February 2020- Special Issue on Viet Nam's REDD+ journey

In 2020, UN-REDD will celebrate 12 years of supporting countries with transformational change in the forestry and land use sectors. This special issue is dedicated to sharing key lessons learned from Viet Nam's REDD+ journey as one of the Programme’s original nine pilot countries.

With the completion of the four Warsaw Framework pillars at the close of its National Programme in 2018 – including the launch of one of the world’s first fully operational online safeguards information systems (SIS), the approval of its National REDD+ Implementation Plan, an operational National Forest Monitoring System (NFMS) and updated Forest Reference Emission Level/Forest Reference Level - Viet Nam is now looking to further operationalise REDD+ on the ground.

Throughout its REDD+ journey, Viet Nam has learned many valuable lessons worth sharing. For instance, from its various pilots and discussions, Viet Nam has learned that the core of a successful REDD+ strategy is effective planning and investment. By developing national and sub-national plans, focused on clearly defined objectives, stakeholders were incentivised towards better forest management. In turn, these lessons on integrated land use planning for provincial REDD+ action plans, private sector and cross-sector collaboration informed the recent development of a deforestation-free jurisdictional approach for the Central Highlands.

Looking back, a lot has changed since Viet Nam started its REDD+ journey in 2009. Initially, a specific division in the forestry administration under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) managed REDD+. Today, it is managed through a State Steering Committee headed by the Deputy Prime Minister. This demonstrates the elevated political prominence of REDD+, a wide appreciation of the multi-sectoral nature of REDD+, and the relevance of various agencies within and outside MARD.

Viet Nam is now in a position to apply for results-based payments from the Green Climate Fund. The hope is that its formidable journey can inspire other countries looking to move from REDD+ readiness to REDD+ implementation.

A series of six infobriefs produced by the UN-REDD Programme in 2019 captures main lessons learned from Viet Nam's REDD+ journey.

From driver to solution- coffee agroforestry

Viet Nam is the world's second largest coffee producer after Brazil. While the industry has bolstered the country's economy, it has had negative impacts on the environment. So when the UN-REDD Viet Nam Phase II Programme selected Lam Dong province as one of its pilot provinces, the coffee sector as a driver of deforestation was squarely in mind. Turning this driver into a REDD+ potential would require addressing the carbon as well as the socio-political challenge revolving around forestland tenure.

Guiding stakeholder engagement for REDD+ implementation

This brief presents key issues that emerge from the assessment of stakeholder engagement and FPIC principles. It looks specifically into the extent to which guidelines, as the main tools, serve to provide possibilities for stakeholders who relate to, depend on, as well as manage the forest. This means that these guidelines are meant to guide stakeholder engagement through the entire process of planning, implementation, to monitoring and evaluation.

Interprovincial collaboration in Viet Nam- Plugging loopholes in forest law enforcement

As provincial boundaries mark the territorial limits of administration, they can present loopholes that prevent law enforcement staff from following up on forest violations, such as illegal logging or forest conversion to agriculture. To develop government capacity to reduce deforestation and forest degradation, the UN-REDD Viet Nam Phase II Programme strengthened inter-provincial cooperation between provincial Forest Protection offices to tackle law enforcement issues of a transboundary nature and to plug persistent loopholes.

Medicine from the forest - Medicine for the forest

Traditional therapeutic medicine in Viet Nam has a long history. Treatments based on medicinal plants are still often used in addition to, or even instead of, allopathic medicine by many Vietnamese. Viet Nam is home to an estimated 12,000 species of high-value plants, of which 10,500 have been identified. When the UN-REDD Viet Nam Phase II Programme launched its pilot activities in Lao Cai province, it was this “green goldmine” that connected the issues of forest carbon, local livelihoods and forest land tenure, presenting a promising formula for sustainable forest management.

Viet Nam’s experience with developing Provincial REDD+ Action Plans (PRAP)

When Viet Nam’s Forest Administration (VNFOREST) designed the UN-REDD Viet Nam Phase II Programme in 2012, it was proposed to tailor the broad provisions of the National REDD+ Action Programme (NRAP) according to conditions on the ground, thus developing Provincial REDD+ Action Plans (PRAPs) in each of the programme’s six pilot provinces. Developing PRAPs allows for more direct involvement of a wide range of provincial stakeholders, including sectors beyond forestry, in the planning process. This increases transparency, ownership and the social sustainability of REDD+.

Viet Nam’s approach to safeguards

Viet Nam became the first country in the Asia-Pacific region to complete the Warsaw Framework for REDD+ at the end of 2018 after fulfilling its safeguards requirements, which now makes the country eligible to receive REDD+ results-based payments.