How does Vietnam Rehabilitate its Forests? 1

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1 How does Vietnam Rehabilitate its Forests? 1 Do Dinh Sam, Trieu Van Hung, Pham Ngoc Mau, 2 De Jong Wil 3 1 INTRODUCTION In the 21 th century the concept of tropical forest conversion is getting a new meaning. Rather than a unidirectional change from natural high forest areas to areas with degraded forests or no forest at all, forest conversion will increasingly reflect a process of constant alteration of forest lands or landscapes that oscillate between different degrees of tree cover and biomass and varied species composition. The functions of forests to human society, usually grouped into three categories: provision of forest commodities, environmental functions, and biodiversity conservation, in this shifting forest landscape will alter accordingly. In order to assure provision of different forest functions it is increasingly necessary to achieve successful tropical forest rehabilitation. 4 The need and opportunity to rehabilitate forest lands is recognized widely, and many countries that have tropical forest lands invest substantial resources for that purpose (i.e. Countries like China, Indonesia, India, Indonesia, South Africa and Brazil have had forest or forest land rehabilitation programs and projects for many years. In each of these, and in many other countries process of forest cover change, i.e. degradation and re-habilitation continue to influence the national forest cover, the forest condition, and the role of forests in the society. Vietnam is one of many countries that experienced serious forest cover change during the second half of the 20 th century. Vietnam is also currently investing a large amount of resources in restoring its forest cover. Three quarter of the 330,000 km 2 land mass of Vietnam has mountainous and hilly terrain. At the beginning of the 1920s almost the entire upland area was covered with forests. This reduced to 43% forest cover in 1943, and further 1 This paper is the result of a collaborative project: Review of Forest Rehabilitation Projects Lessons from the Past, a project coordinated by CIFOR in Vietnam, Indonesia, China, Philippines and Peru.. Participating partners in Vietnam are the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam (MARD), The Forestry Science Institute of Vietnam, The Center for International Forestry Research, The Forestry Department, the Department of International Cooperation, the Forestry Sector Support Program Coordinating Office, WWF Indochina Office and the Tropenbos International Vietnam Program. Funds for the study have been provided by the Government of Japan to CIFOR. 2 All three staff members at the Forest Science Institute of Vietnam 3 Corresponding author. Center for International forestry Research. P.O. Box 6596 JKPWB, Jakarta Indonesia. 4 We use the definition of forest rehabilitation provided by Lamb and Gilmour: Rehabilitation = 1

2 declined to 10 to 20% in the 1990s (De Koninck 1999). Especially between 1980 and 1995 the natural forest area strongly decreased (table 1). Large parts of the land that previously had forests, is now under agricultural use. However, at least equally extensive areas are supposedly being left barren (De Koninck 1999). Throughout the country, but particular in the North, some 10 million ha of forests are now under a range of secondary succession types in various stages of degradation and recovery (Mittleman 2001). Table 1: Forest change from 1943 to 1995 [1000 ha] Year Natural forests Planted forests Total Forest coverage % ,300 14, , ,169 33, , ,908 32, , ,892 30, ,252 1,050 9,305 28,2 Vietnam knows the status of designated forest land, of which there are 16 million ha or 48 % of the national land mass, according to the forestry development strategy to 2010 (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development 2001). Viet Nam distinguishes three categories of forest land: protection forest, special uses forest and production forest. In 2002 about 11.7 million ha or 74% of this forest land was covered with forest (table 2). Table 2. Forest cover of forest land categories in Vietnam Forest land category Total area [ha] Actual forest in 2002 [ha] Percentage forest cover [%] Protection forest 6 000,000 5,614, Special use forest 2 000,000 1,727, Production forest 8 000,000 4,442, Total , , Experiences with forest rehabilitation in Vietnam exist since French colonial times. The Vietnamese government intensified these efforts since the mid 1980s and during the 1990s. Since 1998, the country has developed ambitious plans to complete a forest rehabilitation program that will bring back the forest cover until the 1943 level. 2

