Monitoring system to aid forest management in Vietnam

The forestry sector plays an essential role in Vietnam's economic development. About 25 million people are living in or near forests, particularly in mountainous regions, with many of them being poor and belonging to ethnic minority groups who depend on forests. 

Reliable data on the soil and water protective function of forest can help sustainable forest management for water security and sediment- and water-related disaster resilience in developing countries. Application of modern ICT offers huge benefits in terms of improved cost-effectiveness and transparency in forestry.

Finland has been supporting the forestry sector in Việt Nam since 1996, giving over 33 million euros (US$35.15 million) mainly to the FORMIS (Development of Management Information System for the Forestry Sector in Việt Nam).

FORMIS is a project implemented by the Diretorate of Forestry under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) of Vietnam. The project is financed by the Government of Finland, the Trust Fund for Forests (TFF) and the Government of Vietnam. FORMIS suppports MARD in sector-wide forest governance and management by developing a modern information system from central to local level in order to provide accurate information for decision making for forestry sector at all levels.

Source: VietnamBreakingNews.com