Decision 380 /QD-TTg on the Pilot Policy for Payment for Forest Environmental Services

Quyết định 380/QĐ-TTg ngày 10/4/2008 về Chính sách thí điểm Chi trả dịch vụ môi trường rừng.
Tình trạng: Hết hiệu lực

Read more >>> Decree No. 99/2010/ND-CP, dated 24 Dec. 2010, on Payment for Forest Environmental Services

DECISION on
The Pilot Policy for Payment for Forest Environmental Services


THE PRIME MINISTER

Based on the Government Organization Law dated on December 25, 2001;

Based on the Forest Protectionand Development Law dated on December 03, 2004

Based on the Decision number 18/2007/QD-TTg dated on February 05, 2007 by the
Prime Ministry on approving the Strategy for Forestry Development in Viet Nam to 2020; Considering the suggestion from the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development,

DECIDES 

Chapter I
GENERAL STIPULATION

Article 1.  Purpose

To establish the basis for the development of the legal framework for a national policy on payment for forest environmental services to be applied in the whole country, where the responsibilities and benefits of the payers and payees of forest environmental services (here after referred to as forest environmental services: FES) are clearly defined and to socialize the forestry sector, gradually establishing sustainable economic basis for protecting the environment and ecosystems, improving quality of service provision, especially ensuring water supply for electricity production, for clean water production, and ecotourism business activities.

Article 2.  Scope of stipulation

1.  This  decision  stipulates  the  types  of  forest  environmental  services;  norms  of payment for use of services; the management of the money collected from FES provision; rights and responsibilities of the payees and payers of forest environmental services, and the responsibilities of the government agencies to the implementation of the policy on payment for forest environmental services.

2. The time frame for the application of the pilot policy for payment for forest environmental services is 02 years, starting from the date this Decision comes into force.  The pilot policy is to be applied within the areas of Lam Dong, Son La, Dong Nai, Hoa Binh, Binh Thuan, Ninh Thuan and Ho Chi Minh City .

Article 3.  Target of stipulation

1.  The  organizations  using  services  and  having  to  pay  for  forest  environmental services in this decision including:

a) The Dai Ninh Hydropower plant in Binh Thuan province;

b) The Da Nhim Hydropower plant in Ninh Thuan province;

c) The Hoa Binh Hydropower Plant of the Vietnam General Electricity Company; d) The Suoi Sap Hydropower Plant situated in Phu Yen district of Son La province; đ) The Water Supply Company of Ho Chi Minh City (SAWACO)
e) The Water Supply Company of Bien Hoa City of Dong Nai Province;

g) Phu Yen and Moc Chau Branches of the Son La Water Supply Company, Son La
Province;

h) Organizations and individuals conducting ecotourism business in the areas of the special use forests and protection forests within the administrative boundaries of Lam Dong and Son La provinces.

2. All forest owners in the headwaters areas of the Dong Nai and Da river watersheds within the administrative boundaries of Lam Dong and Son La.

3. Governmental agencies relevant to the collection, submission, management, and use of money collected from payment  for  forest  environmental  services  having headquarters based in Lam Dong, Son La, Dong Nai, Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan, and Hoa Binh provinces and Ho Chi Minh City.

Article 4.  Terminologies

In this decision, the following terminologies are understood as:

1. Forest Environmental Service is the provision and sustainable use of values of forest environment (water regulation, soil protection and avoidance of sedimentation of reservoir, protection against flood and flash flood, biodiversity conservation/ aesthetic value, etc. ).
2. Forest owners stipulated in this document includes those specified in the Forest Protection and Development Law; the organizations, households, and individuals directly manage, protect, and develop forest; the organizations, households, individuals, rural communities allocated long-term forest protection by the representatives of the government’s forests.

Forest owners are eligible to apply this PES pilot policy include:

a) The Management Boards of protection forests, the Management Boards of Special
Use Forests;

b) Economic organizations;
c) Households and individuals within the country;
d) The village communities.

3. Payment for forest environmental services is an economic relation where the users of FES pay to the providers of FES according to the government’s stipulations in this decision.

