According to the Government Electronic Information Portal, a business in Quang Ngai province is implementing a new urban area project in the case of land acquisition by the State under Clause 27 Article 79 of the Land Law.
Within the project scope, there is a production forest area that must be converted to other purposes, originating from planted forests. The Provincial People's Council has approved the policy of changing the purpose of forest use and the enterprise has paid for replacement forest planting.
The enterprise requested functional agencies to clarify whether the issuance of the decision to change the purpose of forest use must be carried out first or the forest recovery procedure must be carried out first.
Businesses also want to keep some forest trees within the project to create landscapes and request guidance on suitability as well as procedures for implementation.
Regarding this issue, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment said that forest recovery is carried out according to the provisions of the Forestry Law.
According to point g, clause 1, Article 22 of the Forestry Law, the State recovers forests for cases of land recovery with other forests as prescribed by the Land Law.
Regarding the conversion of forest use purposes to other purposes, the project must comply with the regulations on principles, bases, conditions and authority in Article 14, Article 15, Article 19, Article 20 and Article 23 of the Forestry Law.
These regulations have been amended and supplemented in Article 8 of Law No. 146/2025/QH15, amending and supplementing a number of articles of 15 laws in the field of agriculture and environment.
Dossiers, procedures and procedures for converting forest use purposes to other purposes are implemented according to Article 41 and Article 42 of Decree No. 156/2018/ND-CP of the Government.
These regulations continue to be amended and supplemented in Article 17 and Article 20 of Decree No. 42/2026/ND-CP dated January 26, 2026 of the Government.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment said that when the project fully ensures the conditions, meets the principles, bases and criteria for determining the project to change the purpose of forest use, and has sufficient dossier components according to regulations, the project owner can carry out procedures to submit to competent authorities for decision.
Notably, the law on forestry does not stipulate that the procedure for deciding to convert forest use purposes to other purposes must be carried out before or after the forest recovery procedure.
Regarding the proposal to keep some forest trees to create landscape, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment believes that the project needs to clarify this content.
The proposal to keep forest trees on the same area being proposed to change the purpose of forest use to another purpose shows the lack of consensus in the project's plan.
Therefore, businesses need to clearly define the scope, area and content of the proposal to change the purpose of forest use before completing the dossier and submitting it to competent authorities for consideration according to regulations.
