UN provides $2.7m to manage forests

HA NOI — The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) signed an agreement with the Vietnamese Government yesterday, committing itself to a technical assistance partnership to develop the country's capacity in forest resources assessment.

The agreement launched the National Forest Assessment (NFA) project, a US$2.7 million project financed through FAO's forest co-operation programme with the Finnish government. Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Hua Duc Nhi co-signed the project document with the FAO representative in Viet Nam Yuriko Shoji.

According to FAO, the timing of this assistance is critical, as Viet Nam will soon need to prepare a forest assessment system that not only generates data for domestic planning and monitoring purposes, but also meets international standards and requirements as stipulated by the Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation – Plus (REDD+) programme through the UN Framework Convention for Climate Change.

FAO's assistance is intended to improve the quality and scope of forestry information, including generation of data on parameters that will be required under REDD+, with particular emphasis on monitoring the dynamics of change in land use and surveying vegetation resources outside forests. It also plans to enhance the capacity of the Forest Inventory and Planning Institute and Viet Nam Forestry Administration and to introduce new and appropriate technologies.

Viet Nam will gain accurate information on the importance of forests and vegetation, which will be used to support decisions aimed at boosting the country's social and economic development and protecting the environment. —VNS