First community receives payment from forest carbon credits

Community management

Mr. Ho Van Gioi, Head of the Trang Ta Puong Village Community Forest Management Board in Huong Lap Commune, Quang Tri Province, said that since 2010, the village has been entrusted by local authorities with the management, protection and care of 406 hectares of forest.

To preserve the forest’s green cover, protect valuable timber species and conserve biodiversity, community members are divided into groups and regularly conduct patrols to monitor and protect the forest.

In 2019, the Trang Ta Puong Village Community Forest Management Board was established with 22 members representing the 22 households entrusted with managing the forest. Ho Van Gioi, born in 1994, serves as head of the community forest management board.

Each month, the groups take turns patrolling four routes: the waterfall area, Ta Puong checkpoint, Trac Noi and the area bordering Xa Dung.

Thanks to the community’s collective efforts, Trang Ta Puong Forest has been strictly protected in recent years, with no cases of encroachment or illegal logging reported. Community rules have been established to encourage residents to patrol and safeguard the forest area under their management. Hunting and setting traps for wildlife are strictly prohibited. Residents also keep watch to prevent strangers from entering the protected forest area.

In addition to patrolling and protecting the forest, residents of Trang Ta Puong have proactively shifted their livelihoods away from forest exploitation. Household livestock-raising and industrial crop cultivation models have been developed to create sustainable sources of income separate from forestry. The practice of entering the forest to collect products such as rattan, bamboo and medicinal plants has also been significantly reduced.

In 2022, 16 households in Trang Ta Puong established the Trang Ta Puong Waterfall Community Tourism Group. Tourism services for visitors coming to enjoy the waterfall have provided an additional source of income, helping improve local livelihoods and enabling residents to devote themselves fully to protecting the forest entrusted to them.

The dedication and enthusiasm of the Bru-Van Kieu people in Trang Ta Puong Village in protecting the headwater forests have been rewarded. In addition to payments for forest environmental services under the contracted forest protection and regeneration scheme, households in Trang Ta Puong received more than VND 70 million in 2023 from forest carbon credit revenues paid through the Quang Tri Provincial Forest Protection and Development Fund.

“We are very happy to receive this money, as it provides additional funding for our annual forest patrols and protection activities. It has also encouraged local people to take greater responsibility and protect the forest more effectively,” said Ho Van Gioi, head of the Trang Ta Puong Village Community Forest Management Board.

What are the criteria for receiving forest carbon credit?

According to Hoang Van Chien, Deputy Director of the Nam Quang Tri Special-use Forest Management Board, communities must meet several criteria to qualify for this forest protection funding.

First, they must meet requirements related to geographical location. The community must live locally, either near the forest or within the core or buffer zone of the forest area under contract.

Second, community members must be legally residing in the locality where the contracted forest area is located, in accordance with regulations.

The forest area must also consist of natural forest falling within the scope of the Emission Reductions Payment Agreement (ERPA) program and be managed by the Nam Quang Tri Special-use Forest Management Board.

On this basis, communities sign agreements with organizational forest owners to participate in forest management activities. Funding for contracted forest protection is provided from revenues from ERPA for the North Central Region and is disbursed according to the unit rates approved annually by competent authorities. Communities must also meet the requirements for signing forest protection contracts with forest owners in accordance with regulations.

Communities are required to effectively carry out forest patrols and protection, as well as forest fire prevention and firefighting, ensuring that forest areas are not degraded or lost due to negligence or preventable human causes. Organizational forest owners will make ERPA payments based on the results of annual forest protection inspections and acceptance records. Forest areas must demonstrate emission reductions or effective forest protection to qualify for inspection, acceptance and payment. Registered communities must also fully comply with reporting requirements, maintain the required documentation and fulfill other obligations in accordance with regulations.

In recent years, Quang Tri has stepped up contracted forest protection under its forest environmental services payment program. The province currently has about 248,000 hectares of forest, of which approximately 50,000 hectares are eligible for forest environmental service payments. Tens of billions of Vietnamese dong in annual payments have not only supported communities in protecting forests but also contributed to poverty reduction in mountainous areas inhabited by large populations of Pa Co and Bru-Van Kieu ethnic communities. In just the two mountainous districts of Dakrong and Huong Hoa, more than 2,100 households and individuals, 35 communities and dozens of community groups have been contracted to protect forests.

By May 2025, Quang Tri Province had allocated more than 19,200 hectares of natural forest and contracted around 50,000 hectares of forest to individuals, households and communities for management. The approach has helped improve forest protection while creating livelihoods for local people, particularly ethnic minority communities in mountainous and border areas.

According to the Quang Tri Special-use Forest Management Board, contracted forest protection provides an incentive for individuals, households and communities to participate in forest protection by giving them a source of income. To improve the effectiveness of forest protection contracts, the management board organizes training sessions and provides individuals and communities with guidance on forest protection skills and the application of technology. It also conducts regular inspections, monitoring and acceptance assessments of contracted forest areas.

Ho Thi Ven, Vice Chairwoman of the Huong Lap Commune People's Committee in Quang Tri Province, said that alongside policies supporting contracted forest care and protection, the commune is encouraging residents to restructure crops and livestock and develop household-based economic activities to generate stable, sustainable incomes and gradually abandon the practice of entering forests to harvest forest products.

The Huong Lap Commune Economic Division regularly visits villages to organize training courses on livestock farming, including cattle, pigs and goats, while providing guidance on building animal shelters and caring for livestock.

The commune also mobilizes organizations and individuals to provide financial support for community-based economic development, including interest-free revolving loans that allow residents to invest in goat and pig farming. Currently, 15 households in Trang Ta Puong Village have registered for and received loans of VND 15 million per household for two years to build livestock shelters and purchase breeding animals and seedlings.

“People in Trang Ta Puong Village are all aware of the importance of protecting the forests, including special-use forests, community forests and forests managed by the commune. Forest encroachment no longer occurs. Residents mainly make use of existing land to grow tung trees, melaleuca, cassava and other crops. Twenty-nine households in the village have planted at least 20-30 tung trees each and harvest the seeds for sale to buyers. Agricultural officers provide training, technical support and guidance to help residents improve their knowledge and skills in agricultural production,” Ho Thi Ven said.

* 1$ = 26,330 VND (source: Vietcombank).