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Regional Environmental Technical Assistance 5771 Poverty Reduction & Environmental Management in Remote Greater Mekong Subregion Watersheds Project (Phase I)
RRA REPORT OF TWO COMMUNES IN THE SE SAN WATERSHED
Watershed Profile
By
Greg Booth
CONTENTS
1 Introduction
2 Description of Surveyed Villages
3 Resource Base
4 Demographics
5 Ethnicity
6 Land Use Classification
7 Land and Resource Tenureship
8 Agricultural Land Use Practices and Patterns
9 Summary of Environmental Conditions
10 Planned Development
11 Education & Awareness
12 Health
13 Housing
14 Employment Opportunities
15 Development Priorities
16 Recommendations for Phase II
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INTRODUCTION
This research has been conducted as the final field research analysis component of the ADB RETA 5771 Project, "Poverty Reduction and Environmental Management in the Remote Greater Mekong Sub-region Watersheds", Phase I.
During the mid-term RETA 5771 workshop in Vientiane Laos, the Se San Watershed in Vietnam was chosen for further analysis. The Rapid Rural Appraisal undertaken focuses on the relationship between resource use and environmental degradation. A foundation of this research activity was to examine the situation of poverty in regards to resource use and environmental degradation.
The Rural Rapid Appraisal was focused on two communes in the southern Se San watershed. Broader analysis and secondary sourcing of information was required to accurately identify the relationship between the local level and trends in the watershed region.
The multi-disciplinary research team – Agro-forestry, Agriculture and Land Use Planning, Economics and Institutions, and Gender and Environment, Anthropology and Health and Education – that conducted this field research focused continuously on cross examining research findings. This process often led to a much more comprehensive understanding, but also controversy on the development process and the relative weight and importance of different factors causing environmental degradation, and poverty.
The research finding are organised by beginning with the foundation of resources and people, land classification and tenureship. From this foundation agricultural systems, economic development, health, and education are discussed. The final section examines the situation of poverty, development priorities and recommendations for Phase II.
DESCRIPTION OF SURVEYED VILLAGES
Location
The surveyed villages are located in two Communes of Chu Pah District, Gia Lai Province. Chu Pah District is located in the southern part of the Se San Watershed.
Kon So Lang Village, Ha Tay Commune
Tuek, Mo, Om and H’de village, Dak Tower Commune
The villages are located from 7 to 30 kilometres from Highway No. 14 along dirt roads. The Communes are vehicle accessible during the dry season and occasionally during the rainy season. Both communes are located in Upland valleys and mountains. There is no electricity and well or stream sources for water.
Population
The populations of these communes are almost exclusively indigenous Gia Rai or Ba Na people. The total population of both communes is 3,647 people. Kon So Lang village has 584 people and Tuek village has 416 people. Upwards of 50% of the population is 15 years of age or less. The population growth rate is above 2.5%. The Kinh population is less than 100 persons, mainly composed of traders, Government officials (including teachers) and their families, and recently in-migrating farmers.
History
The villages have been established for generations. In 1966 the villages were forced to move to a concentration village (camp) under the former southern government. After 1975, the villages returned to their previous location. Since 1985 resettlement of villages has occurred in the two communes. Resettlement of villages is continuing to occur, currently in Ha Tay Commune.
Resources
These communities have traditionally practice rotational swidden farming. Since 1995 the banning and Page 3 of 43
enforcement of government decrees aimed at ending swidden has greatly reduced the available land for swidden agriculture.
There is currently a transition from traditional self-sufficient Upland crops to growing cash crops. Forest resources are primarily for self-sufficiency hunting and gathering. There is limited employment opportunities available within the communes. Men out-migrate during the fallow season for agricultural labouring work, primarily planting and cutting sugar cane. A small fraction of the men weave basketry for the tourist market in Pleiku town, Gia Lai Province.
Services
Health services are available in the commune centres. In Dak Tower Commune the Health Station is staffed by part-time male nurses. In Ha Tay Commune the Health Station is staffed by a male Doctors assistant and a male nurse. The health services available are for simple diseases and there is a limited amount of medicine.
Education is provided by elementary schools up to grade 5 in every village, to grade 9 in the Commune Centre and a Boarding School in the District Centre. Kinh is taught in the schools as the national language and the teaching materials are the national standardised curriculum.
Veterinary Services are not available although there is a Commune Agricultural extension officer.
RESOURCE BASE
Overview of the Se San River Basin
There are 4 main river systems in Western (Central) Highlands, namely the Se Sa, Ba, Srepok and Dong Nai River. The Se Sam River system is located in the northern part of Kon Tum province and northern part of Gia Lai province, covering a total area of 740,100 hectares. As a main tributary of Mekong River, Se San springs from Mount Ngoc Linh which is 2598 metres high and flows southwest in the mountainous and plateau area of western Truong Son at 800 - 1000m above the sea level. The section that flows through Western Highland is 230 km long with its basin of 114,500 hectares. The river comprises two tributary rivers; the Dak Poco, which is 121 km long with a basin of 353,000 ha, and the Dak Bla, which is 145 km long with a basin of 350,700 ha. River and stream density of the basin is 0.38 km/km2; Ku=1.84 and riverbed sloping is 6.5%.
The eastern boundary of the basin constitutes a waterway that flows on top of the Truong Son Range which separates the basin from that of other rivers that flow toward the Eastern Sea; the western boundary of the basin are Chu Monray and Chong Go Lui mountain ranges that separate it from Sa Thay river basin; and the southern boundary is Pleiku plateau which separates it from Ayun river basin.
From where it gathers at the Yaly waterfall on the edge of the Cambodian border, the Se San river has three main tributaries, namely: Poco, Dak Psi and Dak Bla. The following table shows their characteristics:
River Category Length (km) Basin area (ha) Sloping (%o) Dak Bla IV 145 350,700 8.1 Dak Poco IV 121 305,000 6.5 Dak Psi 73 84,400 8.4
The total basin area in Vietnam is 740,100 hectares.
Topography
The basin is located southwest of Mount Ngoc Linh in the Upper Kon Tum geomass. This is the highest and largest mountain in Northern Western Highland that is composed of gneiss, granite and mica with 4 main types of topography:
i. The medium Ngoc Linh Mountain with a height of 1600-2000m, sharp peak, sloping over 30 degrees with strong division; Page 4 of 43
ii. The low south-west of Ngoc Linh Mountain: strong division, average height of 1,000- 2,000m, the highest peak is Kon Ka Kinh (1,748m), gradually sloping from north-west toward south-east and from north-east to south-west. The rivers and streams often have sloping riverbed, narrow valley and strong current;
iii. The hollow Kon Tum topography is the expansion of the Dak Bla valley in the lower basin and the Poco River in the northern part of Kon Tum (downward from Dak To District): it is a relatively even terrain, average height of 500- 550m, has an abundant surface water reserves although not very deep underground water resources;
iv. The plateau areas including a small part of the northern Pleiku Plateau where the Dak To River originates and strings into Dak Bla River: characteristically, it is an young basalt plateau, divided averagely toward weakly, average height of 700- 800m.
Climate and Hydrology
The basin has a tropical and seasonal climate affected by several high mountain ranges. A typical feature is temperature variance accordance to altitude. The average temperature in the coldest month (January) does not fall below 16 0C, and in the hottest month (April), often above 260C. Average humidity is above 85%, primarily in the Summer months. Total yearly rainfall ranges between 2,000- 3,200 mm, averaging 2,400- 2,800 mm primarily falling during the monsoon season from May to October in the Upper Watershed. Because the basin lies in the high altitude of the western Truong Son Range, wind in the areas is in the south-west direction. The river and stream network spreads out like a hand fan with the widest part is 140 km across the Mang Yang Pass. This equates to ample rainfall and diverse waterflows. The Poco River runs falls across several plateaux, creating several waterfalls. For example, the 40m high Yaly Waterfall is the highest waterfall in the Central Highlands.
Forest Resources:
The Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) has been endowed with rich forest resources. During 1976-90, forest cover declined yearly by 30,400 hectares. The period 1991-95, the deforestation rate was halted but still at alarming level that amounted to 25,200 hectares of forest and more than one million cubic meters of timber were lost every year. One survey results show that 48% of forest area decline can be attributed to slashes and burns (swidden and clearing for new agricultural land), and the rest caused by including fires, over-logging, industrial plantation, and infrastructure development. The forest area converted from 1976 is now accounting for 46% for farming, 51.6% for unoccupied lands (swidden or fallow swidden), and 2,4% for residential and road developments.
Forest area changes in Gia Lai province is presented in the following table.
Table 2: Changes in Gia Lai Forest Resources from 1987 to 1997
1987 1992 1997 Forest area (ha) 881.425 784.575 705.157 Decline (ha) 96.850 79.418
Timber reserve (m 3) 87.935 83.696.954 76.313.915
Decline (m 3) 4.238.046 7.383.039
Source: Gia Lai Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, 1999
During ten years from 1987 to 1997, the provincial forest area decreased by 20% and its timber reserve had declined by 13%. Plantation area has increased not very significantly to 19,521 hectares or averagely 1,952 hectares per year. Now the forest cover is around 45,8%.
In Kon Tum province, natural forests has declined by 13,176 hectares during 1983-94 or averagely 1,300 hectares lost every year, while the plantation area during the same period accounted for 7000 hectares. According to statistics of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development that 9,438 hectares of forest area has been lost during the past five years due to slashes and burns, and 185,2 hectares were lost because of other reasons (making up a total decrease of 9.623,2 hectares). The provincial farming area has Page 5 of 43
been increased from 34,484 hectares in 1990 to 51.317 hectares in 1995 and to 60.000 hectares in 1997, or average increase by 10,6% per year. The perennial tree areas have tended to be rapidly increased, making up 70-80%.
Water Supply
Every year, the Se San watershed receives an average amount rainfall between 2,400-2,800 mm. In the upper tributaries (in the high and medium altitude Ngoc Linh Mountain) areas, the high rainfall of between 2,800- 3,000 mm, gradually dropping to 1,600- 1,800 mm in the Kon Tum valley. Rainfall primarily occurs from May to October (from 90- 95% of the total annual rainfall. It is estimated that each sq. km of soil in the watershed supplies a flow of 26 l/s a year. With this supply, a 100 sq. km can irrigate about 1,500 ha of two-cropped wet rice even under unfavourable conditions (Nguyen Sinh Huy, 1985).
The total surface waterflow in the entire Central Highlands every year is about 50 billion cu. m. The lowest volume is about 30 billion cu.m. During the monsoon season, floods often occur in September and October. The river flow during this time is from 25- 30 l/s.sq.km. From December to April is the dry season. The average waterflow in this season is from 2 - 2.5 l/s.sq.km. February, March and April are the driest with the river flow averaging only 8% of the whole year.
For the past two years, the rainfall in the region declined significantly (equal to only 60% of the average rainfall level). Drought and crop failure have occurred and the streams were drier than normal.
Clean water supply for household use in the region remains an issue. Most of the communities in the region use water from the rivers and streams (or colloquially called "water drops") for their daily needs. Only some areas use water from wells.
Fisheries
There are no commercial fisheries active in the watershed region. Household fishponds or aquaculture has not been substantively developed. According to informants in the research site, there is definitely a decline in the wild stock due to the silting process and lack of rain. They used to catch fish in the Dak Bla river weighing from 10 to 20 kg. Now only small fish of 2 kg are left in this river.
DEMOGRAPHICS
Demographics: Central Highlands
During the first decades of the 20 th century the Central Highlands was sparsely populated. There was approximately 300,000 people living in the Central Highlands prior to 1945. The Kinh ethnic group made up less than 10% of the population.
In 1956, the population increased to 530,000 people; in 1976: 1,226,000; and in 1996: 3.2 million- 10 times higher than that before August 1945, and triple the number since 1975. The reasons for the rapid increase in population was the steady increase of in-migration of the ethnic majority Kinh people since Liberation in 1975. A very small in-migration of ethnic minority groups from the northern mountainous provinces is also a factor. The most recent population growth rates in the Central Highlands is 7.32%.
Currently, Kinh people have become the ethnic majority in the Central Highlands. Spatial composition is Kinh living in the cities, towns, townships and along the main roads, whereas the local indigenous people live in remote and mountainous rural areas.
Demographics: Se San Watershed Provinces
Prior to 1975 the percentage of Kinh in the Se San watershed was minor compared to the indigenous people. Recent estimates of the population composition of the two provinces in the Se San watershed are as follows.
Population and Ethnic Composition in the Provinces of the Se San Watershed Page 6 of 43
Province Population % Ethnic Population % Kinh Population Gia Lai 891,681 439, 328 - 49.97% 452,353 - 50.03% Kon Tum 290,001 151,441 – 46.62% 138,560 47.48%
Source: Gia Lai and Kon Tum Provincial Statistics
Total population growth rates are specific to each provincial. In Kon Tum province, a composition of in- migration (spontaneous and planned) is 5.6%, plus natural population growth rates of 2.85%, totalling 8.45% per year. In Gia Lai province spontaneous migration is statistically not available, although unofficial reports point to upwards of 5% per year, planned migration is limited 0.2% and the natural birth rate of 2.61%, totalling 7.62%. It should be noted that the planned migration growth rate in Gia Lai province is increasing at 10.4% per year. The development of new District Towns and new Economic Zones will allow substantial population in- flows.
Demographics: Chu Pah District, Gia Lai Province
Chu Pah district was established in 1997 by government decree. A new district township is currently under construction. This district township will have substantial population increase over the next five. Official township statistics of projected population growth were not available although average district township population in Gia Lai Province is 11,458 persons. Population density for townships suggest a higher figure of approximately 18,000 persons. The official estimated natural growth rate from 1997 to 2000 was 2.5%, 48. 43% of the population is under 15 years of age. Population growth figures do not include in-migration or non-registering population ,.
