The Forest Sector Support Programme (FSSP) Coordination Office and international partners have proposed three programmes with a combined capital of Eur2.5 million to scale up poverty reduction and natural resource preservation efforts in the 2006-2007 period.

The three projects will focus on developing on a pilot basis in 10 provinces community-based forest management, sustainable partnerships in forest land management and strengthening of natural resource management in service of poverty reduction.

The proposal was put forth at a conference held in Hanoi on Dec.15 by the FSSP Coordination Office and its 24 foreign partners.

During the conference, the participants reviewed the achievements that the FSSP had made in 2005, including review of the implementation of the 5 million hectare of forest plantation project; reimbursment of financial support that foreign partners had pledged for Vietnam ’s projects on sustainable forest management, commercial processing and forest product promotion; and biodiversity conservation.

FSSP Coordination Office Director Nguyen Ngoc Binh attributed partners’ hesitance to fund Vietnam’s projects to performance neglect by localities.

To address the matter, the FSSP Coordination Office plans to conduct assessment activities jointly by the Government and international partners, streamlining cumbersome administrative procedures and creating more incentives for investors and partners for forestry development in