Forest rangers put up a sign warning of forest fires in Van Canh district of the central province of Binh Dinh (Photo: VNA) Quang Tri (VNA) - A project on sustainable forests,jointly implemented by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture(BMEL) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), hasofficially launched.
The project, entitled ’Promotion of SustainableManagement of Production Forests by Forest Companies in Vietnam, will becarried out in the period between 2017 and 2019, with a total funding of692,185 EUR (772,000 USD) and a counterpart fund of 55,000 EUR (61,000 USD).
The project was assigned to the VietnameseAcademy of Forest Sciences (VAFS), as the project owner, and DFS andHessenForest (Germany), as consultants to provide technical support.
The three main objectives of the project are strengthening sustainable forestmanagement in the selected State forest companies; establishing a trainingcentre for sustainable forest management and forest certification; andreplication of capacity building for forest companies and related agenciesthrough training courses.
Currently, sustainable forest management andforest certification is one of the top priorities in the forestry sector inVietnam, according to forestry experts.
The Forestry Development Strategy 2006-20 hasset a target of having at least 3 percent of production forest areas certifiedas managed in a sustainable fashion by 2020, they said.
However, the implementation of sustainableforest management and forest certification in Vietnam was far behind theexpected targets.
To promote sustainable forest management andforest certification in Vietnam, one of the current priorities was to build thecapacity of forest owners and stakeholders for sustainable forest management.
With the support of the project, the trainingcentre for sustainable forest management and forest certification will beestablished to deliver the training courses to forest owners across the countryfrom 2018.
This is a first model of training centre in Vietnam on sustainable forestmanagement and certification that will be built on a joint cooperation betweenforestry research institute and forest companies (for demonstrationactivities).
It is expected to make significant contribution to capacity building for thestakeholders in the field of sustainable forest management in Vietnam,contributing to the implementation of forest sector restructuring project.
As of 2016, about 205,000ha of forest were certifiedfor sustainable forest management.
On June 15, the project launch workshop was heldin Dong Ha city of Quang Tri province with the participation of representativesfrom Vietnam Administration of Forestry, International Cooperation Department,and Agriculture and Rural Development departments of Quang Binh, Quang Tri andThua Thien-Hue provinces and project partners.-VNA
