Countries that border the
Mekong River can learn from Vietnam’s excellent management of its
Payments for Forest Environmental Services programme, said Luca Tacconi,
Associate Dean of the College of the Asia and Pacific at Australia’s
Crawford School of Public Policy.
Tacconi made the statement at a
seminar on payments for environmental services in Hanoi on November 24.
Enterprises benefiting from unharmed forests fund the programme in
Vietnam, while in Thailand, for example, the government must provide the
funding.
The programme creates incentives for individuals and
communities to protect environmental services by compensating them for
any costs incurred in managing and providing those services.
In
2004, the Government of Vietnam, drawing on an internationally
recognised system, laid the foundations for a nationwide programme set
out in the revised Forest Protection and Development Law.
In
2008, a Government decision created support for pilot projects in Lam
Dong and Son La provinces, and in 2011, the programme was implemented
across the country.
Vietnam is the first country in Asia to use the Payments for Forest Environmental Services system nationwide.
Thirty-six of the country’s 63 provinces have established steering committees to oversee the programme’s implementation.
The programme collects up to 55 million USD annually.
Three
years after it was set up, it had collected a total of 150 million USD
for protecting and developing forest areas – and helping residents
involved protect the environment.
Nguyen Dac Lam, Director of
Nghe An province’s Forest Protection and Development Fund, said
investors and business owners should be responsible for paying for
environmental services.
“It’s reasonable to pay to protect nature when you benefit from it,” Lam said.-VNA