Population and Ethnic Composition of Chu Pah District 1997
District Population Ethnic Population Kinh Population Chu Pah (including Yaly dam workers) 60,389 27,283 – 45.2% 33,106 –54.8% Chu Pah (excluding Yaly dam workers 47,280 27,892 – 59% 19,327 – 41%
Source: Gia Lai Province Statistics Department, 1998, Chu Pah District Statistics, 1999
Spatial Composition: Chu Pah District, Gia Lai Province
Kinh are primarily living are living along Highway 14, provincial Road 673 that leading to the Yaly Hydro-power townships. Their livelihoods are trading, services and planting coffee, boi loi (a cash crop growing easily with the region’s soil and climate), sugarcane. Substantial tracts of lowlands in the district are rubber and coffee plantations. As well, it is common for Kinh to buy or gain access/use of land along the highways and main roads, and the lands that are suitable for planting cash crop.
Ethnic minorities are primarily grouped in the higher elevation and remote communes in the district. The common reason given for out-migration from the lowlands to higher elevation and forested areas the sale of land for their immediate food needs because of poverty..
Demographics: Dak Tower and Ha Tay Commune, Field Sites
Both Communes populations are almost exclusively ethnic Ba Na and Gia Rai People. Established traders in all communes are predominantly Kinh and amounts to less than 100 people. In Dak Tower Commune, several Kinh families are establishing farms, it was unclear how these families had gained access to this land, especially as permission for tenureship rests with the District Peoples Committee. The natural birth rate in both communes is given as 2.85% and the 15 and under population is approximately 50%. In-migration of Ba Na and Gia Rai people to Dak Tower Communes from other parts of Chu Pah district, Gia Lai and Kon Tum provinces have increased the population to 1249 villagers, a total population growth rate of 10.8% from 1998 to 1999. The reasons given for in-migration were the lack of land, and limited employment opportunities in other areas.
Commune Population 1997 Page 7 of 43
Dak Tower 1105 Ha Tay 2542
Source: Chu Pah District Programme of Resettlement and Dry Rice Production (1998)
Spatial patterns are quickly transforming. As stated in other sections of this report, the village resettlement programme is drastically altering settlement patterns by amalgamating villages and re-settlement of villagers, and reducing lands available for swidden cultivation. There is a significant clustering of villagers in re- settlement villages. Spatial settlement patterns will be further discussed in the following section on Ethnicity.
ETHNICITY
The following discussion on ethnicity examines cultural conception of community and community process, tenureship and land use practices. The discussion focuses on the original indigenous inhabitants, the Gia Rai and the Ba Na people.
Ethnicity in the Se San Watershed Region
The original residents of the Pleiku Highland and the Ayun watershed of the Ba River are the Gia Rai people. Over the centuries, the Gia Rai people have migrated to the western and northern districts of Chu Pah, Ia Grai, Chu Se, Ayun Pa in Gia Lai Province, and Sa Thay District and other outskirt communes of Kon Tum Township in Kon Tum Province.
The Ba Na people live mainly in the north-eastern part of Gia Lai (An Khe, Kbang, Cong Cho Ro, Mang Yang, Chu Pah and Chu Se districts) and south-eastern part of Kon Tum (Kongplong District and around Kon Tum Township). These are not only the most populated ethnic minority groups and those who are the most aware of their habitat, but also the communities who have certain impacts on the cultural and social lives of other indigenous peoples in the region.
Apart from these two groups, there are the Xe Dang people, scattered in Dak To, Sa Thay and Dak Glei districts in Kon Tum, the Gie Trieng people living in Kon Tum’s Dak Glei District. The smallest ethnic group, the Brau people and the Ro Mam people are gathering in Dak To District, Kon Tum Province.
Demographic Composition
Indigenous Group Population Indigenous Group Population Gia Rai 320,348 Gie Trieng 23,507 Ba Na 151,612 Brau 253 Xe Dang 70,000 Ro Man 299
Source: Tiem, 1998
Spatial Settlement Patterns
In the context of indigenous peoples’ development, the exchange and linkage among different indigenous peoples and between the indigenous peoples and the Kinh are of special interest. Particularly, the roles of the Gia Rai, Ba Na and Kinh ethnic minorities groups will have important impacts on the regional socio-economic development.
The following analysis derives primarily from the field research site in the two communes of Dak Tower and Ha Tay, Chu Pah District.
Settlement patterns are a foundation for understanding community exchange and linkage. This is particularly important for the Gia Lai and Ba Na societies in the Northern Central Highlands. The Ethnological studies have clarified that the village is the highest social organisation and the most direct and basic gathering place for the Page 8 of 43
people. Village is called play (ploi, plei) by the Gia Rai, and also ploi , play or Kon and De by the Ba Na .
Unlike the northern highlands in Vietnam, the geographical conditions of Chu Pah District and Se San watershed does not have a substantial impact on the indigenous peoples settlement patterns. There are two topographical divisions: low and average mountain terrain, and low hill terrain with valleys.
The settlement patterns are show significant distance from one village to another, and significant dispersal of the population. The following figures will show the population division and structure of the Gia Rai, Ba Na peoples and the other six groups in the Central Highlands area in 1991:
Settlement and Dispersion of Indigenous People in the Central Highlands: 1991
Indigenous group Number of habitats/100 sq. km Average population per habitat spot Gie Trieng 4.4 spots 100- 200 -persons Xe Dang 4.3 148 Ba Na 4.8 190 Mnong 3.4 387 Ma 5.7 304 Co Ho 5.7 304 Gia Rai 7.2 295 E de 8.3 496
Source: Hung, 1994
This settlement pattern demonstrates a high degree of separation between communities. This can be partially explained by the resource patterns that stress long swidden rotational cycles.
However, in March 1999, at the two visited communes of the trip, the Ba Na and Gia Rai population are quite high, than compared to the average number of the past years in the entire Central Highlands areas.
To be specific:
Settlement and Dispersion of Indigenous People in Two Communes, Chu Pah District : 1999
Commune Village Households Population Indigenous group Tuek 81 416 Gia Rai Dak Tower Om 34 169 Gia Rai Mo 73 541 Gia Rai Hde 20 123 Ba Na Kon Solang 115 584 Ba Na Kon Mah 42 264 Ba Na Kon Bah 54 313 Ba Na Ha Tay Kon So Bay 38 216 Ba Na Kon Chang 35 182 Ba Na Kon Hong leh 43 243 Ba Na Kon So lai 68 349 Ba Na Kon po nang 28 191 Ba Na Page 9 of 43
Kon ko mo 58 257 Ba Na
Source: Commune Peoples Committees, 1999
This has partially to do with the population growth. From 1989 to 1997 the population of the Gia Lai people in the Central Highlands has increased from 190,000 to 320,000 (60%) and for the Ba Na from 100,000 to 152,000 (66%). Other important factors are migration of indigenous people from the other areas of the provinces and planned resettlement. These trends have important implications for tenureship and land use issues.
Exchange and Linkage among Indigenous Peoples
Although the distance between villages in a commune or in a region varies, the custom of living close together in a village, or mat tap , is a traditional feature of the Gia Rai, Ba Na and some other indigenous peoples in the Se San watershed. The concentrated residence models in three villages of the Gia Rai, a village of the Ba Na in Dak Tower District and almost other Ba Na villages in Ha Tay commune further prove this feature.
Clearly, the custom of living close together in a village and the mat tap lifestyle show that the conditions for exchange and linkage between the local indigenous peoples in the Se San watershed are more favourable than many other groups in the northern mountainous region of Vietnam.
However, exchange only occurs within the village settlement area or the same family branch. The villages of the Gia Rai and Ba Na exist independently of each other, almost village states. Within each village, self- managed or self-rule is the customary form of governance. The community’s social order is maintained by the strict and democratic customary laws and these laws are supervised by the head of the village, and the oldest person of the village called Taha play. This mode of governance does not transfer to the economic sphere as the village is not an economic community. Each Gia Rai and Ba Na family into an independent economic unit, corresponding to household self-sufficiency. Like the Hmong and Dao ethnic minorities groups in northern Vietnam, poverty or wealth is determined by individual household economy.
The mere feeling-based relationship and the "independent" economy rarely equate to the exchange of experience. Those who know how to get rich keep getting rich right in front of brothers, sisters, relatives and neighbours. The most significant cross-family support that is evident is employment as wage labour and payment in unhusked rice or money. The transfer of economic know-how by example or demonstration, or adaptation among the indigenous community doesn’t occur. Clearly, the most important strategies required for poverty reduction or seeking better livelihood strategies are more significant forms of exchange and linkage.
Traditional Land Ownership and Resource Management
In the traditional society of the Gia Rai and the Ba Na, the village, to its outward boundaries is an entire resource base. Normally, a village consists of land to put up a house, forest for upland rice field and for domestic use (other crops), water sources for drinking and domestic use, rivers or streams for fishing and more recently for irrigation. Each village has its territorial boundaries and the borders of each village are demarcated by rocks, streams, trees or other prominent natural features.
Within the village’s territory, streams, grazing meadows and drinking water sources are considered collective and cultivation land (swiddens included) belongs to individual households. Historically, the Gia Rai’s or Ba Na’s customary laws stipulate that every member of the village has the right to exploit the forest and the forest land for upland cultivation. The first exploiter of a forest will be the owner of that land, called po to nah. Even if the land is left for fallow or deserted, those who want to use that land have to seek for permission from the original owner.. The villagers are only allowed to exploit the land in their own villages. This is the highest principle of Gia Rai and Ba Na communities.
Matriarchal Tenureship and Ownership Patterns
Traditional tenureship and ownership of land of the Gia Lai and Ba Na people is based on a matriarchal system. The landowner is always a woman. Land ownership is handed down from female ancestors to their offspring. Men only communicate with outsiders on behalf of their female relations.
From generation to generation, forest and forest land, including cultivated land, being cultivated or being used for afforestation, belonging to a defined lineage of owners. Land tenureship rights and collective awareness of those rights was through personal and collective memory, or through signs such as markings on trees. Almost Page 10 of 43
all forests and forest lands in the villages are owned. Some families have abundant forest land for cultivation after inherited from their ancestors, while many other families don’t have enough land because their parents had owned little land. This has resulted in a severe imbalance of cultivation land among the families in the village. Field researches in Dak Tover Commune’s villages of the Gia Rai and Ba Na peoples in Chu Pah District have clearly proved this.
The State’s response to customary land ownership patterns is both passive acceptance, and regulatory foreclosure. By passive acceptance, the State did not attempt to enforce collectivisation prior to the development of the land laws in 1993 and continues to neither legitimise nor co-opt local village management systems. Regulatory foreclosure on the other hand is overlaying a land and tenure classification system, and regulatory (i.e., enforcement) bodies that have removed almost all the land from customary management systems.
Upland Rice Field Cultivation and Forest Destruction
Cultivation is the main livelihood of the indigenous peoples in the Se San watershed. Apart from some those who can practise wet rice cultivation, most people ’s lives depend on upland rice field cultivation. This simple method of cultivation has four steps: slashing, burning, digging the holes, and putting the seeds into the holes. The method, particularly its cultural significance is further explained.
At the selected forest site, after carrying out a religious practise asking for the permission from the spirits, people fell down trees, clear the grass to expand the site. When the right time of the crop is almost there, they burn the site then use a stick to make holes and put the seeds into the holes. Taking care of the upland rice consists of only weeding and keeping the animals away from the rice. When harvest season come, they use their bare hands to remove the rice and only use tools, such as knife and tongs for harvesting sticky rice.
According to the traditional cultivation practise, only one or two crops were cultivated in a field. The land would be deserted after that and the forest would recycle by itself. Long time later- dozens of years or so on, it would be re-cultivated. In the meantime, people cultivated in new forest sites, and this practice went on. This cultivation method destroyed forest quickly causing forest losses. Because the population was not large and forest was vast then, leaving the fields for many years like that gave the forest enough time to recycle and the soil became rich again.
Thus, for the past decades, the population in the Central Highlands in general and in the Se San watershed in particular had increased rapidly. There was almost no change in the traditional cultivation method, except the field deserting cycle for the forest to recycle was shortened. If it was between 15-20 years before, nowadays, it is from 4- 5 years. Old forest is lost quickly. Newly planted forest which has not had enough time to recycle is slashed and burned. Many young forests were degraded and turned into bushes, not timber forest. The time use cycles for upland rice fields increased.
In many places, shifting cultivation has been turned into settled upland rice fields, but the cultivation techniques remain the same (only making holes and putting the seeds in) and no fertiliser or intensive cultivation methods are applied. Soil is no longer rich and crop productivity is declining. Hence, harvested rice is not enough to feed the family. Poverty, until recently, pushed the people to clear and more forest for rice fields.
Although the State and the local governments have invested a large amount of money and efforts in re- settlement programs for the past years, due to various reason, most of villages which were encouraged to carry out the programs only re-settled their residence, but still kept the shifting cultivation with their own tradition.
LAND USE CLASSIFICATION
Overview
Current land use or land classification categories for the Se San are compiled from several sources. The following data draws a picture of land use classification and a dynamic process of reclassification in the watershed area from 1990 to the present time. To accurately define land, and its specific characteristics is problematic due to the simultaneous use of three classification systems.
The General Department of Land Classification (GDLA) at the National level is responsible for land Page 11 of 43
classification, land cadastre and overall land use planning.
The National Institute for Agricultural Planning and Projection (NIAPP) functions as a central agency for agricultural planning and resource assessment.
