Group Forest Certification for Smallholders in Vietnam: An Early Test and Future Prospects

Abstract

Forests in Vietnam are heavily utilized resources. Some 25 million people who live in and near forests depend on timber and non-timber resources for subsistence and income. Vietnam's timber processing industries, which are in a steep growth phase, demand raw material from the nation's forests, but that demand greatly outstrips available, high quality supply. A national forest development strategy through 2020 calls for broad expansion of plantation forests coupled with third-party forest certification. One type of forest certification, involving certification of groups of smallholder farmers, is comparatively understudied. A recent effort to promote group forest certification in Vietnam yielded measurable benefits to stakeholders, including enhanced income streams to plantation smallholders. However, long-term challenges to group forest certification remain, including smallholders' ability to cover recurring costs for certification -costs that are subsidized by a bilateral donor. Vietnam's recent experience with group forest certification represents an early chapter in that nation's ambitious plans to increase forest cover, make forests more productive through plantation forestry, and improve forest management and market access through forest certification.

1. Forests, Trees and Landscapes for Food Security and Nutrition

“…Studies of FSC and Rainforest Alliance operations have found that the costs of accessing certification outweigh the benefits, meaning low uptake of FSC in developing countries (Marx and Cuypers, 2010) and among smallholders (Auer, 2012;Gullison, 2003;McDermott et al, 2015), and a bias towards large producers (McDermott et al, 2015;Pinto and McDermott, 2013). Scholars show that in order for PES and REDD+ schemes to target those who are most able to (competitively) provide services, access to schemes has often been restricted to those with appropriate assets such as land (Porras et al, 2008) or education (Zbinden and Lee, 2005), favouring larger operations and wealthier farmers (Pagiola and Platais, 2007) and reducing opportunities for women (Boyd, 2002;Lee et al, forthcoming).…”

Forest stewardship council certificate for a group of planters in Vietnam: SWOT analysis and implications

“…This research has focused on the impacts of certification (Hain and Ahas 2007;Cubbage et al 2010;Sugiura et al 2012), environmental appropriateness (Tacconi et al 2004), price premium (Koller and Lagan 2007;Zhao et al 2011;Auer 2012), and the motivations of certification adopting (Araujo et al 2009). However, most of these studies were based on experience obtained in developed countries located in Europe and North America.…”

Differences in perceptions of the effectiveness of a regulated forest certification scheme between stakeholders from community forestry and industrial forestry in Indonesia

“…Unlike the finding for certification in the developing countries (Kollert and Lagan, 2007, Nebel et al, 2005, Auer, 2012, mandatory certification has not resulted in economic benefits. The results indicated after two years holding certification, there is no significant improvement in market access or timber price.…”

“…Certification cost is one of the most important barrier of certification program in tropical developing countries (Auer, 2012, Durst et al, 2006. These barriers can come from the internal or external of forest management unit.…”

“…Bolivian certified timber also had a price 5-51 percent higher than non-certified products (Nebel et al, 2005). Similarly, Vietnam's recent experience in forest certification for small forest holders shows this program has also resulted in improved forest management and market access (Auer, 2012).…”