Forestry-Strategy.. - The REDD Desk

A second set of factors involved in forest cover decline relate to economic incentives for overharvestingof forest resources and governance:• Too many wood processing plants and excessive wood processing capacity has tended toput pressure on Government bodies to grant harvest/logging plans in sizes and locationsoften not matched with available resources; Government is currently trying to deviseboth long- and short-term solutions.• Province and district authorities used to grant harvest/logging plans to businessmen inexchange for infrastructure or village development fees, a practice prohibited in 2002 forinfrastructure not provided for in the National Socio-economic Development Planendorsed by the National Assembly.• Annual harvest/logging plans have usually been based on over optimistic estimates ofannual allowable cut.• The Government system establishing logging royalties and the lack of availableinformation have led to rates significantly at variance with international prices. Themethodology for setting royalty rates is currently under Government review.A third set of factors relate to capacity:• Public sector capacity to plan, supervise and control implementation of forestrydevelopment is seriously limited, both in terms of number and specialization of staff andavailability of physical and budgetary resources. The support of various donors,including the World and Asian Development Banks, and the Swedish, Japanese, Finnish,Danish, German programs and others, has to some extent compensated for theseconstraints.• The legislative and regulatory framework is still in its early stage and as yet incomplete.The Forestry Law, for example was passed in 1996 with its implementing decree issuedlate in 1999. Several sets of MAF regulations implementing the Forestry Law have beenissued although there are some yet to be completed. Annual implementing PM Ordershave been issued as gaps are noticed and efforts are being made with the support of theinternational organizations, donors, international financial institutions and others.• Land and forest allocation policy, there is a lack of qualified staff, equipments and fundcontributed to shortcomings in implementation. For example, village land and forestallocation exercises, which were carried out without sufficient training of local officersas well as without technical and financial support after planning, resulted in land andforest use plans that were unsustainable or do not stimulate villager’s ownership, whichbrought about the efforts aimed at reducing shifting cultivation have sometimes notsuccessfully.3.1.4. Issues for Improvement of Land and Forest Use3.1.4.1 Lack of land use planning and coordination among stakeholdersForested area, including Current forest, tree plantations, bamboo forest, temporary unstockedforest and fallow land, occupy 71.6% (17 million ha) of the total land area. However, itsmultiple uses are often conflicting and it is often the only source of land for other activities.Despite designation as National Conservation or Production Forests, development activitiesincluding migration, expansion of agriculture land, road building, some of which are unplanned,continue.14