Hanoi makes efforts to protect the city’s "green lung"

In the face of extreme weather and prolonged heat, what solutions does your department take to effectively protect the forest, as well as prevent bush fire?

Currently, Hanoi city has more than 27,000 hectares of forest. Given the current hot weather, the risk of forest fire remains imminent, especially in the forest in Soc Son district due to prolonged heat and thick vegetation.

Director of the Hanoi FPD Le Minh Tuyen. Photo: Anh Ngoc

Therefore, from the beginning of the year, we have mapped out a plan and counseled the municipal government to issue a working program for forest protection and fire prevention. The forested districts will base on the program to map out and deploy their tasks.

Communication plays an important role in contributing to forest management, protection, and bush fire prevention. How does your department carry out communication work?

Over the past years, including in 2021, with our counseling, the municipal government issued the project "Communication and capacity building for local authorities and forest rangers on forest management, protection, and bush fire prevention".

Besides, we have organized training courses on the enforcement of forest management and protection legislation, as well as supervised the trade of forest products and wild animals.

The department has developed its own plan targeting specific groups, including local authorities, forest owners, and people living in the buffer zone. Moreover, every year, forest rangers also organize training courses to improve professional capacity in forest management and protection, bush fire prevention.

The encroachment of woodland and illegal construction on forest land still occur in recent years. In your opinion, what are the causes?

The management and protection of forests and forestry land in the capital city still encounter numerous inadequacies and difficulties. Woodland has not been delineated and the difference among the three types of forests, namely the special-use forest, protection forest, and the industrial forest is not clearly defined. There is an overlap between forestry land, residential land, and land of other purposes.

Forest rangers guide the Dao ethnic group about forest protection in Ba Vi district. Photo: the Hanoi Forest Protection Department

This is also a difficulty of the authorities at all levels in managing forest land. Some people make use of legal loopholes to encroach woodland. For these cases, we will make a dossier and report to the competent authorities for handling in accordance with regulations. Therefore, the encroachment on forest land has decreased but still recurred. Currently, there remain many illegal construction works on forest land in the districts of Soc Son and Ba Vi.

Besides, the Vietnamese government has encouraged organizations and individuals to invest in forest management and protection, especially in developing eco-tourism in special-use forests provided that they commit themselves to forest protection and development. However, many developers have not honored their commitments.

What are the obstacles and difficulties of the Hanoi forest rangers in managing the forest, as well as preventing forest fire?

Shortage of staff is the primary challenge, as we have only 121 civil servants and 71 contract workers. They not only have to supervise more than 27,000 hectares of forest, but also control the trade of timber, other forest products, and wild animals. Therefore, it is very difficult to detect violations and handle them in a timely manner.

According to the government's regulations, each mobile ranger is equipped with one truck, but many of our vehicles have their service life expired, so we are in a serious shortage of vehicles. Therefore, forest patrolling and fire prevention are facing many difficulties.

Thank you for your time!