Project News

On 30th July 2014, the Workshops on the Provincial REDD+^[1] Action Plan (PRAP) and the Provincial Forest Monitoring System (PFMS) were held in Dien Bien Phu City. These workshops had two main objectives. One was to announce the PRAP that had been approved by the Dien Bien Provincial People's Committee (PPC), and another was to kick-start the PFMS pilot implementation. These workshops aimed also at promoting better understanding on the PRAP and PFMS design among the participants (e.g., other provinces) who were going to prepare their own PRAPs in the future.

Given that the PRAP for Dien Bien Province was the first one in the country, many individuals and organizations participated in these workshops. A total of 107 participants, including seven other provinces (Hoa Binh, Son La, Lai Chau, Dak Nong, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, and Lam Dong) and REDD+ related projects assisted by foreign donors such as FCPF, SNV, GIZ, UNDP (UN-REDD), JICA2, were at these workshops.

These workshops started with opening remarks by Mr. Pham Duc Hien, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) of Dien Bien Province; followed by Mr. Nguyen Phu Hung, Director of the Department of Sciences, Technology, and International Cooperation (DOSTIC) of the Vietnam Administration of Forestry (VNFOREST) introducing the National REDD+ Action Programme (NRAP). Subsequently, DARD announced officially the approval of the PRAP. The representatives from the Japanese private sector (Sumitomo Forestry Co., Ltd., ASKUL Corporation, and Yanmar Environmental Sustainability Support Association) also presented their messages.

In the afternoon, the workshop moved onto PFMS. Mr. Baku Takahashi, Chief Advisor of SUSFORM-NOW, provided his brief speech on the background of the PFMS implementation, followed by two presenters from the Sub-Department of Forest Protection (sub-FPD) reporting the pilot implementation plan of PFMS in Dien Bien Province. Based on these presentations, the representatives from seven provinces shared some comments on forest management in their provinces.

Group photograph of participants

Speech by Mr. Baku Takahashi