3 This paper reviews the Vietnam experience in rehabilitating its forests so far, and tries to draw some initial general and strategic lessons from that review. The paper uses three sources of information: (1) A review of relevant scientific literature, but also many other documents that contain information about Vietnam s tropical forests and forest rehabilitation projects. (2) An inventory of forest rehabilitation projects about which information is held at various MARD departments (i.e. Department of Forestry, Department of International Cooperation). (3) Discussion at two national workshops held in Hanoi in June 2003 and March 2004 (Do Dinh Sam et al. 2004). The paper is divided in five sections. Following the introductory section the paper reviews the most important policies and programs that Vietnam has pursued to rehabilitate large part of its territory. Section three analyzes several features of Vietnam s forest rehabilitation projects. Section four draws lessons from this analysis and section five concludes. 2 REHABILITATION POLICIES AND PROGRAMS Vietnam has pursued three principal programs of forest rehabilitation. The United Nations World Food (PAM) Program has supported afforestation in Vietnam for some 24 years. National programs also reflect the attention to forest rehabilitation resulting in national objectives approved by the National Assembly and the Government. Two Prime Ministerial Decisions: 327 from 1993 and 661 from 1998 have resulted in substantial efforts to rehabilitate degraded forest lands. Decision 661 is the beginning of the ambitious 5 Million Hectare Reforestation Program. All forest rehabilitation projects in Vietnam carried out since 1993 are under these two programs. This section discusses the three programs. PAM programs ( ) The World Food Program started operating in Vietnam since 1975, and has invested a total of US$ 500 million in the country. Forestry, irrigation and primary health care were three major domains that PAM supported in Vietnam. The forestry program under PAM also started in 1975 and was completed in During this period, six forestry projects were implemented under the PAM program, with an allocated budget of $160 million. These funds were allocated to supply food to rural communities, provide equipment and materials for 450,000 3

4 ha of forest plantation, construction of forest roads, organize fire protection teams, and improve the forest extension services. The forestry projects carried out under the PAM program focused on the development of demonstrations plots and agroforestry production on steep slopes. Farmers were given a lot of opportunity to select their own crops and species to plant. The most important criteria considered was the market potentials of the species planted. To support the PAM forestry projects, the GOV allocated forest land to farmers, and the projects supported household investment in farmers own land. The forestry projects carried out under PAM brought good results. Large areas of land have been planted to trees, jobs were created, livelihoods in communities improved, forest plantation and agroforestry techniques have been transferred, gender equity in forestry has been promoted, and local staff have been trained in the organization and management of forestry projects. Program 327 ( ) The so called program 327 was established pursuant to Decision No 327 of the Chairman of the Minister Council (Prime Minister) on the policies and objectives in utilization of barren land and hills, alluvial coastal areas and water surface areas. This program became implemented nationwide in the domains of forestry, agriculture, aquaculture, fixed cultivation and resettlement and new economic zones. In the forestry domain, program 327 focused on re-greening barren land and hills, including protection of existing forest areas, natural regeneration and forest plantations. In 1994, the program was amended and shifted its focus mainly to forest protection in critical areas, and areas where slash and burn cultivation persisted, mostly in the Northern and Central Highlands. Re-greening of barren land and hills activities were mainly implemented in the mountainous and midland regions. Since 1995, the program has focused only on protection forest and special use forest in areas where local farmers practiced slash and burn cultivation. As a result, the program emphasized activities like promoting fixed cultivation and settlements, and on greening barren land and hills in mountainous and midland areas. From 1996 to 1998 the scope of this program was again narrowed down to protection and establishing new plantations in special use forest lands, protection of forest through natural regeneration, and forest plantation. 4

5 In summary since its inception program 327 program has narrowed its objectives and progressively concentrated on forestry. The focus became limited to protecting existing protection and special use forests, and the rehabilitation of special use forests by means of natural regeneration and new forest plantation. These objective were continued under its successor, the 5 Million Hectare Reforestation Program. Funding for the Decision 327 program came largely from Vietnam State funds. Between 1993 and 1998, the GOV spent 2,987 billion Vietnam Dong (VND) 5 on this program, of which: - 2,178 billion VND (73%) was used for forestry and infrastructure; billion VND (14%) were allocated to non- interest loans for agriculture; and billion VND (13%) were used for management and administration purposes During this period there is also a change in the objective of the projects that were sponsored by international organizations. For instance, forestry development assistance from various donors shifted from direct investment in timber production to supporting forest rehabilitation and protection of special use forests and protection forests, and to support social forestry activities. Five Million Hectare Reforestation Program ( ) The objectives of the 327 program were gradually adjusted and eventually only focused on the forestry sector in the last years of its duration. The emphasis was put on protection forest and special use forest land and included protection, regeneration, and afforestation activities. The shifting focus of program 327 led to the formulation of the Five Million Hectare Reforestation Program (5MHRP). The 5MHRP was approved by the Parliament in 1997 and by the Prime Minister with Decision No. 661/QD TT dated July The 5MHRP will be carried out from 1998 to 2010 and aims to increase nation-wide forest coverage up to 43% of the total land cover. For that reason many rehabilitation projects are referred to as Decision 661 projects. According to a recent assessment of the Forestry Department (MARD, 2003) between 1998 and 2003, a total budget of 3,848 billion VND was allocated to this program. State budget 5 Exchange rates: USD 1= VND 15,700 (2004); xx,xxx (1998); xx.xxx (1993). 5