4. The norm for payment for forest environmental services (unit price of services) is the amount of money that a user of FES has to pay to a provider of FES per one unit of use of FES or per one unit of corresponding product according to the stipulations of the government or according to the agreement between the two parties.
5. Fee for tourism visit in this decision is the amount of money tourists have to pay for the Management Boards of Special Use Forests, the Management Boards of Protection Forests, and other forest owners.
Article 5.  Types of forest environmental services Types of services applied in this pilot policy include: a) Services of water source regulation and provision
b) Services of soil protection, reduction of erosion, protection against sedimentation of reservoirs;

c) Services of ecotourism services.

Article 6. Forms of payment for forest environmental services

a) Direct payment for  forest environmental services: is that users of FES (payers) pay directly to providers of services (payees).

b)   Indirect payment for forest environmental services: is that users of FES pay indirectly to providers of FES through a government organization as stipulated at Item 2, Article 10 of this decision.

Article 7. Principles of payment for forest environmental services

1) The direct payment for FES is carried out by the payers and the payees based on the agreed upon contracts between the two parties following the market principles.

2.  Norm of payment for use of the forest environmental services is stipulated by the
Government, is publicly disclosed, and is adjusted when necessary.

3) Organizations and individuals using forest environmental services have to pay for use of the forest environmental services to payees of the forest environmental services and the payment does not substitute the water resource tax or other charges according to the stipulations of the laws.

4) The payments for use of forest environmental services are added to the production costs of products of users of  the forest environmental services.


Chapter II

DETERMINING THE NORMS OF PAYMENT FOR FOREST ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES

Article 8.  Norm of payment for use of forest environmental services

1. For hydropower plants

The norm of payment for forest environmental services, applied for hydropower production establishments subject to the regulation at points a,b,c, and d of Item 1 of Article 3 of this decision for the pilot timeframe, is 20 VND/kwh of commercial electricity.

2. For the water production and supply establishments

The norm of payment for the forest environmental services applied for the domestic
water production and supply establishments subject to the regulation at point đ, e, and g, Item
1 of Article 3 of this decision for the pilot timeframe is 40 VND/m3 of commercial water.

3. For organizations and individuals conducting tourism business stipulated at point h, Item 1 of Article 3 of this decision, the norm for payment for use of the forest environmental services is 0.5-2.0% of the tourism revenue of the period.

The Peoples Committees of Lam Dong and Son La are assigned to consider and stipulate the specific percentage of tourism revenue that each tourism business has to pay.

4.  Charging the visiting fees for Protection Forests and Special Use Forests.

a) Management Boards of Protection Forests and Management Boards of Special Use
Forests (hereafter referred to as Forest Management Boards may charge tourists for visiting fees.

b) The Peoples Committees of Lam Dong and Son La Provinces are assigned to approve and adjust visiting fees appropriately for each time period  per authority.

Article 9.  Determining the payment for forest environmental services.

1. For the case of direct payment:  the amount of money a payer has to pay for FES is paid directly to the payee, based on the agreed upon contract between the two parties.

2. For the case of indirect payment

a) For the case of hydropower production establishments:

The money for use of FES that must be paid for the payment period (VND) is the product between production of commercial electricity of the payment perdiod (kwh) and the norm of payment for FES per 1 kwh (20 VND/kwh).

b) For the domestic water production and supply establishments

The money for use of FES that must be paid for the payment period (VND) is the product between the production of commervial water of the payment period (m3) and the norm of payment per 1m3 of commercial water (40 VND/1m3)

3. For organizations and individuals conducting tourism business
The amount of money for payment for use of the forest environmental services is the percentage of the tourism revenue of the tourism business (including value-added tax) in the payment period (year, quarters) according to Item 3 of Article 8 of this decision.

4. Payment periods are year and quarter.


Chapter III

MANAGEMENT AND USE OF MONEY COLLECTED FROM FOREST ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES


Article 10.  Arrangement for payment for forest environmental services

1.   For the case of direct payment:

Payees of forest environmental services organize the collection of money for use of forest environmental services from organizations and individuals using FES according to contracts or through visiting fees.

