Vietnam expects to attract VND31,650 billion from domestic and foreign capital sources in order to implement the national project.

The five million hectare reforestation project aims to increase Vietnam’s forest coverage by 43 percent in 2010, which will boost socio-economic development in mountainous areas, improve the environment, and develop forestry into a key sector of the national economy.

In addition to reforestation, many localities have paid due attention to forest protection work. The quality of forest plantations has been improved, thereby sustainably increasing coverage in recent years. However, barren hills and fallow land still characterize many localities, particularly in the north-western region.

In fact, the project had to face many difficulties due to a lack of investment, thus failing to realise the set target for the first phase (1998-2005). To successfully complete the second phase (2006-2010), it is essential to invest more than VND25.7 billion. This is a large amount that demands more funding from local budgets and income from forest products. At present, capital sources for planting harvestable forests have not yet been specified. Loans from development assistance funds are still limited, while procedures for granting loans are complicated. Furthermore, it is difficult to borrow loans from commercial banks due to high interest rates and short-term credit. Many people said the budget allocation for planting protected forests (VND2.5 million/hectare) and protecting forest areas remains low at VND50,000 per hectare. This cannot encourage local workers to have a strong attachment to forest resources.

Regarding shortcomings in forest protection work, NA deputy from Tay Ninh province Nguyen Dinh Xuan said “According to a recent survey conducted at some afforestation sites, the density and quality of plants have not been ensured to keep new forest areas from degrading quickly”.

The 5 million-hectares of forest include 1 million hectare of protected forests, 2 million hectare of harvestable forests, 1 million hectares of fruit-trees and delineation areas for reforestation of an additional 1 million hectare of protected and special forests. Under the set plan, the forest sector aimed to reforest and afforest 3 million hectares in the period 1998-2005. However, after eight years of implementation, afforestation areas reached 70.6 percent while delineation of areas for reforestation were 6.3 percent in the reviewed period. With such afforestation speed, the project will fail to fulfil the set objectives.

Regarding policies and solutions to speed up the implementation of the project in the future, a NA deputy from Yen Bai province Nguyen Van Tuyet said “It is necessary to rearrange forest farms and assign farmers to afforest the areas which the farms cannot control. Obviously, it is important to instruct them about the techniques of growing and supplying varieties of plants so that they can live off afforestation and realise the effectiveness of afforestation“.

The 9^th session of the 11^th National Assembly approved new resolution on criteria for major national projects including the five million-hectare forestation programme. The amendments to the resolution will address shortcomings in the implementation of the project, speed up afforestation and improve forest protection work. More importantly, it is necessary to devise specific policies for forest growers and protectors.