Special attention must be paid to forest protection
On the morning of October 28, the National Assembly discussed in the hall the Report of the Supervisory Delegation and the draft Resolution of the National Assembly on the results of thematic supervision "implementation of policies and laws on environmental protection since the Law on Environmental Protection 2020 takes effect".
Recognizing the impressive results in the report of the monitoring delegation as well as the orientations in environmental protection in the coming time, delegate Nguyen Lan Hieu - National Assembly Delegation of Gia Lai province said that in forest protection, the data has not been specifically counted.
"The delegate said that we must cover the forest with green. But in my opinion, the most important thing is to try to preserve the remaining natural forest. perennial trees are our lungs. This is an effective mechanism to protect land and water, avoiding landslides and floods that are getting more and more serious across all regions of the country" - Mr. Hieu said.
The delegate said that the great value of forests has been demonstrated in many documents of the Party and State, but the area of natural forests that have been narrowed from year to year has shown no signs of stopping.
The current situation and plans for forest conversion for socio-economic development in many provinces and cities in Vietnam continue. It is estimated that in the next 10 years, there will still be forests that must change their purpose for socio-economic development.
"I suggest that there should be more specific reports on the situation of natural forest protection by the monitoring team. How many forests will be used in the future, what is the plan for replanting, what trees will be planted? In particular, we need to investigate the current situation of using natural precious wood to make items such as cabinets and beds in reality. The need for numbers confirms that they are determined to protect the forest and have achieved positive results in the past time" - Mr. Hieu said.
According to delegate Nguyen Lan Hieu, two fundamental issues need to be focused on to protect forests, which are handling the situation of deforestation to use wood as tools and using forest land to develop projects.
Citing lessons from countries around the world, such as Norway with a clear law against deforestation, China has also made many improvements in afforestation and forest protection, Mr. Hieu said that Vietnam is one of the countries most severely affected by natural disasters, so special attention should be paid to solutions to protect forests.
Proposal for solutions to restore upstream forests
Delegate Chu Thi Hong Thai - Lang Son delegation also suggested that the monitoring report and the National Assembly's resolution pay more attention to the issue of natural disasters and floods.
According to Ms. Thai, natural disasters in our country are becoming increasingly extreme, unusual and causing serious consequences in many areas.
Storms, heavy rains, flash floods, landslides, droughts, and saline intrusion have caused serious damage to people and property, directly affecting the livelihoods of tens of thousands of households in many localities. The infrastructure system for transportation, irrigation, schools, and health stations were damaged, many agricultural production areas were washed away or lost. Some mountainous and coastal areas have to urgently relocate residents due to the risk of prolonged landslides and flooding, causing great pressure on social security work and recovery after natural disasters.
From reality, the female National Assembly delegate suggested that the Government direct the integration of climate change response and natural disaster prevention into socio-economic development planning and land use planning of localities.
It is necessary to invest in a system to monitor and warn of natural disasters, landslides, and salinity intrusion early, improve the capacity to forecast and communicate risks to the community. At the same time, focus on planting forests, protecting and restoring upstream forests and coastal protection forests and consider this a long-term fundamental solution to minimize damage and protect the ecological environment. There is a mechanism to support production recovery, livelihoods and the environment for severely affected areas, combined with state budget sources with natural disaster prevention funds and environmental protection funds.
"In addition, it is necessary to promote research and replication of circular agricultural models, climate change adaptation agriculture, resource saving, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, encouraging businesses to invest in renewable energy projects, solid wastewater treatment associated with the goal of developing a green economy" - Ms. Thai said.
