To contributing to improve the effectiveness of forest management, protection and development, the Document no. 1119/SNN-KL is issued by the Lao Cai Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) on June 11, 2019. This Document provides guidance of the review of natural forests based on the instruction of Lao Cai Provincial People's Committee’s Official Letter No. 3502 / UBND-NLN dated August 1, 2018 for enforcement of clause 4, Article 108 of the Forestry Law 2017.
The guideline was built on the results of the project "Piloting the review of natural forests according to some specific forest classification criteria, in order to improve efficiency in sustainable forest management, protection and development”. This pilot project is implemented in Sin Cheng commune, Si Ma Cai district, Lao Cai province by the Lao Cai DARD, Si Ma Cai District People's Committee and CIRUM since 2018.
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A meeting for getting agreement for implementation of the pilot project to review natural forests in Sin Cheng commune
The guideline includes 7 steps: i) Preparation step; ii) Preliminary review (basic research) and Review plan; iii) Field review; iv) Internal processing; v) Consult the results of community and grassroots review; vi) Report on district review and consultation results; vii) Complete the dossier, review and approve the review results. Natural forests with specific characteristics such as sacred forests, worshiping forests and spiritual forests are also included in the review and classification in accordance with the provisions of the Forestry Law 2017. The guideline emphasizes people's participation; respect traditional values, customary law, village boundaries, etc. Point 2, step 3 of the guideline mentions living space, traditional boundaries or review of community forest types and the origin of forests.
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Field review with the local people’s participation
This guideline also specifies the responsibilities of stakeholders, such as DARD; District People's Committees; Forest Protection Department; Forest owners; Commune People's Committees to facilitate the implementation of the review and ensure good results.
The Guideline of Lao Cai DARD for natural forest review for the planning of 3 forest types according to the provisions of the Forestry Law 2017 is the first guideline in the country issued after the Forestry Law 2017 takes effect. This is a positive result to contribute to bringing the Law into practice for an effective and sustainable forest management and protection.
