It said that this involved the seizure of 180,000cu.m of timber and more than 254 tonnes of wild animals.

The report was presented at a meeting to evaluate how Government Circular No 144 on forest management had been carried out by forest officers, police and soldiers.

Nguyen Van Cuong, deputy head of the department, also complimented the forces for responding quickly and efficiently to many forest fires.

Since 2006, 1,946 forest fires had been kept under control, including one that destroyed 750ha of forest in northern Lao Cai Province in February this year.

Officers from different sectors also collaborated in carrying out campaigns to raise people's awareness about forest protection and fire prevention.

Lao Cai authorities have broadcast programmes in four different including those of Tay, Yao and Mong languages. Local people in Lao Cai have handed in thousands of guns and grenades used for killing animals.

According to the deputy head of the General Department of Forestry, Ha Cong Tuan, collaboration among different sectors is not thorough enough, which has led to the deterioration of the forests in many places.

Tuan also said the percentage of people caught destroying forest was low. However, in the border zones, the logging of rare and valuable timber was high because fines were not stiff enough.

Bui Van Dinh, head of the forest management office in the northern province of Bac Kan , recommended that the Government set up a flexible network to deal with urgent forest law violations.

One suggestion was that each government office's responsibility in protecting the forest and dealing with violators should be clearly defined.

According to representatives at the meeting, forest management officers should assist the process of distributing land and forest to local people and accelerate the nation's programmes to reduce poor households.

They should also get involved in programmes such as developing economic zones to help poor householders find other means of livelihood apart from illegal forest exploitation.

And soldiers should consider forest protection as one of the activities to protect the nation's security.