In recent years, Viet Nam has undertaken very significant steps towards improving environmental governance, and facilitating the implementation of various forms of market-based incentives for pollution abatement and control. Among others, these steps include the establishment of Viet Nam’s National Environment Fund (VEPF) and local environment protection funds (LEPFs), the adoption of various on Environmental Protection charges, and the promulgation of the Inter-Ministerial Circular No. 125/2003/TTLT-BTC-BTNMT providing Guidelines for the Implementation of Decree No. 67 (henceforth ‘Circular No. 125’).
The recent adoption by the Political Bureau of Resolution No. 41-NQ/TW of November 15, 2004 on environmental protection in the period of industrialization and modernization provides further impetus to the greater use of economic measures to facilitate environmental protection in Viet Nam, including both fees (charges), and funds. Such greater use of economic measures is listed among the Main Solutions (Section III) to achieve the objectives of Resolution No. 41-NQ/TW.
In August 2012, within the VPEG frame work, the Technical report on local environment protection funds in Vietnam providing experiences, practical lessons and recommendations for improvement has been made by Mrs. Nguyen Thi Kim Dung - VPEG Consultant. Objectives of this report are to assess the actual state of performance of the existing local environmental funds in Vietnam; and to make recommendations on how to design local environmental funds towards improving the performance of these institutions. All the recommendations in this report are structured based on practical experiences and lessons learnt from the operations of the currently existing local environmental funds in Vietnam, as well as from the obtained international experience.
We are pleased to provide you with the electronic copy of the report with the hope that it
would be easier for the Environmental Protection Funds to achieve their
expected results if they are designed with more clearly defined
objectives, more simplified management structure and operational
mechanisms, more transparent decision making process and improved
auditing, monitoring and reporting responsibilities. The report is
downloadable from VPEG website following this link