Three Forest Development Projects Proposed for 2006-07

The Forest Sector Support Program Coordination Office (FSSP-CO) and 24 international partners involving in forest management on December 15 made a proposal to the Government to conduct three forest development projects in the 2006-07 period with a combined investment of EUR2.5 million.

 

The projects, which are due to be piloted in ten provinces nationwide, will focus on community-based forest management, sustainable partners in forestland management, assigning responsibility of forest management to the community together with tightening control over natural resources for the sake of poverty reduction and hunger eradication.

 

The proposition was launched at an FSSP-CO’s conference on the same day in Hanoi to assess the administration and support for Vietnam’s forest development in 2005 and to work out plans for the next two years.

 

During the occasion, attendants reviewed the FSSP-CO’s achievements in 2005, including acting as an advisor for the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and the Government to compile the national Forestry Strategy in the 2006-20 period, implementing a project to grow 5 million ha of forests and allocating funding from domestic and international sources to the country’s forest development projects.

 

Neglect in forest management and development at the local level has been mainly ascribed to the hesitance of partners in assisting Vietnam’s forest development projects, assessed Nguyen Ngoc Binh, Director of the Forest Department and Director of the FSSP-CO.

 

In response to the situation, the FSSP-CO has planned to launch a joint assessment program that will be carried out by the Vietnamese Government and international partnerships, stressing on simplifying administrative procedures, creating incentive policies and granting soft loans of international partners to the sector.