This report was commissioned under CIFOR’s Global Comparative Study on REDD+, as part of a research module on multilevel governance and carbon management at the landscape scale. Its purpose is to describe the distribution of powers and responsibilities related to land use, forests, and ecosystem services and, by extension, to REDD+ among the different levels and sectors of the Vietnamese government. To that end it reviews laws dealing explicitly with different sectors that affect land use and decentralization. It is intended as a reference for researchers and policy makers working on land-use issues in Vietnam, and is therefore largely descriptive....

Since 1994, the government system in Vietnam has consisted of two parts: (i) central government; and, (ii) local government. The central government is the Socialist Republic of Vietnam’s highest expression of state administration. It is an executive organization of the National Assembly and has the right to enforce the laws. Meanwhile, there are three levels of local government: (1) provincial governments, which consist of a provincial people’s council (PPCl) and provincial people’s committee (PPC); (2) district governments, which consist of a district people’s council (DPCl) and district people’s committee (DPC); and, (3) communal governments, which consist of a communal people’s...

As stated in the Constitution, the National Assembly is the highest body representing Vietnamese citizens and the highest organ of state power.

In terms of land and forest management, it has the power to carry out the following key activities:

1. To prepare and approve laws related to land and forests, such as the Land Law and the Law on Forest Protection and Development. For approved laws to be enforced, they must be promulgated by the Prime Minister, who is the head of the Government and represents the country internally and externally. The National Assembly and has the power to promulgate...

The budgets allocated in a decentralized system will determine the level of autonomy and influence of lower-level governments to implement policies effectively Oates, 1998; Yang et al. 2015. Since Doi Moi (Renovation) in 1986, the fiscal policy has also been further decentralized by the Vietnamese government. Decentralization has been an ongoing process in Vietnam since the first budget law introduced in 1996, subsequently amended in 1998, which introduced two budgetary layers at the central and provincial levels (Bjornestad 2009). It was the State Budget Law of 2002, implemented in 2004, that moved away from line budget distribution to allocative budget...

In Vietnam, the central government and the people’s committees at the provincial, district and communal levels must formulate land-use planning and land-use plans. Furthermore, each has its own types of plan. The central government has to prepare and submit two types of plan to the National Assembly for approval⁴⁹ – a national land-use master plan (commonly known as 10-year land-use planning) and a national 5-year land-use plan. Then it has to implement the approved plans. The PPCs have to prepare and submit two types of plan – a provincial land-use master plan (commonly known as 10-year land-use planning) and a...

This report provides key descriptions of the organization of local government in Vietnam, which is divided into three levels (provincial, district and communal), as well as the mandates and responsibilities for the management of land and forests at each level. The contents highlight the progress of the decentralization of power since Vietnam started the “Renovation Policy” (or Doi Moi) in 1986, the increasing role played by local people in the management of forests, and the key roles of the local government in making decisions on land use affecting forests. Additionally, the report reveals information on budget sources and state budget...