2.   For the case of indirect payment

a) Payees of the forest environmental services are responsible to declare by themselves the amount of money for payment for the forest environmental services and submit the money to where they open their accounts to transfer to Forest Protection and Development Fund of Lam Dong and Son La provinces. Organizations and individuals, who have to pay for FES, based in Lam Dong and Son La provinces, are responsible for making declaration and submitting the payment for FES to the local Forest Protection and Development Fund who will be responsible for paying directly to the payees.

b) Forest Protection and Development Fund of Lam Dong and Son La Provinces open their separate sub-accounts for payment for forest environmental services.

c) Fund for Forest Protection and Development of Lam Dong province and the Fund for Forest Protection and Development of Son La province can use the money collected from FES based on the percentage of forest area at headwaters area of Lam Dong within the Dong Nai watershed and the Da river water shed as stipulated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

d) The Forest Protection and Development Fund of Lam Dong and the Forest Protection and Development Fund of Son La are responsible for paying directly to the payees of services stipulated at Article 13 of this Decision;


Article 11.  Use of money collected from payment for forest environmental services.

1.   For the case of direct payment

For  the  monecollected  from  payment  for  forest  environmental  services,  after fulfilling the financial duties according to the stipulations of the laws, the payees have all the right to decide on the use of this money for investing into forest protection and development, improving quality of forest environmental services, and improving livelihoods.

2. For the case of indirect payment

a) The collected money from payment for forest environmental services could be used as followed:

- Leaving 10% for the Forest Protection and Development Fund

- 90% will be paid for forest protection activities of the payees of the forest environmental services.

If the payees of forest environmental services are state organizaions, they can use 10% the total for management costs and 80% will be used to pay for the contracts for forest protection to the contracted households and individuals and rural communities..

Article 12: Payees of forest environmental services

1. Forest owners stipulated at Item 2, Article 3 of this decision.

2. The list of specific types of forest owners who are organizations is considered and decided by the Provincial Peoples Committee per recommendation from the Peoples Committee at district level after being appraised by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

3. The list of forest owners who are households, individuals, and rural communities is considered and decided by the Peoples Committee at district level per recommendation by the agency specialized in forestry at district level.

Article 13Determining the norm of payment to payees of forest environmental services

1. Basis for determining the norm of payment

a) The total of payment for FES collected from the those having to pay is stipulated at
Article 9 of this Decision (VND);

b) The total forest area (special use forest, protection forest, and production forest) of the river basin at the time of being monitored/checked and confirmed as basis to pay for forest environmental services (ha);

c) Forest area, current status and origin of forest and forest quality at the time of being monitored/checked and confirmed as basis to pay for forest environmental services (ha);

2. Determining the amount of payment to forest owners

The amount of payment to the payee of FES in a year (VND):


The amount of payment to the payee of FES in a year (VND) = Norm of payment for one hectare of forest (VND/ha) * Area of forest managed and used by payees of FES (ha) * Coefficient K


a) Norm of payment for 01 hectare of forest (d/ha) is determined by the total amount of payment for forest environmental services collected (after subtracting the reasonable management costs as stipulated at Article 11 in this decision) divided by the watersheds total forest area at the time of being monitored/checked and confirmed as basis to pay for forest environmental services (ha)

Peoples  Committees  of  Lam  Dong  and  Son  La  stipulate  the  forest  area  of  the
watershed that applies this pilot policy.

b) Forest area used and managed by payees of the forest environmental services: is the area allocated, leased, contracted for a long term the forest use right at the time of declaration for payment.

c) Coefficient K: depends on the forest type (protection forest, special use forest, production forest); status of forest (rich, average, poor, regenerating forests); origin of forest (natural, planted) specifically stipulated by the Peoples Committee of Lam Dong and Son La based on the forest checking results confirmed by responsible authority agency.

Article 14 Responsibilities and rights of the provincial Fund for Forest Protection and Development in paying for forest environmental services to forest owners.

