On July 9, 2020, the Centre for Sustainable Rural Development (SRD) received an official announcement from the United Nations Democratic Fund (UNDEF) about its approval for the project “Dialogue for Sustainable Forest Development in Vietnam” (Project number UDF-18-825-VIE). 

The project will be implemented in two years as from July 2020. It aims to enhance the dialogue among civil society organizations (CSOs), community-based organizations (CBOs) and state management agencies for more transparency and accountability in the forestry sector in Dakrong district, Quang Tri province, Vietnam. It plans to develop a forest change independent monitoring system using near real-time satellite technology (Terra-I). It will build CSOs’ capacity for using the Terra-I system to collect and verify forest changes as evidence and basis for a dialogue with forestry management agencies, so as to push for investigation into causes of unplanned changes, and for preventive action. Once this citizen-based monitoring system has been proven to function well, there is the possibility for scaling up in the Emission Reduction Program in six North Central Coast provinces of Viet Nam 2019-2025 (which is in the approval process by the Government).

The project targets Ba Nang, Dakrong and Huong Hiep communes of Dakrong district, Quang Tri province. Beneficiaries are CSOs in Quang Tri and Dakrong while CBOs are mainly from target communes. Villagers in 3 selected communes also benefit from the project through awareness raising and information sharing.

From now to the end of July 2020, SRD is planning to work with its partners in Quang Tri to organize a Project Launching Workshop and to prepare for the project implementation in the time to come./.