Payments for Environmental Services in Vietnam: An Empirical Experiment in Sustainable Forest Management (Report‪)‬

I. Introduction The majority of the poor in Vietnam Five in the country's hilly and mountainous areas. Many upland farmers provide significant environmental services that benefit the wider community. They do this through the environmentally friendly ways in which they implement forestry and other tree based land use activities. These services include watershed protection, biodiversity conservation, carbon storage and the preservation of landscape beauty. These environmental services are important because they support ecological balance, serve as the base for economic activities and provide a wide range of amenities for society (Francisco 2002).