The specific objective of the present Forestry Strategy is to sustainably establish, manage, protect, develop and use 16.24 million ha of land planned for forestry; to increase the ratio of land with forest up to 42 – 43% by the year 2010 and 47% by 2020; to ensure a wider participation from various economic sectors and social organizations in forest development, to increase their contributions to socio-economic development, environmental protection, biodiversity conservation and environmental services supply, to reduce poverty and improve the livelihoods of rural mountainous people, and to contribute to national defense and security. Related to this objective are three main tasks, i.e.the economic, social and environmental tasks. The chapter on “Economic Tasks” prescribes that three forest types need to be sustainably established, managed, protected, utilized and developed. Existing natural forests should be well-managed, forest plantation areas should be expanded and their productivity should be improved, agroforestry activities should be strengthened, and bare land areas should be used effectively and properly for forestry development. Timber production and processing must be competitive and sustainable to meet basically the domestic needs, and export of timber products and other forest products. The paragraph on “Social Tasks” establishes that livelihood improvement for forest-dependent people will be carried out through socialization and diversification of forest activities. Employment should be created, capacity and awareness and livelihoods of people should be improved, particularly minority groups, poor households and women in remote areas, so that step-by-step they shall gradually earn their livelihoods from forest activities, and contribute to hunger alleviation and poverty reduction, and national defense security.With a view to the environment, forest protection, natural protection and biodiversity conservation are aimed to effectively contribute to watershed, coastal and urban protection, natural disaster mitigation, erosion control, protection of water sources and environmental protection, and to create income sources from environmental services (environmental fees, CO2 market, ecotourism, etc.) for the national economy. Part Four and Five contain respectively Solutions for the implementation of these strategies and Programmes to implement the objectives and orientations of the present Forestry Development Strategy. In particular, the later Part consists of three main development Programmes: 1) Sustainable forest management and development programme; 2) Forest protection, biodiversity conservation and environmental services development programme; 3) Forest products processing and trade programme. In addition, there are two support programmes: 1) Research, education, training, and forestry extension programme; 2) Renovation of the forestry sector institutions, policies, planning and monitoring programme. The text consists of 8 Parts as follows: The current status of the forestry sector (I); Context and development projections (II); Viewpoints, objectives and development orientation (III); Solutions for implementation (IV); Programmes (V); Implementation arrangement (VI); Monitoring and evaluation (VII); Estimated budget requirements and funding sources (VII). Seven Tables are enclosed.
Viet Nam · 2006-01-01