An overview of the conference (Source: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development organised a conference in Hanoi on June 30 to assess Vietnam’s readiness to actualise the Reducing Emissions From Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) initiative.
Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy, Deputy Director of the project on Support for the REDD+ Readiness Preparation in Vietnam, said the event aims to scrutinise REDD+ Readiness Assessment (R-Package), which records the process of REDD+ readiness of Vietnam and lessons learnt, evaluates the gaps and identifies the activities to move to performance based payments.
The report is one of the conditions providing the basis for member countries of the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) to decide their eligibility for participating in the Carbon Fund, gearing towards the implementation of REDD+.
It demonstrates participating countries’ transparency during the preparation for the initiative and their assurance that domestic environmental and social risks have been settled, while helping them lure more international financial resources for forest protection and development, she noted.
Vietnam is scheduled to submit the report to the FCPF in this July and deliver a presentation to defend it at the FCPF’s 22 nd Participants Committee Meeting slated for September this year.
According to Thuy, since late December 2015, the project conducted public consultations in the northern mountainous province of Bac Kan, the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong, the central province of Quang Binh and Ca Mau province in the south in order to evaluate their readiness for REDD+.
The project also consulted REDD+ Vietnam technical experts and domestic and international non-governmental organisations about the issue, she added.
By the end of 2015, there have been 44 REDD+-related projects carried out in Vietnam with a total registered capital of 84 million USD. Most of them aiming to prepare for the realisation of REDD+ in the country.-VNA