6 funds accounted for 2,444 billion VND or 63.5%. Credit loans contributed 920,664 billion VND or 24%, and donor funds contributed 231,558 billion VND or 6%. Lastly, self- financed activities contributed 164,913 billion VND or 4.3%. The GOV has contributed the largest part to the implementation of the 5MHRP. The second place was for credit loans, which were mainly invested in production forests. The objectives of rehabilitating and protecting of Vietnam s forests aimed for under the 5MHRP, especially through natural regeneration, have been advanced well. The forest coverage has increased from 33.2% in 1999 to 35.8% in Targets of establishing forest plantation have also progressed according to annual plans. However, after six years 1,196,594 ha of protection and special use forests were planted, an area that equaled only 49.7% of the area planned for that period. During the same period, 516,629 ha of production forest was planted. This included 443,833 ha of industrial plantation, or 22.2% of the planned area. A major part of the 5MHRP activities concentrated international cooperation in forestry. Some 21 donors committed themselves with MARD to support the plantation of five million ha of forests. In recent years, 45 projects from PAM, 6 UNDP, FAO programs and from the Government of Sweden, Germany, Japan, Holland, Finland and non government organizations such as WWF, CARE, and OXFAM were and are being implemented. Loans from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and Japan Bank for International Development Cooperation are being assigned to projects under the 5MHRP program. The 5MHRP does have some difficulties. One of them is lack of funds, as the State budget only meets 68% of the required annual funds. A second one is that farmers with access to production forests land still have no interest in loans with annual preferential interest rates of 5.4% because their revenue is not enough to pay for these interest rates. A third limitation is that land allocation and land use planning has not met the actual requirements. In particular it is difficult to identify land that is suitably located for forestry production, and to supply raw materials for processing factories. Even though under this program, forest owners can benefit more from forests, the incentives are not adequate to attract other people to engage in forest protection and rehabilitation activities. Table 3 summarizes the achievements of the projects 6 Ongoing projects, like those carried out under the PAM program, where incorporated into the 5MHRP 6

7 conducted under Decision 661, and Table 4 shows the break down of the total funds invested in this program. Figure 1 shows the relative distribution of sources of funding for the 5MHRP. Table 3: Achievements of 5MHRP projects from 1998 to 2003 Target Result Planned to 2003 Forest allocated for protection 2,432,960 ha 1,740,250 ha Planned to 2010 Afforestation Protection forests, Special Use forests 1,196,594 ha 949,144 ha Newly planted 496,803 ha 1,000,000 Natural regeneration 452,341 ha 1,000,000 Production forests 516,624 ha 3,000,000 Forests supplying 2,000,000 industrial materials Industrial plants, fruit 1,000,000 trees Total afforestation 1,713,223 ha 5,000,000 Table 4: Investments under Program 661 Origin of funds Amount [10 6 VND] State budget 2,443,970 Credit loans 920,664 Overseas funds Self-finance of enterprises 164,913 Other sources 87,250 Total invested funds 3,848,355 7

8 Figure 1 279, ,913 87, ,664 2,443,970 State budget Credit loans Overseas funds Self-finance of enterprises Other sources 3 AN ANALYSIS OF FOREST REHABILITATION PROJECTS IN VIETNAM The three programs referred to in the previous section are executed through a large number of projects carried out by national state and private and international agencies. In addition to the review of the three main programs related to forest rehabilitation, the research team conducted an inventory of the projects that had records in relevant MARD offices in Hanoi. These included records at the Department of Forestry, the Department of International Cooperation, and interviews held with Project Management Boards. 7 In addition to these sources, expert interviews at the two workshops, mentioned in the introductory section, provided additional information for the inventory, especially in cases where information on projects where missing. A total of 10 fields of information were collected on the projects reviewed (Table 4). 8

