A German-funded forestry programme in Vietnam has just been completed after nine years of implementation.

The German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) held a press conference this morning, August 19, to conclude the Vietnamese-German Forestry Programme.

Training in efficient wood exploitation

The programme received funding of of EUR12.85 million from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and was carried out in the provinces of Yen Bai, Quang Binh, Kon Tum, Dak Lak and Ninh Thuan.

It was carried out over nine years, beginning in 2005, and had an aim to increase the efficiency and sustainability of forest management and the forestry industry in Vietnam. The programme had 3 components: sustainable natural forest management; processing, trade and marketing of important forest products; and forest policy consultancy. These coincided with many of the aims of the Implementation Programmes of Vietnam’s National Forestry Development Strategy for 2006-2020.

According to representatives from the organisations involved, the programme successfully completed four goals, including outlining sustainable development policies, supporting sustainable management, increasing added values in wood processing, and proposing forward-looking policies for sustainable wood exploitation in Vietnam.

With the aid of the project, Vietnam has now become one of the first Southeast Asian countries to implement an assessment system for certificates and build a model for payment for forest environmental services.

“The most successful aspect of the programme is that it consulted and supported two forestry companies to develop and implement sustainable forest management plans that are up to FSC standards. This is the first time these companies gained full FSC FM/CoC for natural forest management. This great success is due, not only of the Vietnamese-German Programme, but also of the Vietnamese forestry sector in general,” said Nguyen Ba Ngai, deputy general director of the Vietnam Administration of Forestry.