In 2009, the Vietnam government initiated a policy to conserve soil, water, natural landscapes and biodiversity in the Dong Nai River System. The Prime Minister of Vietnam issued a Decision 380 dated 10 April 2009 on the policy for payments for forest environmental services. During the pilot in Lam Dong province, a fee has been imposed of 20 VND/KWh and 40 VND/m3 of water supplied and 1% of revenues from selected hotels in Dat Lat city. The Forest Protection and Development Fund of Lam Dong province controls incomes and pays providers of forest environmental services USD 15/hectare/year. In the first 9 months of 2009, total payment was USD 1.5 million. About 3,000 local households received payments protecting 220,000 hectares of forest. This is a good example of how a pilot work can influence policy development/refinement.
