Handing over Sustainable Forest Management Certification Office

The Vietnam Administration of Forestry under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) held a ceremony to hand over the Sustainable Forest Management Certification Office to Vietnamese Academy of Forest Science on October 28.

Director of the Vietnam Administration of Forestry Nguyen Quoc Tri said forestry is an industry of high-economic value with export target of US$15 billion in 2021. Sustainable Forest Management Certification is one of the most important tasks of the sector to improve the efficiency and the exploitation of forest resources.

"Sustainable forest management has become an inevitable trend in the world. For Vietnam in particular, this is a big step of the forestry sector toward protecting, developing and adding value to forestry production per unit area," said Nguyen Quoc Tri.

According to the leader of the forestry sector, there are now more than 500 forest owners nationwide who are authorized by the State to manage nearly 7 million hectares of forest. The national forest certification system has helped many organizations build their operating models including the Vietnam Rubber Group- the cooperation owns over 300,000 hectares of forest land.

In recent years, the Sustainable Forest Management Office has organized many training courses to improve the capacity and raise awareness for over 1,600 forestry management officials at all levels, forest owners and forest-based processing enterprises.

Besides, the Office has developed the standards for the national forest certification system and was recognized as the fiftieth official member of the Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC). The national forest certification system has granted VFCS/PEFC certificates for more than 55,000 hectares of forest so far.

"Forest growth and yield in Vietnam have continuously increased.  With this certification, the value on one acre of forest land can increase by 30%. In addition most of Vietnam's wood importers have required the wood's traceability and legal origin," Tri added.

Currently Vietnam has more than 2 million hectares of forest under the sustainable forest management; over 300,000 hectares of forest granted FSC and VFCS/PEFC certificates and above 3 million cubic meters of timber from certificated forests going into the supply chain and being used for processing and exporting.

With the results achieved over the past years, the Director of the Vietnam Administration of Forestry hoped that Vietnamese Academy of Forest Science will soon develop a detailed plan to operate the National Forest Certification System in the 2021-2025 period; reviewing and updating relevant standards and documents to quickly publish the system in accordance with the law.

Nguyen Quoc Tri also asked the academy to make plan on applying science and technology along with renovating the assessment of forest certification, lowering the cost of forest certification granting; thereby improving reputation and credibility for the Vietnam Forest Certification Scheme/PEFC.

On behalf of Vietnamese Academy of Forest Science, Professor and Doctor Vo Dai Hai, Director of the Academy committed to work closely with the Vietnam Administration of Forestry and PEFC to carry out several projects such as sustainable forest management and forest certification; standards for sustainable forest management; standards laying out the requirements for chain of custody certification for forest-based products and guidelines for implementing forest certification.

"Vietnamese Academy of Forest Science will try to increase certificated forest area to 500,000 hectares by 2025 and to 1 million hectares by 2030," Vo Dai Hai emphasized.

Moreover the academy also made a commitment to instruct forest owners, forest-based processing enterprises and relevant agencies to organize production and business in chains

The Sustainable Forest Management Office will continue to complete the set of sustainable forest management standards under PEFC's guidance including 7 principles, 34 criteria and 122 indications. At the same time the Office will build and develop the brand of Vietnamese forest certification on the domestic and international markets, promoting VFCS via international cooperative events.