1. Responsibilities:

a) Reperesenting those getting paid for forest environmental services, making draft budget and payment for forest environmental services then submitting to the Provincial Peoples Committee for approval after getting appraisal document from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and Department of Finance.

b) Monitoring, supervising the implementationof forest environmental services;

c) Making payments directly to payees for forest environmental services.

In case the payee of forest environmental services has contracted agreement of forest protection and development, payment will be based on the acceptance checking documents of the contracted agreement.

- In case the payees of FES have been granted with a long-term contract for forest protection with a document authorizing the forest owner (the Management Boards of forests, the Forest Management Units representing government’s ownership of forests), the Forest Protection and Development Fund shall pay to the forest owner who will then transfer to the payees of FES.

2. Rights

Having the right to reduce the payment or refuse making payment if the forest environmental  services  do  not  meet  the  standards,  quantity  and  quality  per  contracted agreement. In case there is no contracted agreement, basing on the stipulation of  the PeopleCommittee at provincial level;

                                                                    Chapter IV

RESPONSIBILITIES AND RIGHT OF PAYERS AND PAYEES OF FOREST ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES


Article 15.  Responsibilities and rights of payers of forest environmental services.
1. Responsibilities

a) Paying for forest environmental services sufficiently and promptly to the forest owner according to contract (for the case of direct payment) or submitting money to the Provincial Forest Protection Fund  (in case of indirect payment)
b) If failing to fulfill their responsibilities as contracted or stipulated by the Provincial People Committee, then making compensation payment directly to forest owners or via Forest Protection Development Fund.

2. Rights
Having the right to request the People’s Committee at provincial level or through the Forest Protection and Development Fund to reconsider the payment for the forest environmental services in case the forest owners fail to meet the requirements for quantity and quality of the forest environmental services provided.


Article 16.   Responsibilities and Rights of the payees of forest environmental services.
1. Duties
a) Make sure forests are protected in term of quality and quantity and developed as per plans and planning schemes;

In case there are external factors that are likely to cause negative impacts on the provision of the forest environmental services, forest owners have to notify the the forest environmental  services  users  and  activelcarry  out  appropriate  measures  to  prevent  or mitigate impacts.

b) Having to use the amount of payment collected as stipulated in Item 2 Article 11 in this decision;
c) Forest owners who own planted forest and are paid for  the forest environmental services, within 12 months after harvesting the forests, must replant forests according to the stipulations of the laws.

d) Having no right to destroy the forest or change the user purpose of the forest illegally.

2. Rights

a) Having the right to request the contracted forest environmental service users (for the case of direct payment) or the provincial Forest Protection and Development Fund to pay for the forest environmental services according to the stipulations of this decision (for the case of indirect payment).

 Chapter V. IMPLEMENTATION ARRANGEMENT

Article 17.  Responsibilities of the relevant Ministries and agencies

1.   The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall take lead and collaborating with the Ministries:   The Ministry of Investment and Planning, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Natural Resource and Environment, Ministry of Industry and Trade, and the relevant Ministries and agencies

a) To conduct research on scientific basis and international experiences of the development of payment for forest environmental service policy.

b) To provide guidelines to the provinces for making plan and implementing the pilot policy, developing the projects within the pilot policy as stipulated at Item 1, Article 18 of this Decision.

c) After 02 years of pilot implementation since date of the policy coming into force, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development takes lead and collaborates with the ministries and agencies and the local areas involved in the pilot implementation to evaluate, refine, and finalize the policy for payment for forest environmental services to submit to the Prime Minister for issuing a national policy to be applied to the whole country.
2. The Ministry of Information and Communication:


Propagandizing  to  raise  awareness  of  people  on  the  practical  meaning  and  the importance  of  the  responsibilities  of the  people  in  contributing  money and  labor  to  the protection of the living environment of the community in order to implement the policy on payment for FES.

2. Responsibilities of the relevant ministries and agencies

Within the scope of function, responsibilities and authorities, the Ministries and agencies actively collaborate with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to implement the decision by the Prime Minister, and at the same time commanding the subordinate agencies to implement the decision by the Prime Minister on the pilot policy for payment for forest environmental services.

Article 18.  Responsibilities of the people committees at provincial level.

