Viet Nam remains home to great numbers of vulnerable and poor people, especially among the rural population and ethnic minorities - many of whom depend on forest resources. These forests face numerous pressures including illegal logging, infrastructure development and agricultural expansion. RECOFTC – The Center for People and Forests, working with civil society partners as part of the European Union-funded Voices for the Mekong Forests (V4MF) project, is seeking to better understand the governance challenges and opportunities in Viet Nam’s forestry sector, as well as putting forward a programme to address these through the empowerment of non-state actors (NSAs). To this end, a participatory forest governance assessment was carried out in late 2017 and early 2018. The findings, outlined in this brief, reflect the participants’ perception that forest governance in Viet Nam is facing many challenges, in particular in relation to stakeholder engagement processes, but also that windows of opportunities exist. The project partners will work with various stakeholders, particularly NSAs including civil society, to implement a programme to address the challenges and opportunities identified.

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