Nowadays, Vietnam is concurrently implementing two major programs in forestry: Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) and Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+).
In their own way, both of the programs are involved in the illegal timber issue. Emissions from deforestation, a problem addressed by REDD+, is one of the key issues causing deforestation and preventing sustainable forest management. FLEGT also considers the prevention of illegal timber practices to be the primary goal of the program.
To better understand REDD+ and analyze the linkage between the two programs in order to enhance the effectiveness of forest governance and benefits to local forest-dependent, from October 23rd – 25th, in Da Nang, the Vietnamese Non-Governmental Organisation on FLEGT (VNGO-FLEGT) network held a workshop in order to build a study on the linkage.
SRD Executive Director - Mrs. Vu Thi Bich Hop, chair of the network's steering committee
During the workshop, experts and delegates from many organisations and localities shared problems and analyzed the program’s approach and impact in terms of legal timber in communities in Vietnam. The study teams built outlines, orientations, and questionnaires and organized tools and field-trips.
According to Mrs. Hop, the chair of the Network’s Steering Committee, both of the programs are playing a big role in the forests’ sustainable development and in combating illegal timber. Combining the common points of both programs and promoting their advantages is important and will increase the effectiveness of each, which is extremely meaningful because the Vietnamese Government has been negotiating a Voluntary Partnership Agreement on FLEGT (VPA FLEGT) with the European Union. The VPA will create multiple impacts on households and small businesses engaging in the timber supply chain.
An important element of the VPA is the establishment of the Timber Legality Assurance Systems (TLAS) and the Legality Definition (LD). Vietnam is designing the TLAS in order to ensure that only legal timber is exported. The Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) are engaged and actively contributing to the VPA negotiation between the Vietnamese Government and the EU so that management agencies might better consolidate the issues on the negotiating table.
It is reported that the VNGO-FLEGT network will pilot the study in Lam Dong from November 2015 and expand to 4 provinces where REDD+ of UNREDD is currently, in 2016. The study results will be the basis for coordination in project development to improve the effectiveness between the programs.
Thai Son
Centre for Sustainable Rural Development (SRD)
No.31, Alley 19 Kim Dong Street, Hoang Mai District, Ha Noi
Phone: +84 24 3943 6676/78 | Fax: +84 24 3943 6449
