PROTECTION FOREST – NATURAL GREEN SHIELD

1. Definition of Protection Forest

According to Vietnam’s Forestry Law 2017, protection forests are forests used mainly to protect water sources, protect soil, prevent erosion, landslides, flash floods, pipe floods, prevent desertification, and limit natural disasters, climate regulation, contributing to environmental protection, national defense, security, combining eco-tourism, relaxation, entertainment, and providing forest environmental services including:

• Watershed protection forests; Forests protect water sources of residential communities; border protection forests;
• Protection forests block wind and flying sand; Protection forests block wind and sea encroachment.

2. The role of protected forests

Watershed protection forests play a role in regulating water sources and water flow. When heavy rain occurs due to the impact of storms or tropical depressions, watershed protection forests will help reduce the risk of floods (especially pipe floods and flash floods) and the risk of soil erosion (protect the soil fertility), and will retain water sources and regulate the flow of rivers, lakes, and hydroelectric dams in areas with high slopes.

Coastal protection forests often have the main function of blocking wind, blocking sand, and preventing saltwater intrusion. We can see this function through the famous protective forests in Vietnam. For example coastal mangrove forests in Giao Thuy district, Nam Dinh – the main function is storm prevention (wind and storm protection); Forest planted in Binh Thuan (the main function is to prevent flying sand); …

Other types of protective forests generally have an outstanding function of protecting the ecological environment, regulating air, creating landscapes, and developing tourism.

3. Current status of protected forests in Vietnam

According to the report of the General Department of Forestry in 2020, the area of ​​protection forests in Vietnam in 2019 is divided by each specific forest type as follows:

No	Type of protection forest	Forested area (ha)
		Natural forests	Plantations	Total
Total area of land and protected forest		3.953.408	692.730	4.646.138
1	Watershed Forest	3.863.827	548.663	4.412.490
2	Forests protect water sources	33.268	44.424	77.692
3	Border Protection Forest	4.517	94	4.611
4	Forests block wind and sand	5.023	17.695	22.718
5	Forests block waves and encroach on the sea	46.773	81.853	128.626

The table above shows that the area of protected forests is natural forests accounting for only 14.9%. Thus, it can be seen that the quality of natural forests has not met protection requirements and the forestry industry as well as the whole society must invest more so that forests can maintain and develop to meet protection requirements.

4. Measures to protect and develop protective forests in Vietnam

• Develop payments for forest environmental services and forest development funds to create financial mechanisms and incentives for solutions to restore degraded protected forests;
• Adopt solutions on an ecosystem-based approach that has proven effective for the restoration of Natural Forests and Plantations;
• Increase the application of knowledge and use of high-quality native plant varieties;
• Ensure benefit sharing, gender equality, and community participation in restored forests;
• Continue to strengthen forest management: strengthen information, monitoring, and reporting systems, enhance the application of remote sensing technology and techniques based on information technology;
• Biodiversity conservation and ensuring the ability to provide forest ecosystem services should be strongly promoted.

#References

1. Luật Lâm nghiệp 2017;
2. Luật sư Lê Minh Trường, 2023. Rừng phòng hộ là gì? Vai trò, chức năng của rừng phòng hộ.
3. Lê Thiện Đức, L. A. (2021). HIỆN TRẠNG RỪNG PHÒNG HỘ 2019. In T. c. VNFQREST, HIỆN TRẠNG RỪNG ĐẶC DỤNG VÀ RỪNG PHÒNG HỘ VIỆT NAM 2019 (p. 51). Hanoi.