Returning to Cáy village, Nà Tấu commune in the final days of the year on a long stretching concrete road, lush green forest canopies shading the way into the village stand as proof of the preservation efforts of the people here. Village head Lò Văn Thơi said that over 120ha of forest entrusted to the community has become the common responsibility of every household. People assign patrols in groups, record forest developments, and timely inform functional forces if they notice anything unusual.

According to Lò Văn Thơi, along with the increasingly raised sense of responsibility, people clearly see the practical benefits from the forest. The source of money paid for forest environmental services received regularly helps households’ lives become more well-off. Many families have conditions to repair houses, buy production tools, and invest in their children’s education.

In Nặm Cứm village, the people’s consensus to preserve the ancient ban forest has created a special mark. Ban trees stretching on hillsides, interspersed among stilt houses, have become a familiar part of community life. Thanks to care and protection, every March, Nặm Cứm village is immersed in the pure white color of ban flowers, creating a poetic scene.

Also from well-preserving the ban forest, the value of ancient ban trees has opened up new development opportunities for Nặm Cứm people. Natural beauty blended with characteristic cultural space helps Nặm Cứm become a destination attracting tourists who want to explore the Northwest land.

Mùa A Lầu, Head of Nặm Cứm village, shared: The ban forest is the common property of the village, so every family has a responsibility to preserve it. Especially since the policy of developing community tourism, people are even more conscious of taking care of the forest. People clean up the entrance to the village, renovate houses, preserve customs, practice art performances and signature dishes to serve guests. Some households boldly registered to run homestays, expecting the ban forest will bring a new, stable, and long-term source of revenue.

Reality shows that forest keeping work at the grassroots level previously faced many difficulties due to a lack of on-site forces as well as uneven forest protection awareness. Thanks to promoting dissemination, assigning clear responsibilities, and mobilizing people to participate in self-management, forest areas in many places have been better protected. Nguyễn Hữu Đại, Chairman of the Mường Chà commune People’s Committee, said: “The Party Committee, authorities, and forest ranger force regularly coordinate closely with the community to guide techniques, build forest protection conventions, maintain patrol teams, and encourage people to develop livelihoods associated with the forest. This method helps people clearly see their role in preserving the forest right from the village.”

In the area of villages belonging to the old Pa Tần commune (now belonging to Mường Chà commune), when people were assigned management by household groups, many forest areas were gradually restored thanks to zoning for regeneration and minimizing negative impacts on the forest. Village forest protection teams maintain operations combining patrols with exchanging experiences on identifying regenerating trees, tending vegetation cover, and keeping water sources at streams. Thanks to the community’s joining of hands, many previously sparse forest patches have now become thick again, contributing to improving the living environment for people in the area.

According to Nguyễn Hữu Đại, people in the area have been attached to the forest for a long time, so when assigned management, they are more proactive in protecting and preserving every tree and patch of forest. Households participating in forest protection enjoy forest environmental service money, support for training on zoning for regeneration, clearing vegetation, and forest fire prevention and fighting according to the motto “village self-manages, people self-do.” Thanks to that, Mường Chà commune has become one of the areas with forest area maintained stably.

It can be said that assigning forests to the community and maintaining self-management models at the grassroots level has created an important premise for the forest environmental service payment policy to be effective. This method encourages people to stick closer to the assigned forest area and proactively protect the forest as a part of the family’s livelihood. According to statistics, by the end of the third quarter of 2025, the province had paid forest environmental service money for 2024 to 6,394 forest owners with a total amount of VND 165.124 billion, reaching 98% of the plan. Payment of outstanding money from previous years was also completed for 428 forest owners with an amount of VND 4.738 billion.

Trần Đức Quyền, Deputy Head of the Forest Protection Management Division of the Forest Protection Sub-department under the Department of Agriculture and Environment, said that implementing the forest environmental service policy to each forest owner has helped raise people’s awareness and responsibility in forest management and protection. Thanks to that, the number of deforestation cases has decreased markedly; village communities proactively coordinate with the forest ranger force in patrolling and detecting violations. Many localities once considered hotspots for deforestation for farming have now focused on protecting forests and taking care of every assigned area.