Forest Inspection and Planning Institute (FIPI) is responsible for the assessment of forestry resources and the preparation of national forest inventory and forest development plans.
This situation is compounded by the use of different criteria between agencies. FIPI classifies land according to perceived potential or intended use. GDLA and NIAPP use criteria relating to existing land use. As well, planners often have poor information on the actual use of land use, or the appropriateness of classification systems – such as forest land or bare land when it is in-fact fallow swidden land. Furthermore, there are numerous State driven policy and programme objectives that strongly influence how land is classified, and by whom.
According to 1990 data from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in Gia Lai - Kon Tum Province, Se San watershed covers an area of 740,100 hectares. The watershed is broken down in to three watershed categories. The standard translation from Vietnamese to English of these categories as degrees of "critical" misconstrues the flexibility of this categorisation system.
Table 1: Se San Watershed Land Classification
Category Area (ha) Percent Critical Protection 122,000 16.5% Protection together with production 129,000 17.5% Production integrated with protection 422,790 57.2% Special Use 29,929 4.0% Water Bodies/Surface 35,492 4.8% Total Area 740,100 100.00%
Source: Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Gia Lai-Kon Tum province, "Proposal on Protection Forest of Yaly hydro-power plant ", 1990 . (FIPI Classification)
A further breakdown of Critical Protection and Protection Integrated with Production watershed categories defines agricultural land as 2.2% of the total area. Swidden cultivation is by far the most widespread agriculture land use category for these categories. Figure 1 below shows that swidden fields are predominant agricultural land use and occupies 64.9 percent of the "agricultural land" or 2.2 percent of the total area of the region (Table 1).
Land-use Allocation by Districts in the Se San Watershed
Administrative boundaries differ greatly from topographical or geographic formations. The total area of districts Page 12 of 43
that are part of the Se San watershed is approximately 1,309,182 hectares, almost double the actual watershed area. The total area of the two provinces containing the Se San Watershed is over three times the area of the watershed. The difference in area between the watershed and administrative units has important implications for policy and programme development aimed at a watershed area. Focusing activities according to watershed boundaries may contradict efficiency criteria of governmental agencies, particularly at the District and Provincial level.
Table 2. Se San Watershed District’s Land-use Allocation
Province Total area Protection Special-use Production Agricultural unused District forest forest forest land land Gia Lai 1,558,118 133,089 27,105 686,592 267,985 443,348 Chu Pah 97,060 10,047 0 17,314 14,081 55.618 Mang Yang 210,648 28,650 0 48,960 29,834 103.204 K’Bang 184,524 1,920 13,880 133,126 13,335 22,263 Pleiku 22,570 4,218 8,132 10,220 Sub-total 514,802 40,617 13,880 203,618 65,382 191,305 % compared to the 33% 31% 51% 30% 24% 43% province Kon Tum 966,200 21,095 45,392 479,426 69,048 351,239 Dak Glei 148,190 40,436 0 50,764 6,027 50,963 Dak To 137,740 55,694 619 45,236 7,261 28,930 Sa Thay 241,200 882 15,429 149,180 5,212 70,497 Kon Tum Town 42,450 11,629 0 1,735 20,817 8,269 Kong Plong 224,800 12,151 0 171,743 6,464 34,442 Sub-total 794,380 120,792 16,048 418,658 45,781 193,101 % compared to the 82% 73% 35% 87% 66% 55% province Total 1,309,182 161,409 29,928 622,276 111,163 384,406
Source: Gia Lai and Kon Tum Provincial and District Land Statistics, 1998 (GDLA methodology)
Chu Pah District Land Use Classification
Chu Pah District covers an area of 98,130 ha, of which 51.1 per cent is classified as unused land. Forestland (with and without forest) occupies 28 per cent of the total districts lands, in which watershed land (protection forest) is calculated at 10.2 percent of total the districts’ land or 36.6 percent of total forest land. The areas used as agricultural land occupies 15.9 percent. The remaining 5.1 per cent of the total land in the district are used for residential areas (329 ha or 0.4%), and for special uses (4,603 ha or 4.7%) such as roads and other construction (Table 2).
Table 3: Land Use Classification in Chu Pah District, 1998
Categories Area (ha) Percent Percent 1. Agricultural land 15,562 15.9% 100.0% Paddy fields 2,531 2.6% 16.3% Swidden fields 1,401 1.4% 9.0% Other annual crops 1,052 1.1% 6.8% Garden area 1,939 2.0% 12.5% Page 13 of 43
Long-term crops 8,526 8.7% 54.8% Water surfaces 112 0.1% 0.7% 2. Forest land 27,436 28.0% 100.0% a. Natural forest 26,635 27.1% 97.1% of which production forests 17,314 17.6% 63.1% of which protection forests 9,245 9.4% of which special forests 75 0.1% b. Replantation forests 801 0.8% of which protection forests 801 0.8% 3. Land in special uses 4,603 4.7% 4. Residential area 392 0.4% 5. Unused land 50,137 51.1% of which unused low land 9,736 9.9% of which unused high land 39,357 40.1% of which unused water surfaces 132 0.1% of which unused rivers/streams 912 0.9% Total area of the district 98,130 100.0%
Source: Chu Pah District’s Land Statistic (till October 1, 1998), Cat. 01-TK
The 1998 Land Use Classification demonstrates that long-term industrial crops are predominant agricultural land use categorisation and occupy 54.8 percent of the "agricultural land" or 8.7 percent of the total land in Chu Pah district. These crops include rubber, coffee, tea and Anacardium Occidentale (Agri-Forestry Master Plan period of 1995-2005, Gia Lai Province). Paddy fields make up 16.3 percent of agricultural land or 2.6 percent of the total land in the district, and is the second largest use of agricultural land.
Garden areas occupy 12.5 percent of the agricultural land or 2 percent of the total district’s land. Swidden fields are calculated at 9 percent of the agricultural land or 1.4 percent of the total. The new district town is not substantively included in the categorisation system. The new District town is planned for an area of 26 km 2 or 2600 hectares.
Land Use Classification in Dak Tower Commune
Dak Tower Commune covers a total area of 3,700 hectares. Of this area, about 766 hectares is natural forest, of which approximately 469 hectares or 61.2 percent of the total commune’s forest land (12.7 percent of total commune land) is protection forest, the remaining "natural forest", approximately 298 hectares (or 8 percent of total commune’s land), is the production forest. U nused land occupies largest proportion of the total at about 2,612 hectares or 70.6 percent of the total land. 81.3 percent of this is unused highland .
Agricultural land occupies about 199 hectares or 5.4 percent of the total land of the commune. Swidden fields are predominant and take up 35.2 percent.
Table 4: Land Use Classification in Dak Tower Commune, 1998 Categories Area (ha) Percent Percent Total area of the commune 3,700.0 100.0% 1. Agricultural land 198.6 5.4% 100.0% Paddy fields 67.4 1.8% 33.9% Swidden fields 70.0 1.9% 35.2% Page 14 of 43
Other annual crops 17.8 0.5% 9.0% Garden area 37.7 1.0% 19.0% Long-term crops 5.8 0.2% 2.9% 2. Forest land 766.3 20.7% Natural forest 766.3 20.7% 100.0% of which production forests 297.5 8.0% 38.8% of which protection forests 468.8 12.7% 61.2% 3. Land in special uses 115.6 3.1% 4. Residential area 8.0 0.2% 5. Unused land 2,611.5 70.6% 100.0% of which unused low land 416.0 11.2% 15.9% of which unused high land 2,170.5 58.7% 83.1% of which unused 25.0 0.7% 1.0% rivers/streams
Source: Chu Pah District’s Land Statistic (till October 1, 1998), Cat. 01-TK
Changes in Land Classification Categorisation and Corresponding Land Use
Analysis of land classification systems beginning in 1990 point to a dynamic transformation in land use categorisation and corresponding land use. Several major trends appear:
The significant growth in land categorised as industrial crop land.
The high proportion of land that continues to fall under the category of unused or "non-classified" land. This accounts for 51.1% of the land in Chu Pah District and even higher in Dak Tower Commune, 71%.
Land use categories for swidden agriculture in the district and Commune are 1.8% and 1.4% respectively in comparison with unused land categories of greater than 50%.
Field research and observation in the upland valley containing Mo of Om village pointed out that there are large areas on the valley floor (approximately from 200 to 400 hectares) that are in the processing of being developed into industrial crop land (forests cut down, burning and planting this year) predominantly sugar cane but also coffee depending on the availability of water. Although these recent developments are not included in the categorisation of agricultural land, it points out the trend toward the further development of industrial crop development in the Highlands. "Non-classification" of land acts as a land bank depending on the development interest and plans of State, Provincial and District regulatory agencies and regulatory bodies.
LAND AND RESOURCE TENURESHIP
Introduction
Land and resource tenureship is by far the most important issue in discussing resource use and environmental degradation. Corresponding to land classification, tenureship strongly determines who uses land and for what purpose. The greatest obstacle in defining an accurate picture of land and resource tenureship in the Se San Watershed is the significant lack of transparency at all governing levels in the process of determining tenureship rights and correspondingly granting those (utilisation) rights. In other words, it is not apparent who defines, and what methods are used to define tenureship rights.
From a broad perspective, there are numerous parties focused on gaining or maintaining tenureship rights, such as Provincial and District Peoples Committees and sub-departments, para-statal corporations (such as the General Rubber Company or State Forest Enterprises), other organisations, households and individuals. Page 15 of 43
Indigenous people have yet to be included in the tenureship process. The current orchestration and implementation of tenureship is strongly focused on an industrialisation/commodification transformation process in the Uplands. It appears that those individuals, organisations or para-statal bodies that have the connections, capacity or potential to fulfil this policy are accruing the greatest tenureship rights.
Overview of Policy, Programme and Regulatory Environment for Land and Land Tenureship
In Vietnam, land is divided into three spheres; ownership, management and utilisation. Fundamentally, ownership of all land rests with the Nation. The Government at the State, Provincial, District and Commune levels determines management and grant utilisation rights to organisations, households and individuals for their use on a long term basic.
Since 1993, the transfer of long-term land use rights has taken place within the framework of the 1993 Land Law and accompanying decrees. According to the land laws, the foundation for forestry and agricultural land allocation is land use planning and plans at the Commune level that is approved by the District People’s Committee. State and Provincial and District bodies also play a significant role in determining which land is to be allocated according to different categories. The following Government decision, decrees or instructions are significant for defining the allocation process.
Decree 64/CP provided the framework for the allocation and tenureship of agricultural land to organisations, household and individuals. Secondly, agriculture land allocation would be combined with the allocation of settlement land (considering the plans for newly developed settlements) or forestland to help households, individuals developing forest farms where possible (MARD, 1997). Households or individuals receiving land are given the rights to exchange, transfer, lease, mortgage, and pass on the land for inheritance.
Decree 02/CP (January 15, 1994) provides detail guidelines for forestry land and forest allocation. It stipulates that the state allocates forestland to organisations, households and individuals for stable and long-term use according to specific conditions of each forest category. Forest land is allocated and contracted to the local population on the basis of those land use plans. While forest land users basically have the same rights and obligations as other land users, the decree stipulates some important exceptions: special-use forests are not allocated but are contracted for protection of forest and reforestation only. Users therefore can not obtain a land use certificate (Morrison and Dubois, 1998). The same applies to the protection of forest in "very critical" and "critical watershed" areas, while the protection of forests in "less critical" areas and production forests can be allocated to users who receive a land use certificate.
Decision 202/TTG by the Prime Minister (May 1994) and Decree 01/CP (January 1995) provide details for "the contracting of forests for protection, regeneration and plantation." Furthermore, this includes land that a state enterprise holds a land use certificate. These regulations also provide state agencies resources for protection, regeneration and planting. The holders of these contracts do not receive full land use rights, but are entitled to receive payment. Decree 202 further mandated that priority in forestland allocation should be given to local people, particularly pioneering swiddeners (Sikort, 1998).
Instruction 286/TTg by the Prime Minister (May 2, 1997) provides details on strengthening measures to protect and develop the forest. All localities have to combine this instruction together with the implementation of Decree 02/CP on forestland allocation. Foremost is the urgent demarcation of boundaries of protection forest, special use forests, and production forests which still have natural forest. These instructions and decrees are the basis for forestry land allocation (MARD, 1997).
Land Classification Category, Administrative Body and Roles
Categories Administrative body Roles Special Forests Special forest management board (directly Manage and tenure for forest protection under the Provincial People’s Committee) purposes basing on national/provincial land use planing Forest Protection Department (FPD) FPD’s roles are to enforce forest regulations. Protection Protection forest management board Manage and tenure these forests for protection Forests purposes according to national/provincial land Existing state forest enterprises use planing, and cultivate on agricultural land if any (i.e. people who are living in less critical area of watershed are allocated forest land on Existing state farms contract with authorities to produce Page 16 of 43
Existing military units combinationally forest production with agriculture and fishery). Existing association, organisations FPD’s roles are to enforce forest regulations. Programme 327
Communities (for the small areas which are located in a community)
Forest Protection Department Production State forest enterprises Manage and tenure these forests for Forests afforestation, produce agro-forestry-fishery on State farms/Corporations bare land. Agro-Forestry Lands Program 327 exploit maximum 45% of total timber trees (but allowed only to exploit timber with dimension of 40 cm or bigger Private Associations FPD’s roles are to enforce forest regulations. Household Tenureship
Forest Protection Department Agricultural Households Manage and tenure for agricultural activities. Land Individuals
Commune associations and organisations.
