Where forest owners in Ha Tinh pay for ERPA source?

Limited payment content

Ha Tinh is one of six provinces in the North Central region implementing the Emission Reductions Payment Agreement (ERPA) according to Decree 107/2022/ND-CP of the Government. On the basis of centrally regulated resources, in 2023, this province allocated more than VND 40.2 billion, corresponding to a total area of more than 201,700 hectares of natural forest, to pay for forest management work, and forest owners benefited.

In recent times, to implement the assigned plan, relevant functional agencies have closely coordinated with forest owners to focus on building financial plans to promptly implement the next steps.

"There are currently 4 units, including Vu Quang National Park, Huong Khe Protection Forest Management Board, Ke Go Protection Forest Management Board, Chuc A Forestry and Services Company Limited, and Huong Son Forestry and Services Company Limited, that have sent the financial plan for 2023 ERPA source to the functional agency for inspection, review, and appraisal.

When this plan is approved, the units will implement the next steps, such as design development, design approval, and bidding for implementation on the field," said the leader of the Ha Tinh Forest Protection and Development Fund.

Talking with Vietnam Agriculture Newspaper, Mr. Phan Thanh Tung, Head of Forest Protection and Nature Conservation Department (Ha Tinh Forest Protection Sub-Department), said that the potential for selling forest carbon credits in Ha Tinh is very large. Thus, if forest owners can afford the ongoing ERPA pilot policy, it will open up golden opportunities for forest owners in Ha Tinh in particular and the six provinces in the North Central region in general to "live" by forest protection and even get rich from the forest.

"Currently, forest owners are actively implementing steps to disburse funds on schedule. The problem now is that due to pilot implementation, functional agencies as well as forest owners are quite confused," Mr. Tung said.

In 2023, the Huong Khe Protection Forest Management Board was allocated VND 4.4 billion, equivalent to approximately 25,000 hectares of natural forest under management and protection.

After reviewing the current situation, the unit developed a plan to implement silvicultural measures, including enriching 30 hectares of forest and nurturing 173 hectares of natural forest. Currently, the Management Board has completed the financial plan and submitted it to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development for review and appraisal.

"We are quite confused. The Decree prioritizes payments to residential communities contracted to protect forests, which do not exist in Huong Khe. Thus, if payment is on silvicultural measures for which the implementation cycle is 1 year of planting and 5 years of care, the care phase will not ensure capital because disbursement must end before December 31, 2025, according to ERPA regulations," shared Mr. Hoang Xuan Tai, Deputy Head of the Huong Khe Protection Forest Management Board.

According to Mr. Tai, another worrying issue is the financial plan year. Up to now, it is early May 2024, but the 2023 source has not yet been disbursed. The 2024 source has not yet been announced, so the units do not know what work will be implemented this year. Furthermore, according to regulations, bidding packages worth over VND 100 million must be publicly bid, which requires time, so progress can easily slip.

"The characteristic of forests in the North Central provinces is that there are no or few residential communities contracted to protect forests. In order to pay off the ERPA source, we hope that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will soon propose that the Government add subjects contracted to protect forests that are organizations, households, and individuals outside the residential community," Mr. Tai suggested.

Sharing the same opinion, Mr. Tran Trung Anh, Head of Science and Investment Cooperation Department (Huong Son Forestry and Services Company Limited), said that the payment content from the ERPA source is too limited and not consistent with the current situation of forest management and protection work in Ha Tinh, so the process of disbursing capital to ensure regulations faces many difficulties.

"In Huong Son, there is no residential community contracted to protect forests, so we proposed to implement silvicultural measures on an area of approximately 50 hectares in Son Hong commune. However, silvicultural payment is bound by the Law on Investment, Law on Bidding, etc., making it susceptible to time slippage," Mr. Anh said.

The Head of Science and Investment Cooperation Department analyzed that the nature of ERPA money is forest environmental service money, and the business's desire is for forest owners to make payments according to Clause 3, Article 70, Decree 156/2018/ND-CP of the Government: "The entire amount of forest environmental service money received is the revenue of the business, managed and used according to the provisions of the law on enterprise finance."

An extended conference is needed to resolve problems

The leader of the Ha Tinh Forest Protection and Development Fund said that according to regulations, the entire ERPA source must be disbursed within 3 years, but the disbursement rate has only reached over 10% for nearly 1.5 years.

"To accelerate the payment progress of the ERPA source, we propose that the Vietnam Forest Protection and Development Fund quickly have a conference of six provinces in the North Central region to have solutions to quickly remove difficulties and obstacles in recent times," the leader emphasized.

According to research, Nghe An and Quang Binh provinces also face the same difficulties as Ha Tinh and have not yet been able to make payments to beneficiaries. The main problem lies in the limited payment content under Decree 107; implementation costs do not overlap with other state budget expenditures.

Since the beginning of the year, the Ha Tinh Forest Protection and Development Fund has organized three training courses for beneficiaries in the province. At the same time, coordinate with departments to organize experiential learning in implementing ERPA source payments and visit models of silvicultural measures in Thua Thien-Hue and Quang Tri provinces.