Total forest plantation in the Central Highlands province of Đắk Lắk until the middle of last month reached 824ha, making up only 43 per cent of the yearly plan, according to latest report of the provincial People’s Committee.

Nguyễn Hoài Dương, director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that since 2015, forest plantation was implemented with investment from enterprises, and did not receive funds from the State budget.

This year, several enterprises faced difficulties in capital mobilisation, so they proposed to push back the plan to next year. Many other enterprises had to temporarily suspend their work of forest plantation to identify reasons for the decreasing forest area, Dương said.

While the results remained low, the forest destruction issue in the province continued to be complicated, according to the report.

Last month alone, the province saw 119 cases of violation of the Law on Forest Protection and Development, an increase by 10 compared with October.

Forest rangers seized nearly 163cu.m of wood of different varieties and gave more than VNĐ1.3 billion (US$57,200) as objects of evidence to the State budget.

Dương said the forestry sector was tackling the issue and determining the responsibility of individuals and organisations. — VNS