The Department of Forestry and Forest Protection under the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has issued a document requesting the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Lam Dong Province to urgently review and clarify a sharp decline in the natural forest area recorded in 2025, which fell by more than 17,700 hectares compared with 2024.
According to the department, the People’s Committee of Lam Dong Province, on February 27, 2026, announced the province’s forest status for 2025, indicating that the area of natural forest had decreased by 17,715 hectares year on year. The forestry authority, therefore, asked the provincial department to identify the precise locations, areas, and current status of each forest area that recorded a decline, and to determine the causes and timing of the changes, down to individual forest plots.
In response, the Lam Dong Department of Agriculture and Environment submitted a detailed explanatory report. The report stated that the province’s total natural forest area in 2025, after administrative reorganization and adjustments, stood at about 930,156 hectares, down 17,715 hectares from the previous year.
Notably, most of the reported reduction was attributed to discrepancies between map-based data and actual conditions. According to the 2024 forest status map, these areas had been classified as natural forest. However, a 2025 review using satellite imagery combined with field inspections revealed that the forests had disappeared many years earlier, with much of the land encroached upon and converted by local residents for agricultural production.
Direct causes of forest loss accounted for only a small portion of the total decline. These included illegal logging and forest fires affecting 29.12 hectares, landslides caused by natural disasters covering 62.72 hectares, and the conversion of 35.27 hectares of forest land for socio-economic development projects.
The Lam Dong Department of Agriculture and Environment also acknowledged that forest monitoring and updates in several localities and among some forest owners had not been carried out promptly, leading to discrepancies in statistical data between different years. In addition, accurately determining the timing and causes of forest loss for the misclassified areas has proven difficult because the changes occurred long before the latest review.
In response to the situation, the Department of Forestry and Forest Protection has instructed local authorities to continue conducting a comprehensive review while strengthening forest management and protection, and strictly handling violations, particularly those leading to the loss of natural forests. Lam Dong Province has continued inspections and verification efforts to clarify the full extent of forest area fluctuations.
