RESEARCH REPOR
Assessment of Commitment and Implementation the Chapter 13 of the EVFTA Agreement on Trade and Sustainable Development, Forest Governance
Hanoi, 08/2022
Table of contents
1 INTRODUCTION
2 OVERVIEW OF TSD
3 PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCH
3.1 Common Goals
3.2 Specific goals
3.3 Research question
4 METHODS
5 RESEARCH RESULTS
5.1 Implementation progress of commitments in TSD
5.2 Challenging issues in implementing TSD
6 DISCUSSION
7 CONCLUSIONS AND PETITIONS
7.1 Conclusions
7.2 Petitions (it is necessary to specify the object of the petition, which means clarifying to whom the petition is made for each specific content)
References
Appendix 01: Characteristics of interviewees
Appendix 02: List of people were sent a questionnaire via Google Form
Appendix 03: Legal documents and regulations developed in 2021
Appendix 04: Programs and projects to be implemented in 2021 in the forestry sector
Appendix 05: Project to be implemented in 2022
Appendix 06: Forest Governance Questionnaire System
Appendix 07: Decision issued by the Agriculture and Rural Development Sector for Forest Governance
Appendix 08: Directive document of the Ranger force since the VPA/FLEGT took effect
Abbreviations
| CITES | Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora |
| COP 26 | The 26th Environmental Summit in Glasgow |
| DAG | Domestic independent consulting group to implement EVFTA |
| EU | European Union |
| EVFTA | Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the European Union |
| Forest Trend | Forest Trend Organization |
| FTA | Free Trade Agreement |
| GIZ | Organization for Development Cooperation of the Federal Republic of Germany |
| ILO | United Nations Labor Organization |
| KHCN | Science and technology |
| NDC | Voluntary commitment to reduce emissions |
| NN & PTNT | Agriculture and Rural Development |
| TNMT | Environmental Resources |
| Traffic | Traffic Organization |
| TSD | Trade and Sustainable Development |
| VPA-FLEGT | Voluntary Partnership Agreement for Forest Law Enforcement and Trade in Forest Products |
- Introduction
In recent years, the European Union and the Vietnamese Government have had extensive and comprehensive cooperation, which can be proven by the signing of the European-Vietnamese Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), the Voluntary Partnership Agreement on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (VPA-FLEGT). EVFTA was officially signed and took effect on August 1, 2020 and VPA-FLEGT on June 1, 2019. The signing and implementation of these two Agreements is an important milestone demonstrating the determination and efforts of Vietnam and the European Union (Trang, Thao, & Ngoc, 2021).
EVFTA and FLEGT VPA are Trade Agreements and are specific tools to support the production and export of forestry products. The VPA-FLEGT Agreement aims to prevent illegal timber trade and logging by monitoring the timber value chain, verifying the legality of timber products entering the EU market and increasing transparency of the Forestry sector (Nessel & Verhaeghe, 2020). The FTA aims to enhance the development of trade between the two sides, through the elimination of import taxes on most of the two sides’ items in the list of the Agreement, Vietnam and the EU countries commit to creating a favorable, open and convenient environment for both parties (ALS, 2021)
The EU and Vietnam both respect and set goals for sustainable development between economic development and environmental and social protection. Therefore, in addition to expanding and promoting free trade between the two sides, the EVFTA Agreement also particularly emphasizes sustainable development, ensuring that the EVFTA does not have adverse effects, but on the contrary will be the foundation to protect the environment and improve issues related to social welfare for employees. Stemming from this orientation, chapter 13 on Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD), one of the most notable chapters, has been developed and included in the Agreement by both sides.
TSD consists of 17 articles, divided into 5 main content groups, promoting sustainable development in different fields. TSD aims to improve the working environment and enhance environmental protection at a high level, through promoting effective enforcement of domestic laws and strengthening the ability to solve related environmental and social issues (Yen, Huong, & Huy, 2017). With its important significance, TSD has important impacts on the EVFTA and the VPA-FLEGT agreement in trade in timber and wood products between the EU and Vietnam.
Since the Agreement came into effect, the EU and Vietnam have implemented the commitments in the TSD chapter to support the implementation of EVFTA and VPA-FLEGT. Although the TSD has been implemented, it is not clear how the implementation of the commitments in the TSD chapter is, how the contents of the TSD have been adjusted to be compatible between the Vietnamese legal system and the stated commitments as well as what improvements are needed in policies and institutions to ensure that TSD is implemented transparently, fully, and effectively. There is not enough empirical research on this issue, so such a study would help enhance the effectiveness of EVFTA and VPA-FLEGT.
- Overview of TSD
2.1. The import and export of Vietnam’s timber, agricultural and forest products to the EU before and after the VPA/FLEGT and EVFTA Agreements
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the whole country’s total export and import turnover in 2021 will reach nearly 670 billion USD, an increase of nearly 23% compared to 2020. The export turnover of the whole country is estimated at over 336 billion USD, up 19% compared to that of 2020, marking the 6th consecutive year that Vietnam achieved a trade surplus with a surplus of about 4 billion USD in the context of global trade activities being heavily and unprecedentedly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Many industries benefit from the EVFTA Agreement
The growth results of exports in 2021 are a bright spot in the country’s economic development with the efforts of the Government, all levels, sectors, localities, people and businesses in implementing the dual goal of “preventing and effectively fighting epidemics, while restoring and promoting economic development.”
Along with that are the efforts of ministries and sectors in synchronously implementing many solutions to remove difficulties, support businesses and the initiative and flexibility in the production of export enterprises to seize recovering opportunities from import markets, effectively exploiting Free Trade Agreements (FTA) to boost exports. Among them can be mentioned the Vietnam – EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, after one and a half years of implementation, the EVFTA has brought positive results, especially in the context of the complicated development of the Covid-19 pandemic in both Europe and Vietnam.
Particularly in 2021, two-way trade between Vietnam and the EU reached 63.6 billion USD, up 14.8% compared to 2020. Specifically, the total value of Vietnamese goods exported to the European Union (EU) reached 45.8 billion USD, up 14.2%; and EU exports to Vietnam reached 17.9 billion USD, up 16.5% compared to 2020.
Notably, Vietnam’s export turnover to the EU using certificates of origin (C/O form EUR.1) reached about 7.8 billion USD, showing that many Vietnamese enterprises have taken advantage of opportunities from the EU tariff reduction under EVFTA.
Going into some specific products, the EVFTA has opened up unprecedented great opportunities for Vietnamese rice. Thanks to the preferential tariffs, the export of fragrant rice and high-quality rice to the EU market is highly appreciated and gives positive results. According to the initial report results in the first 6 months of 2022, Vietnam has achieved a record of more than 6 million tons of rice exports. In which, the volume of exports to the EU is also very large.
Data from the General Department of Vietnam Customs also show that Vietnam’s rice exports to the EU market in 11 months of 2021 have reached 53,910 tons, worth $38.07 million, up 0.8% compared to the same period in 2020, and the earned value increased by 21.6%. The share of fragrant rice in Vietnam’s total rice exports to the EU has also increased to 70% in 11 months of 2021 from 64% in the same period of 2020.
In 2021, despite many difficulties due to the Covid-19 epidemic, the export value of the wood and forest product processing industry for the whole year reached over USD 15.75 billion, an increase of over 18% compared to the previous year 2020, exceeding the set plan (14 billion USD). Another highlight of the industry’s achievements is the high trade surplus, estimated at 12.6 billion USD, up 18.4% compared to 2020. In which: wood and wood products group reached 14.5 billion USD, up 17.2 % compared to 2020 (including wood products reached 10.87 billion USD, up 14%; wood of all kinds 3.6 billion USD, up 28%.
Specific analysis of wooden furniture exports in 2021: furniture 9.46 billion USD, up 7.7%; construction furniture 461 million USD, up 17.1%; other wood products 941 million USD, up 172%.
