Directive No. 32/2000/CT-BNNPTNT on organizing the monitoring of forest conditions and forestry land nationwide

DIRECTIVE

Regarding the organization of monitoring forest and forestry land conditions nationwide

Organizing the monitoring of changes in forests and forestry lands is an important task within the urgent measures system for protecting and developing forests as stipulated in the documents of the Prime Minister such as:

- Directive 286-TTg dated May 2, 1997 on strengthening urgent measures to protect and develop forests;

- Decision 661/QD-TTg dated July 29, 1998 on the objectives, tasks, policies, and implementation of the project to plant five million hectares of new forests;

- Decision 245/1998/QD-TTg dated December 21, 1998 on implementing state management responsibilities at all levels regarding forests and forestry lands.

Implementing the above policy, over the past two years, provinces and centrally-administered cities have organized forest inventories according to a unified process, with communes as the basic units of inventory, and the results of the inventory have been confirmed by provincial, district, and commune-level authorities. These inventory results serve as scientific and legal bases for establishing a database to monitor changes in forests and forestry lands.

In previous comprehensive surveys, the results of the inventories were not immediately utilized for managing and tracking changes in forests and forestry lands, and timely updates were not made, leading to outdated information that lost its utility after a short period. To address this situation, following the completion of the forest inventory work pursuant to Directive 286/TTg, efforts should be concentrated on inheriting the results of the forest inventory to form a database for forest management and forestry land use, implementing the monitoring of changes in forests and forestry lands, regularly updating and periodically upgrading the database, and providing reliable information for the management, protection, development, and utilization of forests in both the short and long term.

To implement the above policy concretely, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development instructs:

The agencies under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall be responsible for:

1. Establishing a Steering Committee for the project of the Ministry to build the "Industry Database on Forest Management and Forestry Land Use" including representatives from the Forest Protection Department, the Forest Development Department, the Institute of Forest Inventory and Planning, relevant Departments, the Ministry's Office, and the Standing Committee on Information Technology of the Ministry.

2. Units within the Ministry (with the Forest Protection Department as the lead) shall draft documents to be submitted to the Ministry for issuance according to the content and division of labor below:

a) The Forest Protection Department shall draft the following documents:

- Guidelines for establishing provincial projects to monitor changes in forests and forestry lands and forming a database for forest management and forestry land use;

- Regulations on the responsibilities of agencies in monitoring changes in forests and forestry lands: Forest Protection forces, National Parks, forest owners, forest inventory and planning forces, and other forest management organizations;

Technical procedures for collecting field information, identifying changes in forests and forestry lands on-site and on maps.

b) The Forest Development Department shall draft regulations on the reporting system for compiling information on forestry activities.

c) The Institute of Forest Inventory and Planning shall draft regulations on designing the database system for forest management and forestry land use; technical procedures for operating, exploiting, updating, and upgrading the provincial database and connecting it to the computer network database.

3. The Forest Protection Department shall take the lead in coordinating with related units to develop and submit to the Steering Committee a plan for the implementation year covering:

- Organizing training sessions for institutions and directing pilot implementation;

- Directing the implementation of the provincial project;

- Transferring data and establishing two-way connections between the industry database and the provincial database.

Provincial and centrally-administered city forestry management agencies shall be responsible for:

Based on Decision 245/1998/QD-TTg dated December 21, 1998 of the Prime Minister on implementing state management responsibilities at all levels regarding forests and forestry lands, the responsibility for organizing the monitoring of changes in forests and forestry lands lies with the respective levels of government. It is hereby requested that the People's Committees of provinces and centrally-administered cities coordinate with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to direct the implementation of the following contents:

1. Proposing the establishment of a provincial steering committee for the project comprising members from the Forest Protection Sub-department, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, relevant departments, and assigning the Forest Protection Sub-department as the main implementing agency. For provinces without a Forest Protection Sub-department, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development shall be the main implementing agency.

2. Developing a provincial project to monitor changes in forests and forestry lands and form a database for forest management and forestry land use according to the guidelines provided by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

3. Implementing the monitoring of changes in forests and forestry lands and forming a database, which includes the following tasks:

- Collecting and entering into computers the results of the forest inventory, including data and maps of forests and forestry lands of communes, and related information. Forming a provincial database for forest management and forestry land use.

- Organizing the monitoring of changes in forests and forestry lands from the grassroots level, regularly collecting information on forestry activities, and compiling them by administrative unit at the commune level.

- Organizing the updating and upgrading of the database information, processing results, and periodically reporting updated information of the province to the industry database according to the regulations of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

4. Establishing a monitoring system for changes in forests and forestry lands from commune to district and province levels with the cooperation of forces on the ground, including forestry staff from the People's Committees of districts and communes, forest protection forces, forest owners, forest inventory and planning forces, and land administration.

It is requested that the People's Committees of provinces and centrally-administered cities direct relevant sectors and levels in their localities to incorporate the work of monitoring changes in forests and forestry lands into their annual plans to allocate funds for implementation.

The Heads of the Ministry's Office, heads of Departments, Institutes, Directors of Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development, and Chiefs of Forest Protection Sub-departments shall organize the implementation of this Directive./.