Forest transition in Vietnam and displacement of deforestation abroad

Abstract

In some countries across the globe, tropical forest cover is increasing. The national-scale reforestation of Vietnam since 1992 is assumed to contribute to this recovery. It is achieved, however, by the displacement of forest extraction to other countries on the order of 49 (34 -70) M m 3 , or Ϸ39% of the regrowth of Vietnam's forests from 1987 to 2006. Approximately half of wood imports to Vietnam during this period were illegal. Leakage due to policies restricting forest exploitation and displacement due to growing domestic consumption and exports contributed respectively to an estimated 58% and 42% of total displacement. Exports of wood products from Vietnam also grew rapidly, amounting to 84% of the displacement, which is a remarkable feature of the forest transition in Vietnam. Attribution of the displacement and corresponding forest extraction to Vietnam, the source countries or the final consumers is thus debatable. Sixty-one percent of the regrowth in Vietnam was, thus, not associated with displacement abroad. Policies allocating credits to countries for reducing deforestation and forest degradation should monitor illegal timber trade and take into account the policy-induced leakage of wood extraction to other countries.leakage ͉ reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation ͉ reforestation ͉ illegal timber trade ͉ forestry policies

Growth in emission transfers via international trade from 1990 to 2008

“…As an example, we find that both the United States and European Union have had a large increase in net emission transfers, but only the European Union has a broadbased climate policy. Net emission transfers, which are independent of the policy and socioeconomic drivers, are often called weak carbon leakage (as opposed to strong carbon leakage) (15,16,37,38), although others have used demand-driven displacements (as opposed to policy-induced displacement) (39).…”

Land-use policies and corporate investments in agriculture in the Gran Chaco and Chiquitano

“…The reduction of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon may have been achieved at the cost of higher rates of deforestation in the Cerrado, another valuable Brazilian biome (10). Elsewhere, countries experiencing a transition from net deforestation to net reforestation (i.e., a forest transition) due to strict land-use policies could do so in part because they increased their imports of wood products from laxer neighbors (11,12). Because commodities such as soybeans, beef, or timber are largely substitutable, any intervention limiting their expansion in one place may displace it to another, assuming an inelastic demand.…”

Mewujudkan REDD+: strategi nasional dan berbagai pilihan kebijakan

“…Pertama, kebijakan semacam ini akan turut berperan dalam kebocoran dalam REDD+ internasional karena cukai yang rendah akan mendorong negara yang berpartisipasi dalam REDD+ untuk mengimpor kayu berbiaya rendah dari luar negeri, bahkan pada saat mereka melindungi kayu dan menyimpan karbon di hutan mereka sendiri (Wunder 2008). Tipe kebocoran semacam ini khususnya terjadi jika suatu negara, misalnya Kamboja, dengan tata kelola yang lemah dan hutan yang belum tersentuh, memagari negara-negara seperti Vietnam, yang mencoba untuk meningkatkan simpanan hutan dan menyimpan karbon (Meyfroidt dan Lambin 2009). Kedua, kebijakan cukai rendah akan menimbulkan efek yang tidak sama di suatu negara, karena akan mengurangi peluang ekonomi untuk masyarakat pedesaan, yang hampir selalu merupakan bagian termiskin dari penduduk secara keseluruhan (World Bank 2009e).…”