) province will plant a total of 1,536ha of forests this year. Đắk G’Long District accounts for the largest area, with 1,148ha. 

The People’s Committee told district-level People’s Committees and 16 forest owners to plant 219 protection forests and more than 1,240ha of production forests before the year-end.   

Last year, the province planted 1,630ha of new forests, meeting only 89 per cent of the target for 2018, according to the province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

In the 2018-20 period, the province aims to grow an additional 4,034ha of forests and replant about 2,023ha of forests.

The allocation of forests for local residents to manage, protect and develop has helped to not only protect forested area but also to ensure income and livelihoods for local residents.

The Nam Cát Tiên Protection Forest Management Board, which manages 12,500ha of forests in Đắk R’lấp District, allocated 5,700ha of the forests for 295 local households to manage and protect in 2006.

In the first years, the households were paid VNĐ100,000-200,000 per hectare a year for the task of protecting the allocated forests.

Since 2013, the households have been receiving payments for environmental services, which will increase every year.

The payment is now VNĐ800,000-1 million (US$34-43) per hectare a year. Last year, the households received more than VNĐ4.2 billion ($180,300).

Nguyễn Ngọc Xuân, director of the management board, said the model has been effective in protecting and developing forests.

Local households have protected the forests and earned a stable life from the task, he said.

In Đăk Glong District, the R’But Village community in Quảng Sơn Commune has managed and protected 335ha of forests in the commune in 2013.

The community set up a forest management team with 15 members who take turns to protect the forests around the week.  

Y Đoàn, head of the team, said each member receives about VNĐ6 million ($258) a year for the task of protecting the forests.

The compensation is not high but each member can both protect the forest and do other work to have extra income, he said.

Lê Đình Tuấn, deputy chairman of the Quảng Sơn Commune's People’s Committee, said the community has protected the forest well and planted 2ha of new forests.

“The team has also advocated people in the community to participate in managing and protecting the forests,” he said. — VNS