Circular No. 76/2007/TT-BNN guiding the conversion of forests and forestry land to rubber plantations in the Central Highlands

CIRCULAR

Guidelines for transferring forests and forestry land to rubber planting in the Central Highlands

 in the Central Highlands

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Pursuant to the Land Law No. 23/2003/QL-CTN dated December 10, 2003 of the Xth National Assembly and the Government Decree No. 181/2004/NĐ-CP dated October 29, 2004 on the implementation of the Land Law;

Pursuant to the Forest Protection and Development Law No. 29/2004/QH11 dated December 25, 2004 of the XIth National Assembly, the Government Decree No. 23/2006/NĐ-CP dated March 3, 2006 on the implementation of the Forest Protection and Development Law, and the Prime Minister's Decision No. 186/2006/QĐ-TTg dated August 14, 2006 on the issuance of the Forest Management Regulations;

Pursuant to the Resolution No. 66/2006/NQ-QH11 dated June 29, 2006 of the XIth National Assembly on the State Investment Project;

Pursuant to the Government Decree No. 170/2004/NĐ-CP dated September 22, 2004 on the reorganization, renovation, and development of state-owned farms and the Government Decree No. 200/2004/NĐ-CP dated December 3, 2004 on the reorganization, renovation, and development of state-owned forestry farms;

Pursuant to the Official Letter No. 125/TB-VPCP dated August 14, 2006 of the Government Office on the conclusions of the Prime Minister at the Conference on Developing the Economy and Society in the Central Highlands Region.

This Circular guides specific contents regarding the transfer of forests and forestry land to rubber planting, aiming to achieve the goal of developing an additional 90,000 to 100,000 hectares of rubber in the Central Highlands by 2010,

This technical regulation sets out technical requirements, testing methods, sampling procedures; management requirements; responsibilities of organizations and individuals producing, trading, and importing cigarettes.

This Circular applies to units under the Ministry of Education and Training; departments of education and training, education and training divisions; preschool education institutions, general education institutions, regular education institutions, teacher training colleges, college of education, universities, universities, academies, other educational institutions, and related organizations and individuals (hereinafter referred to collectively as agencies and units).

- Scope of regulation: This Circular stipulates conditions and authorities' decision-making powers for changing the purpose of using forests and forestry land to agricultural land for rubber planting; procedures for project construction and approval; procedures and formalities for transferring areas of land from farms and forestry farms to rubber planting in the Central Highlands.

- Applicability: Organizations and individuals in Vietnam who wish to transfer forest and forestry land to agricultural land for rubber planting in the Central Highlands; farms and forestry farms with forests and forestry land transferred to agricultural land for rubber planting; state agencies related to the transfer of forests and forestry land to agricultural land for rubber planting in the Central Highlands.

2. Principles for transferring forests and forestry land to agricultural land for rubber planting:

a) Land with forests and forestry land transferred to agricultural land for rubber planting must meet standards suitable for the growth and development requirements of rubber trees;

b) There must be a planning scheme approved by the competent authority;

c) Rubber planting on converted land must yield higher economic and environmental benefits than current crops;

d) Conditions and subjects of forests and forestry land eligible for consideration to change the purpose of use to agricultural land for rubber planting shall be implemented according to the provisions of Clause 2 and Clause 3 of Section II of this Circular.

II. SPECIFIC PROVISIONS

1. Technical standards for rubber planting land in the Central Highlands

Suitable land for rubber planting includes basalt red soil and ash soil meeting the following criteria:

a) Elevation below 700 meters above sea level;

b) Slope less than 30 degrees;

c) Minimum soil depth of 0.7 meters;

d) Subsurface water depth below 1.2 meters and not flooded during rain;

đ) Soil texture from light clay to heavy clay, with good drainage;

e) Percentage of gravel and rock fragments in the cultivated soil layer less than 50%;

g) Chemical properties: organic matter content in the surface soil layer greater than 1.0%, pH_kcl: 4,5 - 5,5;

h) Rubber planting land must be designed according to the technical process, ensuring conditions for intensive cultivation and erosion control.

2. The following types of forestry land may be arranged for conversion to rubber planting if they meet the technical standards for rubber planting land as stipulated in Clause 1 of Section II of this Circular:

a) Forestry land that has been planned as production forests (natural or planted forests);

b) Poor natural forests, young recovering forests, bamboo forests, rattan forests, etc. (collectively referred to as bamboo and rattan forests); low-efficiency planted forests.