Co-operation Non-classified Forest Protection Department planning for management land (e.g. unused land)
Source: Field Work interviews, Chu Pah District, 1999
Land Allocation in Gia Lai Province
In Gia Lai province, land allocation is based on the current amount of land that households and organisations have registered for their present management. This allocation process has been implemented through the issuance of land use certificates. The allocation of land is not limited by size. For example, Household agricultural land allocation can exceed 2 hectares. Agricultural land certificates have been issued to 30 percent of the total households in the province. However, forest land has only been allocated to organisations and some households have contracts (e.g. according to Programme 327, contracting with state forest enterprises or other organisations), but certificates have not yet been issued to those households (Annual Report from Gia Lai Cadastral Department, 1998). According to Provincial cadastral Department officials, the land tenureship process has significant fee requirements.
Gia Lai Province Land Allocation Tenureship Fees
Agricultural Tenureship Mapping Fees Registration /cadastral Fees
Household Allocation VND 30-40,000 VND 110,000 per ha
Organisations draw and map themselves or VND VND 110,000 per ha 30- 40,000
Long Term Industrial Land VND 800,000 per ha Page 17 of 43
Source: Gia Lai Province DARD, cadastral Department, 1999
An inventory of agricultural land in the Province last year has showed that for registered land the average amount land for each household is 1.5 ha, in which the lowest is 0.4 hectare and the highest is over 5 hectares. Those who have large areas of cultivable land, have the capacity to hire labourers, obtain finance, and are often non-farmers.
A significant new feature of the Land Tenureship process beginning is the re-orientation from granting tenureship rights to individuals, households and organisations to Provincial and District People’s Committees holding the tenureship rights and leasing the land to households or organisations. As this re-orientation has just begun, the price for leased land was not known but was considered to be competitive.
Chu Pah District
In Chu Pah district, from October 1993 to October 1998, 32 percent of the total district land had been allocated. 2.2 percent (337 ha) of total agricultural land has land used certificates; and 40 percent of total forestland has been allocated to a state forest enterprise and four other organisations. Households in only two of eleven communes in the district have been given agricultural land certificates.
Under the term of the Land Law, all land is supposed to be allocated within the context of Provincial, District and Commune land use plans. The tenureship granting process rests with the District People’s Committee. In practice, these plans have not been drawn up for Chu Pah district. The inaccuracies and weaknesses of forest land classification and land use planning to date is acknowledged. The land use data in the district has been calculated by simply using a map (inaccurate scale). Moreover, the inventory of current forest and forest land mapping has not taken place.
At the commune level in Chu Pah district, most of the communes have not been measured and mapped. Commune authorities have a long way to go before procedures of land allocation are in place to properly manage land under the current Land Law. Agricultural land in Dak Tower and Ha Tay Communes has not been legally distributed to households, nor has forest land, except some households which have been given forest land to protect according to the provincial Programme 327.
In-Migration and Land Tenureship
Illegal land purchases by the Kinh was the cause for indigenous people to move further into the forest. According to Nguyen Van Tiem, from 1994 to 1997, there were 4,876 indigenous households in the Central Highlands that moved to the forest after selling their land. More concern is that Kinh continue to go the remote communities to buy land illegally.
Planned migrants have been settled in the new economic zones to provide labours for state forest enterprises, state farms or other projects. Resettlement projects of lowland farmers fall under programmes 327, 773 with very limited financing to support these households. On the other hand, since 1991, spontaneous households have immigrated rapidly to Gia Lai province due to the cultivation "fever".
Coffee, rubber and sugarcane have become highly sought after crops due to greatly increased market prices. Most of these households have been now settled alternately in available planned residential areas (which are often in planned economic zones or state forest enterprise areas) and in four new resident areas (that were established to deal especially with spontaneous households). These households have been allocated land to cultivate.
However, some spontaneous households have taken over land or purchased land illegally and cleared more forest for coffee and sugarcane. This results in increased competition for upland resources and a fractured regulatory process.
Customary Law and Land Management
Land and resources tenure in the indigenous villages in Dak Tower and Ha Tay Communes continues to be partially and informally managed by customary law (see Ethnicity for a discussion of Customary Resource Management). The reason this is only partial management is the reduction in the amount of land managed under this system. Regulatory agencies, primarily the Forest Protection Department and the Provincial Militia enforce the prohibition of clearing forest or fallow land for swidden fields and exploiting timber for cash. Page 18 of 43
Customary Management continues to be informal as this land has not been legally recognised according to current official land laws. At this stage, it is dubious whether these fallow areas are recognised as being occupied agricultural land in the traditional system of land tenure.
Fixed Cultivation and Sedentarisation Programme
The Fixed Cultivation and Sedentarisation programme has been implemented through specific projects in Gia Lai Province since 1990. In Ha Tay commune, 120 indigenous households were moved from Kon Bah, Kon Mah and Kon Ho Leng villages to the planned residential area in the commune centre. Further plans are to resettle the remaining villages in the Commune into three resettlement areas.
Each households was allocated 1000 m2 for housing and garden in the resettlement area. Households are allowed to cultivate in fallow areas and "unused" land available around this area. Being used to having access to large areas of forestland, and accustomed to rotational swidden techniques, they are not satisfied with either the residential or the arable land that is allocated. As a result, they leave the zoned areas either to go back to their original customary tenured land (which is far away from the new village) or to continue swidden somewhere else. Land that appeared unused was in-fact in the fallow period by villagers who live around the commune centre (e.g. Kon So Lang villagers). This means that "unused" land is owned.
Experience from the Fixed Cultivation and Sedentarisation program in H’De village (Dak Tower commune) from 1984-1990 had shown that H’De villagers had to move out of Om village where they were resettled with Om villagers. They went back to their old village after six years of resettlement, because they lacked land due to the customary land tenure of Om villagers. A major constraint for these villagers is the constant insecurity of tenureship in H’De village. The villagers are under pressure by administrative bodies to abandon the village and return to Om village. This pressure is also in the form of the absence of investment from governmental bodies. Secondly, the villagers are also under pressure from Kinh in-migrants for access to land or "organisation" attempting to secure tenureship to land for cash crop production.
Commune leaders reported that each household needs at least two hectares. An official from the Sub- department of Resettlement and NEZs expressed his concern, "Despite financial support from the government, people move back to their village is some areas." According to the "Plan for shifting cultivation zoning area" for Chu Pah district, the existing total are for agriculture is 6,248 ha, excluding the real demand for sustainable shifting cultivation which accounts for another 9,123 ha.
Land and Resource Tenureship: Dynamic Transformation
One method of examining the dynamic transformation in land and resource tenureship is by examining the direction and weight of change. As the previous discussion pointed out, the fundamental change that is taking place is the regulatory enclosure of Upland areas by the State bodies and the erosion of indigenous customary laws and swidden practices.
The tenureship process, in accordance with the 1993 land laws and subsequent legislation, has substantially not occurred. When it has occurred, the most important variables is the financial capacity to secure tenureship rights, especially for the production of cash or commodity crops. State regulatory bodies, by absence of determining usufruct rights and the maintaining land categories as "unused," or categorising land after it has been commoditised, demonstrate a strong inclination to maintaining this capitally directed process of tenureship.
Regulatory bodies have been effective in reducing the amount of land under swidden cultivation. This does show that these bodies have capacity, considering the historical pervasiveness of swidden land use practices, to orchestrate regulatory control. Other regulatory bodies, especially District and Commune bodies voiced complaint that they do not have enough personnel to help them carry out the task of providing information about land tenureship for those who need to know. In addition, proper mapping of areas has not been carried out due to the lack of funds and this results in the inability to oversee spontaneous migration leading to further forest degradation.
Examining the weight and direction of change from an indigenous household perspective provides insight into the situation of tenureship.
As the villages have not been mapped and user rights have not been determined, by default, there is no basis for implementing tenureship. Page 19 of 43
Land certificates, if they were obtainable, require a high fee. Poor households cannot afford this fee and therefore do not have legal land rights on lands which they have lived on for generations.
Although the village resettlement programme is well intentioned in improving the access to State services, is it fundamentally flawed by the limited amount of land that is available to maintain minimum subsistence levels. Secondly, as villagers are required by need to travel between resettlement areas and customary lands for food production, the value of the potential for greater services are significantly diminished. Villagers who have resettled in original villages have no rights to tenureship and face the ongoing possibility of expulsion.
Enclosure on customary swidden areas has eroded the legitimacy and effectiveness of customary management systems. Also, the enclosure did not take into account existing land distribution patterns and may have inadvertedly exacerbated inequalities in land holding patterns amongst indigenous communities.
Ethnic minorities are often unaware of a Kinh conception of land use or ownership as they have limited or no access to information. In this vicious circle, poor farmers often rent or sell off part of their land to rich (i.e. Kinh) for nearly nothing and end up working for the new landholder. Kinh farmers have the capacity, knowledge and know-how to proceed to legally tenuring the land.
Some indigenous farmers are paid to protect allocated forest areas in accordance with Programme 327. Yet, they are powerless to stop those who illegally continue to exploit the forest on a large scale. The amount they are paid is insufficient and provides little incentive for them to continue as protector of the forest.
AGRICULTURAL LAND USE PRACTICES AND PATTERNS
As the previous discussion pointed out, there is a significant shift occurring in agricultural land use patterns and practices from subsistence to industrial crops. This shift is also combined with the increasing effectiveness of regulatory bodies in prohibiting deforestation for swidden cultivation and imposing new land use tenureship patterns. The opening discussion defines soil classification and the suitability of both crops and husbandry. This information attempts to bridge the gap between agricultural land use planning and agricultural practice.
Table 5: Soil allocation in the watershed
Soil type Area % Main features
1. Humus in high 4,080 ha 0.6 consisted in argillaceous rock in south-western part of Ngoc mountains Linh Mountain. The soil changes its composition when above the height of 2,000 m. The humus carpet is from 30- 40 cm thick with thin outer layer, therefore, easily be weathered.
2. Yellow-red humus 254,900 ha 34.4 consisted in soil at the height of above 1,000- 2,000m in medium mountain
2.1. Yellow-red Feralit 173,550 ha has yellow-red colour with yellow and red is predominant. humus in argillaceous Weathered layer and the soil layers are thin (0.6- 1.5 mm). rock and weathered Most of the humus are raw. soil
2.2. Yellow-red Feralit 64,460 ha was formed from granite, is a raw weathered soil, sandy, humus in magma rock generally light, has thin layers, and is easily washed away.
2.3. Brown-red and 16,890 ha has thinner weathered layer than basalt soil in Pleiku Plateau. red-yellow Feralit humus in basalt rocks
3. Red-yellow Feralit 367,250 ha 54.1 is mainly found in degraded mica, gneiss and granite. The soil in mountain below has yellow, and yellow-red colour. Its physical composition is 1,000m from average to light. Thick soil layer can store water and moisture. Page 20 of 43
4. Brown-red soil in 57,020 ha 7.8 includes basalt and yellow-grey soil in magma. the highland
4.1. Basalt in the 47,450 ha allocated in the southern part of the watershed around Pleiku highland Township. Generally speaking, the soil is good, except some degraded soil at the places where the forest has been destroyed.
4.2. Yellow-red soil in 9,520 ha thin layer and light composition. magma
5. Yellow-brown soil 30,320 ha is easily washed away and eroded. in old alluvium
6. Other types pebbles, rocks...
Source: Watershed Forest Investment Project of Yaly Hydro-Power Plant, 1990
Classification According to Use
Forest ( R): is the subject for forestry production purpose. Natural forest must be well managed and protected, especially for the special-use forest and protection forest. These are major potentials to allocate and attract the local people to use, manage and protect natural forest to increase their employment and income. The potential forestry land should be planned for reforestation. The main soil types for this class is group 1, 2 and 3(in Table 3):
Suitable level Main plants Secondary plants Positive factors Negative factors Very suitable Local plants: tram, keo la tram, and Large land areas, Sloping, complicated and gioi, boi loi the legume abundant human difficult to walk terrain, species resource Suitable
Upland rice fields ( Nr ): for food and commodity crops. The technique for these plants is the alley cropping mixed with multi-purposed plants. Depending on the specific conditions, stable upland rice fields or forest-swidden rotated cultivation can be designed. The typical soil for this kind is of group 3:
Suitable level Main plants Secondary plants Positive factors Negative factors Very suitable Rice, maize cassava, boi loi, Easy to cultivate, Low productivity, soil coffee ensure foodstuff erosion provision Suitable Sugarcane High income Clear the forest to plant sugarcane
Home garden ( V): land use in this class is the residential land. Typical plants are fruit trees, coffee, cinnamon, boi loi and other vegetables. Soil of group 4 is the main type.
Suitable level Main plants Secondary plants Positive factors Negative factors Very suitable boi loi fruit trees Easy to plants, low Long-term, lack of investment, increase seedlings cash income Suitable Coffee, pepper Income High investment, difficult cultivation techniques
Grazing land (B): is for grass and animal-feed plant cultivation. It is often planned for the entire community, and can be under the forest shade (when the forest is already from 2- 3 years old). Page 21 of 43
Suitable level Main animals Secondary Positive factors Negative factors animals Very suitable Cow, buffalo Cattle Forest land is Destroy cultivated plants suitable for livestock Suitable Pig Easy to raise Epidemic spreads Less suitable Goat Easy to raise Destroy cultivated plants if the animals are left freely
Wet rice fields ( Ru ): is for wet rice cultivation. It is necessary to apply various cultivation techniques (seedlings, fertiliser, water, etc.) to improve productivity.
Suitable level Main plants Secondary plants Positive factors Negative factors Very suitable Wet rice of the Easy to cultivate, Not very high productivity, lack local strains simple techniques of water in dry season Suitable Wet rice of new High productivity More difficult cultivation strains techniques
Land Use Practices: Tuek Village
A comprehensive examination of land use and agricultural practices in Tuek village begins this discussion.
