In agriculture and environmental policy, a systemic shift from centralised control to performance-based governance is underway with Decrees No. 136/2025/NĐ-CP and 131/2025/NĐ-CP. The central government refocuses on policy formulation and technical standards, while provinces and communes handle administrative implementation, permitting, and field supervision.
Viet Nam is undertaking one of the most comprehensive reforms of its state administrative apparatus to build a lean, effective, and accountable governance system suited to a modern rule-of-law state. Within this framework, the Government adopted Decree No. 136/2025/NĐ-CP and Decree No. 131/2025/NĐ-CP. Together, these instruments form the legal foundation for transferring administrative authority from the central to local levels while maintaining strong oversight and ensuring policy coherence, especially in cross-sectoral fields such as biodiversity conservation, forestry, fisheries, and environmental management.
Context and Rationale for Reform
The 11th Plenum of the 13th Party Central Committee adopted Resolution No. 60-NQ/TW (12 April 2025), establishing a two-tier local government model (province and commune) and dissolving district-level administrative units from 1 July 2025. This major structural change necessitates a clear re-definition of powers and responsibilities across levels of government to avoid administrative gaps and ensure continuity in public service delivery.
In this context, the Government mandated ministries to review and revise the legal system to align with the new structure, ensuring that local authorities have the legal and institutional capacity to act within their mandates while the central government retains strategic oversight.
| Decree No. 136/2025/NĐ-CP | Decree No. 131/2025/NĐ-CP |
| Legal Framework | |
| Decentralisation and delegation of powers | Delineation of powers between the two tiers of local government under the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment provides a coherent framework for redistributing state functions |
| These decrees embody the principle of “unified management – reasonable delegation – effective decentralisation – and strict power control”. They shift governance from a centrally managed model towards one based on capacity, accountability, and autonomy at the local level, while maintaining the Ministry’s coordination role and ensuring national policy consistency. | |
| Biodiversity Conservation and Natural Heritage Management | |
| marks a turning point in biodiversity and nature conservation governance. The decree specifies detailed functions and powers for each level of authority, modernising biodiversity management and aligning national practice with international commitments:
– At the ministerial level, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment is empowered to issue technical regulations, professional standards, and criteria for identifying and managing endangered, rare and precious species; to establish or dissolve inter-provincial protected areas; to approve species recovery programmes and ecosystem restoration projects; and to endorse nominations for international titles such as UNESCO Biosphere Reserves, World Natural Heritage Sites and Ramsar Wetlands. – At the provincial level, People’s Committees may establish protected areas and wetland reserves located entirely within their territory, approve biodiversity conservation projects, issue or revoke access permits to genetic resources and protected wildlife species, and recognise locally managed natural heritage sites. This broad delegation enhances provincial autonomy and responsiveness to local ecological and socio-economic contexts. |
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| Forestry and Forest Protection: Empowerment with Accountability | |
| The Decree strengthens local management while maintaining central control over critical decisions. The Minister is authorised to promulgate lists of endangered forests, flora and fauna, regulate their trade and exploitation, adjust inter-provincial special-use and protection forests, and decide on the temporary closure or reopening of natural forests across multiple provinces.
Provincial authorities are granted extensive powers in forest use planning, licensing of forest seed imports and exports, and approving forest environmental service payment schemes. Commune-level chairs are empowered to allocate, lease and recover forests for households and communities – an approach that links rights with responsibilities at the grassroots level and reinforces participatory forest governance. |
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| Fisheries and Marine Resource Management | |
| For fisheries, the Decree introduces a multi-layered management mechanism. The Prime Minister oversees the national Fisheries Conservation and Development Fund, ensuring financial flexibility and mobilisation of private resources.
Local governments directly manage marine protected areas, temporary no-take zones, and community co-management zones, and have authority to license mariculture, fish ports, and the importation of broodstock. This system promotes adaptive management and empowers communities as co-stewards of marine resources. |
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| Administrative Procedures and Local Governance | |
| Decree 131/2025 and Decree 136/2025 both contain significant provisions on administrative procedures: processing by about 47% (492 fewer days across 33 procedures) and transferring many tasks previously at the district level to the commune or provincial level. Under the decrees, commune levels receive dozens of new tasks – e.g., 19 new tasks in forestry/forest protection and biodiversity conservation – signalling a major shift of responsibilities to the grassroots. | |
Opportunities and Challenges
It is expected that the new decentralisation framework could The central government focuses on policy formulation, technical standards, and international coordination, while provinces and communes handle administrative implementation, permitting, and field supervision.
Nevertheless, several challenges remain:
- Limited technical and managerial capacity at commune and provincial levels, especially in specialised fields like biodiversity and fisheries;
- Incomplete mechanisms for oversight and power control between administrative levels;
- Heavy reliance on central funding for conservation and environmental activities.
To ensure successful implementation, the Government could issue comprehensive technical guidelines and standardised procedures for local authorities; invest in capacity building for local officials; strengthen multi-level monitoring and accountability systems; and expand public–private partnerships and socialised funding for conservation.
Policy Recommendations and Conclusion
Decrees No. 136/2025/NĐ-CP and No. 131/2025/NĐ-CP signify a systemic shift from centralised control to performance-based governance, bringing decision-making closer to communities who depend on natural resources.
However, decentralisation must not equate to deregulation. Effective implementation demands transparent oversight, clear accountability, and strong institutional coordination across levels. If these conditions are met, the new framework will not only enhance the efficiency of environmental governance but also serve as a cornerstone for Viet Nam’s transition towards a green economy, sustainable development, and locally empowered natural resource management in the coming decade.
