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The REDD+ program provides a mechanism for providing financial rewards to forest owners and users who contribute to the reduction of carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. This paper determines the potential impact of the REDD+ program on poverty reduction by comparing income and poverty rate between two household groups that were willing to participate in this study, but that will not participate in the REDD+. The results showed that carbon payment from forests is a significant contributor to the increase in household income of poor people. The average income of households participating in the program is VND 20.68 million in contrast to those not participating whose average income is VND 14.72 million. Results showed that the REDD+ program intervention helped reduce the poverty rate in the two communes by 6.40% (from 39.4% to 33%). The paper recommends that the REDD+ program should facilitate the distribution of land titles to provide security of tenure for individual households that are participating in the program. While the program can contribute to poverty reduction, the program payments can increase income inequality and conflicts between those involved and those not involved in the program and legal ownership of the lands. In addition, a comprehensive research study on the impact of the program on forest conservation and poverty reduction is necessary. Stakeholders of the program should recognize and acknowledge the trade-offs between conservation and economic development or poverty reduction. A comprehensive trade-offanalysis of program implementation and a business-as-usual option of commodity production is needed, which could reveal the indirect economic, political, and social costs and benefits of the program.

Payment for environmental services (PES) can be a poverty reduction strategy. Findings from two PES case studies in Vietnam indicate that the involvement of the poor is enhanced by increasing attention and interest from donors and the private sector. However, their participation is limited due to political influences which weaken environmental services monitoring, and weak local intermediaries who are limited in their capacity to represent and protect the poor. Whether PES schemes can be pro-poor depends on the scope of the project, the political, social and economic context of the case, and the local definition of poverty. Capacity building for the poor, coupled with better coordination for transparent and equitable benefit-sharing and monitoring mechanisms, need to be in place to ensure that the poor will not be marginalised. Adapted from the source document.

Payment for environmental services (PES) can be a poverty reduction strategy. Findings from two PES case studies in Vietnam indicate that the involvement of the poor is enhanced by increasing attention and interest from donors and the private sector. However, their participation is limited due to political influences which weaken environmental services monitoring, and weak local intermediaries who are limited in their capacity to represent and protect the poor. Whether PES schemes can be pro-poor depends on the scope of the project, the political, social and economic context of the case, and the local definition of poverty. Capacity building for the poor, coupled with better coordination for transparent and equitable benefit-sharing and monitoring mechanisms, need to be in place to ensure that the poor will not be marginalised. Adapted from the source document.

AbstractGovernments and administrative agencies are likely to play critical roles in determining the success or failure of payments for environmental services (PES) that are directed at the poor. Using Vietnam as a case study, this article explores the roles, progress and likely impact of the government and the administration in the design and implementation of pro‐poor PES. The article focuses on the extent to which it is possible to address the high transaction costs involved and the issue of insecure land tenure, as two major constraints to pro‐poor PES. The discussion is based on a literature review, open‐ended interviews, and a stakeholder workshop. Although pro‐poor PES are welcomed by the government, their implementation is difficult because of overlapping structures and functions, critical gaps in PES policies and a limited understanding of them by decision makers, the private sector and communities. Multi‐sectoral approaches and further studies to support policy development and capacity building at the local level are necessary to develop pro‐poor PES. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Community forestry or social forestry (henceforth referred collectively as SF) programs have become new modes of forest management empowering local managers and hence, allowing integration of diverse local practices and support of local livelihoods. Implementation of these initiatives, however, face multiple challenges. State-prescribed community programs, for example, will remain isolated efforts if changes in the overall economic and social governance frameworks, including the devolution of rights to local users is lacking. Financial sustainability of these measures remains often uncertain and equity issues inherent to groups and communities formed for SF, can be exacerbated. In this article, we pose the question: Whose interests do SF policies serve? The effectiveness of SF would depend on the motivations and aims for a decentralization of forest governance to the community. In order to understand the underlying motivations behind the governments' push for SF, we examine national policies in Vietnam and Indonesia, changes in their policies over time and the shift in discourses influencing how SF has evolved. Vietnam and Indonesia are at different sides of the spectrum in democratic ambitions and forest abundance, and present an intriguing comparison in the recent regional push towards SF in Southeast Asia. We discuss the different interpretations of SF in these two countries and how SF programs are implemented. Our results show that governments, influenced by global discourse, are attempting to regulate SF through formal definitions and regulations. Communities on the other hand, might resist by adopting, adapting or rejecting formal schemes. In this tension, SF, in general adopted to serve the interest of local people, in practice SF has not fulfilled its promise.

The development of mangrove forest environmental services plays a crucial role in human health, economic development, and the security of countries worldwide. This study aims to establish and validate a model for assessing the factors influencing the willingness-to-pay for mangrove forest environmental services. The proposed model comprises four key factors: attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavior control, and environmental knowledge. Data were collected by surveying 235 individuals from various households in Phu Long commune, Vietnam. The Partial Least Squares—Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) methodology was employed for data analysis. The research findings reveal that perceived behavior control significantly impacted residents' willingness-to-pay, followed by attitude, environmental knowledge, and subjective norms. Furthermore, certain demographic characteristics such as gender and family size mediate the relationship between independent and dependent variables. Based on the obtained results, several policy recommendations are put forward.

Payments for forest environmental services (PFES) is a major breakthrough policy in the Vietnamese forestry sector because it contributes 25% of the total investments in the forestry sector and serves as the first market-based instrument employed to protect forests. However, there is little empirical evidence of its effectiveness. Is the policy meeting the core objectives of improving forest cover and forest quality and is it also achieving its claims of supporting local livelihoods? This paper analyses the environmental, social, and economic impacts of PFES in Son La province, the longest standing implementation of a PFES scheme in Vietnam. Our study uses a sampling method that incorporates pre-matching and a before-after-control-intervention approach. Data was collected from government statistics, remote sensing analysis, focus group discussions involving 236 people, surveys with a total of 240 households, and key informant interviews with 45 people. Our findings show that additionality of PFES in Son La is controversial and depends on who collects the data and what data is used to evaluate the impacts of PFES. Data collection is also politicized to serve central, provincial and district government interests. Evidence shows that PFES has provided little additional income to individual villagers to protect forests in Son La. However, total PFES revenue paid to communities generates significant income for village communities. Moreover, not all villagers can receive continuous payments from PFES, meaning that PFES has not become a stable source of income, rendering the permanence of PFES limited. Improving monitoring and evaluation policies coupled with transparent, inclusive, independent mechanisms are essential to providing a more accurate reflection of impacts from PFES in Vietnam.

This report examines how, and under which circumstances different forms of financing are suitable for results- or transfer-based mechanisms for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation as well as enhancing removals in forests (REDD+) in the context of different countries and measures. The approach of results-based payments is an important element of REDD+. Compared to unconditional finance approaches it delivers finance upon the achievement emission reductions or removals. The report provides a typology of REDD+ finance mechanisms by elaborating differences between activity-, results- and transfer-based finance. We analyse 13 specific REDD+ finance mechanisms with regard to a range of criteria (e.g. general characteristics, financial governance, monitoring and quantification provisions). The report also explores which requirements arise from Article 6 and the common practice of market-based approaches for financing REDD+. This is followed by an assessment of the potential for REDD+ financing under different assumptions. To assess how the approaches work in practice, the report discusses REDD+ financing in the context of five case countries: Indonesia, Ethiopia, Peru, Vietnam and Democratic Republic of Congo. Against this background, we assess the suitability of REDD+ financing mechanisms for specific country situations. Finally, we draw overall conclusions and formulate recommendations for actions and constraints on the use of different forms of REDD+ financing.