9 Table 5: Information collected in the inventory of forest rehabilitation projects 1. Name of the project 2. Purposes of the project 3. Project location 4. Project areas 5. Source of project funds 6. Amount of funds invested 7. Species planted 8. Starting date 9. Ending date 10. Donors and partners Some caution is called for, related to this inventory. First, participants at the two workshops pointed out that the sampling does inadequately include rehabilitation initiatives that are independently carried out at the provincial level, and similar activities carried out by independently operating NGOs. Of these groups of projects, the contribution of provincial projects may likely be the more important oversight of our sampling procedure. Still, a total number of 280 projects could be sampled and used for the analysis below. Second, despite the very basic nature of information collected on the projects, not all the information could be collected for all the projects. Were relevant, these gaps of information are mentioned in the analysis below. The research team analyzed the results in the following way. At the second workshop, the participants used the initial results of the inventory to propose a grouping of rehabilitation project. This grouping is discussed in detail below. Second, the research team compiled basic statistics and cross tabulations on the total list of projects. After these analysis were completed, the group met with the Technical Advisory Committee, a group of senior forestry experts that support the project (Do Dinh Sam et al. 2004), to discuss the interpretation of the results of this analysis. A grouping of Vietnam s forest rehabilitation projects. 7 Each larger national level project has an assigned project management board. They operate out of the MARD. 9

10 The following data fields were used for grouping the 280 projects: - Objective of the rehabilitation project; - Funding type; - Geographic location. Criterium 1: Objective of the Rehabilitation Project As mentioned in the introduction, Vietnam s Law of Forest Protection and Development (1991), defines thee types of forest according to the main objective of the forest present. The purpose of the rehabilitation projects on each type of forest land is consistent with the forest land on which the project takes place: I.e. restoration or preservation of some forest related function (in the case of protection forest land); some kind of production objective (in the case of production forest land) 8 and some other purposes (in the case of special use forest land). 9 For this reason, in the general inventory the team distinguished between projects related to the three forest types. Criterium 2: Funding Type The major groups when looking at funding type are projects that are funded from national funds and those that are funded from international funds. Each of these two groups can be subdivided as indicated in table 6. Table 6. Funding Sources for Forest Rehabilitation Projects National Funds International Funds State budget Loan Direct Investment Self Finance Technical assistance funds ODA non repayment fund ODA loan Joint venture funds 8 production forests focus on industrial species which provide materials for paper and wood-chip production, and forests that are grown for timber of native species 10

11 Criterium 3: Geographical Location MARD currently recognizes seven ecological regions in Vietnam, as shown in table 7. Table 7. Seven Ecological Regions of Vietnam 1. Northern Mountainous Region 2. North Central Region 3. Red River Delta 4. Central Coastal Region 5. High Plateau 6. South East Region 7. Mekong River Delta Region These ecological zones each have their own predominant ecological features (mainly geography, climate and relate natural vegetation). They also each have their predominant forest land type. Rehabilitation projects in each region are related to the predominant forest land type. Rehabilitation projects on protection forest land are carried out in all seven zones. MAP OF VIETNAM AND ECOLOGICAL ZONES Data Analysis Relying on these three criteria, all selected projects identified in the general survey are arranged in three types: protection forest projects, special use forest projects and production forest projects. They were subsequently grouped as per project location, project area, source of funds, total amount of funds invested, the total implementation time, and the kinds of trees planted. Figure 2 and Table 8 shows a grouping of the full project inventory according to the three main criteria: forest type, ecological zone and funding source. Of the 280 projects only 46 projects (16) are funded with international funds. The Northern Mountainous Region consists 9 Special use forests include forest for watershed protection, forest for sand stabilization, and forests for coastal erosion protection forests, nature reserve areas and national parks. This somewhat blurs the distinction between 11

12 of North West, Central and North East, and is the largest of the seven regions in Vietnam. This explains why the number of selected projects in this area is the largest (75 projects), next is the Central Coastal Region (69), North Central (55), Mekong River Delta Region (31) and the High Plateau (25). Figure 2: Number of Projects by Ecological Region and Type of Forest Northern Mountains Red River North Central Central Coastal Southeast High Plateau Mekong Delta Not Identified Protection forest Special use forest Production forest Table 8: Projects According to Forest Type, Region and Source of Funding. Type of Northern Red River North Central South High Mekong Not Total project mountain Delta Central -coast East plateau Delta known Protection forest Special Use forest Production forest 45/5* 3/0 34/2 53/0 4/0 16/1 18/2 2/0 175/10 10/4 5/1 7/2 6/0 4/0 3/1 8/1 0/3 43/12 4/7 2/1 2/8 7/3 0 1/3 0/2 0 16/24 protection forest and special use forest land. 12