Diagram of Agricultural Land Use Patterns and Practices in Tuek Village:
Figure 4. Sketched transact map of Tuek Village, south-west direction
Most of the land in Tuek village is classified as forestland. The current areas used as agricultural land occupy 138.5 hectares. However, the villagers have historically used forest areas for swidden farming. Thus, the agricultural area is variable, depending on how much of the forest is used for growing food crops. Figure 5 below shows agricultural land use patterns in Tuek village. Swidden fields used for food crops, including swidden rice, cassava and maize, occupy 26.4 percent of the "agricultural land". Sugar cane is predominant and occupies 48.5 percent of agricultural land. Both coffee and Litsea occupy another 5 percent of agricultural land. Page 22 of 43
Source : data provided by a Dak Tower People’s Committee official
Crop Calendar
The crop calendar for short-term crops is as follows:
Rainfall 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 350 X 300 X X X 250 X X X 200 X 150 X 100 50 X X 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Swidden Rice C C D Tr Lc Lc Th Maize Lc Th Cassava Lc Lc Lc Lc Coffee Tr Wet Rice Cb Tr Tr Lc Lc Lc Th Boi Loi Sugar cane Tr Tr
Note: C = Slash; D = Clearance and Burns; Tr = Planting; Lc = weed rooting up; Th = Harvesting; Cb = Soil Preparation
Swiddens
In swidden cultivation, no fertiliser is applied. Rice swiddens are cleared, when possible from secondary forest on soil that is thought to have high fertility. Selected plots are cleared by cutting trees and burning, and are then planted with rice, maize, cassava or other crops. The common swidden crop rotation cycle in Tuek village Page 23 of 43
is 2 years of rice followed by 3-5 year fallow period. Cassava swiddens are often planted in the soils that are too sandy and infertile to support rice cultivation. Cassava is used for feeding pigs and making alcohol. Commonly, cassava roots and corn are not sold for cash. The Gia Rai swiddens in the village display a low diversity of crop species. Some rice swidden are almost pure monocultures. The other crop, maize, was intercropped with rice. The average area cultivated last year was about 0.05 ha per person. Average yield for the rice swidden is approximately 1.3 tons per hectare per year. Therefore, a harvesting average per person is 65 kg of swidden rice (or dry rice) per year. Dried cassava yielded 0.5 ton/ha .
Wet rice fields
Wet rice fields are situated along the banks of the streams. For these two-crop per year fields, irrigation water enters the highest terraces from a small stream and spills down to the fields through terraces where excess water flows into the large stream running through the floor of the valley . These two crop fields occupy only 1.8 percent of total paddy fields (see diagram ). The remaining paddy fields are cultivated only during the rainy season (May-November). There is no irrigation system in the village (or the whole commune) and the use of paddy fields depend completely upon the rainfall. Manure from cattle is the only fertilise used and is collected from the cattle that are stabled each night underneath houses. The amount of manure that is used on wet rice fields is not significant. Yields are very low, averaging a 1.95 tons per hectare per year. Because plots are so small, averaging 0.06 hectares per capita , one person harvests an average of 117 kg of paddy per year (117 kg/yr./capita).
Agro-Forestry
On the hilly slopes, a common species of the coffee families is planted, called "jackfruit-coffee" (" cafe mit " in Vietnamese). These coffee trees have bigger leaves that look like jackfruit leaves and require much less water than other common coffees varieties grown in Gia Lai province. Litsea trees are intercroppedly with these coffee plants or are planted in swidden fields. Harvesting coffee takes place three to five years after planting and for the Litsea six or seven years after planting. These crops are new in this village. Most coffee crops were not harvested last year due to the hot weather and the lack of rain. Most households do not apply fertiliser to these trees.
Industrial Crops
Sugar cane has been planted in the village since late 1997 when a joint-venture between Kon Tum province a Chinese sugar factory was established in Kon Tum town. Sugar cane is planted on both swidden fields (lower slopes) and one crop paddy fields where wet rice has not been planted for years due to a shortage of water.
Recently, the area under sugar cane cultivation has been increasing. Sugar cane is grown on a quota basis, and growers receive credit equivalent to 2 million Vietnamese dongs per hectare (with interest at 0.6 percent/year for a 3 year loan). Credit from the factory come in the form of some tree saplings and some cash. There are, however, some growers do not have a quota and sell their to other buyers. Fertiliser is not normally applied to the sugar cane crop. At harvest, only the stems are taken out; leaves and stubble are left in the field. Sugar cane yields varied among field sites, averaging 40 tons/ha.
Home gardens
Scattered around the house plot are trees that make up the home garden. Papaya and jackfruit are the most commonly planted species. However, there are not many households who have not planted trees in their garden area. Most household gardens are left bare.
Animal husbandry
Most households have at least one or two cows. Most are allowed to roam freely in the valley. Pigs are also free range. Pigs are fed on cassava root and corn from the swiddens. A small number of chickens are kept by most households for eggs and are eaten during feasting times. Chickens roam freely around the house during the day, but are kept in bamboo cages near the house at night. Animals are not vaccinated and are said to be vulnerable to disease. A significant number of these animals died in the last two years due to disease.
Forests
Virtually no primary forest survives within walking distance of the village. The tops of most hills are covered with secondary forest. An area of about 108 hectares has been given to 8 households (or 4 household groups) to protect according to provincial 327 programme. These households receive 15,000 Vietnamese dong (or 5 kg Page 24 of 43
rice) per 3 months per hectare. If this managed forest is cleared or trees cut down , the holders are subject to fines.
It should be noted that forests are an important resources to all households, both for personal consumption and for cash. The situation of the forest in providing for subsistence needs is discussed in further sections
Average Crop Productivity
Targets Year Average Average Average Dak Tower Average Province Chu Pah Commune District Ha Tay Per capita food by paddy 1995 237,41 149,54 (Kg/prs) 1996 289,29 165,76 1997 251,35 179,8 Spring rice productivity 1995 47,34 31,90 (00.kg/ha) 1996 44,80 38,60 1997 49,00 38,20 25,0 36,00 Summer rice Productivity (00. 1995 16,79 15,52 kg/ha) 1996 17,78 14,50 1997 16,91 19,67 13,00 15,00 Swidden rice productivity 1995 10,40 10,60 (00.kg/ha) 1996 10,87 9,30 1997 8,97 12,92 13,00 12,5 Maize productivity (00.kg/ha) 1995 14,11 14,00 1996 23,47 15,00 1997 20,90 25,00 24,00
Source: Commune and Village Interviews
Gender Composition of Resource Use
An examination of resource use reveals different patterns between men and women. Apart from the swidden and paddy fields, they collect various natural products from forests to generate their share of the families’ livelihood. Women usually collect NTFPs to supplement the families food supply while the men are likely to harvest timber and hunt animals. Their time allocation for these tasks is described as below:
Time Allocation of Women and Men
Time Women Men
4.00 Rice husking Sleeping
5.00 Breakfast preparing Making fire for cooking
5.30 Fetching water -
6.00 Eating breakfast Eating breakfast Page 25 of 43
7.30 Going to the field Going to the field
12.00 Having lunch and collecting fuel Having lunch and resting wood and vegetables 13.30 Working in the fields Working in the fields
16.00 Going home Going home
16.30 Preparing dinner Catching fish
17.00 Fetching water
17.30 Eating dinner Eating dinner
18.00 Resting or looking after the Resting or going to watch T.V and children and going to bed going to bed
Source: Group discussion in Ha Tay and Dak Tower communes.
Women and resource use
Women are in charge of ensuring the well-being of the households. Most of their time is spent producing crops, maintaining houses, taking care of children, gathering food for daily household consumption, collecting fuel wood and fetching water.
The most popular NTFPs which women collect are vegetables, mushrooms, bamboo shoots and tubers. Medicine plants do not seem to be used widely in this area. Most of the forest products collected are used for supplemental food apart from their staple food of rice. Occasionally, women sell bamboo shoots to buy dried fish or other household goods.
Forest food is available all year round. A few types of tubers form an important part of their diet especially in the months preceding rice harvest. Due to the primary importance of rice, during the cultivation season, women only collect vegetables around their village and fields for daily meals.
Women in Tuek village are generally satisfied with the availability of vegetables. However, it is apparent for them that the distance and the time spent on vegetable collection has increased. Having a long term relationship with natural resources, women are extremely knowledgeable about the environment around them. In a short while, a woman from Kon So Lang village could name 20 types of NTFPs with their shapes, tastes and location. During a "forest walk and talk", a woman from Tuek village was able to name a good number of forest products that she can no longer find. The women villagers in Ha Tay commune noticed a negative change in the forest situation:
" We go to collect vegetables once every 2 or three days. Before we went on daily basis and vegetables were found just around the village. Now to find food we have to travel long distances and there are a lot of thorns in young forests, which prevents us from going fast ."
The change in natural environment has placed a pressure of the women’s livelihood. Water and NTFPs collection has become time and energy consuming. Therefore, women spend less time on assuring health and gathering proper nutrition for the family. Textile weaving used to be a traditional activity practised by women. However, nowadays they have become more dependant on markets for this product due to the limited time availability and the scarcity of necessary resources.
Apart from collecting water and NTFPs, women spend a significant amount of time on field work. They carry out tasks which do not require hard labour such as pruning branches of trees for easier burning, preparing land, scattering seeds, weeding and harvesting. Women do not fish of hunt animals. In Ha Tay however, women catch baby frogs for food while fetching water.
Men and resource use:
Men seem to collect forest products for specific needs. They collect rattan to weave baskets and timber to build or repair houses. Men often take care of tasks that require greater physical strength. Examples include felling Page 26 of 43
trees, chopping fuel wood, carrying heavy logs home and other heavy land preparation tasks.
Men are clearly aware of the changes in the timber composition and reserves in the forest. During their forest visits, they often look for good precious trees and mark and look after these as their private property. Men go hunting for meat or for sale. They are very skilful in designing traditional hunting tools such as bows, arrows and traps. Wild animals trapped or hunted include wild pigs, deers, snakes and monitor lizards. Although there is a big market demand for reptiles, snakes and monitor lizards are not intensively trapped in the research areas. Encounters with wild pigs and deers still take place quite frequently. A man reported his encounter with a tiger in 1993 and tiger prints in 1996.
Wage labour is more available for men than women. In dry season, men go to work in surrounding areas either for cash or for extra rice supply. The traditional secondary occupation of men is bamboo baskets weaving. They mostly practice this business for household consumption.
Gender and Decision-making power
The society of the ethnic minority groups living in the research areas is matriarchal. Women used to be heads of the families. They decided issues related to household economy. However, a transition to a male-dominated society is taking place drastically. The women’s sphere has now narrowed down to domestic life while men’s access to resource use and management has broaden.
On one hand, household furniture such as tables, chairs, and beds, and cooking utensils are owned by both men and women. On the other hand, valuable goods such as television sets, and motorbikes are often owned by men. Both men and women have land which is either given by their parents or cleared by themselves. Each party has the power to make the decision to sell their own land. However, men determine the land use patterns for both their own and their wives’ land.
The traditional land use and crop control system practised by women has been replaced by the expensive externally designed methods brought in by the men. The transition from traditional food crops to commercial crops is leading to the introduction of new cultivation techniques using fertiliser, pesticide and insecticide. Decisions over selecting seeds or crops no longer belong to women. Men adapt to this transition more easily due to their capacity to travel and engage in barter with Kinh people.
Since men have taken over the role of land and crops management, women’s traditional knowledge about the use of natural resources is being ignored. The exclusion of women from decision making processes regarding land use is justified by men as arising from the short-sightedness and the limited capacity of women in understanding new and complicated cultivation techniques. Men explained:
"Women never go out of this village. How can they understand the new things happening outside? "
Issues involving animal husbandry, which is an important source of income, are often decided by women. Women are responsible for raising cows, chicken and pigs. In general, women keep track of household expenditure. However, big purchases and sales are made by men. This disproportionately male-dominated expenditure poses a threat to household well-being, which is ensured by females.
Male-dominated social structures are replacing the female-headed economy in many of the villages in the research areas. This has a significant impact on the management and resource use patterns.
Ethnicity and Conservation
The effect of forest loss has been realised by a number of villagers. Gia Lang is clearly aware of this problem. In Tuek village, Dak Tower commune, a customary resource use system was established by Gia Lang and the villagers. This system is constructed from the following articles:
Forest land trade is prohibited
NTFPs can be collected without limit. Outsiders have free access but they are expected to pay a small tax.
Outsiders are not allowed to log.
Villagers are allowed to log for household uses. Page 27 of 43
Villagers have full right to use the precious trees which they mark as their private property.
People wishing to clear good forests must obtain permission from Gia Lang.
Land Use sustainability
It is recognised that swidden cultivation is a major agricultural activity in the region (Se San watershed as a whole) particularly in the commune. In the rotational swidden system, soil fertility is built up during the fallow period in which secondary forest is generated. During this period, nutrients are drawn from lower levels of soil by forest trees, stored in the tree biomass, and returned to top soil through litterfall and when the forest is cleared and burned for crop cultivation. In general, if the fallow period is long enough, soil fertility will be sufficiently restored to make the system sustainable. Conversely, if the fallow period is short, soil fertility will not be restored, and as a result, the soil will gradually become degraded, rendering the soil unsuitable.
Currently, the fallow period of swidden fields in Tuek village has already been shortened. Over a generation ago rice swiddens were cropped for a single year and then fallow for ten to twenty years. Now they are cropped for two or three years and then fallow for no more than five years. With such a short fallow period, it is unlikely that soil fertility will fully recover. Such intensification results in greatly reduced yields and permanent environmental degradation.. Soil erosion has also been observed. This evidence may lead to lose regeneration capacity.
