Procedures for forests repurposing in Vietnam

Protection forests are mainly used to protect water sources, protect soil, prevent erosion, landslides, flash floods, pipe floods, prevent desertification, minimize natural disasters, stabilize climate, contribute to environment protection, national defense and security, combining eco-tourism, convalescence and entertainment; provide forest environmental services. With such essential uses, when organizations and individuals want to change the purpose of using protection forests, they need to meet the conditions specified in Article 19 of the Law on Forestry 2017 of Vietnam, including:

- Forest repurposing shall be in compliance with the national forestry planning, land use plans and planning.

- Competent state authorities shall make decisions on forest repurposing.

- Forest repurposing shall have investment projects approved by competent state authorities.

- There shall be replacement afforestation plans approved by competent state authorities after payment for replacement afforestation is fully made.

Depending on the location and area of the protection forest, the competence and procedures for deciding on the policy of changing forest use purposes to other purposes are different. This article focuses on the procedures for forest repurposing for watershed or bordering protection forests, wind/sand shielding protection forests or protection forests for tide shielding/sea encroachment prevention provided that area of each forest is at least 20 ha - types of protection forests under the decision-making authority of the People's Council of the province.

Procedures for deciding on the policy of forest repurposing are specified in Article 41 of the Decree No. 156/2018/NĐ-CP, amended by Clause 1 Article 1 of Decree No. 83/2020/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government as follows:

Step 1: Any organization or individual that applies for forest repurposing shall submit an application to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, whether in person or by post. The application includes:

- An application form for forest repurposing;

- A report on investment project proposal or a pre-feasibility study report enclosed with written appraisal given by the competent authority.

Regarding the project whose investment guidelines have been approved by the competent authority or in which investment has been decided by a competent authority, the following is required: the written approval for investment guidelines; or the investment registration certificate; the written approval for investment guidelines or the investment decision; the investment license or the investment certificate issued by a competent authority.

- A document stating environmental impact assessment;

- A report on explanation for or map of the forest status (with a scale of 1/2000), result of survey of the forest to be repurposed (forest area and forest reserves).

If the application is insufficient, within 03 working days from receipt of the application, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development shall respond to the applicant in writing.

Within 05 working days from receipt of the valid application, the Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development shall notify the provincial People’s Committee.

Step 2: Appraisal of application

Within 20 working days from receipt of the valid application, the provincial People’s Committee shall appraise it.

If the appraisal result shows that the application is unsatisfactory, the provincial People's Committee shall respond to the applicant in writing and provide explanation.

Step 3: Deciding on the policy of forest repurposing

Within 10 working days from the appraisal, the provincial People’s Committee shall submit a dossier to the People's Council of the same province for decision on the forest repurposing guidelines.

Note: For an investment project that involves forest repurposing, the forest repurposing guidelines are part of the written approval for project investment guidelines.

If a project has had its investment guidelines approved but the decision on investment guidelines has not specified the area of the repurposed forest, follow the 3-step instructions above.

Hoa Hong

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