Export of non-timber forest products reached 1.1 billion USD, up 29.5%, including products from rattan and bamboo 841 million USD, up 38.1%; Cinnamon products 265.4 million USD, up 8.1%.
Vietnamese timber and forest products are exported to over 140 countries and territories. In which, the main markets are the United States, Japan, China, the EU and South Korea with a total export value estimated at 13.98 billion USD, accounting for 89.5% of the country’s export value of forest products.
The largest export market of wood and wood products is the United States, reaching 9.1 billion USD, up 21.4% compared to 2020. In this market, the turnover of raw wood materials is 526.7 million, up 34.4%; wood products reached 8.12 billion USD, up 19.9%, (furniture 7.77 billion USD, up 19.9%, of which kitchen furniture products 614.8 million USD, down 2%, construction wood products 261.9 million USD, up 27.7%, other wood products 85.9 million USD, down 2.7%); non-timber forest products 414.7 million USD, up 56.4%.
Vietnam’s wood exports to the EU reached 1.1 billion USD, up 14.4% compared to 2020. Of which: raw wood 13.1 million, down 22.8%; wood products 806.4 million USD, up 10.1%; non-timber forest products 256.4 million USD, up 34.2%. Thus, despite the difficulties piled up, with the expansion of the market and the effort to focus on the production of onions for export to the main markets in 2021, Vietnam is still one of the few countries in the world that had positive growth, especially the wood industry has had remarkable successes.
In 2022, the statistical results of the first 3 months of the year and according to data from the European Statistics Agency (Eurostat), the EU’s wooden furniture imports from Vietnam in the first 3 months of 2022 reached 1.96 million tons, worth 6.2 billion euros (equivalent to 6.49 million USD), down 28% in volume and up 15.3% in value over the same period in 2021.
Although the volume of EU wooden furniture imports fell sharply, the increase in value was due to the high cost of importing wooden furniture products into the EU market. This is due to the impact of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, causing the cost of input materials and transportation to increase in the supply markets, so the cost of imported furniture into the EU in the first 3 months of 2022 increased sharply, and the average import price reached 3,180.7 Euro/ton, up 60.2% over the same period in 2021.
Poland, China and Germany are the 3 main markets supplying wooden furniture to the EU. In the first 3 months of 2022, these three countries supplied 48.1% of total EU wooden furniture imports. Notably, the EU has increased imports of wooden furniture from these markets.
Vietnam is the 8th largest wooden furniture supplier to the EU, the volume and value of imports from Vietnam increased in the first 3 months of 2022. In which, the value of imports from Vietnam increased sharply due to average prices imports from Vietnam reached 4,381.4 euros/ton, up 30.6% over the same period in 2021. The proportion of imports from Vietnam only accounted for 2.3% of total EU imports, up 0.7 percentage points over the same period in 2021.
With a huge import demand, the EU is a very potential market for Vietnam’s wooden furniture, but Vietnamese enterprises still face many difficulties to promote this item to the EU market.
Due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, plus the impact of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, logistics costs, especially freight from Vietnam to Europe, increased. In addition, this industry in the EU market is also under great competitive pressure due to high requirements on origin and quality, and at the same time has to compete with goods from other countries.
In the structure of EU wooden furniture products imported in the first 3 months of 2022, most of the products imported from Vietnam account for a low proportion, although Vietnam is a large wooden furniture supplier market – 13th for the EU 27, compared to the demand, the import volume from Vietnam is still too low, accounting for only 1.9% of the total import volume, so the untapped potential for these products of Vietnam in the EU is still quite large. This encourages manufacturers and exporters to promote product development to the EU market in the coming time.
However, to promote this industry, Vietnamese manufacturing enterprises need to invest in a variety of designs, product quality and production standards in line with consumer demand in the EU. In addition, to minimize transportation costs, it is necessary to improve products to easily pack, stack, fold or integrate products reasonably and without taking up space.
According to a report by the Vietnam Timber and Forest Products Association, in the first 6 months of 2022, Vietnam’s exports reached more than 9 billion USD, so in the first 6 months of the year, Vietnam’s wood and wood products exports increased sharply. However, according to the survey results of the Vietnam Wood Association, in the last 6 months of 2022, the export market for wood and wooden furniture orders decreased markedly. The survey results at 52 enterprises showed that orders for the European market decreased by 44.6% and the UK market decreased by 47.3%. Thus, the production and export situation of Vietnamese wood and wood products enterprises is unlikely to be achieved by 2021. There are many reasons, besides the wars in Russia and Ukraine, there are also causes caused by inflation grew in the EU and UK.
In addition to wood, Coffee and Rubber are also products that benefit from the EVFTA Agreement while Vietnam’s coffee exports to the EU market account for more than 50% of Vietnam’s total coffee exports abroad in 2021, 1.52 million tons, worth approximately 3 billion USD. According to statistics from the General Department of Customs, coffee exports to the EU in 11 months of 2021 reached approximately 509 thousand tons, worth 938.72 million USD, so the EU market plays an extremely important role in the development of Vietnam’s coffee. And the EVFTA has a positive effect on the development, market expansion as well as development ability of Vietnam’s coffee, where up to 2.6 million people live and work in the coffee industry, most of them are Ethnic people who depend on coffee trees such as in the Central Highlands (including 5 provinces of Kon Tum; Gia Lai; Dak Lak; Dak Nong; Lam Dong) and now Coffee has been developed to the Northwest (Thuan Chau district, Son La).
Natural rubber is produced in Vietnam on an area of more than 938 thousand hectares (in 2021), accounting for 7.2% of the total rubber area planted globally; production up to 1.26 million tons ranked third in the world, accounting for 8.7% of the world’s production and the yield was up to 1682kg/ha/year, ranked first in Asia. In 2021, the export of the rubber industry has reached the target of 3.24 billion USD, up 36.2% compared to 2020. In 11 months of 2021, rubber exports to the EU reached about 100 thousand tons, equivalent to 175 million USD, up 33.7% in volume and 72.6% in value over the same period in 2020.
2.2. Relationship between VPA/FLEGT and EVFTA
- a) VPA/FLEGT
The VPA/FLEGT Agreement creates a legal framework that ensures that all timber products exported from Vietnam to the European Union (EU) are legally sourced and produced, with a commitment to manage the forest sustainably, all forest types of the two sides, through the establishment of the Viet Male Timber Legality Assurance System (VNTLAS), together with the FLEGT licensing mechanism, to ensure that only FLEGT-licensed timber products are permitted to enter the EU market.
The Agreement will make an important contribution to the fight against illegal logging while promoting trade in timber products derived from forests that are sustainably managed and harvested in accordance with national legislation.
VNTLAS’s scope of regulation includes Vietnamese wood and wood products manufactured for the domestic market and for export. Regarding wood origin, VNTLAS ensures the legality not only of domestic timber sources but also of imported timber. The provisions of the Agreement apply to all entities in Vietnam, including Organizations and Households engaged in the production, business, transportation, processing and export, import of wood and wood products.
The Agreement includes requirements for Organizations and Households to be responsible for timber trade in order to ensure that only legal timber enters the supply chain, including domestic timber trade and requires carry-out accountability for the legal timber origin of imported timber. When implemented, the Agreement will not only ensure that all wood products exported from Vietnam to the EU are legal, but will also help raise the standards of Vietnam’s timber industry and promote a legal supply chain. international timber trade. The Agreement also commits to transparency and ensures that key information about the forestry sector is publicly available. Committed to supporting stakeholders to participate in the implementation of the Agreement, and at the same time making an important contribution to strengthening forest governance in Vietnam.
