Vietnam's forest recovery and logging displaced abroad
Vietnam restricted logging in its natural forests from 1992 and its forest cover rose. A 2009 study found that wood harvesting equal to 39.1% of the domestic regrowth was displaced abroad, about half of the imports being illegal.
49.0 million m³ of wood harvested abroad against 125.4 million m³ of domestic regrowth (Meyfroidt & Lambin, 2009). The study's own estimate.
Status As of the sources reviewed (study published 2009, related study 2010): displacement estimated at 39.1% of regrowth for 1987–2006; no later quantification found.
- Vietnam's wood-product exporters — The study attributed 84% of the displaced harvest to exports of wood products. Meyfroidt & Lambin
- Forests in Cambodia and Laos — Source of much of the illegal timber imported in the early 1990s, according to the study. Meyfroidt & Lambin
What happened
From 1992 Vietnam tightened restrictions on logging in its natural forests. According to a 2009 study by Patrick Meyfroidt and Eric Lambin in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), harvest quotas in natural forests were sharply cut in 1992 and exports of logs and sawn timber were banned. In 1993 logging was banned in special-use forests and in the northern provinces, and in 1998 the commercial logging ban was extended to 58% of natural forests. Forest cover rose from 24.7% in 1992 to 38.2% in 2005.
The study compared Vietnam's forest regrowth in 1987–2006 (125.4 million cubic metres) with the wood harvest that moved abroad. It estimated that 49.0 million cubic metres, or 39.1% of the domestic regrowth, was displaced to other countries. Of that 39.1%, the study attributed 22.7% to leakage from the domestic logging restrictions and 16.4% to rising demand.
About 48.1% of the imports were illegal. Much of the illegal timber came from Cambodia and Laos in the early 1990s, later from Malaysia, Myanmar and Indonesia. The study attributed 84% of the displacement to exports of wood products from Vietnam's fast-growing wood-processing sector.
In 2010 Meyfroidt, Thomas Rudel and Lambin published a related PNAS study of seven developing countries (Costa Rica, Chile, El Salvador, Bhutan, China, India and Vietnam). It found that the land change embodied in the countries' net wood trade offset 74% of their afforested area. Including agricultural products, net displacement equalled 22% of total afforestation (39% excluding India) and 52% over the last five years of the period (69% excluding India). For China the figures were 45% overall and 74% over the last five years.
A 2001 review by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Forests Out of Bounds, compared natural-forest logging bans in China, New Zealand, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. The review said that evidence of the ecological outcome of the bans was largely missing and that success was usually measured by the area closed.
- 1987Start of the period studied by Meyfroidt & Lambin (1987–2006)
- 1992Logging quotas in natural forests cut sharply; log and sawn-timber export ban; forest cover 24.7%
- 1993Logging banned in special-use forests and in the northern provinces
- 1998Commercial logging ban extended to 58% of natural forests
- 2001FAO publishes Forests Out of Bounds, covering Vietnam and five other countries
- 2005Forest cover 38.2%
- 2009PNAS study published: 39.1% of regrowth offset by harvest abroad
- 2010PNAS study of seven countries, including Vietnam, on displaced land use
- 2016Laos Prime Minister's Order 15 (13 May) bans exports of logs and sawn timber from natural forest
How it looked
Shown
Recorded
- Forest cover rose from 24.7% in 1992 to 38.2% in 2005.
- 49.0 million m³ of wood harvest displaced abroad in 1987–2006, 39.1% of the 125.4 million m³ of domestic regrowth.
- About 48.1% of the imports were illegal; 84% of the displacement was attributed to exports of wood products.
- FAO (2001): the ecological outcome of logging bans was largely unmeasured across the six countries reviewed, including Vietnam.
In court and with insurers
Lawsuits and rulings
Insurers
What nature saw
Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.
What we don't know
Court
- None on record No court case on record.
Figures
- Insufficient Forest product exports: Forest Trends IDAT summary; search-level.
- Insufficient Forest product imports: Forest Trends IDAT summary; search-level.
Record
- Not measured The ecological condition of the forests in Laos, Cambodia and other source countries after the harvests: the sources reviewed give no measurement.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: in 2019 Vietnam's forest-product exports were US$10.62 billion and imports US$4.89 billion, and Cameroon supplied about 60% of its tropical timber imports, most of it assessed as high-risk for legality (Forest Trends IDAT summary).
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: Vietnam's timber imports from Laos fell immediately after the 2016 Lao ban, but enforcement was weak (Chatham House, as summarised in a search result).
- None on record No response from the Vietnamese government or wood industry to the study is on record in the sources reviewed.
- None on record The sources reviewed do not report any court case, fine or compensation tied to the displaced harvest.
Did the harm stop?
Not established: the study covers 1987–2006 and the sources reviewed do not say whether the displacement continued or stopped.
Who paid?
According to the study, the forests of the countries that supplied the timber, chiefly Cambodia and Laos in the early 1990s, with the illegal share of imports about 48.1%.
Sources
Government and regulators
- Prime Minister's Order 15 on log and sawn-timber exportsLao Trade Portal · 2016-05-13
Communities and civil society
- Vietnam country page (IDAT)Forest Trends / TRAFFIC · n.d.
Researchers
- Forest transition in Vietnam and displacement of deforestation abroad (PNAS 106(38))Meyfroidt & Lambin · 2009
- Forest transitions, trade, and the global displacement of land use (PNAS)Meyfroidt, Rudel & Lambin · 2010
Connected cases
- FAO data show Philippine old-growth forest was 3.3% of land by 1998 Philippines · 1989–1998
- Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) (International organisation) — here: Author of the 2001 review of logging bans; there: source of the forest and trade figures
- Kenya's two official figures: 8.83% forest cover and 12.13% tree cover Kenya · 2001–2026
- Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) (International organisation) — here: Author of the 2001 review of logging bans; there: global forest definition and assessment
- Mongolia index livestock insurance Mongolia · 2024
- Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) (International organisation) — here: Author of the 2001 review of logging bans; there: Source of the GIEWS dzud update