said Oemar Idoe, a project leader of a German development aid organization, at a national conference on special use and protective forest management on November 11-12.

Many trees in a forest in Lac Duong District, Lam Dong Province are cut down - Photo: TNO

These figures suggested that the Government and authorities at all levels should make more efforts and pay more attention to sustainable forest management and biodiversity preservation, Idoe noted.

The area of protective forest and natural forest as a whole reduced from 4.3 million hectares in 2020 to 3.95 million hectares in 2019, while that of artificial protective forest expanded slightly from 0.61 million hectares in 2010 to 0.69 million hectares in 2019.

So far, data of the quality of protective forests remains limited and just accessible via the 2016 forest census by the Vietnam Administration of Forestry.

According to the reports, the area of natural protective forests with rich and average wood was over one million hectares, accounting for 29.8% of the total natural protective forest. The quality failed to meet the demands for protection and forestry development, urging further investment in the sector.

After six years of implementation of a government decision aiming at expanding the special use forest area from 2.2 to 2.4 million hectares in 2020, Vietnam has developed special use forests spanning a total area of 2.3 million hectares.

The country’s growing population is threatening the sustainable development of special use forests. Given the rising demand for accommodation, agricultural production and woodworking, a vast amount of forest area is being turned into land for various purposes, while deforestation and the overexploitation of natural resources remain challenges.

Further, Vietnam is still facing many problems such as illegal hunting at special use forests and neighboring areas, the rapid development of urban and traffic infrastructure, hydropower plants and reservoirs as well as the complicated developments of climate change and natural disasters.  SGT

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