Sustainable Forest Management
Attributes
Medium: Land
Country: Vietnam
Analytical Framework(s): Other
Study Date: 1999
Publication Date: 2000
Major Result(s)
Study Note: Methods used in this research included Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), Criteria and Indicators (C&Is) Framework (CIFOR approach) and Multi-criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA). PRA is used to learn about rural livelihoods and identify problems emerging from forest resource management and use, making sure that all information from the grassroots, including their views, interests and desires, is taken into consideration. C&Is Framework is widely used by CIFOR to test and develop C&Is for sustainable forest management in various locations around the world. It can result in a number of context-specific and locally adapted C&Is which are used for further treatment with MCDA. TopDec, one of the recently developed MCDA programs, was chosen for data analysis.
Study Details
Summary: The North Upland of Vietnam is characterized by biophysical, social and cultural diversity as well as its important role in the national economy's development. However, the region, like those in other developing countries, suffers from serious environmental problems such as deforestation, soil degradation, loss of biodiversity and unsustainable livelihoods. Major causes are attributed to ineffective institutional arrangements such as inadequate property rights and enforcement, lack of local participation and empowerment, and misguided government policies. This research project began in early 1999 with financial and technical supports from the Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA). It aimed to determine the better institutional structures for promoting sustainable forest management in the North Upland using the multiple criteria decision making and participatory approaches. In other words, the project assessed and compared various forest management regimes against different socio-economic, environmental and institutional variables. The results of MCDA showed that "household" was the most preferable option in all three sites, regardless of the different ratings of C&Is that were alternately used. "Forest enterprise", however, was still an important player in forest management, particularly in the case of protection forests where forest enterprises were as important as households. Other options such as contract-based, village-based and joint management, unfortunately, were not preferred. However, it was noted that although the results of MCDA indicate the preference ranking of the different management systems, they do not tell how one system is preferred over the others.
Site Characteristics: Moi Hamlet (ThungNai Commune, KySon District, HoaBinh Province), Village 7 (YenThai Commune, VanYen District, YenBai Province), and DongVanh Village (LucSon Commune, LucNam District, BacGiang Province) were chosen as study sites. They represent three human-ecological sub-regions of the North Upland and are characterized by different types of forests. In all three sites, most of the important stakeholders are households, forest enterprises and commune's authority.
Comments: A number of policy recommendations are made in regard to more support and intervention from the Government in terms of policy on food security for upland areas; creation of market for locally produced commodities; human resources development involving the local population, and legalization of land tenure for local people including customary land and areas under their actual management. The report also recommends the conduct of further research to develop separate sets of C&Is for particular forest categories such as protection, production and special use forests. Steps for enabling the dissemination of research results should also be taken into account.