Abstract
Key messagesWhen it comes to mangroves in Vietnam, the payment mechanism for forest environmental services (PFES) can be applied to 8 types of environmental services: (1) carbon absorption and storage; (2) sedimentation and sludge reduction; (3) coastal erosion protection; (4) wave shielding; (5) supplying clean water, filtering heavy metals and pollutants; (6) spawning grounds provision; (7) landscape – tourism; and (8) food and ingredient provision.There are 20 potential buyer groups that could pay for mangrove environment services in Hai Phong. These include: companies focused on dredging, sand mining, clean water, energy, banking, petroleum, entertainment, tourism, shipbuilding, air transport, and producers of agricultural, forestry and aquatic products; fishing and sea ports; those involved in the coastal economic zone; industries focused on mining and metallurgy, transportation and thermal power; dike management groups; and residential communities. While some buyer groups have expressed strong commitment to make payments (e.g. banks, energy companies, those producing agricultural, forestry and aquatic products), more research is needed to understand how willing other parties are to participate in paying for environmental services.In Hai Phong, two of these environmental services – (1) carbon absorption and storage and (5) clean water provision and heavy metal filtration – have the largest number of potential buyers.To develop a mechanism for payment for environmental services, four key questions must be answered: (1) Which services are being paid for? (2) Who is paying? (3) How much is the payment? and (4) What is the revenue and expenditure mechanism? Answering these will need long-term, thorough research, particularly demonstrating stakeholders use of environmental services. Based on the pre-feasibility study in 2018–2019, this policy summary answers the first two questions. The last two will be answered in another policy brief, once the study is complete in 2020.
Highlights
With a long life-stream and durable carbon storage capacity, the amount of carbon stored within mangroves can be 3–4 times higher than that of terrestrial rainforests (Alongi 2012)
With our limited time and budget, CIFOR selected 2 out of the 8 potential environment services for further analysis: clean water and heavy metal filtration, and carbon payment. This is because: (i) these two services have the largest number of potential buyers; (ii) payment collection for service users like ports can be based on the port fee collection system, so it is more feasible than other services; (iii) a carbon payment mechanism is being piloted in Vietnam under Decree 156, and its expansion to mangroves will make a positive contribution to PFES carbon policy
Using this revenue effectively could provide a model for PFES to consider
Summary
The ecological, environmental and economic importance of mangroves has been widely recognized worldwide and proven by domestic and international scientists based on data of various scales and ecological regions. The Global Adaptation Commission emphasizes that benefits from mangrove protection and regeneration (e.g. from fisheries, forestry, ecological landscapes and risk reduction) can be worth 10 times as much as the cost. Due to mangroves’ rapid decline, their protection and development has become one of Vietnam’s
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