Upscaling Sustainable Forest Management and Certification

Vietnamese forest owners (companies, local communities) mostly manage their forests conventionally through monoculture for biomass from short rotation plantations. They face financial and technical hurdles for conversion to sustainable forest management (SFM). Thus, important potentials of SFM regarding sequestration of CO2, risk minimization, and generation of higher incomes are not realized. As part of the German Climate and Technology Initiative (DKTI), the implementation of sustainable forest management in Vietnam is to be promoted in order to significantly increase the contribution of the forest sector to emission reduction. The economic and ecological value of plantations and natural forests should also be increased via improved management and diversification. GIZ commissioned UNIQUE to assess and design a new project on SFM in Vietnam.