1. Responsibilities of the Provincial Peoples Committees of Lam Dong and Son La.

a. Propagandize the pilot policy and formulate a detailed plan for implementing the Decision by the Prime Minister on the policy for payment for forest environmental services in Quarter II, 2008;

b. Identify specific sites for the pilot implementation of payment for forest environmental services.
c. Instruct Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to take a lead and and collaborate with Department of Natural Resources and Environment and Department of Finance to develop and submit the following proposals, projects based on the agreement of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment  and Ministry of Finance:

- land/forest allocation

- forest protection contract

- defineing value of forest environemtal services

- management and use mechanisms of payment for forest environmental services

- conducting surveys and categorizing and listing payees, payers of forest environmental services in the pilot area

d) Establish Provincial Forest  Protection  Fund  according to  the Decision  number
05/2008/ND-CP dated on January 14, 2008 by the Government;

đ) Organizing the evaluation of the implementation of the pilot policy of payment for forest environmental services in the area.

2. Responsibilities of the Peoples Committees of the provinces of Dong Nai, Ninh
Thuan, Binh Thuan, Hoa Binh and Ho Chi Minh City.
a) Raising awareness of the inhabitants in implementing pilot policy of forest environmental services
b) Collaborating with related ministries, agencies to give command and checking the submission of money for payment for forest environmental services of the businesses in the area according to the stipulations at Article 3 of this Decision;


Article 19.  Responsibilities of the peoples committees at district and commune levels in the areas implementing the pilot policy.

1. Organizing the studying sessions, raising awareness and implementing the pilot policy on payment for forest environmental services for those directly implementing this pilot
policy.

2. Making a list of households eligible for receiving payment for forest environmental services.

3.  Participating  in  the  supervision  of  the  implementation  of  the  pilot  policy  for payment for the forest environmental services in the area according to the command and guidelines by the Provincial Peoples Committee.

Article 20.   Responsibilities of organizations, households, individuals and inhabitant communities at the district and village levels..

Organizations,  households,  individuals,  and  village  and  commune  communities subject to the regulation of the pilot policy on payment for FES are responsible for strictlobserving the stipulations on responsibilities, duties, and rights of their own and are liable before  the  law  for  the  implementation  of  the  pilot  policy for  FES  as  stipulated  in  this Decision.

Article 21.  Reporting requirements

On 6 month basis, the relevant Ministries, agencies, and the Provincial Peoples Committees of Lam Dong and Son La must report to Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development the status of the implementation of their government management responsibilities within the scope of their assignment in the implementation of the pilot policy for payment for forest environmental services to synthetise and report to the Prime Minister.

Article 22: Budget for the pilot implementation of the policy

1. The Ministry of Investment and Planning and the Ministry of Finance shall allocate support fund for the development of the projects stipulated at Articles 17, 18, and 19 of this Decision.

2. Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in collaboration with relevant ministries and agencies will solicit the financial support, techques and experiences from the other countries, international organizations (Winrock, GTZ), individuals inside and outside the country to implement the pilot policy on PES, at the same time, making estimated budget for the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s activities in implemeting the content of this decision to submit to the Prime Minister for approval.

3. The Provincial Peoples Committees of Lam Dong and Son La are assigned to prepare a plan and a budget estimate for the development of proposals and projects and other activities to implement pilot the policy in the province, submitting to the Prime Minister for approval after the appraisal from Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development

During the time when the budget for the pilot program has not been submitted to the Prime Minister for approval, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Peoples Committees of Lam Dong and Son La provinces could advance fund from the ministry’s budget or the local budget to pay for the costs for the development of the projects and the costs of the pilot activities, then get reimbursement from the approved budget.



Chapter VI EXECUTION ARTICLES
Article 23.  This Decision comes into force since the date of signing

Article 24.   The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the relevant Ministries and agencies; the Chairs of the Provincial Peoples Committees of Lam Dong, Son La, Dong Nai, Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan, Hoa Binh, and Ho Chi Minh City are responsible for carrying out this Decision.

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Source: Ministry of Justice of Vietnam

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