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This Country Forest Note (CFN) provides an upstream analysis of the status of forests and of investments and policies relevant to the forest sector in Vietnam. It looks at forests in a programmatic and cross-sectoral manner to strategically position the World Bank Group (WBG) to support the country in delivering on forest smart interventions. More specifically, it outlines current trends and challenges in the forest and land use sectors; builds on the ongoing dialogue and reviews past investments; identifies major challenges and investment and policy gaps; and makes recommendations on key policy changes and sectoral investments needed. The forest sector contributes significantly to the country's economy. The export of wood and timber products amounted to USD 8 billion in 2017, nearly 4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). Vietnam is also one of the world's leading countries in operationalizing a payment for forest environmental services (PFES) system. In addition, the forest provides a myriad of goods and services that support local livelihoods and the economy as a whole. Given the topography of the country, forests play a particularly critical role in watershed and coastal protection. Despite great economic progress and decreasing deforestation rates, the forest sector faces challenges from competing land uses, overexploitation of resources, mounting risks of supply shortages, and insufficient capacity for forest governance and management. As a result, deforestation and forest degradation rates continue in parts of the country, such as the Central Highlands, and the overall quality of the natural forest continues its downward trend. While two-thirds of Vietnam's natural forests are deemed in poor condition or regenerating, rich and closed-canopy forest constitutes only five percent of the total. There is also the growing threat from climate change, in particular to the country's mangroves. This report presents some of the major trends and challenges facing forests in Vietnam and highlights recommendations to meet its forest-related national targets, sustain its economic growth, and alleviate poverty. The CFN highlights key areas where Vietnam could benefit from further support from the WBG and other partners, based on their comparative advantages and ongoing partnership.

Agriculture --- Environment --- Environmental Protection --- Forestry Management --- Natural Resources Management --- Poverty --- Sustainable Land Management

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This Analytical Framework is a product of a World Bank initiative on Securing Forest Tenure Rights for Rural Development, which seeks to enhance the World Bank's capacity and effectiveness when dealing with land rights issues in forest areas. The initiative is core to 'Participation and Rights,' one of the three cross-cutting themes of the Bank's Forest Action Plan 2016-2020 (World Bank Group 2016). The overall objective of the initiative is to provide information and guidance, to client countries, indigenous peoples and local communities, World Bank managers and staff, and other donors, to strengthen forest tenure security in forest landscapes as a foundation for rural development. This framework consolidates a wide range of experience and evidence on both the relevance of community forest tenure security to rural development goals and the key elements that need to be in place for community forest tenure to be effectively secured. The Key elements encompass those that are important for achieving development goals and those that support the overall functioning of the tenure security system. The primary purpose of having distilled these elements is to provide a basis for the development of practical tools to understand and assess community forest tenure security in specific national contexts. By consolidating and presenting these elements together in a concise framework, this work can help establish a shared set of concepts and common language on community-based tenure security.

Community Development and Empowerment --- Community Land --- Environment --- Indigenous Communities --- Social Development --- Sustainable Land Management

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This report presents a framework for strengthening the effectiveness and efficiency of regulation of forestry and related sectors. It strives to identify and reduce regulatory burdens on private firms active in the forestry sector, while not compromising the objectives of government regulation. Illegal logging and deforestation, especially in developing countries, has significant impact on national and global forestry product markets, leading to increasingly heavy regulation of forestry sectors-including downstream markets and processing industries. Heavy regulation places a disproportionate burden on SMEs and frequently leads to regulatory failures, including corruption and reduced competition. As a result, many small-scale forestry and downstream private firms cannot comply with regulatory requirements, and instead operate informally. Reduced regulatory compliance leads to a failure to achieve intended and important social, economic, and environmental outcomes. The report is the first to assess the forestry sector from a cross-cutting global regulatory governance perspective. It draws upon and synthesizes key thematic issues and lessons from available materials on forestry, and develops practical solutions based on problem-driven adaption and good practices documented in regulatory governance literature. Based on this, it also creates a framework and toolkit using a selected and appropriate regulatory governance reform tools for application and further development.

Deforestation --- Foreign Direct Investment --- Millennium Development Goals --- Sustainable Development Goals --- Sustainable Land Management --- Trade

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Agriculture and the rural space will continue to demand the attention of policy makers in Bolivia for several reasons, even as urbanization gains momentum. First, agriculture is a proven engine of economic growth. Aside from showing its strength in decades past, in recent years agriculture shielded the Bolivian economy from the worst effects of the decline in other primary sectors, and in the future, healthy rates of agricultural growth will make the overall economy more diversified and more resilient. Second, a robust and dynamic agricultural sector will continue to curb dependence on the mining and gas sectors, while contributing significantly to inclusive growth, value addition, the creation of more and better jobs on and off of the farm, and better nutrition for all. Third, because agricultural growth in Bolivia has proven to be pro-poor, maintaining that growth is essential for continued reductions in poverty. Fourth, because climate and other shocks affecting agriculture can significantly disrupt steady gains in economic growth, poverty reduction, and food security, building a resilient agricultural sector is critical to sustain those gains. Finally, although policy makers will want to support agricultural growth, they will not want that growth to compromise the future for generations of Bolivians by squandering and degrading irreplaceable natural resources.

Agricultural Productivity --- Agriculture --- Climate Change and Agriculture --- Crop Diversification --- Crops and Crop Management Systems --- Environment --- Food Security --- Nutrition --- Sustainable Land Management

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Dust storms are capable of transporting sediment over thousands of kilometers, but due to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region's proximity to the Sahara Desert, the region is one of the dustiest in the world. While natural sources such as the Sahara are the main contributors to dust storms in MENA, land-use changes and human-induced climate change has added anthropogenic sources as well. Like sources, drivers of sand and dust storms are also natural and anthropogenic, as both wind speed and land management can cause them. Dust deposition has wide-ranging health impacts, such as causing and aggravating asthma, bronchitis, respiratory diseases, and infections and lung cancer. Apart from devastating health impacts, dust also impacts the environment, agriculture, transport, and infrastructure. Globally, welfare losses from dust are approximately 3.6 trillion USD, where costs are about 150 billion USD and over 2.5 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on average in MENA. Besides investing in early warning systems, governments all over the world are designing policies to mitigate the impact of sand and dust storms, both at national and regional levels. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) launched a sand and dust storm warning system that aims to deliver reliable dust storm forecasts through a network of research organizations all over the world. It aims to improve the ability of countries to deliver quick and high-quality sand and dust storm forecasts and knowledge to users through an international partnership of research and operational organizations.

Air Pollution --- Air Quality and Clean Air --- Climate Change Impacts --- Climate Change Mitigation and Green House Gases --- Drylands and Desertification --- Environment --- Natural Resources Management --- Pollution Management and Control --- Sustainable Land Management