Poor forests in this Circular are defined in Decision No. 682B/QĐKT dated August 1, 1984 of the Ministry of Forestry (now the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) on the issuance of the Design Standards for Forest Business Operations, type III quality_A2 poor, with the proportion of class A and B quality trees of the target species accounting for less than 50% of the forest stock.

In cases where medium-quality forest patches with an area of up to 1.0 hectare, interspersed within poor forests, recovering young forests in the planned rubber planting area, are allowed to be transferred together with the poor forest area to avoid patchwork and ensure contiguous blocks.

3. Conditions for converting forests and forestry land to agricultural land for rubber planting

The transfer of forests and forestry land to agricultural land for rubber planting must comply with the laws on land, laws on forest protection and development, specifically:

a) Consistent with the land use plan and forest protection and development plan approved by the competent state agency;

b) Having an investment project on the area of forest and forestry land to be changed in purpose, approved by the competent state agency;

c) Having an environmental impact assessment report due to the change in the purpose of using the forest, approved by the competent state agency;

d) Having a compensation and land clearance plan for the forest area, approved by the competent state agency;

đ) Having a replanting plan for new forests to replace the area of forest being transferred to another purpose.

4. Authority to decide on changing the purpose of using forests and forestry land to agricultural land for rubber planting

According to the Land Law and the Forest Protection and Development Law, localities wishing to change the purpose of using forests or forestry land under the subjects specified in Clause 2 of Section II above to agricultural land for rubber planting, depending on the scale of the area to be changed in purpose, must follow the procedures as follows:

a) For rubber planting projects using forests and forestry land with a scale of less than 1,000 hectares, the provincial People's Committee shall consider and decide based on consistency with the approved land use plan;

b) For rubber planting projects using forests and forestry land with a scale of 1,000 hectares or more, classified as national key projects according to Resolution No. 66/2006/NQ-QH11 of the National Assembly, must have a project submitted to the National Assembly for approval of the investment proposal.

Based on rubber planting investment projects, the provincial People's Committee compiles the area of forest land and forest land expected to be transferred for rubber planting and submits it to the Government at least 90 (ninety) days before the nearest National Assembly session for the Government to consider and submit to the National Assembly at least 75 (seventy-five) days before the opening of the nearest session for the National Assembly to examine and approve.

5. Procedures for building and approving rubber planting projects on land converted from forest land and forest use land

a) Based on the scope, area, and sub-district code of the areas with potential for rubber planting, the provincial People's Committee assigns specific tasks to the investors to develop rubber planting projects;

b) Investors select specialized consultants to investigate the current status of land, forest resources, and establish rubber planting projects;

c) The method of investigating the current status of forest resources shall be carried out in accordance with Decision No. 682B/QĐKT dated August 1, 1984 of the Ministry of Forestry (now the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) on issuing the Design Norms for Forest Business Operations;

d) The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development directs the Forest Management Service and the Forest Inspection Service to inspect the objects and current status of forests being converted to rubber planting; compile and submit the files on the area of forest land and forest use land to be converted to the Forest Department for review before submitting to the provincial People's Committee for approval of the investment project;

đ) The Forest Department, in collaboration with the Forest Inspection Department and related units, reviews and re-inspects (if necessary) the objects and current status of forests being converted to rubber planting land as submitted by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, serving as the basis for investors to submit to the provincial People's Committee for approval;

6. Procedures for transferring forest use land of state farms and forestry farms to rubber planting

Forest use land of state farms and forestry farms that have been rearranged according to Decree No. 170/2004/NĐ-CP dated September 22, 2004 of the Government on the restructuring, reform, and development of state farms, and Decree No. 200/2004/NĐ-CP dated December 3, 2004 of the Government on the restructuring, reform, and development of forestry farms, if converted to rubber planting land, after completing the procedures for changing land use purposes as stipulated in Clause 4, Section II above, the following subsequent procedures must be carried out:

a) State farms and forestry farms submit to the competent authority for approval of the production and business plan as prescribed;

b) Implement the procedures for establishing and approving the investment project for rubber planting as prescribed;

c) For state farms and forestry farms transferred intact to the Vietnam Rubber Industry Group, the procedures and processes for changing land use purposes shall also be implemented as guided in this Circular;

III. IMPLEMENTATION PROVISIONS

1. This Circular takes effect 15 (fifteen) days from the date of publication in the Official Gazette.

2. During implementation, if there are any difficulties, organizations and individuals are requested to promptly reflect them to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for research, guidance, and supplementation./.