The amount of land which has potential for wet rice cultivation in Chu Pah district, Dak Tower commune and Tuek village is significant compared to swidden fields. However, in the case of Tuek village the wet rice fields have not been intensively used in general.
The inflows, which are mainly from rainfall, very small amount of manure, rice stubble and perhaps erosion from upper fields, obviously do not balance to the outflows, which are a thoroughly harvested crop and plant parts that are taken out of the field. Additionally, the dependence on rainfall without any water control ensures that these fields have been left bare for at least 6 months of the year. The current land use of paddy fields is not sustainable.
Sugar cane that is planted in fields where there is potential for cultivating rice is under threat of losing areas of wet rice fields. Moreover, without fertiliser, there are only leaves and stubble of sugar cane to recycle to the soil. Again the system is unsustainable.
Analysis of Land Use Development Alternatives
In Tuek village, there are significant areas of wet rice fields. The cultivation of permanent wet rice fields in the valley bottoms and shifting swidden fields on the hillslopes, and also exploit wild resources of the forest, are defined as "composite swiddening" (Rambo, 1998).This composite swidden agroecosystem consists not only swidden fields and wet rice fields, but also home gardens and livestock. While erosion control in swidden fields is necessary, intensification of other systems are important for sustainable production. There are some opportunities that may improve this composite swidden system:
Intensification of wet rice cultivation in the valleys to reduce pressure on sloping lands.
With high yielding varieties of rice (but suitable for this kind of soil-need further study), small irrigation systems, fertiliser (especially organic manure) application, intensification of rice production is a readily available option. Increasing rice production in the valleys will lead to a reduced need for food cropping on slopping land, and thereby so reduce forest degradation. The mixture of lowland and slopping land cultivation and forest protection at the village level is an option for sustainable agricultural development in upland areas.
Intensification of home gardens.
Home gardens in Tuek village are not well developed. Therefore, efforts should be made towards improving garden crops for household nutrition and for commercial production. Home garden intensification, therefore, appears to be another option for the improvement of sustainable agriculture.
Changing land use on sloping land.
Transition from annual food crops on sloping land to perennial cash crops by investing in a plan to plant more tree crops (which are suitable for soil) or forest trees, with integrated cultivation in a range of temporal and Page 28 of 43
spatial patterns for trees and crops offers yet another option. Planting of mixed forest of local species is strongly recommended over monocultures or exotic species.
Fallow fertility enrichment.
Due to population pressure and land limitation, residents of Tuek village have found it necessary to reduce their fallow cycles. Fallow fertility enrichment offers a solution to the problems generated by these shortened fallow recycles. The leguminosae family is large and a variety of potential (Gia Lai province have had a plan for planting this trees) species and suitable management practices. Agroforestry models with leguminous species (nitrogen fixing trees) and multi-purpose trees could easily be applied.
The following table is a general view of intensification practices:
Items Limitation Potential/opportunities 1. Rice field limited area, one crop as insufficient Area expandable, intensified cropping, water, low productivity ( 3-4000 kg/ha) improvement of wet rice: 4-5000 kg/ha. Main option is to improve irrigation 2. Swidden soils large area, simple techniques, converted to forest-swidden rotated cultivation, dependence on the nature, low limited swidden area, farming measures can productivity (1000-1300 T/ha), short improve soil fertility to increase crop time and time cultivation, low share of industrial rice productivity. Application of fallow times plants leading forest loss and allowing increased soil fertility. Land can be decreased fertility used for industrial plantations (namely sugar cane, rubber cinnamon and pepper) 3. Home garden Each household possesses 500-1000 replant home gardens by enlarging their areas sq. m growing many kinds of trees with and growing high economic value trees; low economic values Improvement of home gardens by planting cinnamon and other species. 4. Forests they are not involved in forestry, only Involve local people in forestry by land harvest forest products for foods and designations for plantation and improved agro- sales. Large areas for plantation are forestry systems to increase incomes. available but capital investments & their involvement are unavailable. 5. Livestock Usually gazing, animal manure are not Livestock modality requires changes. Increase made use of, and low productivity of cattle herd and improvement of livestock species of livestock breeds, combination of animal breeding under forest tree canopies.
SUMMARY OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS
Introduction to Environmental Conditions and Resource Degradation
The following discussion examines environmental conditions and resource degradation. One of the more complex aspects of determining the real situation, or a point of view for evaluation the current trajectory is the absence of a baseline value or context for determining what actually constitutes resource degradation . From a biodiversity point of view, the loss of species, both flora and fauna are sited as a basis for analysis. Secondly, the drying of aquifiers. or the greater competition for water resources points to limitations in hydrological carrying capacity. The following discussion examines environmental conditions and resource degradation from beginning from forest resources and habitat loss.
Forest Resources and Habitat loss
The forest development dynamics in Kon Tum reveal interesting patterns. Along with the forest loss, there is a considerably increasing amount of forest area regenerated naturally. During the past 6 years the total natural forest area has increased by 19,137 ha. The forest regeneration takes place mostly in the dry rice fields left by the ethnic minority groups in this area as a part of the process of shifting cultivation. In addition to the natural regeneration, the province has planted 6,819 ha of forest within the framework of the 327 programme. In Chu Pah district, one of the reasons for forest loss is agent orange, which destroyed a large area of primary forest and often left the area incapable of regeneration of forest. Illegal logging and forest clearing for arable land also Page 29 of 43
account for a large area of forest loss. Forest cover in this district decreased from 60% before 1975 to 28% at present time. Forest resources have been depleted at an alarming level.
According to DARD and FPD in both provinces, forest loss and degradation are caused by the following reasons:
Slash-and-burn for arable land. In Kon Tum, the figure reaches 9,438 ha of forest loss during the past 5 years. In 1998, the illegal forest clearing for arable land increased almost 50% compared to 1997. DoSTE in Gia Lai showed the annual statistics of 2185 ha forest loss to arable land.
Illegal logging and logging of state enterprises without proper techniques.
Land clearing by inter-province migrants to grow cash crops.
Land clearing for NEZs
Forest fires caused mostly by slash-and-burn activities. Between 1997-1998 in Kon Tum, more than 698 ha of forest were lost due to forest fire which increased by 90% over the forest area lost the previous years.
Swidden Cultivation and Land Conversion
The ethnic minority groups in both Kon Tum and Gia Lai provinces traditionally practice shifting cultivation for rice and other food crops. This form of cultivation was relatively sustainable under the conditions and low population density. Ms H told us:
"We used to practice shifting cultivation with a fallow cycle of between 7-10 years. The soil has time to regain its nutrients during that period of time. We have never used fertiliser and we always had enough rice to eat ."
Nevertheless, their shifting cultivation patterns seem to lose sustainability due to the following factors:
The substantial in-flow of migrants with demands for land and resources
Rapid natural population growth rate
Intensive and commercial timber exploitation and other resources
The introduction of cash crops and the land trade which is one of the causes of illegal forest land conversion.
As a step in the cycle of shifting cultivation, after several years of cultivation, a cultivated field is left for a period of time for natural forest regeneration. Under the traditional conditions, farmers would reuse old swidden plots only after 7 to 10 years of fallow when there was substantial forest growth. However, nowadays there seems to be a change in this procedure. After the first or the second harvest, the land is quickly purchased, rented out or foreclosed on for rubber and sugarcane plantation which does not leave anytime for the forest to regenerate. Shifting cultivation for rice now acts as a mask for cash crop cultivation which poses a threat to the forest area and the sustainability of resource use. In 1997 alone, in Duc Co district Gia Lai province, 100 ha of natural forest was lost due to rubber and coffee plantation.
In-Migration and Forest Conversion
The limited land area in Dak Lak has led to the diversion of the flow of migrants towards the North to look for coffee growing fields in the remaining two Central Highlands provinces - Gia Lai and Kon Tum.
The demand for both arable and residential land is the main cause for land trade and illegal forest land conversion. One hectare of land is worth from 700,000 to one million VND.
In H’de village, Dak Tower Commune which is located about 30 km away from the main road, it was observed that Kinh people were negotiating with villagers to either buy or rent their land for a long period of time for cash crop cultivation , most likely sugar cane. Page 30 of 43
The most popular destinations for migrants are Chu Se and Kbang Districts in Gia Lai province, where good forests and water are available. In more serious cases, migrants from northern mountainous areas come empty-handed only offering their labour and extensive experience in forest clearing. As per their habitual approach to cultivation, these people tend to occupy the catchment area to start clearing forest for land. According to the DoSTE in Gia Lai, from 1987 to 1992 the province lost 96,850 ha forest which accounts for 13% of the total forest area.
Pepper growing is becoming more popular in the research area due to its enormous profit potential. Trees of 15 and 20 cm in diameter and two meters in length are used for pepper tree supporting poles. Chu Se - a district in Gia Lai, grows 600 ha of pepper using 1.2 million of pepper poles made from wood of second and third class, which is estimably equivalent to 200,000 m 3 of round wood.
NEZs
A report of the DoSTE in Gia Lai stated that, one of the reasons for forest loss is the expansion of NEZs and the resettlement scheme which requires large areas of land for residential and arable purposes.
Illegal Logging and Forest Resource Use
Apart from logging undertaken by state enterprises, illegal logging takes place in both provinces. In Kon tum in 1998, the timber confiscated from illegal logging was 834 m 3 and in Gia Lai the figure reached 4,000 m 3. Over the last 11 years in Gia Lai, the timber reserves decreased by 3,698,000 m 3.
According to DARD and DosTE serious forest degradation is caused by selected logging taking place in state enterprises without proper felling techniques. In addition, the transportation routes built for logging trucks pave the way for illegal loggers and further forest clearing. An average illegally logged timber volume confiscated by FPD in Gia Lai is 6,376 m 3 per year.
Chu Pah district is located on the highway No 14 which runs through the three Central Highlands provinces. The location plays an strategic role in timber transportation to other provinces in the country. Heavy logging as a repercussion of nation-wide timber export campaigns took place a number of years ago in Chu Pah when the forest was still rich in first class hard wood.
Case study of Mr. A. D.
In the late 1980s, almost all the young men of Tuek, Om and Mo villages took part in a massive logging campaign organised by professional Kinh wood traders. Every day Mr. D and a friend could fell a Dalbergia Conchinchinensis or Pterocarpus Pedatus tree of two to three meters in length and 40 to 50 cm in diameter. He said: "It was a great time as we made a lot of money."
However, logging on large scale was not observed during the research period. Kinh traders often travel to remote villages to seek precious wood species. Timber transported out of the forest is usually processed to smaller chunks or think planks for furniture making. In Gia Lai, 426 illegal wood processing factories were found in operation.
A large amount of fuel wood is consumed in brick and tile kilns, tea and tobacco factories. Other timber demands for household consumption including house building, furniture making, fuel wood and charcoal producing have accounted for 1,742,450 m 3 of wood being logged in Kon Tum province in the last 6 years.
A growing market demand for essential oil from cinnamomum parthenoxyl in Gia Lai and surrounding provinces motivated a number of essential oil factories to locate and operate inside the forest for easier processing. Last year FPD in Gia Lai arrested more than 100 people practising this business and confiscated 723 litter of essential oil.
Water and Agriculture
There are three main rivers in Gia Lai namely Ba, Serepok and Sesan river. However, nowadays the agriculture in this area is faced with water scarcity. The expansion of coffee plantations, which require an enormous amount of water for irrigation, has worsen the situation. In some areas, dynamite is frequently used to make wells which is detrimental to the underground water sources. Page 31 of 43
Rainfall in Chu Pah district has decreased by 40-50% over the last few years. Villagers in Ha Tay commune told us that the water level in the main stream running through their village has lowered by 2 meters. Villagers in Koh Bah village said:
" There is definitely a decline of at least 50 cm in water level in Dakbla river due to the silting process and lack of rain. We used to catch fish weighed from 10 to 20 kg. Now only small fish of 2 kg are left in this river ".
The ethnic minority groups are accustomed to practising extensive farming which requires large areas of land and total dependence on climate and soil fertility. During the last few years, the villagers noticed a significant change in the quality of soil and the change in weather especially the rainfall.
"The village elder usually notifies us the right time to start growing rice. But these days it doesn’t seem to be effective anymore as there is no good rain in March or April. This and last year our seedlings die after two weeks of no rain . Rain comes two months late sometimes "
Water Borne Pollutants
In Kon Tum in 1997 the total amount of pesticide and insecticide used is 13.5 tons. The amount of fertiliser used in 1997 increased by 35% compared to 1995. More seriously, the local people tend to use 40-70% of pesticide more than the safe limit. Furthermore, safe harvesting procedures are not strictly followed. Almost all vegetable growers sell their products after two or three days of applying pesticide on crops. This misuse and overuse of pesticide and insecticide does not only cause water, air and soil pollution but also affect people’s and animal’s health. According to DoSTE, the poisoning level amongst people and animals has reached an alarming point.
Water, which is released to Dabla river, comes straight from the drainage system without being treated from small and medium-sized industrial enterprises. Water and air pollution is also caused by illegal gold exploitation processing and dam construction without proper planning. This accounts for a considerable damage to the riverine ecosystems in the region.
Forest Resources and Species Loss
Illegal loggers often target the following flora species: Dalbergia Conchinchinensis, Pahudia Conchinchinensis, Pterocarpus Pedatus, Hopea odorata Roxb, Eugenia Chanlos, Shorea Obtusa, Dalbergia oliverii, Parashorea stellata . These are wood species from class 1 to class 8. According to DoSTE in both provinces, there are some 50 flora species are endangered and listed in the Vietnam Red Data Book.
