USAID RDM/A Regional Environment Office Weekly Report Week Ending October 12, 2007

Payments for Forest-based Environmental Services to Be Applied in Vietnam. In consultation with several ministries, the Vietnam Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) will test a management mechanism for generating revenues and mobilizing civil society to provide forest environmental services. MARD will complete the payment for environmental services (PES) mechanism design and begin implementation of the program on a trial basis in Central Highland Lam Dong province with support from USAID’s Asia Regional Biodiversity Conservation Program (ARBCP). At an ARBCP-sponsored seminar on building policies on forest environmental services on October 2, 2007, in Ha Noi, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Hua Duc Nhi said organizations and individuals who use water that has its source in the forest will have to pay the fee. These include hydro-electricity plants, irrigation projects, safe water supply establishments, and industrial establishments. After a two-year trial run, the Prime Minister will consider application of the fee across the nation. This decision was printed widely in the Vietnamese news media. The payment mechanisms will ensure these downstream users have sustained access to the watershed services needed to sustain their growth. The ARBCP continues to support MARD and the Lam Dong Province pilot effort to model PES watershed conservation values, develop market-based incentives for private sector support, identify buyers and sellers, clarify services and actions taken to provide them, negotiate fees, and develop low-cost monitoring approaches and supporting legal mechanisms.

Thailand Knowledge Center Project Brings Computer Training Courses to the Kamphuan Community Learning Center. On September 24-28, 2007, the Ministry of Information Communication and Technology (MICT) of Thailand and USAID’s Sustainable Coastal Livelihoods Program partnered to provide five days of training on basic computer skills and Internet usage for members of the Kamphuan community in Ranong province, Thailand. Fifteen members of the local community convened at the computer lab at the Kamphuan Community Learning Center to receive the Microsoft Standard training course that included modules on Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, and Internet use. Participants included local entrepreneurs, government officers, teachers, and members of the revolving funds group. This effort is part of the Royal Thai Ministry of Information and Communication Technology’s (MICT) goal of establishing a nationwide network of Information, Communication, Technology (ICT) centers that help rural communities to increase their ability in using computers by making it applicable to their daily lives. The USAID-constructed Kamphuan Community Learning Center is being chosen to be part of this national network of ICT centers that are known as, “The Thailand Knowledge Center.” For more information on the Thailand Knowledge Center Project, please go to http://www.tkc.go.th/