On 14 June 2011, the World Agroforestry Centre's Vietnam office hosted the national consultation workshop-Country readiness for landscape-level REDD+ known as REALU project-in Hanoi.

National and international experts working on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation plus conservation (REDD+) in Vietnam gathered to discuss research results, practical experience and assist in shaping the landscape-level REDD+ process.

The objective of the workshop was to explore the possibility of integrating a landscape-level approach with REDD+ planning and implementation, both at the national and the sub-national levels. The workshop was organized within the framework of the Reducing Emissions from All Land Uses (REALU) project, co-organized by the Centre under its global research partnership with the ASB Partnership for the Tropical Forest Margins and the Vietnam Administration of Forestry (VNFOREST) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

At the meeting, Mr Nguyen Ba Ngai, Deputy Director of VNFOREST and Ms Pham Minh Thoa, Director of the Department of Science, Technology and International Cooperation of VNFOREST, who is also the director of the UN-REDD program, expressed their great interest in, and encouragement of, the REALU project as a new approach to implementing REDD+ in Vietnam.

The REALU project started operations in Vietnam in 2009 and aims to strengthen the ability of developing countries to establish effective strategies for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation within a context of rural development, national sovereignty, respect for local and indigenous people's rights and integrity of national and global greenhouse gas accounting systems.

Partners of REALU 2 in Vietnam include VNFOREST, National Institute of Agriculture Planning and Projection (part of MARD); General Department of Land Administration (part of Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment), Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry and local agencies of Bac Kan province (people's committees of the province and Ba Be district, 3-PAD project, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Department of Planning and Investment). National partners of the project and representatives from other international non-governmental organizations working in the same field also participated in the workshop.

Photo 1: Participants from government departments and non-governmental organizations answered questionnaires about the readiness level for implementing REDD+ and REALU in Vietnam

Photo 2: Participants divided into groups to discuss REDD+ and REALU implementation readiness

Editor: Robert Finlayson
Photos: ICRAF Vietnam/Nguyen Ngoc Huyen