- b) EVFTA
In addition to the commitment to reduce taxes on import and export products of the two sides in stages, the EVFTA Agreement is a new generation agreement, so the two sides provide commitments in many aspects of the environment, society, and labour, especially in chapter 13 and the two sides commit “The Parties recognize the importance of ensuring that the conservation and sustainable management of forest resources will benefit economic, environmental and social.
For the above purposes, each Party shall:
(a) encourage the promotion of trade in forest products from forests that are sustainably managed and harvested in accordance with the laws of the country in which the forest is located; this may include the completion of a Voluntary Partnership Agreement on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (“FLEGT”);
(b) exchange information with the other Party on measures to promote the consumption of wood and wood products from sustainably managed forests, and when it is appropriate, cooperate to develop those measures;
(c) adopt measures consistent with its domestic law and international treaties to which the Party is a party, to promote the conservation of forest resources and combat illegal logging and trade in timber;
(d) when it is appropriate, communicate with the other Party on actions to improve forest law enforcement and work together to optimize impact and ensure mutual support in compliance with policies corresponding to removing illegally harvested timber and wood products from commerce;
(e) when it is appropriate, cooperate with the other Party at the regional and global levels to promote conservation and sustainable management of forests.
This shows that the EVFTA Agreement is closely related to the implementation of the VPA/FLEGT Agreement. Specific commitments are mentioned in section 2.2.
Article 13.8 “Sustainable forest management and trade in forest products” refers to the promotion of trade in forest products from forests that are sustainably managed and harvested in accordance with the laws of the host country; this may include the completion of the Voluntary Partnership Agreement on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (“FLEGT”). Thus, there is a close relationship between the EVFTA Agreement and the VPA/FLEGT Agreement in the process of sustainable forest resource management and trade in forest products.
2.3. Regulations and commitments of TSD in the EVFTA Agreement
2.3.1. Commitment to institutional improvement
- a) Institutional Terms
Appointing an official administrative focal point to implement Chapter 13
Committee on Trade and Sustainable Development (consisting of senior officials from administrative agencies);
- b) Domestic Advisory Group (DAG) to advise on the implementation of Chapter 13:
As representative organizations, appointing members to participate in DAG (Currently, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has decided for 7 members to participate)
Members are balanced among economic, social and environmental sectors (including employers’ and workers’ organizations, enterprises and environmental organizations)
- c) DAG’s activities: Submit views or petitions on the implementation of Chapter 13; Discussion at the forum, with the participation of relevant parties; The report of each meeting of the joint forum shall be submitted to the Committee on Trade and Sustainable Development and then made publicly available, the joint forum must be held once a year and combined with the meetings of the Committee on Trade and Sustainable Development.
- d) Commitment to labour
Vietnam commits to complete the ratification of eight basic United Nations labour conventions as soon as possible. Currently, Vietnam has ratified 7 conventions, only Convention No. 87, the Government of Vietnam has also committed to ratifying this convention by 2023.
2.3.2. Commitments about the environment in chapter TSD
- a) Commit to protecting the environment at a high level (13.2.2) must not mitigate the effect of environmental protection affecting trade (13.3.2); not encourage trade by giving up or downplaying environmental protection (13.3.3); environmental protection measures must not be used to discriminate as a disguised trade protection measure (13.3.4).
On the basis of Vietnam’s commitments in FTA Agreements, including the EVFTA Agreement and the VPA-FLEGT Agreement, it is also a condition for the Vietnamese Government to commit strongly to bringing Vietnam to Zero Carbon in 2050 at Cop 26 in Glasgow UK.
- b) Consultation is the basic method in cooperation as well as in resolving disagreements (defined in most of the content regulations as well as regulations on dispute resolution procedures: 13.5.1, 13.15.4, 13.16)
- c) On climate change: Cooperation in the implementation of the UNFCCC Convention, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement; enhance the ability to transition to a climate-resilient and low greenhouse gas economy (13.6.1)
- d) Parties shall consult on the implementation and operation of carbon pricing mechanisms; promote the carbon market; enhance energy saving, low emission technology and renewable energy.
đ) Regarding biodiversity (13.7)
Efforts to facilitate access to genetic resources, promote: sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity, exchange information with the other Party, reduce illegal trade in wildlife species, and suggest new flora and fauna for inclusion in CITES Appendix I and II for conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in natural ecosystems and agricultural
- e) Forest management and trade in forest products (13.8)
Promote trade in forest products from sustainably managed forests, exchange information with the other Party on measures to promote the consumption of timber and timber products, promote conservation of forest resources and against illegal logging and trade, and exchange information with the other Party on actions to improve forest law enforcement, cooperate to promote conservation and sustainable management of forests.
- g) Trade and investment towards sustainable development (23.10)
Facilitating and promoting trade and investment in environmental goods and services, recognizing that voluntary initiatives can contribute to achieving and maintaining high levels of environmental and labour protection. Transparency (13.12) any measure intended to protect environmental and labour conditions that could potentially affect trade must:
- h) Transparency (Full and clear disclosure); Timely notification; Create opportunities for input
- PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCH
3.1 Common Goals
Analysing how well the TSD is being implemented in order to improve the efficiency with which the EVFTA and VPA-FLEGT are being implemented and provide alternatives to ensure that the TSD is implemented fully.
3.2 Specific goals
Evaluate the progress of implementing commitments on TSD in the EVFTA Agreement
Identify difficulties and obstacles in the process of implementing TSD in three main areas: (i) Commitment to labour and environment, (ii) Institutional mechanisms, and (iii) Implementation procedures.
Proposing recommendations on policies, solutions and mechanisms to enhance the effectiveness of TSD’s enforcement for the three above-mentioned contents towards the effective implementation of EVFTA and VPA-FLEGT.
3.3. Research questions
- What commitments have been proposed in the TSD regarding labour and environment, (ii) Institutional mechanisms, and (iii) Implementation procedures?
- What is the progress of TSD implementation?
- What are the challenges and obstacles in TSD implementation?
- What needs to be done to limit these challenges in order to promote TSD to be fully implemented and effectively support FVFTA as well as VPA-FLEGT?
- METHODS
Scope of the research: The research only considers STDs within the forestry sector, not other sectors such as garment, fishery, rice, etc.
– Inside: Collect secondary information from local management units, current central and local policies, and local annual reports. To collect this information, the researcher will develop specific criteria for each document to be collected. The research uses 3 important tools: Google-Search, Google-Scholar, and ProQuest to find information. Reports that do not meet the specified criteria will be rejected.
– Outside:
+ In-depth interview (5-12 people):
Interview with open-ended questions of different subjects belonging to different groups. The interviewees need to satisfy the following criteria (i) Having at least 3-5 years of working experience in the field of VPA-FLEGT and EVFTA, (ii) Having relevant research. (Detailed interview list is in Appendix 1)
- Group of state officials: Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Labour – Invalids and Social Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Ministry of Science and Technology
- Group of Researchers: Researchers in institutes, and Universities.
- Group of NGOs: Active NGOs related to EVFTA and VPA-FLEGT.
- Group of business: Enterprises and associations operating in the field of forestry.
+ Google form:
Send surveys to 50 people that require information (list in Appendix 2). These specialists have a wealth of expertise in the forestry field, have managed the forestry sector for many years, and have a specialization in evaluating local forest governance. The maximum score for the degree of principle implementation is 100. According to each respondent’s individual evaluation and experience, respondents assign a score to the degree of implementation of the principles. The results were received from 20 specialists. The spider web table’s description includes the processing results. Since the respondents are not required to reveal their identities, the results are totally impartial.
– Analyse and process information
The information collected from the in-depth interviews will be converted into different document files and processed. The data processing software used is Excel prof. Open-ended questions are included in the comments for each assessment framework.
- RESEARCH RESULTS
5.1 Implementation progress of commitments in TSD
5.1.1. Implementation of commitments on institutional improvement and environment
Compare the commitments mentioned in the TSD and the adjustments from the Vietnamese legal system.
