Tet tree-planting festival needs effective and practical measures.

Following President Ho Chi Minh's teaching “Spring is the time for planting trees; Making the country all the more dazzling as eternal springtime.”, over the past 60 years, party committees, local authorities and people all over the country have responded, actively participating in the movement of planting trees, planting forests and protecting forests while achieving great results. Thereby, these movements have contributed to socio-economic development, the eradication of hunger and a reduction in poverty, promoting the protective role of forests, improving the environment, reducing natural disasters and helping to fight against climate change.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), in 2019, although the weather caused many adverse events and incidents, directly affecting agricultural production, forestry and people's lives. Localities throughout the country have planted more than 220, 000 hectares of concentrated plantation forest and 60 million scattered trees. The results have contributed to ensure a stable supply of raw materials for the processing industry with an output of more than 30 million m3 of wood per year; the rate of forest coverage reaches 41.85%. Forest protection has undergone positive changes over recent years, in the direction of reducing both the number of violations and damaged forest areas. The revenue from forest-based environmental services has achieved good results with over VND2.8 trillion, which is an important and sustainable financial source of the forestry industry. The export value of the wood and forest product processing industry reached more than US$11 billion, up 19% compared to 2018. However, the forestry industry still faces many difficulties and challenges, notably; coastal afforestation has not reached the set out target; people's lives and incomes in the industry are still low; the issue of deforestation still remains and forest fires are complicated issue in some localities.

In order to promote the achieved results, and to overcome the difficulties and limitations, while preparing to organise a practical and effective Tet tree-planting festival, on December 6, 2019, the MARD issued a Directive on launching "The Tet tree-planting festival to express the eternal gratitude to Uncle Ho" on the occasion of the Spring of the year 2020. Accordingly, the forestry sector, localities, agencies and organisations have been requested to continue to communicate and organise the implementation of the Forestry Law competently, ensuring that the legal forest regulations are applied synchronously, uniformly and effectively in tandem with the reality of the situation . The MARD has also directed localities and units to formulate tree planting and afforestation plans in association with the implementation of the 2020 targets and the 2015-2020 period under the Forest Sustainable Development Target Programme in the 2016-2020 period approved by the Prime Minister in Decision No. 886 / QD-TTg dated June 16, 2017 and a proposal to completely restructure the forestry sector. The organising of the launching of the Tet tree-planting festival for the northern provinces will take place in the early spring of 2020, meanwhile, for the southern provinces it will be held on the occasion of Uncle Ho's birthday (May 19), which is a suitable time for the planting trees and afforestation season of each locality.

In order to effectively implement the directive, localities, agencies and organisations need to increase communication, education and encourage people to actively participate in planting trees and afforestation. Thereby, it is necessary to raise the awareness of all classes of people of their roles, of the effects, the value of forests, the meaning of planting trees and afforestation, the protection of forests, the ecological environment protection and to contribute and response to climate change. The organising Tet tree-planting festival must be practical, efficient and unobtrusive; creating conditions for agencies, organisations, schools, armed forces and all people to actively participate in planting trees and afforestation. It is necessary to strengthen the management of forestry seed quality, select appropriate plant species and prepare good quality seedlings; while making use of seasonal and favorable weather conditions to ensure a high survival rate; apply advanced techniques in planting large timber forests; improve productivity, quality and value of planted forests; carry out the caring, management and protecting forests, assigning specific management responsibilities for the suitable development of plants and planted forests. After implementing the Tet tree-planting festival, it is necessary to organise the evaluation, reviewing, praising and rewarding organisations and individuals, who carry out their tasks well and effectively manage the planted trees.