The impact of payment for forest environmental services (PFES) on community-level forest management in Vietnam.
13/11/20 08:10AM
Ngoc T. B. Duong and Wouter T. De Groot. Forest Policy and Economics, 2020, volume 113, p. 102135. .
Abstract: In Vietnam, the PFES program of payment for forest environmental services involves more than 100,000 forest right holders. Little is known about the impact of the program on the actual forest management activities by these actors. We used an open-ended self-reporting method in 21 villages in three provinces to characterize changes in forest management due to PFES, to assess levels of change (positive, no change, or negative), and to explore underlying motivations. The major changes identified occurred in the forest patrol groups, trespass and fire prevention, and the effectiveness of forest protection rules. Basically, all respondents reported a positive change in at least one of these features, and no negative change was reported. Respondents also highlighted that the payments and the clarification of boundaries were the main factors underlying this substantial impact. It must be borne in mind however that this success builds on effective forest law enforcement