In the natural resources sector in Vietnam, the allocation of production forest and agricultural land to the householder or individual is the underlying concept of 'Doi Moi' the philosophy guiding the transition from a command to a decentralised market economy. This paper charts the evolution of forest policy since reunification, and reports some remarkable successes arising from private land and tree ownership. Since 1995 there has been an annual net gain in forest cover with plantation area exceeding forest loss to fire or conversion.The principal outstanding problem is how to manage the two million ha of natural forest land which the government has decreed should be set aside for conservation purposes but for which private ownership is not considered a good solution.
