The Quang Tri Smallholder Forest Certification Group has been awardedthe Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification making it the firstgroup of small forest owners in Vietnam to receive the internationallyrecognised standard for environmentally responsible, socially beneficialand economically viable forest management.
Spanning 118 forest households living across five villages in twodistricts of Gio Linh and Vinh Linh, the Quang Tri group collectivelyachieved certification for 317ha of acacia.
Sincethen, the smallholders have signed a contract with the GlobalForest&Trade Network (GFTN) in Vietnam, which offered a price 25percent higher than the local market price for uncertified timber.
In addition, FSC timber is accepted with lower diameters, and wood that was previously sold as cheap industrial chipwood.
Combined with direct sales from the farmer to the factory, withoutintermediate traders, certification leads to an estimated 50 percenthigher income compared to uncertified timber.
"TheFSC certificate is a credible trademark linking us to customers, bothnational and international," said Hoang Duc Doanh, director of theprovincial Department of Forestry Protection.
"Asone of the poorest provinces, responsible forest management is a new wayto stimulate the Quang Tri economy and therefore the livelihood oflocal communities," she said.
The certificationprocess is a part of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)'s LinkingTrade Demand and Sustainable Forest Management project, which aims toprovide market linkages between production forests in Vietnam and thegrowing number of international companies with responsible purchasingpolicies, through credible third-party certification of responsibleforest management under FSC.
In exchange for these benefits, farmers gradually improve forest management.
Biodiversity areas for strict protection are delineated and the use ofnative tree species is encouraged among the farmers in order to avoidlarge scale, even-aged monocultures that damage the environment but alsoput the plantations at risk of pests and diseases.
The majority of Vietnam's 2.5 million ha of plantation forests aremanaged by forest smallholders, most of them poor rural households.
Since the late 90s, the demand for FSC-certified wood from Vietnamesefurniture exporting companies has increased dramatically and is almostentirely met by expensive imports from overseas.
However, the model demonstrated by the Quang Tri farmers shows thatgroup certification is an effective solution for both the country'sforests communities and the country's burgeoning furniture industry.
Viet Nam's forest strategy aims to certify 30 percent of the country's4.48 million ha of production forests in the next decade.
As a result, there is a significant potential for the government,GFTN-Vietnam and the private sector to expand this pilot approach to alarger area, including WWF priority landscapes where the approach ishighly suitable for the management of biodiversity corridors.
"We are so proud to have the Quang Tri Group awarded FSC. After twoand a half years, we have successfully piloted a group scheme forresponsible smallholder acacia management in the province," saidSebastian Schrader, project manager and GFTN-Laos manager./.
Spanning 118 forest households living across five villages in twodistricts of Gio Linh and Vinh Linh, the Quang Tri group collectivelyachieved certification for 317ha of acacia.
Sincethen, the smallholders have signed a contract with the GlobalForest&Trade Network (GFTN) in Vietnam, which offered a price 25percent higher than the local market price for uncertified timber.
In addition, FSC timber is accepted with lower diameters, and wood that was previously sold as cheap industrial chipwood.
Combined with direct sales from the farmer to the factory, withoutintermediate traders, certification leads to an estimated 50 percenthigher income compared to uncertified timber.
"TheFSC certificate is a credible trademark linking us to customers, bothnational and international," said Hoang Duc Doanh, director of theprovincial Department of Forestry Protection.
"Asone of the poorest provinces, responsible forest management is a new wayto stimulate the Quang Tri economy and therefore the livelihood oflocal communities," she said.
The certificationprocess is a part of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)'s LinkingTrade Demand and Sustainable Forest Management project, which aims toprovide market linkages between production forests in Vietnam and thegrowing number of international companies with responsible purchasingpolicies, through credible third-party certification of responsibleforest management under FSC.
In exchange for these benefits, farmers gradually improve forest management.
Biodiversity areas for strict protection are delineated and the use ofnative tree species is encouraged among the farmers in order to avoidlarge scale, even-aged monocultures that damage the environment but alsoput the plantations at risk of pests and diseases.
The majority of Vietnam's 2.5 million ha of plantation forests aremanaged by forest smallholders, most of them poor rural households.
Since the late 90s, the demand for FSC-certified wood from Vietnamesefurniture exporting companies has increased dramatically and is almostentirely met by expensive imports from overseas.
However, the model demonstrated by the Quang Tri farmers shows thatgroup certification is an effective solution for both the country'sforests communities and the country's burgeoning furniture industry.
Viet Nam's forest strategy aims to certify 30 percent of the country's4.48 million ha of production forests in the next decade.
As a result, there is a significant potential for the government,GFTN-Vietnam and the private sector to expand this pilot approach to alarger area, including WWF priority landscapes where the approach ishighly suitable for the management of biodiversity corridors.
"We are so proud to have the Quang Tri Group awarded FSC. After twoand a half years, we have successfully piloted a group scheme forresponsible smallholder acacia management in the province," saidSebastian Schrader, project manager and GFTN-Laos manager./.
