Illustrative image (Source: VNA) The EU-funded project aimed to improve the capacity of CSOs andforest-dependant communities to understand the Voluntary Partnership Agreement(VPA) on FLEGT, negotiated by Vietnam and the EU, and help them join the negotiationsand the process of forest law enforcement and governance.
Addressing the event,Vice President of the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations NghiemVu Khai said the project, which ran through 2014-2017, was effective andtransparent under the management of the Sustainable Rural Development centre.
When the VPA takes effect in Vietnam, the network of CSOs needs to focus on voluntaryindependent supervision and builds communication documents related to forestlaw enforcement and governance, Khai said.
Communication campaigns will be intensified to raise public awareness of the agreement,while studies will be carried out to assess impacts of the agreement on forest-dependantcommunities.
According to EU representatives, the project was implemented in the contextthat Vietnam and the EU conducted three official negotiation rounds.
The project helped raise partners’ awareness of efforts made by Vietnam and theEU throughout the negotiation process, helping parties involved in VPA-FLEGTnegotiations understand more about the role played by CSOs in the negotiationprocess.
Participants to the seminar stressed that the State should issue regulations onsupervision of timber processing establishments and policies to promote plantingof large trees.
Forest planters should be provided with loans, while processors should be helpedto use advanced technologies, they noted.
Vietnam officially entered into FLEGT–VPA negotiations with the EU in May, 2010,with three negotiation rounds having taken place so far.
Apart from Vietnam, the FLEGT project was also implemented in Laos, Cambodia,Thailand and Malaysia.-VNA
VNA
