Forest governance and economic values of forest ecosystem services in the northwest region of Vietnam

Abstract

Forest ecosystems provide valuable services to humanity but have been continually undervalued and degraded. This problem is a result of inadequate institutional arrangements for forest governance (FG). This study aims to assess the effects of alternative FG regimes on the provision and the associated economic values of forest ecosystem services (FESs) in Vietnam. This study argues for the framework that integrates the ecosystem service approach to the assessment of FG regimes. Three alternative FG scenarios: state-based; community-based; and individual-based. For each FG scenario, the changes in forest land use/land cover (LULC) were mapped based on land suitability analysis and transition likelihood for the period 2010−2020. The resulting maps were used as inputs into the InVEST model (Integrated Valuation of Environmental Services and Trade-offs). The outputs of the InVEST model are the quantity of three specific FESs: carbon storage/sequestration, water yield for hydropower production and reduction of sediment load to reservoirs. Particular valuation methods were applied: the social cost of carbon was used to estimate the economic value of carbon storage/sequestration; the replacement cost method was applied for valuing the reduction of sediment yield; and the residual valuation method was used for valuing water yield for hydropower generation. The study shows that FG plays an important role in the provision of FESs and, accordingly, in determining the economic values of FESs. Particularly, it indicates the aggregated annual value of the three services is likely to increase under all scenarios, but it is significantly under the state-based and the community-based scenarios. Based on the findings, I argue that community-based FG is an alternative FG regime that can effectively replace the current state-based regime.