Decree No. 333/PM on Protection Forest.

This Decree defines principles, procedures, and measures for management, protection, development, and sustainable use of the protection forest, with the aims of exploiting the protection forests and the protection forestry lands, ensuring the protection of environment, water sources, soil erosion, and safeguarding soil quality the strategic national defense and public security forests, in order to contribute to the improvement of the living standards of people and the national socio-economic development. The Protection Forests are the forests and the forestry lands which are located in the areas of the water sources, watershed areas, wetland forest, and river bank’s forest, road side forest, including the forest in and around the town, Municipality or outskirts of city, village’s sacred forests and cemeteries. The protection forests have the total area of 8,200,000 hectares, which are determined for protecting watershed areas, natural environments, soil erosion, natural disasters, strategic points for the defense-public security and other types of forests.
This Decree is divided as follows: General Provisions (I); Determination, Approval and Announcement of the Protection Forests Areas (II); The Activities of the Protection Forests and the Protection Forestry Lands (III); Administration of the Protection Forests and Protection Forestry Lands (IV); Benefits and Obligations of the Users of the Protection Forests and Lands (V); Funds and Obligations in management, Conservation, and Development of Protection Forests and Protection Forestry lands (VI); and Final Provisions (VII).