Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has approved a project on protecting, restoring and sustainably developing forests in the Tay Nguyen Central Highlands during 2016-2030.

The project aims to stop and reduce forest loss, and step by step restore and develop forest towards expanding the area under forest to 2.72 million hectares and the forest coverage rate to 49.2 percent.

Total investment in the project will come to 28.554 trillion VND (1.23 billion USD).

The money will be used to protect the current more than 2.24 million ha of natural forest, stop deforestation and encroachment on forest land, and fight illegal logging and trading of forest products and wildlife.

The project sets the target of planting 7,100 more hectares of special-purpose and protective forest, 136,000 ha of productive forests, and 48.4 million scattered trees. 

Under the project, specific forestry policies and mechanisms for the Tay Nguyen region will be built in the direction of forming community-based forest management systems, and attracting investment from all economic sectors into the production of non-wood forestry products. -VNA