Decline in forest quality

174 other land uses. This is mirrored by policies that drove economic growth to exploit natural resources in an unsustainable manner; the construction of infrastructure for economic development including hydropower, mining and transportation also reduced forest area in Viet Nam Pham et al. 2012.

2.2.3 Institutional weakness, weak law enforcement and financial deficits

The forestry management system is well structured and extends from the grassroots level to central government de Jong et al. 2006; Tran et al. 2006; Pham et al. 2012. However, the quality of forest management in some localities is not good, especially at the commune level, where direct land management and forestry production activities are implemented Pham et al. 2012. For many reasons, including low capacity and lack of economic incentives, the commune-level agroforestry staff often find it difficult to meet the requirements of forest management in their communes. At the same time, the local forest rangers who play essential roles in forest protection and management in the field do not fulfil their duties and have been found to be corrupt as well Sikor and To 2011. Failure to follow the legal instructions on forest protection and management is a serious problem leading to forest degradation. Deforestation, shifting cultivation and conversion of forest land for agricultural purposes and industrial plantations have been occurring in many localities. This is amplified by poor law enforcement, lack of awareness, corruption, overlapping regulations and mild penalties Sikor and To 2011; Phan 2014. Database systems for forest management, including GIS data, are not accurate, with overlaps e.g. different mapping systems for the natural resources and environment sector and forestry sector. Moreover, the complicated history of land use including encroachment of State Forest Enterprise land, handwritten land-trading contracts and inherited land make it difficult for forest and forest land management to achieve good results de Jong et al. 2006; Pham et al. 2012.

2.2.4 Finance

Under Decision 02-CP of the Prime Minister, millions of hectares of State Forestry Enterprise forest land and forest management boards are patrolled by local farmers under contracts with these entities. Initially, farmers received only VND50 000 per hectare per year for forest management and protection, but this has recently been increased to VND200 000. This is still too small to be an incentive for effective forest protection and management compared to the much higher economic returns from monoculture industrial plantations and other crops de Jong et al. 2006; Pham et al. 2013; Phan 2014. The lack of resources for forest management and protection is also a major issue facing forest management boards, national parks and conservation zones. The number of personnel and the budget allocated to the forest management boards are often lower than needed, making them ineffective in protecting and managing forests de Jong et al. 2006; Phan 2014. 175 3. Impacts of forest degradation It is challenging to estimate the economic impacts of deforestation and forest degradation. The available data in Viet Nam currently cannot give reliable estimation of the direct impacts on forest timber production and non-wood forest products NWFPs, the negative effects on forest resilience against natural disasters floods, droughts, storms, pests and diseases and the diminished values of forests for protection of water catchments, hydropower schemes and irrigation dams, among others. Since 1980, Viet Nam has suffered a series of major disasters of which floods and droughts have severely affected human lives and property. Statistical data showed that on average, natural disasters killed 519 people per year and caused losses of about US256 million per year during the period 1980-2010 PreventionWeb 2014. Soil erosion has reduced the lifetime, and increased the maintenance expenditure of irrigation systems and hydropower schemes, and decreased stable power supply capacity due to irregular water supply to reservoirs. Forest resources play an important role in regulating water supplies throughout the year, maintaining water levels at reservoirs during the dry season for irrigation and minimizing floods during rainy seasons de Jong et al. 2006; Phan 2014. Deforestation increased the impacts of the severe droughts in the Central Highlands in 1995 and throughout the country in 1997. Those droughts had serious impacts on agricultural crops and industrial tree plantations. Thousands of hectares of coffee plantations in the Central Highlands were destroyed due to irrigation water shortage, a direct consequence of deforestation and forest degradation de Jong et al. 2006; PreventionWeb 2014. Deforestation and degradation have destroyed wildlife habitats. This is one of the main reasons for population reduction and possible extinction of many wildlife species. The endangered species in the Vietnam Red Book increased to 167 in 2007 compared to the number listed in 1992. Unsustainable or illegal forest logging has led to overexploitation of many high- value timber species and NWFPs, and some have been driven to the point of extinction Ministry of Science Technology 2007; Phan 2014. 176 4. Implementation of forest restoration and rehabilitation initiatives

4.1. History of initiatives, strategies and techniques

Initial efforts at forest rehabilitation and scattered planting of trees in Viet Nam started in the late 1950s. The General Department of Forestry later Ministry of Forestry and now MARD implemented five major programmes, two of which were national afforestation programmes and one was a national programme for forest protection Sikor 1998; Nguyen 2005. Policies related to forest rehabilitation in Viet Nam from the 1960s to 1999 are listed in Table 6. Table 6. Policies relating to forest rehabilitation in Viet Nam Sources: Tran et al. 2006; Phan 2014. Number Decision 179CP Decision 129CP Directive 257 TTg Decision 272CP Decision 682B QÐKT Circular 01-TTLB Law Law Decision 200 QDKT Decree 22-CP Directive 286 TTg Decision 661 QD-TTg Decision 175 QD-BNN-KHCN Decision 245 QDTTg Decision 021999QD- BNN-PTLN Date 12111968 2551974 1671975 3101977 0181984 1995 06021991 1991 1993 3131993 0931995 0251997 2971998 04111998 21121998 05011999 Title Policy for forestry cooperatives Policy for cooperatives and expanding areas for developing agriculture and forestry in midland and mountainous areas Promoting reforestation and forest land allocation for cooperatives Policy for cooperatives and expanding areas for developing agriculture, forestry and new economic zones and implementation of permanent farming and permanent settlement Norm for designing forest management QPN6-84 Biodiversity Action Plan Instructions on forest allocation and forest land for plantation by organizations and individuals for forestry purposes Forest Protection and Development Law Land Law Norms for technical procedures when applying for production timber and bamboo forest licences QPN 14-92 Regulations on forest fire prevention and control Enhancing approaches for forest protection and development Objectives, missions, policies and arrangement for implementation of the Five Million Hectares Reforestation Programme Norms for forest restoration by zoning and promoting natural regeneration combined with enrichment planting State management of forest Regulations on timber and forest product harvesting Promulgation body Minister Council Government Committee Prime Minister Government Committee Ministry of Forestry Inter-ministerial circular National Assembly National Assembly Ministry of Forestry Government Prime Minister Prime Minister MARD Prime Minister MARD