Prime Minister's Decision on Adoption of Resolutions of the Forest Management, Forest Inspection, and Timber Business Meeting (January 25-26, 2012)

Article 1

Resolution of the Conference on Forest Management, Forest Inspection and Timber Business held in Vientiane City from January 25 to 26, 2012, with the main content being directions and measures to improve forest management, inspection and timber business, and to achieve the set forest protection strategic goals, as follows:\n\nI. General Understanding and Views:\n1.1 Forest resources play an important role in the national economic and social development and the current and future livelihoods of people of all ethnic groups; forest management in the past period has remained relatively chaotic, with a lack of good coordination among central agencies and between central and local levels; timber harvesting in most production forest areas has not been carried out in accordance with the sustainable management system, still bearing a scattered nature, not conforming to professional principles, laws and regulations, the Party's policy direction, and the spirit of the Party Congress and the national five-year economic and social development plan; there has been a lack of strictness in implementing existing laws and regulations, thereby creating new conditions for exploiting loopholes for profit in various ways, causing huge losses of interests to the nation and the people.\n1.2 The management, inspection and development of forests, i.e., forest management and operation, must correctly ensure sustainability, comply with government policies, must protect areas that are still covered, whether inside or outside the three types of forest areas, and must not allow them to be destroyed or further degraded; at the same time, degraded areas must be restored to forests to achieve the forest protection strategic goals of 65% forest coverage by 2015 and 70% by 2020.\n\nII. Work Involving General Policies:\n2.1 Complete as soon as possible the comprehensive land use zoning at national, provincial and district levels, as a basis for perfecting the land concession approval system, achieving centralized and unified management, and clearly delineate various types of land areas to determine the development direction, planning and specific uses of each type of land, making them coordinated and non-conflicting.\n2.2 Do not illegally change land use within the three types of forest areas, and in areas outside the three types of forest areas where trees still exist.\n2.3 Re-perfect the forest management system, divide district-level forest management areas into several management sub-areas according to village development groups, and establish specialized management teams to clarify responsible entities and establish systematic management that facilitates public participation.\n2.4 Stop the practice of offsetting debts by issuing timber quotas to direct investors; must shift to a systematic, transparent, and effective method of repayment through the budget to avoid exploiting loopholes for profit and unreasonable loss of national interests. When it is truly necessary to offset debts with timber, a committee must be established to study implementation methods that are systematic, effective, transparent, non-delaying, and can bring maximum benefits to the nation; under no circumstances shall timber be exchanged for projects.\n\nIII. Protection Forest and Conservation Forest Management Work:\n3.1 Urgently issue regulations on the establishment of national conservation forests, as a basis for detailing into specialized regulations, and as a basis for future conservation forest management and operation work.\n3.2 Urgently and effectively perfect the organizational structure for the management and operation of conservation forests and protection forests.\n3.3 Concentrate efforts to clearly define the boundaries of protection forests and conservation forests, formulate management plans that combine development with improving the lives of residents in protection forest and conservation forest areas, making their lives better than before.\n3.4 Establish support mechanisms to promote sustainable management of forests and biodiversity, combined with hydropower energy development, nature tourism and other field development, to encourage public participation as owners, such as: compensation mechanisms for forest resource protection; carbon credit mechanisms; compensation mechanisms for forest resource destruction or land use change; improving timber utilization efficiency, etc.\n3.5 Stop the digging, trading, and permitting of transit of rare, threatened, rare or endangered animal and plant species; strictly implement obligations and conventions already jointly implemented internationally (CITES), regionally and internationally; strictly manage the above species in accordance with the Forest Law.\n\nIV. Production Forest Zoning Work:\n4.1 Urgently prepare production forest zoning plans, to be completed by 2015, to bring forests into the sustainable management system.\n4.2 Combine with the zoning of the three types of forests to expand village forest zoning: promote intercropping of trees with crops or economically valuable non-timber forest products to increase household income and/or produce food crops, depending on suitable conditions.\n4.3 Promote forest certification, timber certification and timber product origin certification (chain of custody system), and improve timber processing and timber business.\n\nV. Timber Harvesting and Harvesting Management:\n5.1 Government approval of annual harvesting plans is limited to production forest areas with zoning plans, and areas where harvesting is truly necessary, such as: hydropower station construction areas, mining areas, transmission lines, roads, tree planting and industrial crop cultivation areas already approved by the government; special cases require approval, for the flooded forest in the Nam Theun 2 project area, harvesting 6,000 cubic meters annually, implemented according to the government's international commitments, as community forest income to increase the income of people in resettlement areas. Approval of annual harvesting plans shall be completed within July each year, and no additional permits shall be issued outside the approved annual plan. For the 2011-2012 harvesting year, the government shall only approve harvesting in areas already approved by the state, such as infrastructure construction project areas, tree planting and industrial crop cultivation areas, and implement strict management; for production forest areas where zoning and boundary surveys have been completed, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry shall summarize and submit to the government for decision before approving harvesting.