– Implement commitments to improve institutions on labour
+ The Government and National Assembly of Vietnam have approved a number of specific Convention; 10 major conventions have been discussed and approved 9/10 conventions
+ Vietnam has taken part in 25 ILO conventions, including 9 out of 10 basic conventions related to the areas of collective bargaining, discrimination prevention, child labour and forced labour. Vietnam plans to study and propose to join 15 more ILO conventions to promote international labour standards in Vietnam. According to Dr Chang-Hee Lee, Director of the ILO in Vietnam, “If all goes according to plan, Vietnam will become a leader among ASEAN countries in promoting international labour standards.”
– Implement institutions in the field of environment
+ The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has developed standards and regulations on the treatment of industrial park wastewater, hospital wastewater, solid waste…
+ Commitment on the Environment built 2nd report and submitted to the United Nations in 2020. Vietnam has also adjusted the NDC, committing to voluntary emission reduction by 2025 is 7% with the contribution of Vietnamese international groups committed to reducing up to 27%, National Action Plan on Green Growth.
+ November 2021 at Glasgow COP 26 Vietnam Government committed to bringing carbon emissions to zero by 2050 (Zero Carbon)
+ The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is currently coordinating with the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to study and develop legal documents specifying the carbon market in Vietnam as well as prepare reports on adjustment of Vietnam’s committed NDC in the coming years.
+ The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has issued environmental standards for animal husbandry, cultivation, and agricultural waste treatment. Develop regulations on the treatment of plastic waste from pest control containers.
+ The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has organized the adjustment of a number of legal documents related to VPA/FLEGT specifically such as Decree No. 156/2020/ND-CP, Circular No. 27/2018/TT-NNPTNT Promulgating green development plan for Agriculture and Rural Development sector.
+ Construction and preparation of specific legal documents:
- Preparing to develop Circular guiding forest protection and development to implement the Sustainable Forestry Development Program and the National Target Program for socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas. period 2021-2030, phase I: from 2021 to 2025
- Preparing to develop a Decree amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 156/2018/ND-CP
- Preparing to review and amend Decree 102/ND-CP Regulations on Legal Timber Assurance System
- Decision No. 177/QD-TTg dated February 10, 2022, on approving the Project on capacity building for forest rangers in forest management and protection and forest fire prevention and fighting in the period 2021- 2030.
- National standards are being consulted for development and approval
+ “Dry wood – determine the moisture content and the difference in moisture content of the wood panel”
+ Wood products – Method of drawing test samples; Wood chips (Part 1: Chips for pulp production; Part 2: Chips for artificial boards; Part 3: Chips for burning materials.
+ Wood preservation products (1; 2)
+ National technical standard: Wood plastic composite – Test method for mechanical and physical properties
+ Circular No. 21/2021/TT-BNNPTNT dated December 29, 2021, of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development regulating the classification of wood processing and exporting enterprises;
+ Decision 344/QD-TTg in 2022 approving the Project on sustainable development of Macadamia in the period of 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050, issued by the Prime Minister;
+ National Forestry Planning for the period of 2021-2030 with a vision for 2050;
+ Feasibility study report on Sustainable Forestry Development Program for the period of 2021-2025
+ HDKT to sow, plant, care for and protect mangrove species: Lime, Nipa palm, Proboscis, Bodhi
+ National standards: Crocodile cages and farms
+ National standard “Forest botanical specimens – Technical requirements”
+ National standard “Forest botanical specimens – Technical requirements”
+ National standard Method of determining the area of damaged forest
+ National technical standards, including Wood pellets – Part 1: General requirements; Wood pellets – Part 2: Grades
+ A decree on forest investment, protection and development policy, processing and trade in forest products is being developed and consulted with ministries and sectors and all the people who are interested.
+ National standard “Method of determining the volume of the trunk of a tree from the root diameter”
+ Decision No. 524/QD-TTg dated April 1, 2021, of the Prime Minister on approval of the Project “Plant 1 billion trees in the 2021-2025 period”
+ National technical regulation on wood glue
+ Decision No. 1662/QD-TTg dated October 4, 2021 of the Prime Minister approving “Project on protection and development of forests in coastal areas to respond to climate change and promote green growth in the period 2021-2030″
+ Vietnam Standard (VS): “Natural durability of wood and wood products – Method of testing durability according to biological agents”.
+ Vietnam Standard (VS): “Natural durability of wood and wood products – Method of testing durability according to biological agents”.
Therefore, institutionally speaking, in 2021, Vietnam has gradually implemented its commitments in the EVFTA, VPA/FLEGT Agreements through the new construction and adjustment of a number of legal documents related to good governance of the forestry sector from the preparation stage to the organization and formulation of legal documents. It can be said that the EVFTA and the VPA/FLEGT Agreement have played a role in promoting Vietnam in the process of completing legal documents in the fields of environment, society and labour.
5.2 Challenging issues in implementing TSD
– Institutional challenge
In recent years, a number of legal papers have been created in order to internalize the trade agreements between Vietnam and the EU on the basis of the State’s promises. There have been 40 distinct documents published, primarily in 2021 and the first half of 2022, including those from the Prime Minister, various branches, standards, and regulations.
Particularly for legislation, it usually takes a year to finish pertinent guiding documents like Decrees and Circulars. Normally, these contracts go into force as soon as they are signed. These Agreements shall take effect and be deemed executed immediately. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Legal Department had to advise the Ministry and the Government to issue 13 decrees, 24 circulars, and 02 decisions in 2021, despite the fact that all ministries have a Legal Department with a staff of 15-20 people, some of whom were government employees, and despite the fact that the Ministry and the Government still lack adequate legal expertise.
– Mechanism challenge
The commitments between the two sides are very broad and the actual commitment criteria are not clear, leading to difficulties in the enforcement mechanism. Mechanisms are built involving many units, leading to a lack of coordination.
– Resources challenge, especially for enterprises
The norm is quite low and there aren’t enough organizational resources for execution. The management agency can only allocate 500 million to 1 billion dongs to the implementing unit to create a legal document, such as a Law project. Only 40–60 million VND/decree will be available for decree construction, and only 30 million VND will be available for circular construction. As a result, there aren’t many resources available to work on legal document projects, and even fewer are available to categorise businesses that are having a hard time, especially small and medium businesses.
Enterprises today have a huge difference in terms of technical level, the technology of capital… Especially, there is a big difference between domestic enterprises and FDI enterprises in terms of capital, technology, as well as identification. Define target customers. Therefore, according to the survey results of Forest Trend for 52 enterprises in the South, domestic wood processing and wood products enterprises in the last 6 months of this year are considered to be very scarce in orders. While according to interviews with associations, it is shown that FDI enterprises, due to their large capital, have a very low number of unemployed workers compared to small businesses in Vietnam (This is a huge challenge) while the Open EVFTA Agreement fully intends protection policies for Vietnam’s small businesses.
5.3. Forest governance to fulfil commitments
5.3.1. The concept of good forest governance
Forest governance is assessed through an assessment of 3 pillars which are: i) Institutional documents such as Laws, Decrees, Decisions, and Circulars; ii) master plans and plans; iii) enforcement, implementation and compliance. Evaluate these 3 pillars on the basis of 6 principles which are:
1/ Accountability: Providing information, papers, and distribution such that all classes may access and comprehend it in a particular way is your responsibility. Currently, accountability is spelt out in several State law texts. The quantity, timeliness, and accuracy of the information serve as indicators of the level of responsibility. The indicator is the proportion of persons who can access and comprehend information.
2/ Effectiveness: The impact of the network subject (such as the effect of a promulgated law, or a promulgated planning plan on people’s lives), effectiveness is a measurable concept, which is quantified as the ratio of the useful output to the total input.
