By 2020, provinces in the Central Highlands must increase forest
coverage to 55 percent from the current level of 51.3 percent, Deputy
Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai told a conference in Buon Ma Thuot City
on March 14.
To achieve the target, Hai said that all
five Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) provinces, including Dak Lak, Dak
Nong, Gia Lai, Kon Tum and Lam Dong, should strive to protect the
existing forest while trying to restore destroyed forest areas and use
the natural resources in the forest in a sustainable manner.
“It is important to improve the quality and integrated value of the
forest products in order to raise people’s income and make them feel
more attached to forestation,” he said.
Hai ordered
local leaders to put an immediate halt to acts of forest encroachment
and destruction as well as violations against law enforcement officers,
including forest rangers.
The Central Highlands has a
total land area of 54,461 km2 with 5.1 million people. The region holds a
key strategic position in the national economy, politics, security and
defence. It also has significant forest resources as well as advantages
in economic and forestry development.
Speaking at the
conference, many participants attributed the loss of forestland to rapid
population growth and the increasing value of agricultural products
such as coffee, rubber, cassava and cashew nuts. They complained
about the irrational taxes levied on forest resources and poor forestry
management by government agencies, particularly State forest
enterprises, as well as the change of forest land into rubber
plantations in many localities.-VNA