After the two years deployment of community based forest and forestland allocation, Lung Sui commune, Simacai district, Lao Cai province has been formally selected as a pilot program on Payment of Environment Services of Forest (PES). This is the first location in Lao Cai province, households and communities who are forest owners are entitled to recieve PES.


On 12/26/2013 Simacai District People's Committee in collaboration with the Lao Cai Provincial Fund for Forest Protection and Development (FFPD) held a workshop in implementing a pilot on PES for families and communities who are forest owners in 8 villages of the Hmong in Lung Sui commune according to the Degree 99/2010/ND-CP dated 29/9/2010 and Decision 2284/QD dated 13-12-2010 regarding PES.

The workshop included representatives of the Hmong community in 8 villages of Lung Sui, leaders of 13 communes in Simacai district, Simacai District People's Committee and functional offices, Lao Cai Provincial Department of Forest Protection, FFPD and SPERI.  

Presently, Lao Cai has 69 units which have to pay PES with the total amount of approximately 17 billion dong / year. In which, 42/69 execution units fiduciary contract includes 12 hydroelectric plants, 01 manufacturing and water supplier and 22 travel services. Accordingly, for 2012 and 2013 the province has conducted about 21 billion earned from these services.
Given the amount collected, according to the 2013 plan, the Lao Cai FFPD has made payment of 17 billion dong for forest owners including organizations. As well, the Lao Cai FFPD has commissioned to 9 district offices of forest protection to pay PES directly to tens of thousands of households over 97 thousand hectares of forest which they are managing.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Thinh, Deputy Director of the Lao Cai FFPD, this amount will be increased in the coming years due to more organizations are required to pay this service. However, he also said that besides the difficulty of collecting money from the service payers, the disbursement of this amount is currently facing many problems, especially related to the forestland boundary overlap between the forest owners which have not been clearly resolved in practice.

An example as Simacai, the locality is located in the Chay River basin where the Thac Ba Hydropower Company and Bac Ha Hydropower Company have to pay environment services for forest owners. In the past two years, the Lao Cai FFPD has collected 11.9 billion dong from these companies to pay for forest owners in this basin. However, the Lao Cai FFPD has just only used this money to make the advance payment for the Simacai Management Board of Protection Forest and Office of Forest Protection for the purpose of forestland survey and forestland re-mapping, as well paying PES for forest contracted families. Entire 13 communes in Simacai, Lung Sui is is the first locality regarding implementing PES for families and communities.

As shared by Mr. Truong Manh Hung, Deputy Chairman of the Simacai District People's Committee, well as the head of Simacai FFPD that PES is a major policy of the government, contributing the importance for sustainable development of the forestry sector in the coming years. But, the execution of this policy in each locality is facing many difficulties and shortcomings. In particular, the overlapping on forest boundaries and forestland rights are the most fundamental inadepquacies. If there are no satisfactory and transparent solutions with these issues, it is hard to implement PES effectively and equally.

Mr Hung added, in Lao Cai province Lung Sui is the first commune to be selected as a pilot to conduct PES directly to households and communities. Forest and forestland survey, identification, re-mapping and re-allocation, especially forest and land boundary overlap in 8 villages of the commune were transparently completed. To have this achievement, since 2011 with the advice support of SPERI, funded by the Norwegian People's Aid, Simacai District People's Committee has collaborated with Lao Cai Department of Forest Development to implement the pilot on community based forest allocation in associated with forestland allotment in 8 villages of Lung Sui. Families and communities in the commune were entitled the rights to manage and use their traditional forest and forestland. All forest and forestland overlaps amongst forest owners have been radically solved. This is a important base for the Lao Cai FFPD to conduct payment of environment services of forest for forest owners in Lung Sui.


Accordingly, 231 forest owners including 226 families and 5 communities in Lung Sui have already received money g from PES for 2012 via the Decision of Simacai District People's Committee No.828/QD-UBND dated 25 December 2013.

Mr. Hang Seo Venh - Deputy Secretary of Lung Sui Party Committee said: "our peoples honored to be selected as the first pilot in PES. This will be a great motivation for the peoples in management and protection of forests in the future".

Although the above amount of PES is not big, but it is significant for the H'mong peoples of Lung Sui. In addition to once again not only confirmed the transparency of the forest and forestland rights, but also the privilege of families and communities to have equal benefits from the forest and forestland. According to Mr. Thinh - Deputy Director of the Lao Cai FFPD, the model on community based forestland allocation and PES in Lung Sui should be studied for replication in other locations of Lao Cai.

SPERI