3/ Efficiency: It is the ability to do one thing well without waste
4/ Equity: The extent to which people, communities and businesses are treated in society in accessing information and resources…
5/ Participation: The extent and ability of the subject to participate in the issues of concern. Participate in the development of legal documents, planning plans…
6/ Transparency: The level of information provided and the ability to access information of all people, communities, businesses…
1/ Accountability
2/ Effectiveness
3/ Efficiency
4/ Equity
5/ Participation
6/ Transparency
Governance is evaluated through the effective consolidation of 3 pillars, and these pillars are deployed on the basis of fully implementing the 6 basic principles to create good governance.
5.3.2. Assessing the status of forest governance in Vietnam after EVFTA, VPA/FLEGT
- a) Policy, legal, regulatory and institutional framework
– Legal documents and regulations are promulgated and come into force:
Assessing the levels of 3 pillars: Particularly for forest governance, in 2021, from the policy framework (institutional), the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development developed 03 legal documents including 01 Decree and 02 Circulars. Up to now, 100% of documents have been built with quality assurance and submitted on schedule according to regulations. The specific decrees and circulars in Appendix 2 are as follows:
+ The Decree on a number of investment policies in Forestry has been consulted from May 12 to July 11, 2022, and is currently being submitted to the Prime Minister for approval.
+ Circular 21/2021/TT-BNNPTNT, December 29, 2021, on the classification of wood processing and exporting enterprises.
+ Circular 22/2021/TT-BNNPTNT, dated December 29, 2021, on the list of major forestry plant species; recognition of varieties and sources of forestry plant varieties (replacing Circular No. 30/2018/TT-BNNPTNT).
Continue to evaluate and modify Decree 156/ND-CP in 2022, with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development taking the initial step to form a working group to create the Decree. The working committee, which has been in operation since April 2022, has met five times so far and is currently drafting a report to be delivered to the government. From May 20 until June 30, 2022, the proposed Decree was available for feedback on the General Department of Forestry website.
– The total number of projects assigned for implementation in 2021 is 14 programs and projects, specifically in Appendix 3
+ Legal documents related to sustainable forest management and development of the national forest certification system include: (i) Decision 327 of TTCP dated 10/03/2022 approving the Sector Development Project sustainable and effective wood processing industry in the period of 2021-2030.; (ii) Decision No. 1382/QD-BNN-TCLN dated April 15, 2022, of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on Promulgating the Set of Indicators for Monitoring and Evaluation of the Implementation of the Vietnam Forestry Development Strategy. Currently, Vietnam has developed a number of indicators to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the VN forestry development strategy 2021-2030: (i) logging from planted forests (output of timber harvested from forest plantations; a ratio of timber output from planted forests to meet raw materials for production and processing); (ii) forest development (annual production forest planting area; annual protection and special-use forest planting area; forest area zoned for rearing and regeneration promotion; forest product tree area); (iii) sustainable forest management (forest area certified for sustainable forest management; percentage of the forest area of forest owners who are sustainably managed organizations). However, Vietnam still lacks a number of indicators on (i) forest protection, biodiversity conservation (proportion of forest area allocated to management); (ii) protected forest area; (iii) forest area allocated to households and communities; (iv) reduction of law violations; forest reserves.
– Compliance level with the principles
+ Assessment of compliance with principles when developing legal documents related to forestry is done through interviews with 20 forestry industry officials and employees, the average value is shown in the figure in Figure 01.
Figure 01
The results show that transparency is said to have reached 75/100 as required by good governance; The effectiveness is only 68; the efficiency is still only 57/100; Particularly in terms of equity, the forestry sector also achieved a relatively specific figure of 66/100. This result is also consistent with the interview results of export wood processing enterprises as well as afforestation households. Particularly, the participation has reached a relatively high number, the interview results also show that in the past time, when developing legal documents, there has been the participation of units from central to local levels through various agencies, consultation workshops, asking for opinions of interested people (For example, from 20/05 to 30/06 to collect opinions on draft amendments to Decree No. 156/2018/ND-CP; or from 20/04- 30/06 to collect opinions for the amendment of Circular No. 29/2018/TT-BNNPTNT Regulations on silvicultural measures…).
Accountability is regarded as being low; this result demonstrates that all stakeholders’ comments were gathered and implemented, but the agencies have not yet developed the outcomes of how they handled these recommendations. create legal explanations that are regular and unambiguous. Regarding openness, although there has been some improvement for the entire community in the creation of legal projects, decrees, and circulars, as well as legal documents in general, the involvement of stakeholders is still quite low. The findings of the study of businesses revealed that they had not given the topic of considering and commenting on legal papers much thought, so when the document was published and put into reality, they discovered issues, particularly in the following situations: customs declaration form for goods’ country of origin (Opinion of Dong Nai Timber and Forest Products Association, specifically Tapaco company).
Particularly, the staff still gives poor performance evaluations, although it is very difficult to make such a judgment, thus this level is simply qualitative. The 12th individual, whose Malee was withheld, stated specifically that “Many legal documents on the management, building, development and conservation of forests and forest resources have been published on social networks. The Forest Law and supporting legal documents are highly thorough and the best to be put into practice. There have been improvements made to the policy of socialization for people to participate in the development, protection, and benefits of the forest. So far, “the legal document systems produced by Vietnam have made enormous strides in terms of stakeholder participation; in recent years, the accountability of the legal document system has the law provide equity in opportunities among all citizens. In fact, there are always vulnerable groups, disadvantaged individuals, and fair people in any society. There must be a method to clarify, verify, monitor, and assure information transparency in order to achieve what the law seeks to achieve: equality of development chances among target groups. The public must have a right to information and participation in the creation and management of the legal system. Small forest owners have recently received a lot of attention in the literature, and Decision No. 536/QD-TTg was made to approve the task of creating the “National forestry master plan for the period of 2021- 2030, with a vision to 2050.” The Planning Plan has been created, and on November 13, 2019, the Chairman of the Appraisal Council No. 1611/QD-TTg was appointed by the Prime Minister to oversee the Planning Plan’s quality review. The Council is the Permanent Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, in charge of Forestry Affairs; The Vice Chairman is the leader of the Planning Department – Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development; Council members include representatives of the Ministry of Planning, Investment, Finance, Natural Resources and Environment, Industry and Trade, Construction, Transport, Science and Technology, Culture, Sports, Tourism, Public Security, Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs, Government Office;
– Representative of the Central Economic Commission;
– Representative of the National Assembly: Council for Ethnic Minority Affairs, Committee for Science and Environment, and Economic Committee
– Director General of the General Department of Forestry
– Representative: Vietnam Timber and Forest Product Association; Vietnam Forest Owners Association
– Experts in Forestry
Thus, in order to consider and evaluate the National Forestry Planning option, most departments of Vietnam have participated in the assessment. This proves that the level of transparency and participation has been concerned and appreciated.
- b) Planning, plan
– Planning plans are built
+ The forestry industry began putting into practice the revision of the 2021–2030 Forestry Development Plan with a focus on 2050 in 2021. The Department of Planning and Finance has been tasked with leading the participatory planning option. consultant for a ministry of agriculture and rural development planning division (Forest Inventory and Planning Institute). The government has also established an evaluation committee, and the completed master plan is currently being evaluated by the units.
– Assess compliance with forest governance principles
Evaluation of good forest governance is also based on considering the process of developing a planning plan on 6 basic principles. The interview results are also shown in Figure 02.
Figure 02
This outcome demonstrates that the guidelines are rigorously followed. The data is between 58 and 70. Particularly, transparency received up to 70 points, while accountability and fairness received 69 points and stakeholder participation received only 58 out of a possible 100. The plans are frequently not made public, which results in a situation where land is purchased and sold throughout the planning process, producing chaos in the local courts.
- c) Enforcement, implementation and compliance.
