Forest degradation is still strife in the northwest region, triggered by overexploitation of forest resources . (Photo: VNA) A conference to review the project Sustainable Forest Management in the Northwest Watershed Area (Susform-Now), funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), was held in Hanoi on July 30.
The Susform-Now project, implemented in northern Dien Bien province during the 2010-2015 period, focused on policy support, sustainable forest management, the reduction of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+), biodiversity conservation and knowledge sharing.
It helped raise public awareness on forest management while providing technical support for local livelihoods and forest management activities.
JICA plans to expand the provincial REDD+ Action Plan (PRAP) to three other northwest provinces.
Vietnam is among the countries most severely affected by climate change, which is partly caused by greenhouse gas emissions from land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF).
Due to unsustainable forest management, Vietnam’s forest coverage rate fell from 43 percent in 1943 to 28 percent in 1995. Although forest land has increased to 40 percent in recent years, forest degradation is still strife in the northwest region, triggered by overexploitation of forest resources and land conversion for various purposes.
Vietnam carried out the National REDD+ Action Plan (NRAP), which regulates the implementation of the PRAP by 2015, to improve forest management and climate change resilience.-VNA