\n5.2 Timber harvesting in production forest areas shall be carried out by provincial harvesting teams or provincial harvesting enterprises, with public participation where conditions permit. For harvesting approved by the government in infrastructure development and construction areas, mining areas, tree planting or industrial crop cultivation areas, harvesting tenders shall be organized to allow companies that meet conditions and can satisfy and guarantee technical standards to enter harvesting.\n5.3 Timber harvesting in hydropower station construction project areas must strictly comply with Regulation No. 0112/ກປ on Timber Harvesting and Post-Harvest Clearing within Hydropower Station Reservoir Areas (November 25, 2008).\n5.4 The study and approval of projects involving the requisition or change of land use of forest land must obtain opinions from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.\n5.5 Harvesting of non-timber forest products and medicinal plants for business purposes must be carried out based on systematic zoning plans and on-site survey results.\n5.6 Harvesting of prohibited (protected) timber shall be carried out in accordance with Article 101, point 8 of the Forest Law No. 06/ສພຊ dated December 24, 2007, except with government approval.\n5.7 The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, as the main body, is responsible for managing, inspecting and tracking the harvesting and transportation of logs, natural trees (used as ornamental trees), non-timber forest products, medicinal plants, and the transportation of various types of logs, standing trees, or various processed timber and various timber products (as stipulated in the Forest Law); mechanical tools (trailers, etc.) for harvesting, skidding, and transporting timber must have strict management regulations and measures.\n\nVI. Timber Business Management:\n6.1 Entrust the Ministry of Industry and Commerce to sell logs harvested from various sources through national-level public competitive bidding (inquiry) auctions, open to all domestic and foreign timber processing factories for participation.\n6.2 Reduce the number of timber processing factories to match the timber supply capacity of production forests; timber processing factories must meet the standards stipulated in Agreement No. 0719/ອຄ, must transition to an industrial production system, improve productivity and production factors to achieve modernization; clearly divide the approval and management of establishing timber processing factories between central and local levels, using forest supply capacity as the basis for issuing harvesting permits, factory expansion and related business.\n6.3 Stop issuing permits for purchasing backlogged timber; strictly control scattered purchasing, and mandate that timber transactions must be settled through banks.\n6.4 Review and perfect the enterprise registration of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and the agricultural and forestry business permits of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, making them specific to specialized activities in the forest sector.\n\nVII. Timber for Policy Implementation:\n7.1 Clearly establish a system for approving policy timber and various supporting development timber, in accordance with Articles 40 and 41 of the Forest Law. For projects of the Ministry of Education and Sports using timber to support school construction, implementation shall follow Article 40 of the Forest Law; at the same time, it must also be accompanied by drawings and material lists, certified by the design and construction agency, and submitted with the special application documents to the relevant department before harvesting.\n7.2 Stop approving policy timber for families with meritorious service to the nation, retired cadres, etc.\n\nVIII. Forest Inspection Work:\n8.1 Abolish specialized groups established by local authorities for inspecting timber, so that relevant departments fully perform their duties.\n8.2 To perfect forest inspection work, enabling it to operate in a centralized and unified manner according to line departments, initially learn from the experience of international customs departments.\n8.3 Perfect the forest inspection system at checkpoints along border lines and at points deemed necessary. In the long term, perfect inspection work to cover all stages, from inspecting the implementation of various regulations and conditions in forest zoning, to harvesting inspection, management and tracking of forest product transportation, forest certification inspection, etc.\n8.4 Forest management along border lines should continue to conduct consultations at national, provincial and district levels, implemented in accordance with the International Border Protection Convention; also incorporate necessary development, such as road construction.\n\nIX. Advancing Processing, Business and Trade Management Work:\n9.1 Local authorities shall not issue regulations and additional fees for timber sales, timber transportation and timber exports beyond those stipulated by laws and regulations and national fees.\n9.2 Increase the development and management of timber energy production and use (such as firewood, charcoal, etc.), establish strict management tracking and inspection systems; the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the Ministry of Industry and Commerce shall jointly formulate necessary specialized regulations.\n\nX. Perfection and Implementation of Laws and Regulations:\n10.1 All parties jointly review and perfect the Forest Law and other regulations, making them strict and without loopholes, using the Forest Law as the basis to ensure coordination in various fields; particularly study and perfect Directive No. 17/ນຍ (September 22, 2008), and repeal Supplementary Directive No. 09/ນຍ (May 2, 2008) on Handling Backlogged Confiscated Timber, Collected Timber and Softwood Timber and Agreement No. 23/ນຍ (February 24, 2009).\n10.2 Increase the strictness of implementing various regulations, shifting to strict management according to law.\n10.3 Urgently issue supplementary regulations on timber harvesting in mining areas, hydropower station construction areas, roads, transmission lines, tree planting and industrial crop cultivation areas, and areas outside production forests.\n\nXI. Division of Management Responsibilities Among Departments:\n11.1 The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is directly responsible for various fields involving protection forest and conservation forest areas.\n11.2 The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is directly responsible for various fields involving production forest areas and forest land outside the three types of forest areas, and planted forests; in addition, it is directly responsible for forest inspection work and forest certification work.\n11.3 The Ministry of Industry and Commerce is directly responsible for pricing and trading of forest product sales.