– Activities that have been and are being carried out
The enforcement, implementation and compliance activities in 2021 are as follows:
+ In 2021, the number of violations and basically damaged forest area both decreased compared to 2020, specifically:
* Deforestation: 2,653 cases of violations of regulations on forest protection were detected, a decrease of 411 cases, equivalent to a decrease of 13% over the same period; damaged area 852 ha, down 6% (56 ha) over the same period.
* Forest fire: 196 cases were detected, down 5 cases, corresponding to a decrease of 2% over the same period; damaged area of 1,229 ha, an increase of 527 ha, equivalent to 75% over the same period.
* The cause of the increase in the area of damage caused by forest fires is due to the complicated COVID-19 epidemic in some provinces, so when a forest fire occurs, it is not possible to mobilize firefighting forces but must implement social distancing in provinces such as Thua Thien Hue, Gia Lai…) led to an increase in the area of forest fire damaged by fire.
Thus, the implementation and compliance of forest laws have been gradually improved as the number of deforestation and forest fires has decreased in number as well as in area.
– Assess the level of compliance with the principles
Although implementation and compliance have made progress, compared to other pillars, forest governance in Vietnam is still in the weakest stage. Specifically, Figure 03 shows this:
Figure 3: Average results of interviews with 20 key officials in the forestry sector
Balance is crucial when it comes to the execution of forest governance activities, making the early outcomes of 66–67 activities judged to be fair with somewhat elevated involvement and accountability levels. Overall, the interviewers felt that enforcement and compliance remain the weakest aspect of forest governance when compared to the 3 pillars. The specific opinion of specialists is that “Transparency of enforcement through supervision in the forestry sector, here is only the forest ranger as the main supervisor, but the force of forest ranger is thin, so the supervision is limited.” Only 66 people who took the survey in its whole agreed with this topic. In the past year, accountability for the level of enforcement, implementation, and compliance of activities related to the forestry sector has seen significant progress in two areas: first, in clearly defining the responsibilities of each individual in the collective, in understanding what needs to be done and responsible and cannot be attributed; and second, in reducing procedures for people in exploitation and transportation. The third factor for the entire group is the level of people’s intellectual development, which is thought to be necessary for the establishment of accountability. The level of officials is improving, and the slogan “people know, people discuss, people check, people benefit” specifically encourages people to participate and have their say in management, policy, and other areas by creating the necessary framework.
6 DISCUSSIONS
The discussion of the results mentioned in the results section will centre on how they relate to the local environment.
- d) Institutional mechanism
Vietnam has created and ratified a number of legal instruments to put the VPA/FLEGT Agreement and the EVFTA Agreement into effect. In particular, the EVFTA has made a variety of commodity industries, including many items (89% of which are agricultural), exempt from export taxes, helping to provide the circumstances for Vietnamese businesses to benefit from competitive advantages on the global market. Taking advantage of this in 2020 and 2021 will put many nations—particularly emerging nations—at risk of an economic downturn, even as COVID is spreading globally. The wood sector accounts for 15.75 billion USD of Vietnam’s overall import and export volume, which is up to 670 billion USD, and contributes significantly to the country’s economic expansion. What makes the wood sector even more unique is that it generates a significant surplus value of around 13 billion USD, which will help Vietnam reach its surplus value target of over 4 billion USD in 2021.
- e) Implementation procedures
Results of surveys conducted at five businesses in Ho Chi Minh City that are part of five Vietnam Timber and Forest Product Processing Associations. Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Binh Dinh, and the northern provinces demonstrate that: At the moment, businesses implementing contracts to export goods to EU nations share the opinion that the standards and laws are specifically specified by customers on Environmental, Social, and Labor standards. European buyers are particularly interested in the origin of wood, so many goods are ordered with standards like tree species, wood origin, and required wood materials to have a clear origin and forest certification, which is typically FSC certification. Orders are always accompanied by specific environmental and social conditions in accordance with EU regulatory standards. Vietnamese businesses must ascertain the legal provenance of wood if they hope to receive reputable export and import orders. Currently, the majority of wood products, including acacia wood and wood, are supplied domestically. Eucalyptus wood and rubber. Identifying species on the list of species that need to be conserved in the process of executing import and export processes for timber and forestry presents various challenges for the implementation of inspection and monitoring activities for imported timber. Forest non-timber goods are included in the measurement. Although the implementation is delayed, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has published Circular No. 21/2022/TT-BNNPTNT asking the provincial forest protection department to divide companies into three categories. Particularly, only 46 class I firms have been classified in Dong Nai; there are only 5 in Binh Duong; and several provinces have not yet put the classification into practice. The Customs units have not implemented the classification of enterprises, which is the cause of the tardy implementation. In addition, the units have not shown interest in record keeping thus far, thus related papers have not been collected. Even while some businesses adhere to state regulations successfully, enterprise classification is still inadequate. It can be exceedingly challenging for small and very small businesses, in particular, to qualify for Group I.
- f) Commitment to labour and environment
According to survey findings from 6 import-export processing businesses (included in the attachment), businesses that export goods to the EU have finished the necessary work to ensure that their employees can do the same. obey the rules set forth in Vietnamese labour legislation (A set of laws also built on the basis of the conventions prescribed by the ILO). Nearly 50% of employees in processing companies are female, while over 70% of workers at several companies are from a certain ethnic group. EU buyers have requested enterprises to completely comply with their own standards on environment, society, raw materials, etc. in addition to the commitments necessary to be recognized in the Agreement. Due to the relatively strict import regulations in the EU, these businesses have set up independent monitoring units to carry out their duties. If the volume of contracts is high, however, businesses will need 1.2 times the independent unit to oversee the transition of company policies from documents to reality at the workshop (Opinion of EU export wood processing enterprises).
- g) Difficulties and challenges
+ The EVFTA requires the wood sector to completely execute the VPA/FLEGT Agreement; however, since the Agreement is still being readied for implementation, no businesses have yet reaped its benefits. However, businesses have learned about the VPA/FLEGT regulations through propaganda, seminars and conferences held by state management organizations like the General Department of Forestry/FPD, associations, and associations. Additionally, businesses have learned about the Agreements’ contents from international organizations like GIZ, Traffic, Forest Trend, and NGOs in the treaty (Results of the interviews with the Associations and the businesses belonging to the Associations). Particularly for small businesses and households processing products such as non-timber forest products, wood materials from planted forests, many households still do not fully understand the contents of the Agreement, even the VPA/FLEGT Agreement which the contents directly related to households (especially afforestation households).
+ Decree No. 102/2020/ND-CP stipulates the legal timber assurance system has not covered the entire content of the VPA/FLEGT Agreement, so it is planned to be adjusted, which leads to delays. in the implementation of VPA/FLEGT.
+ The digital infrastructure database system has not been developed yet, so the classification of enterprises and checking and appraising of the classification results also face many overcrowding difficulties for the local forest rangers.
- CONCLUSIONS AND PETITIONS
7.1 Conclusion
Vietnam’s wood sector had significant growth in 2021 and 2020, and state management organizations have been working to establish the legal framework for that growth. The development of a number of decrees, circulars, strategies, and plans has gradually improved the environment for businesses that export processed wood and forest products, giving them a competitive edge in the agriculture and forestry sector. international merchandise.
Through the preparation for the implementation of VPA/FLEGT, state management agencies gradually perfect legal documents to improve forest governance as well as create conditions for sustainable development in the future (VPA/FLEGT as a driving force in improving forest governance towards sustainable development – Good governance).
The results of manager interviews indicate that the development of legal documents, and plans for construction officials who have clearly understood and carried out the explanation work step by step, the documents have also been announced and published before being issued, asking for opinions of all classes of people and interested people. In recent years, forest governance in the direction of good governance in Vietnam has also achieved certain progress.
The comments said that the legal documents and planning options were also interested and reached above average level (Over 60 points in terms of fairness and transparency).
