This report represents the first National Ecosystem Assessment (NEA) of Vietnam, one of the most biodiverse countries on the planet. A particular focus is on forest, wetland, and marine and coastal ecosystems that provide the highest level of ecosystem services for human wellbeing in the country and continue to be indispensable to the nation’s economic growth. The NEA report has been developed on the basis of the following five policy questions:

1. What is the status of biodiversity and trends of key ecosystems (forest, wetland, and marine and coastal ecosystems) and the services they deliver in Vietnam?

2. How do forest, wetland, and marine and coastal ecosystems services contribute to the socio-economy?

3. What are the pressures driving changes in the status and trends of forest, wetland, and marine and coastal ecosystem services and their impacts on the socio-economy?

4. How might ecosystems and their services change in the future under various plausible scenarios?

5. What is the legal and institutional framework for biodiversity and ecosystem services and what are the impacts, gaps and recommendations to enhance ecosystems and their services?

The assessment reveals that these ecosystems, along with the vital social and economic services they provide, are under threat. The report highlights the main pressures driving the trends in degradation of the nation’s ecosystems, the impacts of these changes on the economy and the society, and the current responses by the Government of Vietnam to raise the population’s awareness of this degradation, and to design and implement suitable preventative and remedial actions such as payments for forest environmental services to communities to reverse this decline.

Following a comprehensive assessment of the current state of the nation’s ecosystems and their services, four future scenarios were explored. These are the ‘development as usual’ scenario, the ‘feasible baseline’ scenario, the ‘higher growth’ scenario and the scenario of ‘sustainable development associated with conservation’. For each of these scenarios, predicted changes in the importance of the drivers and pressures affecting ecosystems and their services, such as population growth, climate change, etc. were analysed. A range of proactive preventative management measures are also offered to counter ecosystem degradation and forestall ecosystem collapse. Finally, the report examines the existing legal and institutional framework for protecting the nation’s forest, wetland, and marine and coastal ecosystems and their services, along with conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, genetic resources and the role of traditional knowledge. The assessment also identifies gaps in the current framework and proposes ways for it to be strengthened, including amending and supplementing the Biodiversity Law and the relevant policies.