Forest owners in Nghe An will be paid to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
(Baonghean.vn) - In the coming time, forest owners who are households, individuals, and communities will receive support money to reduce greenhouse gas emissions according to Decree 107/2022/ND-CP of the Government. Nghe An Provincial People's Committee has issued an implementation plan, starting to complete the dossier from February 2024.
Subjects eligible for support from ERPA
Vietnam has been a member of the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) since 2008 and has been supported by FCPF to implement the Project on Support for Readiness for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions through Reducing Deforestation and Forest Degradation; Conservation, Enhancement of Carbon Stocks and Sustainable Management of Forest Resources (REDD+) in Vietnam. The project aims to build the organizational and technical capacity of relevant agencies at the central level and 06 provinces in the North Central region (Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien Hue) to prepare for REDD+ implementation.
On December 28, 2022, the Government of Vietnam issued Decree No. 107/2022/ND-CP on piloting the transfer of emission reduction results and financial management of greenhouse gas emission reduction payment agreements in the North Central Region (hereinafter referred to as Decree 107/2022/ND-CP).
Subsequently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Department of Forestry also issued many decisions and plans to implement Decree 107/2022/ND-CP. On February 22, 2024, the People's Committee of Nghe An province issued Plan No. 124/KH-UBND to implement the North Central Region Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Payment Agreement (ERPA) in the province.
According to Plan No. 124/KH-UBND, the subjects in the province who are entitled to receive payments for greenhouse gas emission reduction include: Forest owners as prescribed in Article 8 of the Forestry Law assigned to manage natural forests. Commune People's Committees and other organizations assigned by the State to manage natural forests as prescribed by law. Communities and commune People's Committees that have agreements to participate in forest management activities with forest owners who are organizations. Forest Protection and Development Fund. Other subjects with activities related to emission reduction and greenhouse gas absorption from natural forests in Nghe An province.
Make a list and budget for expenses
To ensure payment to forest owners on time, no later than December 31, 2026, there are still many procedural steps that need to be completed according to the requirements for disbursement records. Therefore, one of the key tasks assigned by the Provincial People's Committee to departments, branches, localities, and implementing units is to compile a list of beneficiaries of greenhouse gas emission reduction money. This list is advised by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, based on the decision to announce annual forest changes of the Provincial People's Committee to submit to the Provincial People's Committee for approval.
To make a list of beneficiaries from ERPA sources, forest owners that are organizations need to review the subjects to ensure that the area of natural forests contracted for forest protection from ERPA sources does not overlap with the area of forest protection contracted using state budget funds and ensure the principle of "reasonableness, no overlap with other expenditures of the state budget"; carry out the signing of contracts on the principle of forest protection management contracted to the community.
Next, review and conduct statistics to determine the existing natural forest area of each forest owner as a basis for making the annual financial plan (note to clarify the forest area that has not been supported by the budget or has not been supported enough).
To implement this content, the Forest Protection and Development Fund builds a form to collect information from forest owners to make payments from ERPA sources through bank accounts, public postal services or non-cash methods, according to the provisions of law.
For forest owners that are organizations, the forest owners shall preside over and coordinate with the district-level Forest Protection Department to review and count the actual natural forest area under their management; provide information and send it to the Forest Protection and Development Fund. For commune-level People's Committees assigned by the State to manage forests, the commune-level People's Committees shall preside over and coordinate with the district-level Forest Protection Department to review and count the actual natural forest area under their management; provide information and send it to the district-level People's Committees for synthesis and sending to the Forest Protection and Development Fund.
For forest owners who are households, individuals, communities to whom the State has allocated land and forests, and other organizations to whom the State has assigned the responsibility of forest management, the District Forest Protection Department shall preside over and coordinate with the Commune People's Committee to review and count the actual natural forest area of each forest owner; collect information and send it to the Forest Protection and Development Fund.
The ERPA agreement will be fully implemented only when Vietnam issues regulations on the results transfer mechanism and financial management mechanism. To date, the BankWorld goods (WB)transferred 41 million USD to Vietnam, this amount will be added by localities to the forest environment fund to pay those who directly work in the forest, contributing to improving people's lives, thereby promoting awareness of protecting and managing forests sustainably.
