I.    General information.

1.   Vietnamese name: Viện Quản lý rừng bền vững và Chứng chỉ rừng.

2.   English name: Reseach Institute for Sustainable Forest Management and Forest Certification (SFMI)

3.   The legal status of organization: Non-government Organization (NGO).

4.   Establishment decision and Registration license for Science activities: Establishment decision number 46/QĐ-TWH, dated on May 12nd 2006 by Vietnam Forestry Science-Technology Association. Certificate of Registration license for Science and Technology activities number A-514, dated on May 22nd 2006 by Minister of Science and Technology.

5.   The activities according to the registration:

      - Scientific research in: Sustainable forest management, forest management, tropical environment and silviculture, forest product processing and trading.

      - Producing products based on research results.

      - Science and technology services: Developing and implementing projects related to agroforestry development in the economic regions, termite and pest prevention for plants, timber and related constructions; surveying, assessing the situation and compile national standards for Sustainable Forest Management (Sustainable Management) and Forest Certification (FC); technical support consulting, transferring technology, raising awareness and building capacity for sustainable forest management; training in the above fields.

7.   Contact address: No. 114, Hoang Quoc Viet Street, Cau Giay district, Hanoi.

8.   Tel: +84 4 37556250

9.   Fax: +84 4 37556403

10.  Website: htpp:www.sfmi.org.vn

II.  Leadership and organization system:

a. Leading board:

-      Pro. ScDr. Nguyen Ngoc Lung, Director

-     Dr. Dao Cong Khanh          Vice Director

-     Bc. Bach Minh Thang         Chief Accountant

b. Specialized departments and divisions:

-      Institute Office: Accounting, Administration organization

-      The National Division of Forest Management and Forest Certification includes:  

        i) Environment Department; ii) Social Department; iii) Economic Department

-      Tropical Forestry Division.

-     At region: Sub-institute of Southern Sustainable Forest Management and Forest Certification (Address: No 152 – 8 Street - Ward 11 – Go Vap district, Ho Chi Minh city. Tel: 028. 9870857).

c. Human resource :

SMFI has 46 members who are scientists, lecturers, researchers, and forestry managers; All members have good training and experiences in teaching and researching in universities, research institutes and state management agencies. In which, there are 31 full-time staffs and 15 part time staffs:

SFMI has 20% of the members are trained and certified on "Forest Auditor" from the International School of SSC Forestry Sweeden Svensk Scogs Certifiering AB in Sweden.

SFMI has close relationships with international organizations such as WB, WWF, IUCN, GEF, FSC, GIZ, SNV, FAO, IUFRO, NEPCon, RECOFTC, KfW, PANATURE and The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). There are 8 staff members of the Institute have been official members of FSC since 1998. The Institute has close collaboration in terms of activities with Vietnamese research and management agencies such as: Vietnamese Academy of Forest Sciences (VAFS), Vietnam National University of Forestry (VNUF), Vietnam Administration of Forestry (VNFOREST), Central Highlands University (HU), Forest Inventory and Planning Institute (FIPI), Vietnam National University of Agriculture (VNUA), and Center Sustainable Rural Development (SDR). 

d. Experience in performing specialized activities:

-        By a team of staffs with extensive experience in the field of Agro-forestry, SFMI has implemented several supporting projects to develop and promote the areas of sustainable forest management, carbon emission reduction, as well as the capacity building projects funded by some international organizations such as KfW, EFI, FAO, GIZ, EU, WB, USAID, UNDP in Vietnam. Since its establishment, SFMI has conducted technical consultancy activities to promote the Sustainable Forest Management and Forest Certification processes in Vietnam which the training content is to raise the awareness and capacity building on Sustainable Forest Management and Forest Certification, the skills on management and technical knowledge for forest owners including Forest Enterprises, farmer groups and Vietnam Forest Owners Association;

-      Since 2013, SFMI is also one of the important organizations contributing to the progress of the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) in the EU Action Plan “Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade” - FLEGT. Besides, SFMI experts also consulted and supported policies on forestry production development: Policies for households (from WB funded in 2012); Community forest development policy for poverty reduction goals of Vietnam (from FAO funded in 2013); developing the Forest co-management Policy framework (from GIZ funded in 2014); contribute to the revision of Vietnam's Forest Protection and Development Law; Vietnam Forestry Law 2017; contribute to the development of forest protection management policies and development of Vietnam's forestry sector which is funded by projects of USAID, SNV, JICA, VFD, and KfW. Otherwise, The Institute's members have joined the National Working Groups (NWG) on Sustainable Forest Management, developing the Vietnamese standards for sustainable forest management (Appendix No. 38/2014 / TT-BNNPTNT dated November 3, 2014 by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), National Standards NFSS V2. 0 (based on FSC version - STD V 5.0) and PEFC National Standard. In the period of 2019-2020, SFMI is implementing the research project on the national scale: "Promoting the application of Sustainable Forest Management standards FSC/FM and Chain of Custody FSC/CoC".

-        Because of having enough well-experienced staffs, experts, and collaborators in different variety of specialized fields in forestry, and the close cooperation of domestic and foreign organizations, SFMI can simultaneously implement the science and technology consulting projects and contracts in different regions in Vietnam.

 e. Priority fields:

i.    Scientific research in Agro-Forestry.

ii.    Tropical silviculture: Afforestation, forest tree species, surveying on forest planting and harvest designing, forest growth and quantifying, forest management, forest inventory planning, restoration of natural forests, cultivation on sloping land and other related fields.

iii.   Land use planning.

iv.   Supporting and consulting to forest owners on sustainable forest management and forest certification in Vietnam;

v.   Forest protection, biodiversity and environment conservation;

vi.   Community-based forest management;

vii.  Forest product market, processing and trading;

viii. Capacity building, providing professional training in the above areas;

ix.   Cooperation, technical support, and technology transfer with ODA projects;

x.   Providing agro-forestry science and technology services;

xi.   Develop policies and strategies on developing agroforestry as the role of independent consultant;

xii.  Management of ODA projects and agro-forestry development projects.

III.    Several important works, projects, and technology transfer contracts: