2020 target of 70 percent forest cover unlikely to be met: Report

Forest cover is expected to increase to 68 percent of the country’s land area by 2020, slightly below the target of 70 percent, the latest report on the matter suggests.
A 2015 survey revealed that forest cover stood at 58 percent. With an annual average increase of 2 percent, forest cover could rise to 68 percent by 2020, according to the report from the Forestry Department, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

Authorities have already allocated the area predicted to be forested when the 68 percent projection is achieved. The expected 16.28 million hectares will comprise three categories of forest -- conservation forest (4.816 million hectares), protected forest (7.9 million hectares), and production forest (3.1 million hectares). An additional 480,000 hectares will be planted with industrial trees.
To achieve the 70 percent target, the authorities need to allocate additional forest cover on the remaining 2 percent or 473,600 hectares.
Three main measures were identified in the National Forest Strategy that was promulgated in 2005 to achieve the 70 percent target.
They aimed to rehabilitate 6 million hectares of degraded forest, plant industrial trees on 500,000 hectares, and protect existing forests from further logging.
Action has been taken to protect degraded forests, which enabled them to regrow or rehabilitate naturally on more than 3.2 million hectares, representing 54 percent of the total. Industrial trees have been planted by individuals and businesses on 484,800 hectares. They include rubber, eucalyptus, teak, and agarwood, according to the report.
The government has also intensified action to protect forests and close loopholes for illegal logging.
In this regard, Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith issued Executive Order No. 15, which imposes tough action to regulate the timber industry and bans the export of unfinished wood products.
The government later suspended the annual logging quota, and today logging is only permitted in areas that must be cleared to make way for development projects.
 This year, the ministry plans to encourage both the state and private sectors to plant trees on 20,000 hectares across the country.
Asked if the 70 percent target might not be sustainable given that commercial logging is permitted in the 3.1 million hectares of production forest, as well as in the 480,000 hectares of industrial plantations, a senior official at the Forestry Department said previously that it could result in a minor decrease.
He said logging was permitted in production forests but only if carried out in a sustainable manner.
Only 4-7 cubic metres of wood may be cut in one hectare of woodland, which is required to have at least 70 cubic metres of timber. Logging in the same area could resume 15 years later to give the trees time to regrow.
The official said the 480,000 hectares earmarked for industrial tree plantations represented just 3 percent of the 70 percent forest cover.
But not all the trees in industrial plantations will mature at the same time, so logging will take place intermittently and result in a minor decrease.

By Souksakhone Vaenkeo
(Latest Update May 30, 2019)