Thousands of hectares of forest land are encroached
According to the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Quang Tri, the whole province currently has 841,224 hectares of forestry land, of which 780,633 hectares are forest areas (596,230 hectares of natural forests and 184,402 hectares of planted forests). However, the situation of illegal encroachment on forest land and forestry land is still complicated in many localities, mainly in remote areas. Statistics show that the whole province has more than 14,600 hectares of forest and forestry land encroached.
In the northern area of Quang Tri province, there are 9,347 hectares of forest and forestry land areas that have been violated, mainly related to deforestation, encroachment on forest land, illegal conversion of land use purposes, or due to overlapping and incorrect records in the previous allocation and lease of forest land. The authorities have established 4,445 records with an area of over 6,765 hectares and have handled over 4,952 hectares. Some serious cases have transferred their files to the investigation agency for handling according to the provisions of law.
In the south of Quang Tri province, the total area of encroached and encroached land is 5,342 hectares. In particular, the area of violating forest land is concentrated in hot spots under the Management Board of Nam Quang Tri Special Forests, Huong Hoa - Dakrong Protective Forest Management Board, Ben Hai River Basin Protection Forest Management Board, Thach Han River Basin Protection Forest Management Board. These are areas with rugged terrain, sparsely populated, difficult life, and dependence on forests.
The reason is determined to be that the demand for agricultural land for mountainous areas is still high, while the work of forest allocation, land lease, and marking of forestry land boundaries is not yet complete. Some households arbitrarily converted the enclosed land for forest restoration to grow acacia, cassava, or encroached on the forest for long-term cultivation. In particular, due to the lack of strict management by some forest owners and authorities in the past, there has been a situation of overlapping and encroachment on forests and forestry land for a long time, without final handling.
Must stop the situation of buying and selling, "legalizing" illegal forest land
According to the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Quang Tri province, the handling of cases of encroachment on forest land is still slow and unresolutely; the administrative penalty level is low and not enough to deter. Many cases have been recorded but the consequences have not been remedied, and they have even been re-offended. Some places have not clearly identified the violators, lacking legal documents due to prolonged cases that originated many years ago. The coordination between Forest Rangers, Police, local authorities and forest owners is still limited, leading to low management efficiency. The large area, difficult traffic, and limited patrol and inspection costs also cause many obstacles in forest protection.
Faced with this situation, the Department of Agriculture and Environment recommends that the People's Committees of communes, especially in mountainous areas of Quang Tri, review the entire encroached forest area, prepare specific records, determine the time and subjects of violation for handling according to regulations. In particular, it is necessary to stop the situation of buying and selling and "leg recognizing" land use rights for violations of forestry and illegal encroachment on forestry land.
Mr. Hoang Nam - Permanent Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Quang Tri province - said that he has requested relevant agencies to clearly identify the area of overlapped and encroached forestry land and prepare specific documents for handling. Enhance forest owners' responsibility, regularly inspect, detect early, prevent deforestation and encroachment on forest land, and resolutely reclaim the violating area.
Strengthen propaganda of laws on forest protection and development, helping people clearly understand their rights and obligations, not depending on livelihoods from exploitation and encroachment on forests. For previously overlapped and distorted forest allocation areas, it is necessary to make unified adjustments and issue land use right certificates in accordance with regulations.
