Report of the field survey on the land and natural resource utilization by the people ofDoi village, Thuong Lo commune, Nam district, Viet Nam
Particpants:
MASUDA Misa, Professor
NGUYEN Thi Thuy Phuong, JDS 2010 Fellow
Master’s Program in Environmental Sciences, Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences,
University of Tsukuba
Itinerary:
July 11 (Mon)

Leave Narita, arrive at Ha Noi

July 12 (Tue)Visit Japan International Cooperation Center (JICE) in Viet Nam and Ministry of
Natural Resources and Environment
Leave Ha Noi, arrive at Hue

July 13 (Wed)

Visit Bach Ma National Park (BMNP), meeting with Vice of Director BMNP Msc.
Pham Quoc Linh

July 14 (Thu)

Visit Hue Agriculture and Forestry University, meeting with Dean of Forestry
Faculty Dr. Dang Thai Duong

July 15 (Fri)Visit Hue Agriculture and Forestry University, meeting with Head of Silviculture
Department Dr. Ho Dac Thai Hoang

July 16 (Sat)Meeting with the Head of Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in
Nam Dong district, Thua Thien Hue Province, Msc. Pham Tan Son

July 17 (Sun)Meeting with Ms. Yoshiko TAKAGI, JICA Project Coordinator of Center for
Agricultural Forestry Research Development (CARD) at Hue University ofAgriculture and Forestry

July 18 (Mon)

Visit People Committee of Thuong Lo commune, Nam Dong district

July 19 (Tue)Visit People Committee of Thuong Quang commune, Nam Dong district

July 20 (Wed)

Leave Hue, arrive at Narita via Ha Noi (+ 1 day)* Nguyen remained in Viet Nam to continue the data collection.

Findings:
1. Forests in Viet Nam

Forest cover in Viet Nam has increased from 9,363 thousand ha in 1990 to 11,725 in 2000, and 12,931
in 2005, while the area of primary forests decreased from 384 thousand ha in 1990 to 85 in 2005 (FAO,2006).

The increase of forest cover as a whole has

been mainly supported by plantations.
After experiencing serious deforestation caused by
the war, expansion of commercial crop cultivation,and slash and burn agriculture by ethnic minorities,
the government has reallocated forest land to local
farmers since 1994.

Together with logging ban

from natural forests, Vietnamese forestry sector has
shifted to higher dependency on plantation forestry
and protection of natural ecosystems.

As theincentives for tree planting, the Government hascreated a plantation fund to provide subsidies and andtax reduction.

Land-use certificates have been

issued to households allocated lands for tree planting
activitie (FAO, 2002).

The dense forests stretch inFig. 1: Forest cover map (FAO, 2006)

the uplands along the border with Laos and Canbodia(Fig. 1).

2. Forest land management by local people: a case of Doi village, Thuong Lo commune, Nam Dong
district, Thua Thien Hue province
Thuong Lo is a mountainous commune of upper
reaches of Huong river, Thua Thien Hueprovince (Fig. 2).

It locates in the west of Nam

Dong district, 3 km far from Khe Tre town. Doi
is one of 4 villages of Thuong Lo commune (Doi,Cha Mang, La Ho, Mu Nam) with 95% is K’Tupeople (one of 54 minority groups of Viet Nam).
In this village, natural forest was allocated forgroup of local people and planting forest wasallocated for individual households.

Fig. 2: Land use in Thuong Lo commune

There are 7

groups were received forest and they response for protecting, managing and preventing forest fromillegal logging.

3. Influence on the protected areas: a case of Bach Ma National Park
Degraded upland forest allocated to local people can naturally form a buffer zone if properly managed
as forest land.
37.480 ha.

Bach Ma National Park stretches out in 2 districts, Phu Loc and Nam Dong, covering

Thuong Lo commune is inside of Bach Ma National Park buffer zone, and people haveplanted Acacia mangium on the upland with short rotation for cash income (Fig. 3). So is there any
effect of Bach Ma National Park establishment on local livelihood in Thuong Lo commune? Afterinterviewing some key persons who work in forestry field in this area, we found that the difference oflocal livelihood inside and outside is not clear because the policy and law are always implemented thesame for whole district.
Bach Ma National Park has attempted various activities for income generation of the buffer zone people.
One of the most succesful attempts is simple resthouse management by the local people.

Groups oflocal tourists visit the huts built on the rocky creek beds and enjoy cool weather and local food (Fig. 4).
Contrary, the southern boudaries, the opposite side from the national park office where we could not
visit this time, are more seriously affected by illegal logging, according to the interview to the nationalpark staff.

Fig. 3: Bach Ma National Park and the buffer zone

Fig. 4: Local tourists in Bach Ma National Park

Reference
FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization). 2002. Forestry policies, institutions and programmes: Viet
Nam. http://www.fao.org/forestry/country/57479/en/vnm (cited on Sep. 15, 2011).
FAO. 2006. Global forest resources assessment 2005: progress towards sustainable forest management.
FAO, Rome.