Illustrative Image (Source: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Up-to-date information on forest coverage, forest fires,and silviculture are fully integrated in the Management Information System forForest Sector in Vietnam (FORMIS) software, which is useful for the Statemanagement and the building of forestry strategy.
At a forum on information and forest resources database held in Hanoi on June 6,Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Ha Cong Tuan said thatVietnamese people can control their forest resources, ensure food security anddiversify their income by using the software.
The forestry database, which is available athttp://maps.vnforest.gov.vn should be popularised so that data could be fullyexploited, he said, adding that it should be an open source because it does notonly serve the forestry sector, but other sectors and the whole society canaccess and use the data.
The database was developed under the phase two of the FORMIS project (FORMIS II)financed by the government of Finland, the Trust Fund for Forests and theVietnamese Government.
According to Nguyen Binh Minh, deputy director of the FORMIS II project, thedatabase includes statistics from the National Forest Inventory and Statistics (NFIS)which was integrated with national forest inventory data of all 60 provinceswith forest coverage.
Tapio Leppanen, chief consultant of the project, said that the database was theachievement of the whole country.
He expressed his hope that it will be updatedand used effectively and everyone can access the database.
The openness of the database will help strengthen its feasibility andtransparency, he noted.
Participants at the forum agreed that the software would be updated and provideaccurate information. In addition, local officials’ capacity must be improvedto handle information, mechanisms and policies to further develop theproject.-VNA
VNA
