Mobilizing the community to protect the forest

Coming to the border commune of Muong Lan, one is impressed by the immense green of the forests covering the hillsides and mountains, the air is still fresh and cool. That is the result of mobilizing people to actively participate in forest management and protection.

Forest Protection Department of Region XI propagates to the people of Na An village to actively care for and protect the forest.

As usual, once a week, members of the Na An Village Forest Protection Team carry out the task of patrolling and protecting the forest. Early in the morning, 5 members gathered at the village forest gate, carrying luggage including raincoats, drinking water, knives and other tools for forest patrol.

As the oldest member of the group and an active participant in forest patrols, Mr. Tong Van Van, a prestigious person in Na An village, shared: Since ancient times, the lives of the people here have been closely linked to the forest. Recognizing the importance of the forest, when there was a policy of assigning forests to the people for protection, households in the village registered to participate in the village's mass forest protection team, contributing to the care, protection and development of the forest. For many years, no one in the village has arbitrarily entered the forest to exploit. Even when collecting firewood in the forest, people do not cut down living trees but take dry firewood. During the patrol, when we detect any unusual signs, we report to the Village Management Board for handling.

Kha village has 875 hectares of natural forest. Thanks to good protection and fire prevention, the village's forest still maintains its biodiversity, with many ancient trees such as Nghien, Tho Lo, Ban Si, and bamboo. Mr. Tong Van Hai, Party Cell Secretary and Village Chief, said: The village management board has established a mass forest protection team of 15 members. Every year, the team is trained in forest fire prevention and fighting by the Forest Protection Department of Region XI; in the dry season, they regularly coordinate patrols, clear vegetation, and build firebreaks. In addition, the village organizes meetings and assigns tasks to all households in the village to jointly manage, protect, and develop the forest. Agree to build village conventions and regulations, in which, assign tasks to each individual and household.

People of Muong Lan commune and forest rangers patrol, control and protect the forest.

Muong Lan commune currently has over 11,500 hectares of forest, of which more than 11,400 hectares are natural forests, nearly 100 hectares are planted forests, with forest coverage reaching nearly 46%. Sustainable forestry development is identified by the commune as an important goal to promote the value of each type of forest.

Mr. Lo Van Quan, Vice Chairman of Muong Lan Commune People's Committee, said: Every year, the Commune People's Committee directs the villages to consolidate and maintain 16 mass forest protection teams, with 224 members. In addition, the commune assigns the responsibility of forest management and protection to the village chiefs; promotes the role of prestigious people in educating and mobilizing people to participate in forest protection. The village's mass forest protection teams and teams coordinate with the local Forest Protection force and functional forces to regularly patrol and control the forest, prevent all acts of causing damage to the forest, and resolutely handle violators. Since the beginning of the year, the commune has coordinated with the Forest Protection Department of Region XI to organize 16 propaganda sessions on the Law on Forest Protection and Development for more than 1,100 people in the villages.

During the peak months of the dry season, the commune established a working group to direct mass organizations to coordinate with local forest rangers to closely monitor the grassroots, inspect, and remind people to raise awareness and responsibility for forest fire prevention; instruct people in key villages with large areas of reeds and bushes at high risk of forest fires in Huoi Pa and Pa Kach villages, bordering Muong Et district, Hua Phan province, Lao PDR, and Kha, Cong, Nam Lan villages, etc.

People of Muong Lan commune and local forest rangers cleared the vegetation.

In addition, the commune has increased its mobilization and propaganda for people to actively plant forests. Since the beginning of the year, the whole commune has planted over 89 hectares of eucalyptus trees in Cang Coi and Kha villages; surveyed and made a list of households registering to plant forests, ensuring the 2026 plan. From forest protection and conservation, in 2024, people in the commune will receive more than 1.1 billion VND in forest environmental service payments, helping villages and communes have resources to build new rural areas, and people will have additional income from the forest.

Thanks to good management, protection and forest fire prevention, in recent years, Muong Lan commune has not had any forest fires, people's sense of responsibility for forest protection has increased significantly, preserving the green color of the forests. This is an important premise for the commune to strive to increase the forest cover rate to more than 55% by 2030.

Source: https://baosonla.vn/xa-hoi/huy-dong-cong-dong-bao-ve-rung-AKCgvNCHg.html