Deputy director of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development\'s Forestry Department Doan Hoai Nam spoke to Dai Doan Ket (Great Unity) newspaper about forest fire prevention efforts.

Could you give us a run-down on the current situation regarding forest fires?

Forest fires have occurred in 11 provinces and cities nationwide, particularly in the northern mountainous and south-eastern regions, since the beginning of this year, with more than 278 hectares of forest were ruined.

The northern provinces of Quang Ninh and Lang Son were the hardest hit, with 400ha of forest burnt since the new year.

At present, there are rains in the northern region so forest fires are limited.

The north-western region is facing a high risk of forest fires but local authorities have prepared preventive measures.

What preparations have been made to prevent forest fires?

Local authorities and relevant forces are tasked with forest fire response strategies when their provinces are at medium risk of forest fire, and have to be on guard at forests when their provinces are at four or five warning level - the highest warning level. Watches will be carried out over 24-hour periods.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has set up four working teams to inspect high-risk localities in the north-western region, including Son La, Dien Bien, Lai Chau and Lao Cai. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is scheduled to inspect the situation in the Central Highlands region. These are the two regions that are at the four and five warning level for risk of forest fire.

Local authorities of high-risk localities have instructed relevant agencies, including forest wardens and police to prevent forest goers from bringing explosives and flammable items into forests.

What are key reasons for forest fires?

Farming activities are the key reasons. Many people burn forested land down in order to use the land for cultivation. Additionally, it is also partly caused by bombs and mines left from previous wars. Some local people have dug up the bombs and mines to extract the iron for sale, making the bombs and mines easier to explode during hot weather, causing forest fires.

Forest fire also happens as a result of lightning strikes.

What long-term preventive measures can be taken?

The main reason for forest fires is farming activities, so during high-risk periods, we ask forest wardens to increase inspections to prevent local people from bringing explosives and flammable items into forests. The most important measure is speeding up information dissemination to raise local people\'s awareness. We should also make people aware of the results of cases which have resulted in punishment of those violating the law for forest protection to deter them from burning forests.

Additionally, there should be measures to increase the efficiency of management over land usage and develop mechanisms and policies to improve local authority\'s capacity and finances to protect forests.

Local authorities should regularly inspect forest protection tasks as well as forest fire prevention efforts.