On November 30, Con Dao National Park announced that it had received a decision from the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee on the establishment of the Con Dao National Park Special Forest Protection Department.
In particular, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee decided to establish the Con Dao National Park Special Forest Protection Department under the Con Dao National Park Management Board; on the basis of receiving the status of functions, tasks, staffing, and personnel from the Con Dao Forest Protection Department, under the Ho Chi Minh City Forest Protection Department (under the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Ho Chi Minh City)
The Director of the Con Dao National Park Management Board concurrently holds the position of Head of the newly established Forest Protection Department, with 7 Forest Protection Stations under the following: Co Dong, Hon Ba, Dam Tre, Dat Tham, Hon Bay Canh, Hon Tre Lon and Hon Cau.
The special-use forest protection department of Con Dao National Park is responsible for advising the People's Committee of Con Dao Special Zone on forest management and protection, ensuring compliance with forestry laws, forest fire prevention and fighting, forest development, forest use, forest product processing and trading in Con Dao Special Zone.
This unit is also responsible for handling administrative violations and applying measures to prevent violations according to the provisions of administrative law; prosecuting and investigating criminal cases for violations of criminal law in the forestry sector according to the provisions of criminal law within the scope of assigned tasks and powers...
Previously, the Forest Protection Department of Con Dao National Park was established by Ba Ria - Vung Tau province (formerly) and put into operation in 1993. By March 2025, this unit had merged into the Forest Protection Department of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province (formerly Ho Chi Minh City), and established Con Dao Forest Protection Department, under Con Dao special zone.
However, this leads to legal gaps in law enforcement, failing to protect aquatic resources in the Con Dao National Park Conservation Area. At the same time, Con Dao National Park is seriously lacking in personnel, not enough to maintain forest protection forces on small islands, not having the authority to handle aquatic violations (5,890 hectares of forest conservation component; 14,000 hectares of marine conservation component)...
Therefore, Con Dao National Park has developed a project and submitted to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee for consideration of re-establishing the Con Dao National Park Special Forests Protection Department, which is a specialized force for forest management and protection, ensuring compliance with forestry laws...; protecting aquatic resources in the Con Dao National Park marine reserve according to regulations.
