Restoring forests after storms

Quang Ninh has just suffered heavy damage caused by storm No. 3. Along with the aquaculture industry, the forestry sector has also suffered the devastating devastation of storm YAGI. The forests that the storm passed through became devastated, many places were completely wiped out, the remaining remnants were broken trees, uprooted, and collapsed trees... The lives of forest growers also encountered many difficulties, and their long-term livelihoods were affected.

Storm YAGI , with its extreme intensity, caused most of the urban trees to break or be uprooted. It is estimated that 70% of the urban trees were broken or fell. In the same situation, trees in forests in localities such as Ha Long, Tien Yen, Van Don, etc. also broke or fell, causing the forestry sector in many localities to suffer the most damage after the storm.

According to statistics, storm No. 3 damaged over 117,600 hectares of forest in the province. The damaged planted forests were mainly broken in half, felled or uprooted. In which, the forest area from 1-5 years old was broken, people will almost lose everything, unable to recover; for the forest area from 5 years old or older, about 40% of the investment value can be recovered.

The forests were damaged by the storm. — Forests damaged by the storm. Photo: Hang Ngan

For example, in Ha Long City, the locality has over 86,000 hectares of forest and forest land. According to initial records, many forests have been completely wiped out. Many forest owners are left empty-handed after many years of planting and caring for them. Currently, businesses and people are arranging human resources to each forest to count and calculate the damage. For example, at Hoanh Bo Forestry One Member Co., Ltd., which has a total of 3,600 hectares of production forest, up to 1,600 hectares have been completely wiped out, causing tens of billions of dong in damage.

Like Ha Long City, forest growers in Van Don District also suffered heavy damage caused by storm No. 3. The district has a total forest and forest land area of about 15,000 hectares. Although there are no official statistics on the amount of damage, it is predicted to be very large. For example, Van Don Forestry One Member Co., Ltd. has about 200 hectares of pine forests being exploited. After the storm, about 40% of the forest area was crushed, broken, felled, and uprooted. The forestry sector's post-storm recovery will certainly require a lot of time, effort, and investment.

Storm YAGI also devastated many forests in Tien Yen district. The district has over 53,000 hectares of forest and forest land, the super storm swept through and broke nearly 10,000 hectares of forestry trees. Tien Yen currently has 5,000 hectares of protective forest, the estimated damage to this type of forest is also very large.

In the days after the storm, forest growers took advantage of the opportunity to collect the trees that had been broken in half, uprooted, to sell the wood to earn some capital for regeneration. However, the amount of wood collected was only about 40%, because the quality of the wood was not guaranteed, the purchase price was only about 20% compared to normal.

In the province, many households and businesses have been involved in forestry for generations. After storm YAGI passed, many foresters encountered many difficulties, especially clearing forests, capital for reproduction, forest planting and the forest planting loan they still owe to the bank. Currently, households and businesses that plant forests are looking forward to policies to overcome difficulties such as creating conditions for loans for reproduction; implementing debt extension; and exempting and reducing land tax. At the meeting of the Provincial People's Committee to discuss the plan to restore forestry production after storm No. 3, Mr. Nghiem Xuan Cuong, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, shared the great damage and loss to the people in the province and especially households and businesses operating in the forestry sector. He requested localities, businesses and units to do a good job of statistics to finalize records and clarify the number of forestry damages. Localities and implementing units must immediately implement the province's existing support policies to support households, businesses, and investment units in the forestry sector. Closely follow the Government 's new resolution on overcoming damage caused by storm No. 3 to implement support policies for households and businesses planting forests.

After the YAGI storm, both production and protection forests were devastated. Forest growers are looking forward to support policies to soon restore production and green the forests.

Source