On March 14, 2023, a small forest owners group in Cam Xuyen district, Ha Tinh province has been issued VFCS/PEFC forest management certification for 1,058.97ha of Acacia plantations by Bureau Veritas Certification Vietnam. The group has 339 members, which are households planting Acacia plantations from 38 villages of 7 communes in Cam Xuyen district such as Cam Due, Cam Hung, Cam Lac, Cam Minh, Cam My, Cam Quan and Cam Son commune. The certificate is represented by Thua Thien Hue Forestry Cooperative.
From 2022, Thua Thien Hue Forestry Cooperative has cooperated with small forest owners in Cam Xuyen district to implement sustainable forest management. The activities have been carried out such as group establishment, training to improve group management capacity and enhancing capacity for small forest owners on sustainable forest management, implementing sustainable forest management activities according to standards of the Vietnam Forest Certification Scheme (VFCS/PEFC), monitoring and evaluation. The linkage model has also been established and Thua Thien Hue Forestry Cooperative committed to consuming Acacia wood with VFCS/PEFC certified at higher price compare to uncertified Acacia wood at the same time on market. In addition, the implementation of sustainable forest management according to the VFCS/PEFC also brings many other benefits to forest owners such as improving forest productivity and forest quality, enhancing forest environmental and social values.
According to the plan, Ha Tinh province strives to have about 37,000 hectares of forests certified by 2030. The implementation of forest management and certification according to the Vietnam Forest Certification Scheme (VFCS/PEFC) will bring more opportunities and option for forest owners in Ha Tinh province in term of sustainable forest management, forest certification and improvement economic, social and environmental efficiencies from forests.
