Beijing, once among the most polluted cities globally, has significantly improved its air quality over the past two decades, with its experience possibly providing Hanoi with valuable insights into the severe air pollution that the Vietnamese capital is enduring.
On March 8, 2024, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment (DFFE) of South Africa released a draft National Biodiversity Economy Strategy (NBES) for public comment. The consultation period was initially set for two weeks but later extended to April 5, 2024.
Along with national programs on sustainable development and climate change response, small-scale projects with a bottom-up approach also play an essential role in implementing sustainable development goals. The paper analyzes the concepts of grassroots development and sustainable development based on a bottom-up climate change mitigation and adaptation project implemented in two Northwest provinces of Vietnam.
This study, conducted by PanNature with financial and technical support from the NTFP-EP program, primarily aims to evaluate the impact of community consultation processes and mechanisms ensuring community participation in recognizing traditional rights in Vietnam, with a particular emphasis on Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC). The study focuses on regions characterized by mountainous terrain and forest landscapes.
With support from the Region Mekong Land Governance Project, since 2021, PanNature has piloted agroforestry livelihood models to improve the lives of local people. Accordingly, the agroforestry model has been piloted by 5 households in Tul Village and 6 households in Hang Nam Village to improve the local livelihood through effective farming. Cultivation land in both villages is significant on sloping land, which is being degraded with erosion of topsoil on rainy days. Agroforestry is seen as an important measure to help conserve the topsoil while improving local livelihood, reduce the risk of losing their allocated forests due to inefficient use, and contribute to securing the allocated rights.
The North Central Region GHG Emission Reduction Payment Agreement (ERPA) is a carbon transfer agreement signed on October 20, 2020 between the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Bank for Reconstruction and Development. International Development (IBRD), trustee of the Forest Carbon Partnership Fund (FCPF).
This policy review focuses on Vietnam's efforts towards establishing a domestic carbon market to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect the ozone layer. The potential of Vietnam's forest carbon market, with an emphasis on socioeconomic benefits for forest-dependent communities, is also discussed in the context of climate change mitigation strategies.
The publication “Celebrating Territories of Life in Southeast Asia” by the ICCA Consortium features stories of Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ territories of life. It highlights the region’s traditional knowledge and governance systems and sustainable livelihood practices.
In Vietnam, many forests are being effectively managed by the most active guardians - the local communities - thanks to their cultural norms: the forest left by their ancestors is also the place where the forest god resides. It’s the traditional regulations and laws imprinted through the traditional practice of worshiping the sacredness of the gods that guide the community to manage and protect these forests for hundreds and thousands of years. However, there are challenges ahead that hinder them from playing their role.
Vietnam has adopted a national Payment for Forest Environmental Services (PES) policy, which while primarily paying individual households for forest protection, has been flexible enough to allow for collective PES models to also arise. Such collective models have the potential to reduce transaction costs, avoid motivation crowding, and protect common-pool resources like community forests.