What is handling of act of destroying protective forests for crops in Vietnam?
What is handling of act of destroying protective forests for crops in Vietnam? What are penalties for Illegal extraction of forests of timber of common species in protection forests in Vietnam?
Y commune police caught Mr. T growing cassava on an area of about 200 square meters in a protective forest. Traces of trees being cut and burned are still very clear. However, Mr. T declared that when he came here, he saw that and he came back to bring cassava to plant, not the one who destroyed the forest. Through collecting evidence, the Commune Police verified that Mr. T was the person who directly cut down and burned the above area of protection forest for farming.
So how is the act of destroying protective forests to make fields to grow crops handled? What are penalties for illegal exploitation of timber of common species in protection forests?
Please advise. Thankyou.
What is handling of act of destroying protective forests for crops in Vietnam?
Pursuant to Clause 1, Clause 13, Clause 14, Article 20 of Decree 35/2019/ND-CP amended by Point d, Clause 11, Article 1 of Decree 07/2022/ND-CP on illegal deforestation, accordingly:
The following penalties shall be imposed for cutting, burning or destroying forest trees; digging, excavating or blasting; damming or preventing water flows; discharging toxic chemicals or other acts causing damage to the forest for any purposes (except the violations specified in Article 13 hereof) without permission from competent authorities:
1. A fine ranging from VND 3,000,000 to VND 7,000,000 shall be imposed in one of the following circumstances:
a) The violation involves an immature forest or regenerating forest without reserve volume classified as production forest, protective forest or special-use forest and having an area of < 3,000 m2;
b) The violation involves the production forest with an area of < 500 m2;
c) The violation involves the protective forest with an area of < 300 m2;
d) The violation involves the special-use forest with an area of < 100 m2;
dd) The violation involves forest plants of common species assessed at < VND 5,000,000, or forest plants of endangered, rare or precious species in Group IIA assessed at < VND 4,000,000, or forest plants of endangered, rare or precious species in Group IA assessed at < VND 3,000,000 in case the damaged forest area cannot be determined.
13. Additional penalties:
Exhibits, devices and vehicles shall be confiscated in case of commission of any of the violations specified in Clause 1 – 10 of this Article.
14. Remedial measures:
The entities committing the violations in Clauses 1 through 10 of this Article shall be liable to the following remedial measures:
a) Enforced restoration of the original condition in case of acts of digging, excavating, blasting, damming or preventing water flows which cause damage to forests;
b) Enforced implementation of measures for control of environmental pollution and prevention of the spread of epidemics in case of discharging of toxic chemicals causing damage to forests;
c) Enforced return of benefits illegally obtained from the commission of the administrative violations;
d) Enforced reforestation or payment of reforestation costs equivalent to the standard afforestation investment applied by local government at the time of committing administrative violations.
According to this Article, Mr. T may be fined from 3,000,000 to 7,000,000 VND, in addition, he may also have his evidence confiscated and replant the forest or pay the cost to replant the forest until it becomes a forest in Vietnam.
What is handling of act of destroying protective forests for crops in Vietnam? (Image from the Internet)
What are penalties for Illegal extraction of forests of timber of common species in protection forests in Vietnam?
At Point a, Clause 2, Article 13 of Decree 35/2019/ND-CP stipulates ilegal extraction of forests as follows:
2. Illegal logging in protective forests:
a) Illegal logging of timber of common species:
A fine ranging from VND 1,000,000 to VND 4,000,000 shall be imposed for illegal extraction of less than 0.5 m3 of timber in a planted forest or less than 0.3 m3 of timber in a natural forest;
A fine ranging from VND 4,000,000 to VND 8,000,000 shall be imposed for illegal extraction of from 0.5 m3 to under 01 m3 of timber in a planted forest or from 0.3 m3 to under 0.5 m3 of timber in a natural forest;
A fine ranging from VND 8,000,000 to VND 15,000,000 shall be imposed for illegal extraction of from 01 m3 to under 02 m3 of timber in a planted forest or from 0.5 m3 to under 01 m3 of timber in a natural forest;
A fine ranging from VND 15,000,000 to VND 25,000,000 shall be imposed for illegal extraction of from 02 m3 to under 04 m3 of timber in a planted forest or from 01 m3 to under 02 m3 of timber in a natural forest;
A fine ranging from VND 25,000,000 to VND 50,000,000 shall be imposed for illegal extraction of from 04 m3 to under 06 m3 of timber in a planted forest or from 02 m3 to under 03 m3 of timber in a natural forest;
A fine ranging from VND 50,000,000 to VND 70,000,000 shall be imposed for illegal extraction of from 06 m3 to under 10 m3 of timber in a planted forest or from 03 m3 to under 05 m3 of timber in a natural forest;
A fine ranging from VND 70,000,000 to VND 100,000,000 shall be imposed for illegal extraction of from 10 m3 to under 15 m3 of timber in a planted forest or from 05 m3 to under 07 m3 of timber in a natural forest.
Thus, when there is an act of illegal extraction in a protective forest, the fine can range from 1,000,000 to 100,000,000 depending on the area illegally exploited in Vietnam.
Best regards!
