Hanoi (VNA), Feb. 29 -- Boasting great resources of forest and forest land, Vietnam is advised to develop forest ecosystem services , especially forest-based ecotourism to create jobs and improve incomes for locals, contributing to sustainable poverty reduction among mountainous communities.

A report from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), in 2022, Vietnam had 14,790,075 ha of forest area, of which 10,134,082 ha were natural forests and 4,655,933 ha were planted ones.

According to the MARD's Department of Forestry , income from forest services is about 40 trillion VND (1.62 billion USD) each year, including about 2 trillion VND from forest tourism .

Since 2016, forest-based community tourism has thrived. In 2022 ...