The evaluation comments also make it abundantly obvious that the efficiency and effectiveness of the documents are the most crucial factors; the initial findings are merely surveyed findings, and the evaluation of the papers’ efficiency and effectiveness is solely a survey result. The results do not always correspond to reality because the legal paperwork and planning possibilities are not simple.
The average value for the scores of the principles reveals that there is little difference in the third pillar of good forest governance. Therefore, implementing units rather than managers should do additional research and surveys on this topic (This is the weak point of this report).
7.2 Proposals (it is necessary to specify the object of the petition, ie clarify to whom the recommendation is made for each specific content)
The survey results showed that, through the implementation of legal documents, policies and planning options, there are still some shortcomings, so some specific issues are suggested as follows:
- a) The implementation of Circular No. 21/2022/ still faces many problems, due to the requirement of many documents as evidence and the keeping of these documents has not been done well at enterprises so far, so it is necessary to have a “delay” of documents so that businesses can participate simultaneously on a national scale.
- b) The previous planning option led to land overlapping among forest types, making it difficult for enterprises to be allocated land (especially afforestation land in mountainous areas), where many ethnic groups lived and used traditional land before, but the planning was not clear (lack of transparency, no participation of the people) leading to the current state of complaints in the field of land. especially forestry land)
- c) Survey results at enterprises show that in the last 6 months of the year, orders have decreased, and many businesses, especially small businesses, with limited business capital are in danger of stopping production and going bankrupt. Requesting the Government to support these enterprises through difficult times, large enterprises have recognized the problem because these enterprises have a large capital, so long-term investors should still maintain production (but very in moderation). The results of the wood industry briefing on August 28, 2022, proposed the Government reduce the interest rate on bank loans by 2%.
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Appendix 01: Characteristics of interviewees
| No | Person | Sex | Position | Organization |
| 1 | VCCI | |||
| Tran Thi Lan Anh | Female | VCCI | Employer Gender Center/VCCI | |
| Tran Thi Hong Lien | Female | Vice president | Employer Gender Center/VCCI | |
| Tran Thi Hong Nga | Female | Chairman | International Cooperation Department-VCCI | |
| 2 | UNION | |||
| Pham Thi Thu Lan | Female | Vice president | Institute of Workers – Trade Union | |
| Le Dinh Quang | Male | Chairman | Policy Department of Vietnam Labor Confederation | |
| 3 | TNMT MONRE | |||
| Nguyen Van Thi | Male | Specialist | Legal Department/MONRE | |
| 4 | MARD | |||
| Dinh Thi Than Huyen | Female | Deputy head of department | ICD MARD | |
| Le Thanh Hoa | Male | Deputy | Department of Agricultural Products Processing and Market Development/MARD | |
| Nguyen Thuy Linh | Female | Specialist | ICD MARD | |
| 5 | TBXH | |||
| Pham Manh Cuong | Male | Parson | Department of International Relations/MOLISA | |
| Nguyen Thi Chung | Female | Specialist | Department of International Relations/MOLISA | |
| 6 | MoIT | |||
| Ngo Chung Khanh | Male | Deputy Director | Department of Multilateral Trade Policy – Ministry of Industry and Trade | |
| Nguyen Son Tra | Female | Manager | WTO and Trade Negotiations Department, Department of Multilateral Trade Policy – Ministry of Industry and Trade | |
| Le Huyen Nga | Female | Specialist | WTO and Trade Negotiations Department, Department of Multilateral Trade Policy – Ministry of Industry and Trade | |
| 7 | VNFOREST | |||
| Tran Hieu Minh | Male | Vice president | Department of Science, Technology and International Cooperation/VNFOREST | |
| Luu Tien Dat | Female | Specialist | Department of Science, Technology and International Cooperation/VNFOREST | |
| 8 | ENTERPRISE | |||
| Hoang Thi Hong | Female | Specialist | Hanh Phuc Company | |
| Tran Van Thanh | Male | Director | Kien Phuc Company | |
| iTwood Company | ||||
| Cam Ha Company | Male | Technical Director | ||
| 9 | ASSOCIATIONS | |||
| 9.1 | HAWA ASSOCIATION | |||
| Nguyen Hoai Bao | Male | Standing member of the Executive Board of the Association | ||
| Ho Thi Tuyet | Female | Office Specialist | ||
| 9.2 | BIFA ASSOCIATION | |||
| Tuan Anh | Male | Deputy Chief of Office | ||
| Van Son Hoa Nhu | Female | Deputy Chief of Office | ||
| 9.3 | DOWA ASSOCIATION | |||
| Pham Ngoc Lan Ngan | Female | Tapaco | ||
| Ngoc | Female | Office Secretary | ||
| Hoai | Female | Chief of Office | ||
| 9.4 | FPA ASSOCIATION | |||
| Le Huy | Male | Deputy program | General secretary | |
| Nguyen Quang Huy | Male | Director | Phu Tai Company | |
| 9.5 | VIFOREST ASSOCIATION | |||
| Cao Thi Cam | Female | Office | ||
| Thanh | Male | Deputy Chief of Office | ||
| 9.6 | FORESTRY DEPARTMENT DEPARTMENT | |||
| Ngo Van Vinh | Male | Director of Dong Nai Forestry Sub-Department | ||
| Vu Van Tu | Male | Mobile Ranger Squadron Vice Captain | ||
| Do Truong Son | Male | Ranger Specialist | ||
| Dang Tran Quang | Male | Ranger Specialist | ||
| Tran Duc Cuong | Male | Captain of the mobile ranger team | ||
Appendix 02: List of people sent a questionnaire via Google Form
| No | Full name | ||
| 1 | Nguyễn Hữu Dung | huudzung@gmail.com | |
| 2 | Đỗ Xuân Lân | doxuanlan.khcn@gmail.com | |
| 3 | Nguyễn Tiến Hải | N.TienHai@cgiar.org | |
| 4 | Nguyễn Quang Tân | tan@recoftc.org | |
| 5 | Triệu Văn Hùng | trieuvanhungln@gmail.com | |
| 6 | Hoàng Liên Sơn | hlson2000fsiv@gmail.com | |
| 7 | Trần Lâm Đồng | dong.tran@vafs.gov.vn | |
| 8 | Vũ Tấn Phương | phuong.vt@vafs.gov.vn | |
| 9 | Nguyễn Văn Hạnh | ||
| 10 | Nguyễn Quốc Dựng | dungfipi@gmail.com | |
| 11 | Bùi Thế Đồi | buithedoi@gmail.com | |
| 12 | Trường ĐHLN | ||
| 13 | Quân ĐHTN | ||
| 14 | Vũ Xuân Thôn | vuthon@gmail.com | |
| 15 | Hồ Mạnh Tường | tuongfipi@gmail.com | |
| 16 | Trần Lê Huy Bình Định | tranlehuy50@gmail.com | |
| 17 | Trương Quang Hoàng Huế | hoangtq@crdvietnam.org | |
| 18 | Nguyễn Đình Hùng | dinhhung28@yahoo.com | |
| 19 | Chị Liên Lung | duongtlien@gmail.com | |
| 20 | Đinh văn Đề | dinhvandefipi@yahoo.com.vn | |
| 21 | Huy Dũng | huydungfipi@gmail.com | |
| 22 | Bảo Huy | baohuy.frem@gmail.com | |
| 23 | Hồ Văn Cử | h.vancu@tft-earth.org | |
| 24 | Hà Thị Mừng | munght.ln@gmail.com | |
| 25 | Phan Trọng Thịnh | thinhwetland.phamtrong@gmail.com | |
| 26 | Đặng Thịnh Triều | thinhtrieu@hotmail.com | |
| 27 | Tô Kim Liên | lientk@ced.edu.vn | |
| 28 | Ngô Sỹ Hoài | ngosyhoai89@yahoo.com | |
| 29 | Trần Ngọc Thanh | Đăk Lắc | |
| 30 | Lý Minh Hải | hai.lythiminh@recoftc.org | |
| 31 | Đào Minh Châu | daochau27@gmail.com | |
| 32 | Tăng Xuân Phương | xuanphuongkl@gmail.com | |
| 33 | Vũ Lê Y Voan | voanvnfu@yahoo.com | |
