A national workshop organized by the Forest and Farm Facility (FFF) is taking place in Hanoi, Vietn Nam to discuss ongoing work in long rotation forest plantations, carbon storage and agroforestry policy.

The two-day workshop is entitled, “Experiences from FFF Vietnam on long rotation smallholder forest plantation, sustainable forest management, agroforestry and biodiversity contributing to forest and farm producers’ climate resilience and sustainable livelihoods.”

Among the participants are delegates from Vietnam’s Department of Forestry, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Viet Nam Farmers’ Union, forest and farm producer organizations and co-operatives from over 20 provinces, NGOs and Universities. Also attending are representatives from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).

“The objective of the workshop is to put into the national context FFF’s ongoing work through linking it with Vietnam’s policy on long rotation forest plantations, carbon storage and corresponding measurement tools as well as with its agroforestry policy,” says Sophie Grouwels, Forestry Officer, Forest and Farm Facility, (FAO).

“We also aim to share FFF’s experiences, lessons learned, challenges and good practices, which have been documented in around 30 case-studies. These studies enable FFF to show the different forest and farm models of resilient Forest and Farm Producer Organizations (FFPOs), many of them cooperatives, who are engaging in long rotation through product diversification and value addition while adopting environmentally sound certification systems,” says Ms Grouwels.

The workshop will include interventions on policy and strategy for the development of long rotation smallholder forest plantation, sustainable forest management (SFM), biodiversity adaptation to climate change, timber value chains, Ecosystem-based Adaptation product value chains and product labeling and marketing. Open discussions and knowldege-sharing from participants representing more than 20 Vietnamese provinces are also scheduled over the two day workshop.

Vietnam joined FFF in 2014, under the overall supervision of and partnership with the Vietnamese National Farmer Union (VNFU) which is an apex-level body comprising more than 10 individual members, of whom 35.5% are women.

FFF Vietnam is operational in 5 provinces and with more than 15,000 direct beneficiaries (40% women, 63% ethic minority and 12% youth). It focuses on more localized climate resilient policy and value chain support across many different productions system.

FFF Vietnam’s initial entry point were the small-holder tree growers and how to organize them better to improve their production process and value chain linkages. It then worked to stimulate longer tree rotation and a more sustainable production by encouraging diversification and value addition to generate additional revenue. In particular, the FFF helped to create further interest in domesticated non-timber forest products (NTFPs) such as cinnamon and star anis, medicinal herbs, bamboo products and also various agroforestry and agricultural products, such as organic vegetables.

Since beginning its work in Vietnam 10 years ago, the FFF program has led to direct protection, restoration, and sustainable forest and farm management impacts in 44,619 ha hectares, including approximately 17,000 ha of certified forest and farm production.