Thua Thien-Hue (VNA) –The central province of Thua Thien-Hue is striving to raise its forest coverageto 57 percent in 2020 from the current ratio of 56.3 percent.
The province, which is one of thelocalities leading the country in terms of forest coverage, has more than502,000 hectares of natural land, including 283,000 hectares of forests.
In order to strengthen measuresto manage forests and forest land, along with the setting up of funds forforest protection and management at the communal level, the province hasprovided funding for the protection of more than 150,000 hectares of forest land.
Thua Thien-Hue has collected morethan 30.5 billion VND of environmental service fees from forest owners to payfor agencies, organizations and households engaging in the protection of about129,032 hectares of forest land.
The province has granted the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certificates to households involving in 1,307.7 hectares offorest.
Theprovincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has built a plan toimplement the target programme on sustainable forestry management with an aimto develop forestry in a sustainable manner in line with urban development planto create green space and green city.
Theprovince will protect biodiversity of special-use forest to maintain rare floraand fauna genes for scientific research and ecotourism. Forestry occupationswill be expanded to reduce poverty for people living in mountainous and bufferzones.
Alongwith strengthening State management over forest and forest land management, theprovince will increase communications and law education among locals,especially communities living near the forest, on the need to protect theforest.
HoSi Nguyen, Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment, said that the sector will give forest land and forests toorganizations, communities and households for a long-term for management, whilecalling for the engagement of different economic sectors in forestryproduction, and fostering cooperation with international organizations in thefield.
In2018, Thua Thien-Hue planted 1,000 hectares of new forest areas, including 460hectares of protection areas, 140 hectares of special-use forest, and 400hectares of production forest areas.
Meanwhile,the province re-planted more than 6,000 hectares of exploited forest, and tookcare of 18,000 hectares of forest. The province also grated FSC certificates toprivate foresters on over 1,000 hectares of forest areas.-VNA
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Illustrative image (Source: VNA) 