13 Total 59/16 10/2 43/12 66/3 8/0 20/5 26/5 2/3 234/46 * Fractions reflect State funded/ International funded Protection Forest Rehabilitation Projects The largest number of projects is in protection forest land (185 projects or 66%). The larger number these projects is located in the Central Coastal Region and Northern Mountainous Region (50 and 53 projects), the North Centre Region (36), the Mekong River Delta Region (20) and the High Plateau (17). This distribution reflects the need to develop protection forest in these regions, because floods occur frequently. Most of these projects relate to establishing watershed forests that regulate water flow of the water sheds of the Da River, Lo River, Red River in the Northern Region, the Hinh River, Cau River, Ma River in North-Central Region, and the Con River, Danhim Waterfall in the Southern Region. The protection forests established under these rehabilitation projects also protect important lakes such as Nui Coc, Yen Lap, Dai Ninh, Dau Tieng, and Tri An. In the Central Regions the projects are meant to establish protection forests on sandy terrain to eliminate erosion in the coastal areas of the Mekong Delta. Most of these projects are implemented within periods of 5 to 10 years and many will continue up to Funds for rehabilitation projects of protection forests mainly come from the State budget according to Program 661 (equal to 95% or 175 out of 185 projects). International funds are partly non-repayment funds from the World Bank, Denmark, Japan and the remaining are loans from the World Bank, DANIDA, and JBIC. Special Use Forest Rehabilitation Projects There are 55 projects linked to special use forests and 12 are sponsored by international funds (equal to 21.8%). The number of special use rehabilitation projects is significantly higher than the number of production forest rehabilitation projects. The number of projects in this forest land type is the highest in Northern Mountainous Region (14 projects). The lowest number of projects was four in the High Plateau Region and South East Region. 13

14 The inventory also showed a sub set of projects related to national parks, e.g Cuc Phuong National Park (Ninh Binh province), Cat Ba (Hai Phong), Binh Chau Phuoc Buu (Ba Ria Vung Tau province), Tram Chim (Dong Thap province), Cat Tien (Dong Nai and Lam Dong province), Con Dao, Phu Quoc (Kien Giang province), U Minh Thuong (Kien Giang province) and many other nature reserves. The projects are implemented in many different ecological zones and include high mountains, lime mountains, and mangrove forest areas. Many international organizations are interested in biodiversity conservation and participate in rehabilitation of special use forests, e.g GEF, UNDP, GTZ, EU, DANIDA, WB, and the Netherlands Government. Projects on Production Forest Land The study identified 40 projects related to production forests. The larger part of these projects were sponsored by international funds (62% or 24 projects) or funded through a joint venture investment (1 project, i.e. ViJachip). Projects on production forest land are mainly located in three zones: the Northern Mountainous Region, North Central Region and Central Coastal Region. The production forest projects identified here supply three types of resources: Raw material for paper production, especially in the Northern Mountainous Region and the Central High Plateau Region (e.g afforestation projects for raw materials in Gia Lai and Hoa Binh province, forests for paper materials in Vinh Phu province). Woodchips (many projects, especially joint-venture projects ViJachip), MDF (afforestation project supplying MDF in Gia Lai province, etc. ) Valuable wood, indigenous plants (projects in Tuy Hoa Phu Yen provinces) Some projects promote production of raw material for paper production, woodchips, furniture etc (PAM project, KFW, 10 JIBRO, etc.). International funds for projects on production forests land are mainly ODA non-repayment funds. Only a few larger projects are funded by ODA loans (ViJachip, projects supplying MDF materials, etc.). Projects Supporting Forest Rehabilitation Projects 10 Projects supported by the KfW Development Bank 14

