ANALYSIS OF POLICIES ON NATURAL FOREST RESTORATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE REVISION
Keywords:
Natural forest, forest restoration,, policiesAbstract
Vietnam owns nearly 10.2 million ha of natural forest, accounting for 69% of the forest land area nationwide.
Natural forest plays a significant and strategic role in economic, social, and environmental development.
However, for many reasons, this type of forest has been seriously degraded in both quantity and quality. The
government has promulgated a system of policies on natural forest restoration, which has created a legal
corridor for natural forest restoration in Vietnam. Nevertheless, the result of natural forest restoration during
the past years has been very low because of Vietnam’s “logging ban” policy, in which all activities impacted
on natural forest are prohibited. The policies and techniques for forest restoration are inappropriate to the
situation and do not attract the participation of the different stakeholders. Therefore, boosting the natural forest
restoration in Vietnam requires a new perspective with the approach of multi -direction and sustainability. It is
necessary to revise a range of related policies, such as management, benefit-sharing mechanism, investment,
P-FES, and the specific regulations on silvicultural techniques, as well as identify priority areas for restoration,
focusing on poor and extremely poor forests.
References
1. Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development, 2018. Circular 29/2018/TT-BNNPTNT dated 16/11/2019 stipulating the silvicultural measures.
2. Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development, 2022. Decision 2860/QĐ-BNN-KHCN dated 27/7/2022 announcing the National Forest Status in 2021.
3. Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development, 2023. Decision 296/QĐ-BNN-KHCN dated 16/01/2023 on the approval of the Strategy on Science and technology development and Innovation of the Agricultural and Rural Sector to 2030, vision to 2050.
4. Government, 2018. Decree 156/2018/NĐ-CP dated 16/11/2018 detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Forest Law.
5. Vietnam Assembly, 2017. Forest Law 16/2017/QH14 dated 15/11/2017
6. Prime Minister, 2014. Decision 2242/QĐ-TTg dated 11/12/2014 on the approval of the Scheme to strengthen the management of logging in the natural forest from 2014 to 2020.
7. Prime Minister, 2016. Decision 38/2016/QĐ-TTg dated 14/9/2016 on promulgating a number of policies on forest protection and development and investment of infrastructure, and assigning public utility tasks to the agricultural and forestry companies.
8. Prime Minister, 2017. Decision 419/QĐ-TTg dated 05/4/2017 on approval of the National Program on reduction of GHG emission through limiting forest loss and degradation; conservation and enhancement of Carbon stock; and sustainable management of forest resources to 2030.
9. Prime Minister, 2020. Decision 1055/QĐ-TTg dated 20/7/2020 on the promulgation of the National plan to adapt to climate change for the period 2021 - 2030, vision to 2050.
10. Prime Minister, 2021. Decision 523/QĐ-TTg dated 01/4/2021 on approval of the Vietnam Forestry Development Strategy for the period 2021 - 2030, vision to 2050.
11. Prime Minister, 2022. Decision 809/QĐ-TTg dated 12/7/2022 on approval of the Program for Sustainable Forestry Development from 2021 - 2025.
12. Prime Minister, 2022. Decision 896/QĐ-TTg dated 26/7/2022 on approval of National Strategy on Climate Change to 2050.
13. Prime Minister, 2022. Decision 150/QĐ-TTg dated 28/01/2022 on approval of Sustainable Agricultural and rural development Strategy in the period of 2021 - 2030, vision to 2050.
