Payment is good, control is better: why payments for forest environmental services in Vietnam have so far remained incipient

Abstract

This study reviews what kind of schemes (direct and indirect) related to payments for environmental services (PES-related schemes) currently exist in Vietnam, and what have been the success stories of, as well as the obstacles to, PES implementation. For that purpose, concrete experiences needed to be identified, analysed and evaluated. Our definition of the PES principle refers to a voluntary arrangement where a well-defined environmental service is being ‘bought’ by a (minimum of one) service buyer who compensates a (minimum of one) service provider—and does so if and only if the service provider continuously secures the provision of that service over time (conditionality). Using this definition, we conclude that one can find a number of incentive schemes we will call ‘PES-like initiatives’, but that the PES principle as such has not been implemented in Vietnam so far.