Localities step up forest planting

Vietnam’s area of new concentrated forests hit 131,000ha in the first eight months of 2017, a rise of two percent year-on-year (Illustrative photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam’s area of new concentrated forests hit 131,000ha in the first eight months of 2017, a rise of two percent year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Of the figure, new productive forest covered 126,500ha, up 5.1 percent.

So far this year, northern provinces have planted 116,779ha of forest, increasing 0.4 percent year-on-year. The northern midland and mountainous region had the fastest afforestation rate with coverage of 80,641ha, up 21 percent.

Meanwhile, 13,833ha was planted in the south, rising 10.8 percent in the period. New forests were mainly planted in the south central coastal region, with a total of 8,650ha, while there was a decrease in forest coverage in other parts of the region.

[PM asked for strong measures to cope with deforestation]

In August, forest fires damaged only 9.3ha of forest, down 93.5 percent compared to last year’s period as rains hit many localities. Since the start of the year, some 455ha of forest has been damaged by forest fires.

Vietnam lost 770ha of forest in the first eight months due to deforestation, a decline of 78.7 percent compared to the same period last year.-VNA