Vietnam is willing to collaborate with other countries and international organisations to protect the earth from over pollution caused by industries, said Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan.

Nhan delivered this message at the opening ceremony of the 17 th Southeast Asia Katoomba Conference on Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) and Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) in Hanoi on June 23.

The Vietnamese Government has paid a particular attention to developing and issuing policies on environmental protection, forestation combined with hunger elimination and poverty reduction, and mobilising all resources for forest development, he said.

Vietnam has gained positive results after two years of implementing the pilot policy on PES in several provinces. The policy has not only helped local people, especially those from ethnic minority groups, realise the importance of forest protection, increase income and improve living conditions from payments, but also contributed to the reduction of pervasive shifting cultivation and illegal logging.

The policy has received support from local people and many ethnic minority households have even asked for more forest areas for protection, the deputy PM stressed.

Nhan told the participants “The Prime Minister has assigned the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to take the lead and collaborate with other relevant ministries to develop a new decree of payments for forest ecosystem services to implement the scheme nationwide.” The draft decreed has been completed and ready to be submitted to the government for approval in early third quarter of 2010.

He took this occasion to call on international organisations to continue their support for Vietnam to implement the policy of PES nationwide after it is approved, along with the implementation of other policies related to PES and REDD in the future.

The two-day conference is being co-hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Forest Trends and Winrock International organisations.

It has brought together more than 400 delegates from 30 countries who are discussing the current state of and potential for PES markets in the region, including pioneering initiatives in water resources conservation, forest-based and marine based carbon sequestration and biodiversity markets.

At the opening ceremony, many participants spoke highly of Vietnam ’s efforts to protect the environment.

According to a survey conducted by the US Agency for International Development (USAID)’s representative Frank Donovan, the implementation of the pilot policy on PES in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong has helped increase income for more than 8,000 local families by 3.5 times, protect 250,000 ha of forest and cut millions of USD in production costs for hydroelectric power plants.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat said Vietnam is one of the first countries in the region to perform the PES policy. In recent years, Vietnam has paid due attention to forest protection and development, which is proved by its ongoing project to grow 5 million ha of forest, he said./.