Take advantage of the forest

Dr. Nguyen Manh Ha, Director of Center for Nature Conservation and Development of Vietnam (right) guides colleagues to conduct survey of biodiversity

Be a friend of the forest since childhood

Mr. Ha shared: I was born in a family where my father was a forest ranger and my mother was a forestry lecturer. From a young age, my family had heard many stories about animals and plants at the dinner table, followed my father to the forest during summer vacation. Listen more become familiar, go more gradually like and then love. I studied forestry for the same reason. Fortunately, after graduating from school and working for more than 20 years, I am still very excited. I went to all the forests from North to South. Sometimes when I go to train, to support forest owners to carry out topics and projects, sometimes I go to the forest for no reason. I feel bored if I don’t go to the forest.

Mr. Ha said that he was luckier than many children in the city because he could go to the forest and experience life in the forest early and often. From a young age, he was taught to love animals from relatives. For example, when I went to the forest to see a snake, people told me not to scream, not to run, not to hurt the animal, it would not bite me. When I met a mouse, no one told me "oh, so scary", but only showed me the mouse it is as cute and adorable as other animals.

Later, there are more opportunities to go to the forest, each trip is a new feeling about nature, work and life of forest keepers. This helps him to have a realistic and objective view when contributing to the development of laws such as: Forest protection and development, biodiversity, forestry and fisheries; policy on environmental services, policy on co-management and benefit sharing of biodiversity.

Having traveled a lot and experienced a lot, Mr. Ha realized that there are no difficult professions, nor are there any easy professions, the problem is due to each person's approach. However, in general, officials and workers in the forestry sector have lower income levels compared to other occupations. Working conditions, their access to information is more difficult.

Dong Nai has the advantage of developing the forest economy

Dong Nai is a province with a large forest area. More than 20 years ago, the province pioneered to close the natural forest, so the area and biodiversity are constantly increasing. In addition to closing the forest, the province has paid much attention and invested in forest protection and biodiversity. However, conservation investment has long been focused on two areas, Cat Tien National Park and Dong Nai Nature - Culture Reserve. If areas with other biodiversity such as protection forests and forests managed by forestry companies are also invested in harmony, the value of nature and biodiversity will be even greater.

According to Mr. Ha, Dong Nai has done very well in protecting forests and biodiversity, now is the time to promote those values. "I think the province should develop policies to encourage rental time, rental prices for investors and technical infrastructure support for tourism development." Enterprises investing in forest environmental services must comply with the regulations set forth by the province, subject to the supervision of the government and forest owners.

Currently, many countries have sold carbon credits to reinvest in forest protection and development. Factories with an emissions index exceeding the limit will be fined, but if they buy carbon credits to cover the difference, there will be no penalty. This is the new content included in the Law on Environmental Protection 2020.

Dong Nai has a large forest area, a lot of biomass, the creation of carbon credits for sale will bring livelihoods to people, helping the province to have revenue to reinvest in forest protection and development to help balance emissions from industrial activity and urbanization.

 Phan Anh