This research examined mangrove management in Hai Phong city, Vietnam. A combination of logistic regression model data and field survey data were used to investigate the driving forces of mangrove changes. The results indicate that implementation of mangrove management investigated by the authorities, community or local people has affected mangrove change. The main driving force of mangrove loss is over expansion of shrimp aquaculture. The poorer families would like to participate in mangrove conservation activities more than richer households. Mangrove rehabilitation programs have been successfully managed by community-based forest management in cooperation with local authorities in some coastal communes. Nevertheless, the failure to convert shrimp culture from mangrove forest is recognized in other communities. These communes have to replant mangrove in abandoned shrimp ponds and follow the mangrove management used in former communes.

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This study aimed to discover the status of several types of forest and based on the opportunity costs of REDD+ to identify which greenhouse gas (GHG) emission mitigation options can be implemented in different forest types in Ba Be National Park, Vietnam. From 1990 to 2000, forest in the study area faced a high rate of forest cover loss and degradation. During the next decade from 2000 to 2010, total forest cover increased gradually. However, the natural forest area still decreased. In our household survey (n＝103), respondents reported that main drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in those areas were timber extraction for commercial or subsistence purposes, shifting cultivation, inadequate forest management, bribes to forest rangers, felling trees for firewood and bamboo shoots, and conversion to Mo (Manglietia conifera) and other perennial plants. There are some differences in those drivers between the three villages surveyed. From 2000 to 2010, several land use changes such as the conversion of poor timber forest into recovered timber forest, medium timber forest into poor timber forest and planted forest into bare land with scattered trees caused more than 8,000tCO₂e emissions per year. In regard to opportunity costs, most of the avoidance options have negative opportunity costs, which mean potential benefits. Within the current carbon market price, the avoidance can be applied to reduce approximately 7,900tCO₂e emissions (about 98% reduction) per year in the three communes surveyed.

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Forestland allocation (FLA) policy in Vietnam aimed at conserving forests and improving local livelihoods. In regard to the effectiveness of FLA, some authors reported improvements in forest cover and quality, whereas others stated inappropriate implementation process and minor impacts on household income. Hence, this study examined whether disturbances in initial stage still existed, how allocated forestlands were utilized, and how FLA contributed to local livelihoods under different forest management regimes. D village of Nam Dong district, where FLA was introduced in 1995, was selected as a case, and 78 households were randomly selected for household interviews. The results revealed that shifting cultivation, once widely reported in mountainous regions, had already ceased before our survey. Natural forests allocated to groups were mainly utilized for non-wood forest product (NWFP) collection, regardless of whether those users had an allocation. Individually allocated areas were converted to acacia and recently to rubber plantations. The rotation of acacia plantation was five to seven years with intercropping cassava in the initial stage. FLA contributed to adjusting an uneven distribution of farmland and income, but the effect remained nominal. The role of FLA in income generation was limited due to small allocation area per household (1.50ha on average). Switching to rubber trend was another reason of limited income derived from FLA. Therefore NWFP played a more significant role in the household economy than plantation yields. Investment in livestock was first preference of respondents, which suggests the importance of small-scale livestock rearing in the areas facing land shortage.

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REDD+in developing countries needs to estimate forest carbon stocks and above ground biomass. Remote sensing has been widely used for monitoring of vegetated area using the satellite-derived vegetation index since vegetation indices are thought to have high correlation with above ground biomass or vigor of vegetation. However, these satellite-derived vegetation indices are still doubtful whether they are available for REDD+in any types of forests such as forests with different species. We studied the relationship between wood volume data obtained by field survey and the time series of MODIS EVI data to check whether the above ground biomass in different forests with different species could be accurately estimated from satellite remotely sensed data. This paper presents the different correlation for different forests. Our analysis illustrated the correlation between annual wood volume and annual average EVI using a simple linear regression. The regression equation for Forest 1 was Y＝249.02x+37.474; R²＝0.82; N＝22 and for Forest 2 was Y＝668.3x-258.61; R²＝0.80; N＝15, and R²＝0.0285; N＝15 for forest 3 which mixed more than 7 species, respectively. These different correlations are strongly correlated with composition of species in different forests. The forests with a few tree species had high correlations, while the forest mixed with many species of trees had low correlation. The composition of tree species in forests is an important characteristic for estimating above ground biomass of forests using remote sensing data.

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This study reports field survey results on current tourist activities and perception regarding marine ecosystem conservation in the Nha Trang Bay Marine Protected Area (NTB-MPA), Vietnam. Structured questionnaire surveys to visitors (n＝166) revealed that, comparing Vietnamese and foreign tourists: (1) About half of the Vietnamese respondents were aware of the NTB-MPA while only 9.6% of foreign respondents recognized this, (2) average respondents visited more than two islands out of the total nine islands during their stay and Vietnamese and foreign respondents tended to visit different islands with different marine activities, and (3) of six marine conservation program components presented in the present survey, both groups showed stronger support for physical enhancement of marine ecosystems rather than for sustainable local community development with slight differences in components between the two respondent groups. These results suggest that the NTB-MPA needs to fulfill both the diverse demands of tourists as well as sustainable marine ecosystem management. However, at the same time, NTB-MPA could also offer diverse opportunities to familiarize tourists with different backgrounds in both environmental and socio-economic issues in marine ecosystems and to facilitate their support for the MPA.

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