Analysis of the Current Environmental and Resource Degradation
Beginning in 1995 as Regulatory bodies began enforcing the prohibition of new swidden cultivation and cultivation of fallow areas, a distinctly "modernising" force of environmental and resource degradation came to the foreground.
The decline of swidden cultivation practices corresponded to an overall regeneration of forest land. Swidden practices reached a high coverage of total area but are not resource intensive in terms of inputs that are required.
New modernising forms of environmental and resource degradation are intensive as the flow-through of resources (conversion of land, water requirement, chemical inputs) is more substantive change, and to a large extent irreversible. Conversion of land corresponds to a complete conversion of the resource base from subsistence crops to cash crops or from self-sufficiency systems to commodification. The speed of this transformation for the long term sustainability though has major constraints; the knowledge of sustainability, regulatory capacity and stakeholder interest and inclusion.
The scientific knowledge base of the carrying capacity of natural systems, such as hydrology, soil sustainability, biodiversity- species persistence and resilience, has not substantially been determined becomes known when a crisis situation becomes evident. The officially sanctioned development trajectory in the modernising process has yet to take a more comprehensive approach to issues of sustainability. This is most apparent in the drive for cash crop development that necessitates increasing inputs without knowing how this will affect the broader ecospheric processes.
Regulatory bodies have two functions to play in regards to environmental control and resource development. Page 32 of 43
Analysis to determine thresholds of sustainability and regulatory capacity to carry out their mandate. Analysis to determine the threshold of sustainability can be quite complex, especially considering the various resource use regimes that are possible. It was not possible during the field research exercise to comprehensively determine the capacity of State organisations in these regards. It was noted that the focus of research is on the promotion of a modernising processes for agro and agro-forestry development. With the exception of the Forestry sector, there was limited analysis available on other sectors of resource carrying capacity. Regulatory bodies that are mandated to police and regulate resource use appeared to be quite effective. An ongoing discussion focused on the need to strengthen these agencies as the resources to effectively carry out their mandate is limited.
Stakeholder interest and inclusion is simply stated all the individuals and communities that utilise those resources. Indigenous communities have a historical relationship to resource management. The changes in resource use patterns has not corresponded to a change in these management practices and there has been a significant decline in their viability. The overlay of State management systems has also excluded these communities from this important function. There current relationship with State agencies or in-migrants is avoidance or limiting exclusion (loss of land). The dominant resource development focus stakeholders involved in a modernisation process have are approaching the resource with an "unused" perspective. This strongly mitigates against including more variables (such as realistic carrying capacity) in the development process.
PLANNED DEVELOPMENT
Throughout this report, the development and modernisation plans in the watershed are discussed at length. The following section is to discuss the medium and long term plans. In general, the Se San watershed region is scheduled to go through a massive influx of migrants, the building of new economic zones, agro-forestry and industrial development. The following is a list of the development plans.
Hydroelectricity
The Se San River and the Se San Watershed are a strong focus for hydroelectric development in Vietnam. There are plans, from prefeasibility to active status to build four major hydroelectricity dams on the Se San river; Yaly and Se San I, II, III and IV. Yaly is under construction and will be nearing completion just after the turn of the century. The total capacity of the dam is 690 megawatts and the reservoir surface area is 64.5 km 2.
The megawatt capacity of the four other dams is 2.5 times that of Yaly. There is strong doubt of the viability of all of the dams on the Se San river.
Irrigation
To exploit the water resource for production and household use in the Se San watershed, the following are the allocated irrigation areas in the watersheds:
The eastern side of the upper Po Co River: lies in the northern part of Kon Tum Province and consists of the total land of Dak Glei District of 78,243 ha. Agricultural land is 7,550 ha of which wet rice fields are 2,250 ha, crop land: 2,900 ha, and short-term cash crops: 2,000 ha. At the present, there are 18 small and temporary irrigation projects and seasonal damps to ensure water for 358 ha. In the coming time, 14 projects including 7 reservoirs and 7 damps to supply water for 1,710 ha will be built.
The western side of the upper Po Co River: also locates in the northern part of Kon Tum Province consisting of 17 communes of Dak To District with a total area of 206,010 ha, of which 17,300 ha is cultivation land. There are small irrigation projects for agricultural production with an expected irrigation area of 4,320 ha. At the moment, these systems have watered 1,700 ha of coffees.
The upper Dak Bla: locates in the north-eastern part of Kon Tum Province consisting of Kon Plong District with a cultivation areas of 10,750 ha. 14 irrigation projects of 4 reservoirs and damps are planned to be built in the region. These irrigation systems are to water 2,343 ha.
The lower Dak Bla: locates in Kon Tum Township with a total land area of 80,100 ha of which 25,930 ha are for cultivation. 48 irrigation projects of 18 dams, 26 reservoirs and 4 pumping stations to water 9,961 ha. Page 33 of 43
Sa Thay area: west of Kon Tum, consists of 8 communes of Sa Thay District and 3 communes of Ngoc Hoi District. Its total area is about 274,860 ha of which 16,040 ha are for cultivation. 7 irrigation systems and temporary damps have been built to supply water for 485 ha. 8 more irrigation projects will be built to ensure water for 6,114 ha.
The eastern and north-eastern part of Pleiku: includes some communes of Pleiku Township, Mang Yang and Chu Pah districts. The area’s total land is almost 127,587 ha of which cultivation land is 23m860 ha. 13 irrigation projects and some temporary irrigation systems will have to be built.
Agroforestry and Processing Industries
According to the Provincial Departments of Planning and Investment, there are currently large scale investment and development plans requiring upwards of USD 300 million in capital.
This investment is primarily focused on further agroforestry development with a total potential coverage of over 100,000 hectares. Corresponding to the investment in Agro-forestry development is downstream processing facilities for rubber, pulp and paper, coffee, cashew and tea of over USD 50 million. The viability of all of these investments has yet to be determined.
Electricity and Roads
According to Gia Lai Department of Planning and Investment the current strategy for electrification in the province is a hub and spoke strategy. All District Centres are electrified and plans are under way to increase the coverage of electricity to commune centres and other rural areas. Exact investment capital figures were not available.
The main strategy for road development in the watershed region is to upgrade the main highways, road #4 and to pave district roads. Exact investment capital figures were not available.
EDUCATION & AWARENESS
Education
The Gia Lai Provincial Educational and Training Department reported that all communes in the Province have primary schools. 90% of children from the age of 15 to 25 have attended school. Gia Lai was recognised by the Ministry of Education and Training for having eradicated illiteracy in December 1998. Gia Lai Province has a secondary boarding school for the ethnic minority children. Every district has a boarding school from grades 6 to 9. Many communes have seem-boarding schools. Kon Tum Province’s coverage of primary and secondary education facilities Is noted as high, but not complete.
However, research demonstrated that the educational quality, by enrolment or capacity, in many areas where the indigenous people live continues to be low. The school attendance for Chu Pah District in the academic year of 1996- 1997:
Grades 1- 5: 8,801 pupils, of whom 4,931 were ethnic minority children.
Grades 6- 9: 1,317 pupils, of whom 197 ethnic minority children.
Secondary school: the District has a day school at the District centre and a secondary boarding school is currently under construction.
According to studies conducted by District Officials, there were no excellent pupils, only 13 percent were considered good and the rest were ranked as average and low. Although there were evening literacy classes and "summer bright cultural" classes for Indigenous People, the illiteracy rate remained at 75% 24 . These results correspond to a small field study survey in Ha Tay Commune that analysed the Ba Na community’s capacity to speak, read and write the national language, Vietnamese.
Vietnamese Literacy Field Research Study: Ha Tay Commune 1999 Page 34 of 43
Know how to read, write and Don’t know how to read and write, Don’t know how to read, write or speak speak fluently but can speak 27% 53% 20%
Source: Field Research Study
Clearly, most of the individuals literate in Vietnamese are either children or State employees. Middle-aged and elderly individuals, who are responsible for maintaining their family lives are those who don’t know how to read and write. This is even more prevalent amongst women. The daily languages for communication are the mother tongues of Ba Na and Gia Rai. Both Ba Na and Gia Rai are also written languages and cursory research demonstrated that some middle aged and elder individuals have the capacity to read and write in their mother tongue
The low literacy rates and mono-linguistic language focus have significantly contributed to the population’s limited awareness about the outside world and access to information. Factors contributing to high illiteracy are the limited application and need for the Vietnamese language and the pre-occupation with livelihood issues.
Awareness
The Gia Rai’s and Ba Na’s traditional sight-subjected way of thinking have also affected their ways of looking at the surrounding environment. Their minds are simple as they assess things, human beings and the relationships solely by their own awareness. Every thing will be concluded only when they themselves hear, see and touch the actual things. Their inwardly focused lifestyle limits the awareness of the outside world, beyond their own village, commune or community. It is difficult for them to be aware of what they have not yet seen, heard and touched. They know of the degradation of the forest, and forest loss after seeing it and feeling it, but they want to have enough rice for the whole year. With this way of thinking which accepts fate, they regard their family’s hunger and other family’s wealth are determined by the God, or Yang. Most of the local people cannot think of the ways out to help themselves escape poverty as there is a limited individual and collective capacity for analysis.
There is strong evidence of the limited ability to prepare production plans ahead of time. For instance, even when the bank was lending money for production, many families didn ’t dare take it because they worried that they would not be able to return it, they were afraid of the debt and also because they didn’t know what to do with it. There were cases that they just put the money in a drawer, when the bank officials came to collect the money, they took it out and return it.
The efforts made by the educational sector are not enough to help the local people improve their knowledge. The traditional lifestyle is still maintained, with varying degrees, especially among the Gia Rai and Ba Na:
Traditional Habits
Habits Gia Rai Ba Na Eat with hands 74.4% 48.7% Drink unboiled water 78.6% 91.2% Travel with bare feet 80.5% 47.8% Sleep next to a fire 66.0% 94.0% Sleep without a mosquito net 63.0% 86.0% Deliver birth outside the house (in the 100.0% 100.0% village)
Source: Hung, 1996
Access to Information
Access to information by newspapers, radio and television broadcasting are important for increasing awareness and improving education. Page 35 of 43
Information is only effectively disseminated in residential areas near the townships and along the main roads. Indigenous People living in remote areas have little access to these information channels. Head of Chu Pah District’s Cultural Office reported that the district’s radio and television can reach to a radius of 10 km, Dak Tower and Ha Tay Communes are beyond this radius The people can only listen to the radio broadcast from Ha Noi and the Province, when reception is possible. However, the number of households owning radios is small, televisions even less so. In 1998, the State supplied the whole district with 200 radios. According to Dak Tower Commune People’s Committee say that there were only 15/ 208 households which own a radio, accounting for 7%. Newspapers are brought to the commune, but circulation is limited to People’s Committee officials and other State employees.
Considering the present difficulty and knowledge level amongst the local population, the method of direct dissemination of information by officials appears to be the most effective, especially in combination with the information dissemination by village leaders. However, the number of Kinh officials that know the local languages is limited and the number of the indigenous officials are limited to the Commune leadership. The limited means of communication in indigenous people’s mother tongue direct impact on the success of information dissemination. As of yet, it cannot be substantiated if the current method or means of dissemination has influenced indigenous people’s way of thinking, changed their way of thinking, or substantively expanded their awareness. It has not yet been able to help them approach and understand the new world.
Women and Education
In Kon Tum Province female teachers account for 68.6% of all teachers and among ethnic minority teachers 16.3% are women. In boarding schools at provincial and district levels, female students account for 35% of the total number of students. Boarding school students often receive some financial or food support from districts or the province. They are often from better-off families.
The situation of female students is relatively different from the male students. In H’de village, Ha Tay Commune village young girls go to school for a maximum of three years. Young females in the traditional society are expected to stay at home and help their mothers with the housework, especially in large families. That is the main reason given why the number of female students in more advanced education decreases significantly. At grade 6 in a boarding school in Ha Tay commune, female students account for only 10% of the student body.
Technical skills training courses are available for women who are engaged in income generating activities at household levels. However, since these training courses are conducted at the Provincial Centre, the participation of ethnic minority women is minimal.
Education and Awareness: Analysis
It should be first acknowledged that the Provincial and District governments have made great strides in providing universal education in predominantly indigenous areas. In every village, there are primary day schools, and in the Commune Centre, primary boarding or semi-boarding schools. The secondary boarding school at the District Centre will be completed in the next year. The most apparent constraint to these efforts is the lack of integration between the formal education system and the cultural environment of indigenous people, in particular their native languages.
The very low Vietnamese literacy rate and the limited awareness or change in lifestyles has been attributed to the minimal need and use of the Vietnamese language, and the focus of the education system. The focus of the education system is strongly based on the cultural and natural environment of the Kinh people in Vietnam’s lowlands. It is highly dubious if this focus accurately identifies the needs, present awareness, and the environment in which the Ba Na and Gia Lai people are living. Young people are attending school and it is highly likely that this will infuse a greater awareness of Kinh culture and the Kinh cultural environment but it may correspondingly have detrimental effects on self-awareness of their own community and culture. The current transformation from a Matriarchal system to a Patriarchal system has further polarised and limited females decision making powers and participation in the community. This also has strong repercussions for the development of awareness and the means to self-catalyse change, especially for the family.
