Special-Use Forest Planning and Implementation – Southern Regional Technical Assistance Team

The Governments of Vietnam, Finland, and the Netherlands along with the World Bank have provided a loan to the Forest Sector Development Project (FSDP), along with a grant for the technical assistance. The six-year project supports sustainable forest plantation management and conservation of biodiversity in Special-use forests throughout the country. FSDP provides credit and technical advice to households to establish some 66, 000 ha of financially viable plantations in the four project provinces, with the aim of increasing income for poor households. Furthermore, the project provides grants through the Vietnam Conservation Fund (VCF) to initiate and improve management of selected Special-use Forests (SUFs) of high biodiversity value on a competitive basis.

The objective of the project is to achieve sustainable management of (plantation) forests and the conservation of biodiversity in Special-Use Forests to enhance the contribution of forestry to rural poverty reduction and global environment protection. This objective will be attained by improving environment for sustainable forestry development and biodiversity conservation; providing attractive packages to mainly poor farming households to plant trees on a sustainable basis for the generation of additional income and employment; providing small competitive grants for managing priority Special-Use Forests of international importance effectively; and enhancing capacity in regional, provincial, district-levels, and site-levels to provide needed support services and to monitor and evaluate impact and outcomes.

This assignment falls under Component 3, the Special–Use Forest Component which aims at:
• Establishing the Vietnam Conservation Fund (VCF), a new financing mechanism that will provide small grants to initiate and improve management of Special-Use Forests of high biodiversity value on a competitive basis; and
• Mobilising international and local technical assistance to build the capacity of the Special-Use Forest Management Boards and local communities at sites which receive grants support. Technical assistance will also build capacity at central level to establish and mange the VCF and support the integration of the VCF as a long term national conservation financing mechanism.
This component is implemented nationally and includes two sub-components: (a) Conservation Fund Establishment and Operations; and (b) Special-Use Forest Planning and Implementation, through three regional TA teams operating in Northern, Central and Southern Vietnam.