4.5 million USD against climate change in Vietnam

UN-REDD Program (Reducing greenhouse gas emissions through the United Nations' efforts to reduce deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries) is implementing its first activities in Vietnam. The Norwegian government has pledged $ 4.5 million in funding for the 20-month project.

People in Di Linh district, Lam Dong province asked the UN-REDD steering committee during a field trip on July 15.

UN-REDD is a cooperative program between the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the UN Environment Program (UNEP) designed to support the implementation of the decision of the Public Organization. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and REDD at the 13th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 13) and Bali Action Plan.

The program supports countries to build capacity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and prepare to implement a future REDD mechanism in the context of climate after 2012. The main global program It started in September 2008 with a total of US $ 51.7 million and 9 countries joined in November 2009. Vietnam is the first country to be selected for pilot implementation of the UN-REDD program.

Preventing deforestation and forest degradation is an effective and relatively inexpensive climate protection measure compared to other solutions. Estimating the cash flow for reducing greenhouse gas emissions through REDD can reach $ 30 billion per year. This is a significant source of finance from developed countries that can help reduce emissions and support pro-poor policies, preserve biodiversity and maintain essential ecological services.

The UNFCCC COP 13 report affirmed that Vietnam is one of the five countries in the world most affected by climate change. Earlier, the World Bank report also warned of the risk of heavy losses due to rising sea levels for Vietnam. For that reason, the UN-REDD program has begun to be implemented since September 2009 in the two pilot areas of Lam Ha and Di Linh districts in Lam Dong province with the specific task of consulting people.

Dozens of propagandists, including many local propagandists, came to each household to inform about the UN-REDD program, in order to raise people's awareness of the harmful effects of deforestation. with climate change as well as the benefits of forest protection. Since April 2010, there have been 78 consultations held with more than 5,000 people consulted.

This success of UN-REDD will be replicated in other countries participating in this program.

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Huyen, UN REDD program manager, "one of the biggest concerns and concerns of the program is how to attract people's participation, how to trust them and agree with the UN REDD program but at the same time do not let people expect too much REDD when REDD is not officially implemented in Vietnam ".

The results were encouraging: the people enthusiastically supported the program and pledged to join the forest when the REDD mechanism was officially implemented.

Recently, the steering committee for the UN-REDD program and the Norwegian Ambassador, Stale Torstein Risa, made a field trip and contacted the community in Bao Thuan commune, Di Linh district, Lam Dong province to raise awareness. of local people on REDD, assessing the UN-REDD implementation situation in Vietnam as well as answering questions of local people about the program. The program has received comprehensive cooperation from the People's Committee of Lam Dong province so that the project can take place in the best conditions.

One of the issues that people are most concerned about is what they will get if they join the UN-REDD program, or in other words, what will they get if they participate in forest protection? People understand the benefits of forests but because they cannot protect forests and wait another 10-15 years for compensation. Therefore, the Vietnamese Government has assigned MARD to directly negotiate with donors, including the Norwegian Government, to have this pilot project for forest environmental protection services.

Pham Manh Cuong, head of the national REDD group, said Vietnam is completing a detailed project to transfer to Norway for research in October this year. If the pilot project is approved, households participating in the UN REDD, forest protection program will be paid an annual amount for them to do this work. A part of the money is also used to build public buildings and social security.