By 2020, the nationwide forest coverage will increase to 42 percent, equivalent to 14.4 million hectares, according to the target program on sustainable forest development during 2016-20.
The program, which was issued on June 16 under Decision 886/QD-TTg, aims to improve the productivity, quality and value of forests, thus meeting the needs for disaster reduction, eco-environmental protection and response to climate change and sea level rise, creating jobs, increasing income, reducing poverty, improving livelihood for local people, and ensuring national security and defense and social order and safety.
To realize the above targets, the program sets out three main missions, including: protecting forests and preserving the nature, improving forest productivity and quality, and increasing the added value of forest products.
Specifically, the annual forestry production growth rate will be 5.5-6 percent, planted forest productivity will reach 20 cubic meters per hectare per year, timber and forestry product export turnover will mount to USD 8-8.5 billion while 25 million jobs for forestry workers will be maintained.
By 2020, 15 percent of degraded forests, especially special-use forests, will be recovered and preserved. About 100,000 hectares of special-use forests will be planted. The number of rare and precious species in danger of extinction will decrease while the number of species populations will increase.- (VLLF)
