To cease the use of contract for payment of natural ecosystem services in the form of commission in Vietnam

To cease the use of contract for payment of natural ecosystem services in the form of commission in Vietnam

Specifically, the form of contract for payment for natural ecosystem services in the form of entrustment through the provincial-level environmental protection fund or the Vietnam Environmental Protection Fund according to the provisions of Form No. 02, Appendix VII promulgated together with Circular 02/2022/TT-BTNMT will cease to be used as of July 6, 2023.

In addition, Circular 04/2023/TT-BTNMT also stipulates to suspend the implementation of the contents specified in Clause 1, Article 7 of Circular 02/2022/TT-BTNMT as follows:

Agencies, organizations, residential communities, households, and individuals using land in the areas specified in Clause 1, Article 12 of Decree 08/2022/ND-CP shall be responsible for making investigation reports, preliminary assessments of soil environmental quality, detailed investigations and assessments of areas of land environmental pollution, and plans for treatment, improvement, and restoration of the soil environment according to the provisions of Form No. 02, Form No. 03, and Form No. 05, Appendix I issued together with Circular 02/2022/TT-BTNMT"

Paid natural ecosystem services in Vietnam

According to Clause 2, Article 138 of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020, ecosystem services for which payments are made include:

(i) Forest environmental services provided by forest ecosystems in accordance with regulations of law on forestry;

(ii) Wetland ecosystem services serving the purposes of tourism business, leisure and aquaculture;

(iii) Marine ecosystem services serving the purposes of tourism business, leisure and aquaculture;

(iv) Rocky mountain, cave and geopark ecosystem services serving the purposes of tourism business and leisure;

(v) Ecosystem services serving the purposes of carbon sequestration and storage, except for the case in (i).

**Payment for natural ecosystem services means an organization or individual that uses natural ecosystem services to pay an organization or individual to provide environmental and landscape values created by natural ecosystems to protect, maintain, and develop natural ecosystems.

Circular 04/2023/TT-BTNMT takes effect from the date of signing.

The time to suspend the validity of the contents specified in Article 1 of Circular 04/2023/TT-BTNMT is effective as of July 6, 2023.
until the effective date of the new legal document providing for such contents.

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