From May to June 2015, member organizations of the VNGO-FLEGT network conducted scoping study in the four provinces of Hoa Binh, Nghe An, Binh Dinh and Kon Tum. The scoping study will set up the ground for the coming baseline research in 2015. These research activities are within the scope of project “Promoting Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) in Southeast Asia through proactive Civil Society Organizations engagement”, funded by the EU through FERN.

The experts conducting research

Led by four key organizations, which are the Center for Sustainable Rural Development (SRD), the Consultative and Research Center for Natural Resource Management (CORENARM), the Research Institute for Sustainable Forest Management and Forest Certification (SFMI), and the Northern Mountainous Agriculture and Forestry Science Institute (ADC) and with the participation of 8 other organizations in the Network, the scoping study has been completed as planned. On June 19^th 2015, the organizations held a meeting to share the results of the study and gather comments from other stakeholders attending the meeting. These included representatives of the Vietnam Administration of Forestry, the European Forest Institute (EFI), the Vietnam Union of Scientific and Technological Associations (VUSTA), and the European Union (EU).

The scoping study will be the basis for choosing the locations and target groups for the Network’s baseline study on the capacity of forest-dependent communities to comply with timber legality requirements in July and August 2015, as part of the VPA/FLEGT independent monitoring by civil society.

-SRD-