Key messages Despite being a new funding source, PFES now contributes 22% of total forestry sector investment.The impact of PFES funding differs by location and actor group.To enhance the scale of PFES, and its impac

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) supported the provincial authorities of Quang Nam in Viet Nam to scale up the implementation of payments for forest environmental services (PFES) through a technical assistance financed by the Governments of Sweden and Norway. The project pilot-tested two innovations---the group approach and the use of a geographic information system---to speed up PFES planning and implementation in the province. Starting with five villages in Ma Cooih commune, the initiative expanded to include two more communes in the Song Bung 4 watershed. This publication shares lessons and insights gained from this experience, and with it ADB intends to contribute to developing a robust, affordable, and sustainable process of planning and implementing PFES at the provincial level, thereby helping accelerate its implementation.

This policy learning tool is primarily designed for policy makers and government officers who need to carry out M&E and report on the progress and impact of Payment for Forest Environmental Services (PFES policies). While this policy learning tool is designed to meet policy makers’ need to understand the impact, opportunities and challenges of PFES, it can also be adapted by analysts, program sponsors and managers, practitioners in research and research funding organizations, and professional evaluators for their own needs in understanding and identifying areas for PFES improvement.

What are the roles and responsibilities of different levels of government over forests and land use in Vietnam? Over the last two decades how have government priorities shifted? How has decentralisation been realised through changing land laws and forest protection and development programs? Which powers and responsibilities are centralized, and which are decentralized? What role do local people play? This report reviews the statutory distribution of powers and responsibilities across levels and sectors. It outlines the legal mandates held by national and lower level governments with regard to land and forest allocation, afforestation programs, rubber plantations, Payments for Forest Environmental Services (PFES), land use planning, and more. The review considers legal and policy changes in land use and forestry in Vietnam following the ‘doi moi’ reform in 1986 up to 2014. After a short introduction, the second section describes the decentralization process, including mechanisms for participation. The third section outlines sources of revenue available to different government levels from forest fees and payments for environmental services. The fourth section details the specific distribution of powers and arenas of responsibility related to multiple land use sectors across and within levels, and the fifth and final section concludes on the policy changes and processes in relation to observed forest cover change. The study was commissioned under CIFOR’s Global Comparative Study on REDD+, as part of a research project on multilevel governance and carbon management at the landscape scale. It is intended as a reference for researchers and policy makers working on land use issues in Vietnam.