DETERMINATION OF K-COEFFICIENTS FOR PAYMENT FOR FOREST ENVIRONMENT SERVICES USING GIS-BASED METHODS: A CASE STUDY IN BACKAN PROVINCE, VIETNA

Environmental management

Payments for forest ecosystem services (PFES) have been widely implemented in developing countries towards improving natural resource management and enhancing local incomes and livelihoods. In Vietnam, PFES programs have been recently demonstrated in several pilot provinces and have achieved some significant outcomes. However, experiences during the piloting phase show the difficulty of determining the K-coefficient, the factor is designed to adjust the distribution of payments. Many provinces are struggling to fully apply K-coefficients in practice and they often use a constant value (K = 1.0) for all forest stands, according to Vietnam Forest Protection and Development Fund. This approach leads to inequity concerns and it does not set an incentive for forest owners who provide the best ecosystem services. In this study, we proposed a GIS-based method for spatially calculating K-coefficients to support PFES implementation in BacKan province that is covered by about 337.0 thousand hectares of forests. K-coefficients were determined for all forest stands by combining its four components including: forest volume status (K1), forest function (K2), origin of forest (K3), and the difficulty of forest protection (K4). K1-coefficient was calculated by reclassifying a forest stand volume map (regrowth and poor forest, medium forest, and rich forest). Forest functions (special-use forest, protection forest, and production forest) were determined based on a provincial forest management map while forest origins were derived by investigating the establishment history of each stand (natural or plantation forests). The level of difficulty in forest protection (very difficult, difficult, or not very difficult) of each forest stand was spatially determined based on multiple factors including the distance to residential areas and road systems, and elevation and slope of the forest stand. Our results indicate that K-coefficients for PFES in BacKan ranged from 0.65 to 1.0. In which, the area associated with a K-coefficient of 1.0 was the lowest (only 33.73 ha, accounting for 0. 01% of the total forested area) while the area associated with a K-coefficient of 0.77 was the largest (greater than 107.2 thousand hectares, accounting for 31.8%). Methods and results from this study provide decision makers with a good solution to improve the quality of PFES implementation.

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