Bundling of payments/rewards for environmental services A viable incentive system under development in the uplands of Northern Vietnam

Mechanisms for Payments for Environmental Services (PES) and Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) are developing in the world in general and in Vietnam in particular. It is clear in Vietnam that single payments for water as an environmental service from forest, or for forest carbon through a REDD mechanism, gives forest owners insufficient income, thereby limiting livelihood improvements and forest protection.
A viable incentive system that contains rewards, payments and livelihood options—‘bundling’ payments for ecosystem services or ‘co-investment for PES’—being developed in Ba Be district, Bac Kan province, is an option to this limitation (Photo 1). Bac Kan was chosen owing to it 40% poverty rate, 55% forest cover and complex landscape .