ASSESSMENT OF PAYMENT FOR FOREST ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES IN VIET NAM

Abstract

Forest ecosystems play an important role for human and creatures living on Earth. However, these ecosystems are seriously degraded due to human ativities. Facing this situation, the Government of Vietnam has issued Decree No. 99/2010/ND-CP of September 24, 2010, on the policy for payment for forest environmental services and Decree No. 156/2018 /ND-CP, detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Forest Law to mobilize community resources to participate in the forest protection and development. The research evaluated the implementation of payment for forest environment services ( PFES) from 2011 to 2019. In this period, the amount collected from forest environment services was more than 12,281 billion Dong, reducing pressure on the state budget, improving the economy for households participating in forest protection among 80% ethnic minorities. The total forest area eligible for PFES is over 5.986 million ha, accounting for 42% of the total forest area nationwide. Besides, the author also analyzed the advantages and problems existing and proposed some solutions to improve the effectiveness of the implementation of the policy on PFES.