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Payments for forest environmental services (PFES) is a major breakthrough policy in the Vietnamese forestry sector because it contributes 25% of the total investments in the forestry sector and serves as the first market-based instrument employed to protect forests. However, there is little empirical evidence of its effectiveness. Is the policy meeting the core objectives of improving forest cover and forest quality and is it also achieving its claims of supporting local livelihoods? This paper analyses the environmental, social, and economic impacts of PFES in Son La province, the longest standing implementation of a PFES scheme in Vietnam. Our study uses a sampling method that incorporates pre-matching and a before-after-control-intervention approach. Data was collected from government statistics, remote sensing analysis, focus group discussions involving 236 people, surveys with a total of 240 households, and key informant interviews with 45 people. Our findings show that additionality of PFES in Son La is controversial and depends on who collects the data and what data is used to evaluate the impacts of PFES. Data collection is also politicized to serve central, provincial and district government interests. Evidence shows that PFES has provided little additional income to individual villagers to protect forests in Son La. However, total PFES revenue paid to communities generates significant income for village communities. Moreover, not all villagers can receive continuous payments from PFES, meaning that PFES has not become a stable source of income, rendering the permanence of PFES limited. Improving monitoring and evaluation policies coupled with transparent, inclusive, independent mechanisms are essential to providing a more accurate reflection of impacts from PFES in Vietnam.

Sustainable finance is essential for the implementation of adaptation and mitigation policies on natural sources and climate change. However, global and domestic finance for sustainable natural resources and forest management has been scared and unable to meet the practical needs for the last decades. Identifying innovative financing mechanism for sustainable natural resources management and climate adaptation and mitigation has been considered by globally communities as well as Vietnamese government as an important priority. This paper analyses new and innovative financing mechanisms for 2021- 2050, that are being considered and developed by a large number of countries, discusses opportunities and constraints for translating these mechanisms to the ground, and proposes policy recommendations for Vietnam to better access to these new funding sources.

Economic indicators 4.2 Environmental indicators 4.3 Social indicators 5 Results of program implementation 5.1 'Sustainable forest management and development' program 5.2 'Protection, biodiversity conservation and development of forest environmental services' program 5.3 'Wood processing and forest product trade' program 5.4 'Research, education, training and forestry extension' program 5.5 'Institutional reform, policy, planning and monitoring' program 6 Results of resource mobilization for implementation of the strategy 7 Lessons learned from implementation of the Forestry Development Strategy 2006-2020 8 Recommendations for development of the 2021-2030 strategy, with a vision until 2050 8.1 Global forestry development trends 8.2 Local proposals for future forestry development 8.3 Multi-disciplinary and comprehensive approach References Appendix 1 List of forestry policies and laws made during 2006-2020We would like to express sincere thanks to Nguyen Thuy Anh and Nguyen Van Anh for assisting us in the research process.

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