Forest cover in Viet Nam has reduced from 44 percent in 1943, to only 16 percent in 1993. Mitigation efforts by the government, increasing awareness of people towards the role of forests and support from international organisations, have slowly increased the percentage. Viet Nam is the 13th most populous country in the world with 76 million people from 54 ethnic groups, and growing by a million every year. Rapid population growth, migration and urbanization in Viet Nam have placed pressure on the environment and forest. Vietnamese government has numerous regulations, articles and policies to maintain and conserve natural forest. State forest management has divided forest into three classes and managed by the state forest management bodies that are state-run enterprises (mainly for production forest) and management board (for special use and protection forest). Forest land has been allocated to households and organizations to invest in reforestation and management. Government shares responsibility with the communities for protection and management of natural forests. There are several programmes that have been implemented to alleviate poverty such as forest land allocation programme, 5 million ha reforestation programme (Programme 661), bio-diversity action plan, Programme 135 (development of remote and difficult communes), and the fixed agriculture and sedentarisation programme. The achievements are that agriculture production has rapidly increased, forest degradation has been gradually reduced and rural conditions have been positively changed. Monthly income per capita was also increased.
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