15 Besides the rehabilitation projects, summarized above, there are several types of projects that provide support to other rehabilitation projects. They include: Technical assistance projects. These projects assess, for example, the feasibility of the production of MDF materials in certain zones to supply factories in Gia Lai province, or they focus on research, for instance of the planning of Australian Acacia species in Vietnam and China. A third type provides technical assistance projects for the PAM 5322 program. Seed Production Projects Social forestry projects - these projects include rehabilitation efforts, but that is not their main and only focus; Projects that focus on communal forest management; Forest management in nature reserves, and on participatory land allocation techniques. Activities commonly carried out in forest rehabilitation projects A common set of activities can be identified that are carried out in many forest rehabilitation projects related to all three types of forests. In these projects there are commonly funds allocated for the protection of existing forests, especially natural forests in watershed areas and areas of special use forest land. As a rule, natural regeneration complements afforestation activities, especially in areas of protection forests land. Many projects also add a component to increase community awareness, gradually improving people s living standard, creating jobs, especially in projects in buffer zones of national parks, or watershed protection forests. Many forest rehabilitation projects will also carry out infrastructure development activities. For example, in the Northern Mountainous Region, funds for infrastructure building in the selected 5MHRP projects in 2003 account for 1.5% of the total fund. Species Planted The species planted differ according to the forest type. In protection and special use forest, broad leaved species are most commonly planted, like: Erythrophleum fordii, Canarium, Chukrasia tabularis, Manglietia, Peltophorum pterocarpum, Cinnamomum camphora and some Dipterocapaceae species (Dipterocarpus alatus, Anisoptera costata). In addition, some coniferous species such as Pinus kesiya, Pinus merkusii, and some Bambusa species may be planted. 15

16 In projects carried out in wetlands Rhizophora, bruguiera, and Melaluaca spp. In some instances, Acasia species may be planted in protection areas. Species most commonly planted for production purposes are Acacia and Eucalyptus species. Some internationally supported projects also select indigenous species like Pinus kesiya, Pinus merkusii, Peltophorum pterocarpum, and Canarium album for afforestation purposes 4 INITIAL LESSONS LEARNED AND CONCLUSIONS Rehabilitation projects in the past years (since 1993) mainly have concentrated on protection forests and special use forests. Vietnam is a country with over 3/4 of its area covered with hills and mountains, many of them with steep slopes. Many of these locations experience intense rains. These factors increase the risks of natural calamities like floods and droughts. Focusing rehabilitation efforts on protection and special use forests, therefore, makes much sense. In addition, there is an urgent need to assure the protection of some of the unique tropical forests of Vietnam. Many of the achievements of rehabilitation of protection forest and special use forests is the result of GOV investments concentrated on these two forest types. This is also in line with international concerns for forest cover and biodiversity conservation. This also explains the international supports for rehabilitation projects in Vietnam, in addition to an international interest to invest in production forest. Conducting rehabilitation projects constitute a broad range of activities. Where possible, emphasis should be put on the protection of existing or newly established forests, in combination with enhancing natural regeneration and with establishing new plantations. This approach is very effective with different kinds of forests, but especially with protection forests. Supporting activities that contribute to the success of rehabilitation projects is also very important. This includes infrastructure building, education, training, raising awareness, among farmers, communities, managers, etc. about options and methods of forest management, resource conservation, selecting planting or seeding material, and land allocation methods. 16

17 An important condition that contributes to the success of a project is the participation of households to whom forest land has been allocated. Many projects, such as PAM projects and other projects sponsored by the German government, applied this policy and achieved positive results. Funds should also be linked clearly to generate benefits and of individuals and households, but this should be accompanied with establishing clear responsibilities. Regarding the supply of industrial materials from production forests, the key factor that influences success and sustainability of a project is to adequately locate production land and processing facilities, thus leading to convenient transportation conditions. Achieving this has been the major difficulty of projects on production forest lands that aimed to supply industrial materials. In summary, Vietnam is taking the forest cover change seriously and is investing important amounts of resources in reverting trends that have reduced forest cover. These efforts appear to be modestly successful, although this assessment needs to be based more on more and better quantitative data. Some early lessons learned can be drawn from the information complied in this paper, as has been done in the previous paragraphs. However, there is a need for a much more systematic assessment of previous and ongoing experiences, as this can increase substantially the success rate of current and future forest rehabilitation efforts. Some of the lessons learned necessarily will be country specific, but others may have value similar endeavors in other countries. References Do Dinh Sam, Trieu Van Hung, Msc. Pham Ngoc Mau, and De Jong, Wil Review of Forest Rehabilitation Initiatives in Vietnam. Project Report Phase 1. Forest Science Institute of Vietnam and Center for International Foret Research, Hanoi. Forest owner and their benefit in forest plantation, Publication of national workshop, JICA- FAO-MARD, 1998, Agriculture Published house, Nguyen Ngoc Binh, Forest Department, result of implementing project 5 million of rehabilitation, science and technology, journal of Agriculture rural development Project on 5 million ha of forest rehabilitation on Vietnam, , Vietnam Forest Department, Agriculture Published house, Strengthening reforestation in Vietnam, JICA-STRAP-FORTIP-FAO, Publication of workshop, Agriculture Published house,