| 34 | Nguyễn Văn Sơn | vansonfipi@gmail.com <vansonfipi@gmail.com>; | |
| 35 | Hồ Lê Khanh | khanhhl@crdvietnam.org | |
| Zalo | |||
| 36 | Lê Công Uẩn | Chuyên gia FAO | leconguan@gmail.com |
| 37 | Nguyễn Duy Trọng | trongnd.ln@mard.gov.vn | Legal Department inspects TCLN |
| 38 | Nguyễn Thái | thainguyen19bql@gmail.com | Rangers |
| 39 | Lê Hoàng Anh | lehoanganh06@gmail.com | Department of Science, Technology and Environment MARD |
| 40 | Nguyễn Văn Sản | san.nguyenvan@wwf.org.vn | Free consultant |
| 41 | Cao Thị Cẩm | caocamhp@gmail.com | Wood Association |
| 42 | Nguyễn Huy Thắng | thangfipi@gmail.com | FREC/FIPI |
| 43 | Đoàn Minh Tuấn | tuandm.ttra@mard.gov.vn | Former Director of Legal Department, Inspector General |
| 44 | Phí Hồng Hải | Office of the Institute of Science and Technology | |
| 45 | Ngô Huy Toàn | ngohuytoan@gmail.com | Forestry consultant |
| 46 | Lê Văn Bách | levanbachln@gmail.com | Former School Affairs |
| 47 | Trần Mạnh Long | tmlong@kiemlam.org.vn | Head of Forest Protection Department |
| 48 | Lê Thị Lộc | loc.le@giz.de | GIZ |
| 49 | Đinh Đức Thuận | thuanthau53@gmail.com | Vietnam Forest Owners Association |
| 50 | Đoàn Tiến Vinh | vinhdt.ln@mard.gov.vn | Laws of TCLN |
Appendix 03: Legal documents and regulations related to forestry developed in 2021
| No | Name of Document | Document construction progress |
| 1 | Decree on some investment policies in forestry | Submitted to the Government for consideration and promulgation of Decree No. 6859/TTr-BNN-TCLN dated October 22, 2021 |
| 2 | Circular on the classification of wood processing and exporting enterprises | On December 29, 2021, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development issued Circular No. 21/2021/TT-BNNPTNT. |
| 3 | The Circular prescribes the list of main forest plant species; recognition of varieties and seed sources; management of main forestry plant seed materials (replacing Circular No. 30/2018/TT-BNNPTNT) | On December 29, 2021, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development issued Circular No. 22/2021/TT-BNNPTNT. |
Appendix 04: Programs and projects to be implemented in 2021 in the forestry sector
| No | Project name | Results/Progress | Note |
| I | Develop programs, projects, projects | ||
| 1 | Strategy for development of Vietnam’s forestry sector in the period of 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050 | Prime Minister approved in Decision No. 523/QD-TTg dated April 1, 2021 | |
| 2 | Project “Protection and development of coastal forests in response to climate change in the period of 2021-2030”. | Prime Minister approved it in Decision No. 1662/QD-TTg dated October 4, 2021 | |
| 3 | Project on planting 1 billion trees in the period of 2021-2025 | Prime Minister approved in Decision No. 524/QD-TTg dated April 1, 2021 | |
| 4 | Pilot project to lease forest environment for cultivation and development of medicinal herbs | Submitted to the Prime Minister in Document No. 8784/BNN-TCLN dated December 15, 2020. | |
| 6 | Project on Sustainable Development of Macadamia in the period of 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050 | Decision No: 344/QD-TTg. March 15, 2022 |
Added |
| 7 | Sustainable forestry development program for the period of 2021-2025 | – The Government approves the investment policy (Resolution 84/NQ-CP, dated August 5, 2021). | |
| 8 | Development of National Forestry Planning | The Prime Minister has established the National Forestry Planning Appraisal Council | |
| 9 | Project on capacity building for forest rangers in forest management, protection and fire prevention in the period 2021-2030 | Decision No. 177/QD-TTg dated 10/2/2022 | |
| 10 | Project on Sustainable development of wood and non-timber forest product processing industry in the period of 2021 – 2030 | Decision 327 QD-TTg dated 10/3/2022 |
Appendix 05: Project in forestry to be implemented in 2022
| No | Project name | Result | Status |
| 1 | Project on Development of Forest Seeds | Do not perform | Approved in Document No. 7131/VPCP-NN dated October 4, 2021 |
| 2 | Project on sustainable forest protection, restoration and development in the Northwest in the 2021 – 2030 period | Do not perform | Approved in Document No. 7131/VPCP-NN dated October 4, 2021 |
| 3 | National KKR project | Do not perform | Approved in Document No. 7631/VPCP-NN dated October 20, 2021 |
| 4 | Project on application of information technology in management and production of the forestry industry | Do not perform | Approved by the Ministry of Labor at the Official Letter No. 1484/TCLN-VP on October 19, 2021. |
Appendix 06: Forest Governance Questionnaire System
Pillar 1: Laws, Decrees, Circulars and legal documents
1/ How do you rate
a/ Transparency
b/ Effectiveness
c/ Efficiency
d/ Participation
dd/ Accountability
e/ Equity
Pillar 2: Plan, Planning
a/ Transparency
b/ Effectiveness
c/ Efficiency
d/ Participation
dd/ Accountability
e/ Equity
Pillar 3: Enforcement, implementation and compliance
a/ Transparency
b/ Effectiveness
c/ Efficiency
d/ Participation
dd/ Accountability
e/ Equity
Appendix 08: Directive documents of the forest rangers since the VPA/FLEGT took effect
1/ The Forest Protection Department issued Document No. 229/KL-XDLL dated May 13, 2020 on the anniversary of the establishment of the Vietnam Ranger force.
2/ The Forest Protection Department promulgates the Manual for handling violations of the law in the field of forestry
3/ Document No. 91/KL-DT dated February 28, 2020 of the Forest Protection Department on reporting data on the handling of administrative violations
4/ The Forest Protection Department issued Document No. 19/KL-QLR dated January 10, 2020 requesting localities to report the results of updating forest developments.
5/ The Forest Protection Department issued Document No. 204/KL-QLR dated May 13, 2022 on the pilot implementation of the FRMS 4.0 system to update and report on forest developments.
6/ The Forest Protection Department issued Document No. 543/KL-QLR dated October 19, 2020 on strengthening the prevention of natural disasters and overcoming the consequences of rain and floods in the central provinces.
7/ The Forest Protection Department issued Document 374/Kl-QLR to the Forest Protection Departments of regions and provinces and cities on strengthening the work of forest protection, fire prevention and fighting.
8/ The Forest Protection Department issued Document No. 714/KL-QLR dated December 11, 2019 to the Forest Protection Departments of a number of provinces to strengthen forest fire prevention and fighting.
9/ The Forest Protection Department issued Document No. 507/Kl-VP dated August 28, 2019 to the Forest Protection Departments of the provinces and centrally-run cities on the statistics of the phone book.
10/ The Forest Protection Department issued Document No. 417/KL-QLR on July 24, 2019 to the Forest Protection Departments of the provinces and centrally-run cities on monitoring and updating forest developments in 2019.
11/ The Forest Protection Department issued Document 241/KL-QLR on April 25, 2019 to the Forest Protection Departments of the provinces and centrally-run cities to strengthen forest fire prevention and fighting.