Bac Ninh (VNA) – The northern city of Bac Ninh is stepping up community-based forest protection by assigning local residents the responsibility for safeguarding forest areas and encouraging the use of technology to improve monitoring and prevent violations.
For ethnic minority residents in Bieng hamlet of An Lac commune, natural forests are not only a source of water and non-timber products but also an integral part of local life across generations. Protecting forests has therefore become a shared responsibility.
Instead of relying mainly on authorities, residents have taken a more active role in patrolling forests, monitoring changes and reporting violations.
An Lac is home to more than 11,932 hectares of forest land, with the coverage reaching 82%. Eight community-based forest protection teams have been assigned to monitor 2,395 hectares of special-use natural forest managed by the Tay Yen Tu Conservation Area Management Board. However, the rugged terrain makes patrols and inspections difficult.
To improve monitoring, the community-based teams recently pooled more than 34 million VND (1,300 USD) to buy a drone for forest patrols in the Khe Ro area.
Vu Ngoc Huan, head of the Bieng hamlet community-based forest protection team, said outsiders had previously entered the area to exploit timber and brought fire into the forest. Team members now conduct regular patrols, particularly in the early morning, late afternoon and on days off. They also step up communications to raise public awareness of the importance of preventing illegal logging and exploitation.
Each patrol can involve 10–12 hours of walking, Huan said. Drones allow the teams to inspect remote and difficult-to-reach areas more quickly and identify unusual signs, potential forest fires and threats to forest resources, saving time and effort.
An Lac has also assigned 699.6 hectares of natural production forest to 126 households, individuals and residential communities for protection. Coordination among relevant forces helped ensure that no natural forest fires occurred in the commune during the 2025–2026 dry season.
Community-based protection teams in Nang and Mau hamlets in Tay Yen Tu commune and Dong Vanh hamlet in Luc Son commune have also purchased drones for patrols and monitoring.
These initiatives show that assigning clear responsibilities and ensuring benefits reach local residents can encourage communities to take greater ownership of forest protection.
Improving forest protection arrangements
In 2026, Bac Ninh was assigned a target of placing 40,000 hectares of forest under protection contracts. By September, nearly 33,000 hectares had been covered, equivalent to 82% of the target. However, some forest areas have yet to be allocated or leased.
Since the beginning of the year, the municipal Department of Agriculture and Environment has urged local authorities to speed up reviews of unallocated forest land. According to the forest protection and management division under the Forest Protection Sub-department, all 69 communes and wards with forests have completed their reviews and submitted reports.
The reviews identified around 200 hectares of natural production forest in Duong Huu commune that remain unallocated or unleased, 55 hectares of natural forest in Dai Son commune, and 0.86 hectares of planted protection forest in Tam Son ward.
Local authorities face difficulties because some land transferred from former forestry companies remains subject to disputes or encroachment, while boundaries are unclear and plots are small or scattered.
Complex terrain also complicates surveying and documentation, and inconsistencies between forestry and land regulations have slowed progress.
Phi Thanh Binh, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment, said the department is promptly working with local authorities to compare forestry, cadastral and planning data, conduct field inspections and determine forest origins, boundaries, classifications and eligible recipients.
Disputed areas must be verified and resolved before allocation or leasing, while unallocated forests must be closely monitored to prevent violations. The department is also guiding commune-level authorities through procedures and requiring boundaries to be marked on the ground and management records updated.
Alongside these efforts, the city continues to provide forest protection support of 1–1.2 million VND per hectare annually, higher than previous levels.
In the coming months, local authorities will accelerate forest allocation and leasing to meet the 2026 target, strengthen community-based protection teams and expand technology application to monitoring. They will also identify and recognise effective models to encourage wider public participation./.
VNA
