Press Release: RECOFTC and Vietnam Forest Administration sign MOU

PRESS INFORMATION

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

RECOFTC and Vietnam Forest Administration sign MOU to Promote Community Forestry for Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Forest Management

Hanoi, 11 January 2012: An MOU on promoting Community Forestry for Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Forest Management in Vietnam was signed today by Prof. Dr. Nguyen Ba Ngai, Deputy Director General of the Vietnam Administration of Forestry in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and Dr. Tint L. Thaung, Executive Director, RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests. The two partners agreed to renew their successful long term collaboration with the signing of a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) intended to improve the life of local communities and the sustainable management of natural resources in Vietnam.

The MOU, valid until 2015, will set  the framework for collaboration in policy work, capacity building and information sharing at local and national levels as well as the piloting of new initiatives in community forestry, climate change, livelihood development and other aspects of forest governance. Speaking on the occasion of the signing ceremony held at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Tint L. Thaung said: “We are committed to contributing to the Government’s aim of reducing poverty in poor communities that live in and around forests. In this year, when we will celebrate 25 years of commitment and results demonstrating that community forestry can provide an answer to some of the most pressing challenges we face, RECOFTC would also like to acknowledge the hard work done by the government of Vietnam in addressing these challenges.”

For over 20 years, RECOFTC has provided capacity building for more than one thousand participants from different levels of society and sectors in Vietnam. It has helped propagate examples of good forest governance in the country, including traditional community forestry practices and new community forestry practices. “We hope that RECOFTC will continue to do what it has been doing best – build capacity for community forestry based on its needs assessment for Vietnam and its international experience,” said Prof. Dr. Nguyen Ba Ngai, Deputy Director General of the Vietnam Administration of Forestry.

For more information, please contact:

Mr. Nguyen Quang Tan – Vietnam Country Program Coordinator, RECOFTC by email: tan@recoftc.org and telephone number: + 84 (4) 37264745
Ms. Nguyen Tuong Van – Deputy Director, Department of Science, Technology and International Cooperation,  Vietnam Administration of Forestry by email: van.fssp@han.vn.vnn and telephone number: +84 (4) 38489854

Background

Vietnam is one of the few countries in the Asia-Pacific region to successfully reduce poverty while simultaneously increasingly forest cover. Indeed, it has allocated management of a quarter of the country’s forestland to local communities and is a leader in exploring new livelihood opportunities such as paying them for providing environmental services. Working in Vietnam for almost 20 years, RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests has helped build national capacity in community forestry, livelihoods improvement, and forest management at national and local levels. The Government of Vietnam supported the founding of RECOFTC in 1987 and was a signatory to its charter in 1998.

This press release also available in Vietnamese.

The full delegation to the signing ceremony in Hanoi, Vietnam

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