The contemporary emphasis of an external and directed process to change (i.e. modernise) the Gia Rai and Ba Na people has yet to prove that it is appropriate or will be successful. As the construction of this process has yet to include these people, it is very challenging to identify the core issues and what is lacking to fostering awareness, and what resources are required. To further enhance the potential for success will require a new approach to what is needed and which educational methods will be most effective. Page 36 of 43
HEALTH
Overview of Living Conditions
The biggest concern expressed by villagers is the constant threat of famine. Gia Rai and Ba Na peoples knowledge is predominantly tilling upland rice fields so they won’t go hungry. Other things are minor, including their own and the community’s health.
Unhygienic lifestyle is an issue pursuing their lives for many years now. Traditional practise have not changed such as drinking unboiled water, eating unhygienic food which was not well-kept, sleeping without a mosquito net or an awareness of basic hygiene.
Clean water resource are very scarce, especially in remote communes The district’s report said that only 2,121 households out of 8,421 (25%) had access to clean water.. This has also caused many epidemic such as diarrhoea, malaria, respiratory diseases, goitre.
The number of malaria patients in 1998 was 346.
Chu Pah district’s child malnutrition rate is 71%.
The use of family planning methods is almost negligible to totally absent.
Medical Facilities
Chu Pah District’s medical report stated that the entire district has 1 hospital with 40 beds and without an X-ray machine. 6 out of 11 communes have a clinic. These clinics provided medical check-ups, injection and provided the local people with medicine. 5 communes’ clinics were based at the People’s Committees. The district hasn’t had a medical centre for a group of communes. The total medical workers in the district were 77 of whom 6 were physicians, 20 nurses and 11 ethnic minority nurses.
A series of community-based healthcare programs were promoted in the communes, such as: the vaccination program for children and pregnant women, the malaria control program, diarrhoea control program, child malnutrition control program. The total amount of money for health care services and medicine per commune is 200,000 VND per month. However, due to the limited funding, each person received averagely VND 2,000 for medicine a month. In many cases, the communes’ clinics didn’t have enough medicine to distribute to the local people.
Moreover, there is a lack of medical workers at the communes. Their weak professional skills are not able to meet the healthcare needs of the local people. Ha Tay Commune is a remote region with the largest area in the district. It is also the poorest commune in the district. The communal clinic has only two nurses, they are both local people. They have to, in turns, visit 9 villages of the commune to vaccinate and distribute the medicine to the local people. This is a clear evidence for the shortage of the medical workforce in the area.
Women and Health Care
According to DoH, 60% of ethnic minority women suffer from obstetric illness. 80% of women in research areas give birth at home with assistance of TBAs. This area also has the highest child and mother mortality rate in the whole country.
The reasons for this low frequency in using state health services are stated as below:
1. Health posts at commune level are often located far away from villages. Some villages are 20 to 30 km away from the commune centre with difficult roads.
2. The infrastructure of these health posts are is often very poor. At Dak Tower commune, it was observed that the health post was located in a 9 meter sq. room which belongs to the commune People’s Committee. The furniture in the room included one desk, two chairs, a broken delivery table and one medicine cabinet. The only nurse in this health post was concerned about the limited amount of medicine which is unable to cure anything else but common headache and stomach upsets. Page 37 of 43
3. High cost and complicated procedures of using district or provincial health services confuse ethnic minority villagers. Some villagers expressed their reluctance to use district hospitals due to long and complicated forms that they have to fill in. A high number of these villagers are unable to read or write Vietnamese.
4. Ethnic minority women strictly follow the tradition of giving birth at home. There are between two and three TBAs living within a village. Women with obstetric illness refuse to see male doctors or nurses. In Dak Tower commune health post, there are only two staff who are all men. They mentioned that most female patients come only for minor and common illnesses. The DoH in both provinces is faced with a difficulty of the lack of female nurses or doctor assistants working at commune level.
Other nation-wide health campaigns against tuberculosis, poliomyelitis, leprosy, and tetanus are conducted via immunisation which takes place twice a year at provincial, district and commune levels. Almost 100% of remote villages receive this service at home. However, women‘s participation in activities to protect health of mothers is very low at village level. In Chu Pah district, only 3 women took part in a programme for better health of pregnant women.
The current situation in the two visited communes showed that the total fertility rate was still high: from 4- 6 children a woman. Also the report from the commune’s reports said that very few couples used any contraceptive methods. Specifically in 1998:
Commune Pop. Rate of using family planning methods. Unit: Person IUD Condom Pills Sterilisation Injection Dak Tover 1,249 90 13 68 0 3 Ha Tay 2,599 0 11 18 0 0
Source: Commune Health Services Report, 1998
A significant constraints for family planning was stated as religious reasons. In Tuek village, the women who use or receive contraceptive services account for 15% of the total female population.
Apart from the national support programme, food and medicine are provided through international aid organisations. However, this support is often channelled to one or two pilot districts. The statistics show an increasing number of ethnic minority women participating in health related programmes in these pilot districts.
Health Analysis
The current health situation in the communes borders on extreme depravity. Extreme depravity is used in its clinical conations to describe the exposure to health hazards that often results in death. The general state of health is very low. There is very little awareness, perception of need to change habits or culturally appropriate access to services.
HOUSING
Construction
House construction is primarily local forest materials. The majority of housing is rests on pillars off the ground, wooden floor, woven bamboo walls and thatched roof. Most houses ranged in size from 6m 2 to 10m 2. The very few wealthier members of the community had larger homes, upwards of 30m 2 and constructed with plank walls, tile roofs and cement foundation.
A recent government programme has provided every household with sheet metal roofing. With the exception of the resettled area, Sheet metal roofing was not being used with the exception for animal shelters. Given the low height of the houses, sheet metal increases the temperature of the houses.
Latrines Page 38 of 43
Latrines or other waste facilities were not present in the homes and an informal survey showed that there were very few latrine facilities at all in the village. Water is available from the stream in two villages and from a well in two other villages. Well water is considered by villagers to be less sanitary than stream water.
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
Women and Economic development opportunities
Women’s access to state services
In Kon Tum and Gia Lai, women account for 52% of the total population. Women living in rural areas in Gia Lai account for 77.2%. Lack of education, lack of technical skills training opportunities and lack of access and poor state services pose a problem for human development amongst women
The two main programmes promoting women’s contribution to household economic development are listed as below:
1. The first programme is Project 120. The objective of this project is to provide women with initial capital in order to continue their work in their various income generating activities.
2. The second programme is "Bank for the poor". The programme lends capital to poor women to start either animal husbandry, growing wet rice or cash crops, or any other household economic development activities. Each woman can borrow up to 2.5 million VND with interest of 0.8% per year. They are expected to pay the first interest installment within three months of taking on the loan.
Women at village levels expressed their concern over the risk of not being able to return the capital and the short period allowed before the first interest payment. The members of the Women’s Union at district level mentioned the difficulty of motivating women at village levels to borrow money. In Dak Tower commune, less than 10% of women have borrowed money from this programme. In Ha Tay commune, no women are engaged in this service. A woman from Tuek village told us:
"In order to borrow money, you have to obtain approval from village, commune, district and provincial levels. Now I do not have enough food to eat. But I have to wait for six or eight months before I can borrow money ."
POVERTY INDICATORS
Overview
Indicators of poverty are a summarisation of the situation in the watershed, in particular the situation of indigenous people in the research area.
The situation of poverty can be characterised by a typology of physical and material, social and organisational, and motivational or attitudinal characteristics. Each of these categories are inter-connected, for example sickness will be compounded by social isolation and the lack of awareness of health.
Physical or material category includes land, climate and environment, people’s health, skill and labour, infrastructure, and food.
The social and organisational category includes ways of communicating, formal and informal community relations and organisations, and the organisation of social and economic activity
Motivational and attitudinal category is awareness, basic attitude, and the manner in which an individual and the community views itself and the ability to make change.
Physical and Material Page 39 of 43
According to District Officials, Dak Tower and Ha Tay communes are categorised by CEMMA as Region 3, almost no natural resources, often natural calamity, bad transportation conditions, poverty, low education, illiteracy and natural farming production. The standard measurement of poverty in Vietnam is a rice equivalency. The following table demonstrates the severity of poverty in the two communes.
Hungry and Poor Households in Dak Tower and Ha Tay Communes
Commune # of # of In the hungry group In the poverty group households people Less than 13 kg rice/person/month Less than 15 kg rice/person/month # of # of % # of # of % households persons households persons Dak Tover 208 1,249 144 757 67 18 114 10 Ha Tay 481 2,599 217 1128 45.1 238 1,237 49
Source: Ha Tay and Dak Tower Commune People’s Committees, 1998
According to elders in Om Village, the per capital rice consumption is significantly lower, equivalent to 6 kg of rice per person per month. The child malnutrition rate of 70% attests to the low food intake.
To reiterate the main physical and material factors are:
Limited access to resources as opening new swidden has been prohibited and existing swidden filed are becoming infertile. Almost complete absence of agricultural intensification. Increasing hunger.
Increasing polarisation and disparity between State sanctioned and enforced tenureship and customary tenureship.
Very low access to clean water and increasing scarcity of water in general.
Limited farm and non-farm employment opportunities.
Low to no access to health facilities, particularly for women, and other State services.
Social and Organisational
The transformation from a matriarchal society to a patriarchal society is having profound effects on the social and organisational patterns in the community. This is a significant factor for the increased poverty of women and children. The loss of tenureship, women’s decision making power and emphasis on male offspring is eroding avenues for women’s participation in the community. Other significant factors are:
The limited current capacity and avenues for indigenous cultures for self-change, or evolution.
Polarisation between formal organisational patterns (Kinh – State sanctioned) and informal (indigenous – community sanctioned), particularly in accessing, and participating in broader community processes due to language and cultural barriers.
An externally directed process of change that often limits participation.
Limited indigenous self- organisation in a contemporary context and the increasing marginalisation of traditional modes of community organisation.
Attitudinal and Motivational
The ongoing and immediate need for food for basic survival is by far the greatest motivational factor expressed in these communities. This immediate survival need strongly limits the development of awareness.
There is a strong sense of fatalism in these communities. The reasons given for this are a belief that it is pre -ordained (as determined by God), as well as the necessity of following State directives. Page 40 of 43
Coping with the ongoing erosion of indigenous culture and the adaptation or avoidance of new cultural forms.
Systemic culture shock .
Analysis of Poverty
A re-occurring point of view expressed by villagers is that since 1995 they are getting poorer and poorer and have gone from food self-sufficiency to hunger. This is due to the drought for the past two years, and the limited availability of land for swidden cultivation. In questioning possible strategies to remedy this situation, better agricultural intensification methods were often stated. The situation of women is altogether worse. It was stated that education was very important for the next generation and children were encouraged to continue to study.
As there is yet to be concrete measures taken to remedy the current poverty trajectory, it is likely it will not improve. A further crisis may force change but the capacity of these communities to make these types of change could not be substantiated.
DEVELOPMENT PRIORITIES
Development priorities fall in two categories, Governance and Community Development
Governance
1. Removing the current bottlenecks for the implementation of land laws and creating a transparent and accountable tenureship process. Planned and spontaneous migration needs to be taken into account in the planning process.
2. A needs assessment should be carried prior to the implementation of resettlement schemes.
3. Further research should be conducted to gain more information and understanding customary forest management and community tenure systems in order to help sensitising decision-makers about the potential contribution of these systems in resource management.
4. Tenureship of land to Indigenous people
5. Developing greater institutional strength to determine the realistic carry capacity of the natural systems, particularly the relationship between industrial agro-forestry and cash crop development , and water resources and proper management for agricultural intensification
6. The role of forest management should be clearly defined and understood by stakeholders, The co- ordination amongst resource management bodies should be strengthened.
7. Stronger regulatory control over illegal conversion of land, especially for cash crops.
8. Formal organisations working with women should be assisted and supported by relevant bodies to influence national policies to provide fair share and opportunities to women who have the experience, knowledge and desire to take care of resources. Training courses or awareness raising activities in natural resource management should be conducted to strengthen the network and build the capacity of women’s organisations at all levels.
9. Greater participation of indigenous people at all levels of governance.
Community Development
1. Food issues are a very high priority and greater support must be provided to help make the transition from traditional swidden methods to new forms of intensification. Avoid pushing people, modes of support must strongly interface with culture and gender roles. The following table states the development priorities identified by men and women in Tuek village. Page 41 of 43
Priority Men Women
1 Land allocation and capital for sugarcane Irrigation plantation 2 Infrastructure improvement Wet rice expansion Capital for animal husbandry
2. Greater identification of potential forest resources, community management and market opportunities
3. Stop the illegal purchase, lease or foreclosure of land.
4. Improvement of Indigenous people’s awareness through culturally accessible education and information dissemination (access in mother tongue). Greater attention should be focused on the methods of dissemination and content to overcome the limited exchange of experience.
5. Focus on improving the situation of health in the community, especially by using positive traditional cultural factors that reinforce the development of healthy habits. Family planning is particularly important given the high birth rates.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PHASE II
Recommendations for Phase II follow the development priorities that have been identified. In summarisation, these recommendations are:
As resource use and corresponding environmental degradation are beginning to be strongly characterised by the modernisation process, recommendations for Phase II are:
1. To better understand and clarify the dynamic process between resource use and environmental degradation.
2. Identifying the causes of biodiversity loss and strategies to remedy this situation.
3. Mainstreaming of gender analysis in all aspects of research and potential development strategies
4. Further identify sustainable use resource strategies and potential for scaling up.
5. Clarify the connections between regulatory bodies, management of resources and resource use.
6. Identify potential or existing linkages between traditional (customary) management systems and formal management systems.
7. A strong focus on identifying potential strategies for intensification of Upland agriculture based that strongly examines the current obstacles and bottlenecks.
8. Further research and identification of community processes that can better facilitate Indigenous peoples inclusion in the development process, especially self-development.
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