About 40 per cent of Viet Nam is covered by forests,
making the country highly suitable for a national REDD+ Programme.
Despite an overall increase in forest area, various regions of Viet
Nam still have high rates of deforestation. In March 2009, US$4.4
million was approved by the UN-REDD Programme Policy Board
for Viet Nam’s National Programme, and with the final approval of
the National Programme document in September 2009, the country
entered its inception and implementation phase. As implementation
has moved forward, the Viet Nam UN-REDD Programme was very
active in 2010, and is currently completing strategic national level
activities, as well as initiatives in several pilot districts.