Vietnam’s Import of Tropical Timber and the Implementation of the Vietnam Timber Legality Assurance System: Africa, Cambodia, Laos, and Papua New Guinea.

On October 30, 2020, Vietnam started to implement its Timber Legality Assurance System (VNTLAS) with strict guidelines on how government authorities and companies would ensure the legality of Vietnam’s imported timber from high-risk sources. In this joint report between Forest Trends and the main timber trade associations of Vietnam, we explain the criteria and mechanisms[…]

Rubber Plantation Value Chains in Laos: Opportunities and Constraints in Policy, Legality and Wood Processing

Studies on rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR, Laos) have largely focussed on land allocation and relations between the Lao State, investors, and Lao rubber farmers. The history and international context, and some environmental and social impacts have been investigated to a lesser extent, and there are no comprehensive studies[…]

Vietnam’s Cross-border Timber Crackdown and the Quest for State Legitimacy

The Government of Vietnam’s recent devolution of regulatory powers over the cross-border trade between Cambodia and Vietnam has enabled provincial authorities to increase illicit timber flows from Cambodia to finance local economic agendas. Timber imports have become a key revenue source for provincial budgets. Meanwhile, the central government has made a commitment to its international[…]

Impacts of the Laos Log and Sawnwood Export Bans

Decisive actions taken by the government of Laos, in the form of a Notice (no. 1360 in August 2015) and a Prime Ministerial Order (PM15 in May 2016) prohibiting the export of logs and lightly processed “sawnwood,” appear to be paying off, according to a new analysis by the Washington, D.C.-based organization Forest Trends. The […]

Moral economies and markets: ‘Insider’ cassava trading in Kon Tum, Vietnam

Vietnam’s uplands have been increasingly integrated into commodity production for global markets. This paper focuses on the role of the cassava trader in connecting upland villagers as cassava producers to an emerging global cassava market. In Vietnam’s Central Highlands, ethnic minority villagers engaging in a mixed economy of subsistence and cash crop production still practice […]

Laos Log and Sawnwood Export Ban

Impacts on the Vietnam-Laos Timber Trade

In May 2016, the Government of Lao PDR enacted a Prime Ministerial Order (PM15) to ban the export of logs and sawnwood, with the express aim to help control the country’s high deforestation rates and boost Laos’ domestic wood production industry. As a result of PM15, the Vietnamese timber industry has seen an almost immediate the decline in their ability to import logs and sawnwood from Laos. This report identifies in detaild impact of the Lao government’s log and sawnwood export ban on Vietnam’s timber industry by analyzing 2010-2016 Vietnam’s Custom Statistics for the imports of logs and sawn wood into Vietnam from Laos.

Vietnam Customs Data

Dynamics of Timber Trade in the Mekong

Vietnam’s Wood Villages

Relevance for FLEGT and REDD+

This Information Brief summarizes results from a 2012 field study on Vietnamese wood villages and discusses implications for FLEGT and REDD+. The brief is a summary of a full report available in Vietnamese which was written by Tô Xuân Phúc, Nguyễn Tôn Quyền, Lê Duy Phương, Cao Thị Cẩm.

Dependent Documents

Village-Based Wood Products Manufacturing in Vietnam: Implications for FLEGT and REDD+ Implementation

Forest Trends Information Brief No. 5

By Phuc Xuan To, Dang Viet Quang - Forest Trends, Forest Trends

Forest Trends Workshop Summary: Vietnamese Wood Villages in Changing Timber Markets

LÀNG NGHỀ GỖ TRONG BỐI CẢNH THỰC THI FLEGT VÀ REDD+ TẠI VIỆT NAM

Vietnam’s Wood Chip Industry

Status of the Sector in 2012 and Challenges for Future Development

This Information Brief analyzes Vietnam’s rapidly growing wood chip sector and discusses challenges for its development. The brief is a summary of a full report available in Vietnamese which was written by Tran Le Huy and To Xuan Phuc.

Dependent Documents

NGÀNH CÔNG NGHIỆP DĂM GỖ VIỆT NAM: THỰC TRẠNG VÀ XU HƯỚNG PHÁT TRIỂN TRONG TƯƠNG LAI

Rubber Expansion and Forest Protection in Vietnam

This report provides in-depth analyses of the impacts of the expansion of rubber plantations in Vietnam, particularly in the Central Highland and Northwest Regions, which have experienced the most rapid rubber expansion in terms of area. The report also highlights the impacts of rubber plantation development on forest resources, household livelihoods, and local communities, as […]

PREVIEW: Social Networks of Corruption in the Vietnamese and Lao Cross-Border Timber Trade

Although corruption is a core issue in discourses on Southeast Asian states and the region’s illegal timber trade, its specific meanings, characteristics, and role are poorly understood. This ethnographic study of corruption and timber trade in the lower Mekong uncovers the relationships, dealings, and networks that enable illegal timber flows. Examination of the actors involved […]

Conflicts in Vietnam’s Forest Areas: Implications for FLEGT and REDD+

ETFRN News 55: March 2014

Conflicts over land are rampant in Vietnam. Land conflicts are the subject of more than 70% of the written complaints received by Vietnamese government offices in recent years and could undermine Vietnam’s initiatives on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) and Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+). However, these initiatives also present an […]

Dependent Documents

MÂU THUẪN ĐẤT ĐAI GIỮA CÔNG TY LÂM NGHIỆP VÀ NGƯỜI DÂN ĐỊA PHƯƠNG

Village-Based Wood Products Manufacturing in Vietnam: Implications for FLEGT and REDD+ Implementation

Forest Trends Information Brief No. 5

This short article summarizes the discussions of a workshop focusing on the structure of Vietnam’s village-based wood products manufacturing sector, and their potential role in FLEGT or REDD+ implementation. The workshop was held in October 2012 and was co-hosted by the Vietnam Timber and Forest Products Association (VIFORES) and Forest Trends.

REDD+ in Vietnam

Integrating National and Subnational Approaches

The international REDD+ community is still struggling with the question how a future REDD+ mechanism may be implemented in practice, both internationally under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and domestically within countries. There is a general consensus that emission reductions and removals must ultimately be accounted for at the national level. […]

Roots in the Water

Legal Frameworks for Mangrove PES in Vietnam

Forest Trends and the Katoomba Group have commissioned this study into the legal and regulatory frameworks for mangrove management and PES in Vietnam. This study is timely as in recent years various Vietnamese policies have prioritized terrestrial forest, mangrove, and coastal conservation, and the national government is now considering market mechanisms as a potential conservation […]

Dependent Documents

Katoomba Issue Brief

Payments for Ecosystem Services in Vietnam's Mangrove Forests

By Slayde Hawkins - Forest Trends

Roots in the Water

Legal Frameworks for Mangrove PES in Vietnam (VIETNAMESE)

By Slayde Hawkins, To Xuan Phuc, Pham Xuan Phuang, Pham Thu Thuy, Nguyen Tuc Tu, Chu Van Cuong, Sharon Brown, Peter Dart, Suzanne Robertson, Nguyen Vu, Richard McNally - Forest Trends, Forest Trends, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Charles Darwin University, BirdLife International, GTZ, GTZ, University of Queensland, SNV, SNV, SNV

How do international markets transform the Vietnamese uplands? Phuc Xuan To

How do international markets transform the Vietnamese uplands?