Conserving and restoring natural forest in Vietnam: Vision and policy solutions

Vietnam has nearly 10.3 million hectares of natural forest out of a total of 14.6 million hectares of forest (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, 2019). In the criteria of forest area and cover, forests in Vietnam have almost been recovered like it was in 1943, when Vietnam’s first data on forests nationwide was available. Although the forest cover has been restored, the quality of the forest has been degraded, the diversity is low, ecological functions degraded and there is no intact forest.

In 2020, Vietnam has suffered heavy consequences of natural disasters, floods & landslides caused serious damages. The question is why the disaster mitigation role of forest has not helped while the forest cover has been restored. Under the new emerged problem, protection value of forests was again raised as an important solution to mitigate damages and improve resilience. For this reason, Vietnamese Government recently raised new initiatives and commitments to protect the forest, especially natural forests.

On December 23rd, 2020, the People and Nature Reconciliation center (PanNature), the Center for Nature Conservation and Development (CCD) and the Vietnam Forest Owners Association (VIFORA) jointly organized the Workshop “Conserving and restoring the natural forest system in Vietnam: Vision and policy solutions” in Hanoi.

The workshop has more than 130 participants from state forestry agencies, protected areas, protection forests, research institutions, businesses, communities, experts and other stakeholders to share, discuss and propose solutions to help conserve and restore natural forests in Vietnam.

During the workshop, stakeholders share current policy framework on forest management and highlight legal & technical barriers, as well as resources needed for the restoration and management of natural forests. Especially, opportunities and new initiatives that help to mobilize public contributions for forest protection and restoration.

The workshop is one of the first events which discusses on forest restoration after the Government announced its plan of planting 1 billion trees to respond to climate change and mitigate natural disasters. This workshop opened a new forum and provide opportunities for stakeholders to discuss, share their experiences, and recommendations on consolidating national legal framework and resources mobilization to improve forest quality and extension of natural forest in Vietnam.