The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development asked Ninh Binh province not to convert land designated for special-use forests and protective forest to carry out mineral exploitation for Duyen Ha Cement Plant. (Photo: anninhthudo.vn) Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - TheMinistry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has turned down proposalsfrom Binh Thuan, Quang Nam, and Ninh Binh provinces for forest land to be usedfor several projects.
The projects include limestoneexploitation in Ninh Binh, Hoa Thang 1.2 wind power project in Binh Thuan,and building roads to Ngoc Linh Ginseng production area in Nam Tra My district,Quang Nam province.
In a document sent to theNinh Binh Provincial People’s Committee, the MARD said the conversion ofnatural forest designated as special-use forest and protective forest formineral exploitation activities was prohibited under Decree 83/2020/NĐ-CP.
The project failed to meetcriteria for converting to other purposes, it said.
Earlier, the provincialPeople’s Committee submitted a plan on forest land conversion to implement aproject exploiting limestone for the production of Duyen Ha Cement Plant. Theprovince wanted to change the land-use purpose of 38.17 hectares of naturalprotective forest land.
The proposal from Binh Thuan ProvincialPeople’s Committee to convert forest land to carry out the Hoa Thang 1.2 windpower project was rejected for a similar reason.
The MARD said following aGovernment resolution on land-use for 2016-2020, the land allocation for theproject was 60ha. But the province just mentioned that 29 out of a total of45.41ha of the project is natural forest, and information about the rest hasnot been disclosed by the provincial authority.
Because it didn't satisfy therequirements, the proposal hasn’t been referred to Prime Minister NguyenXuan Phuc who decides on forest-use conversion.
The land conversion for theproject building roads to Ngoc Linh Ginseng production area on the Mang Lung-DakLay route in the central province of Quang Nam’s Nam Tra My district was turneddown for several reasons.
The MARD said the provincialPeople’s Committee didn’t clarify the natural forest area of Ngoc Linh NatureReserve that was supposed to be converted. Therefore, there were no grounds todetermine whether the project met the criteria for land conversion or not.
The ministry also said theapproval of the project’s environmental impact assessment report was notrelevant in terms of authority.
In line with Government DecreeNo. 18/2015/NĐ-CP, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment isauthorised to approve such a project.
Climate change, extremeweather, and natural disasters have become more and more common, causing floodsand severe landslides in some localities, threatening the lives of many people.
Although there is no officialconclusion about the cause, the public and experts believe the reduction ofnatural forests has harmed the environment and increase erosion, especially inQuang Nam province.
The MARD recommended localauthorities of Quang Nam and Binh Thuan provinces carefully consider theproposals on the conversion of forest land as well as other activities whichmight leave an impact on the natural ecological balance of local coastal andmountainous areas.
The Ministry of Agriculture andRural Development asked Ninh Binh province not to convert natural forests underthe planning of special-use forests and protective forest to implement mineralexploitation for Duyen Ha Cement Plant./.
VNA
