FGM Workshop Background Paper - REDD - VietNam

1.1 Background and context
Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION
Due to the increasing recognition of the importance of forest governance quality on
progress towards SFM, FLEGT and the reduction of deforestation and forest
degradation (REDD+), increasingly many efforts are taken to monitor and report
forest governance and governance quality. Several initiatives and different
methodologies exist for monitoring and reporting forest governance, including those
related to Forest Law Enforcement and Governance (FLEG), reporting based on
SFM criteria and indicators and on international agreements, as well as those of the
World Bank. Recently, the REDD negotiations under the UN Framework Convention
on Climate Change have agreed on safeguards, initiative of EU FLEGT VPA, and
timber supply chain policy of different governments that relate to forest governance,
further increasing the need for monitoring. However, perhaps most importantly,
forest governance monitoring systems at the country level need to meet national
monitoring needs in order to be relevant. This means that monitoring of forest
governance should be most of all useful to better fulfill national and local priorities for
forest management. Any forest governance monitoring that is established by
countries needs to be feasible, cost-effective, reliable (verifiable), allow reliable
measurement of change over time, and fulfill international reporting requirements.
To meet these goals, Government of Vietnam (MARD) has requested the assistance
of FAO to help integrate forest governance monitoring into national-forest related
monitoring systems. The work on forest governance monitoring is undertaken in the
context of the FAO/Finland 1 work on a National Forest Assessment (NFA) system.
To this end, FAO is providing support through the services of a national consultant
and international technical consultants.
As a first step, from June to October 2011, the national consultant carried out a
scoping study in collaboration with and with inputs from several organizations of the
Vietnamese Government and other stakeholders. The aim of the study – that has
been based on review of relevant documentation and stakeholder interviews - was to
inventory and assess the present status of FGM and propose steps to develop a
preliminary proposal for strengthening FG monitoring. The results of the study are
laid down in the present draft report. The report will serve as the background
document for the multi-stakeholder consultation workshop on 5-7 December 2011,
where the results, key issues and main questions and proposals of the report will be
evaluated as a basis to provide concrete, practical recommendations for next steps
to take.
The background paper consists of 6 chapters:
• Background;
• Rationale for strengthening forest governance monitoring in Viet Nam;
• Forest governance monitoring in Viet Nam – Maim findings;
1 FAO Finland Forestry Programme: “Strengthening Forest Resources Management and Enhancing its
Contribution to Sustainable Development, Land use and Livelihoods”
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