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Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development

Thanh Hoa Department of Protection

Report on

FOREST LAND ALLOCATION AND APPLIED IN MANAGING

FOREST AND FOREST ALLOCATED LAND

IN THANH HOA PROVINCE

PART I: BACKGROUND

I. NATURAL CONDITIONS.

Thanh Hoa, a large province of Northern Central Viet Nam, has a total area of 1,116,833 ha. It borders Ninh Binh to the North, Nghe An to the South, the People's Democratic Republic of Laos to the West and the East Sea to the East.

The province has a diversified topography comprising 4 areas: plains, midlands, mountains and seasides.

II. POPULATION, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS.

The population of Thanh Hoa province is 3,700,000, with an average population density is 331 persons/km 2. The province has a certain potential to develop its economy, based on natural resources such as , plain agriculture and the sea. However, its economy is an agricultural one which depends much on nature; its industry is under-developed. Natural disasters occur here often. People, especially in mountainous areas, still meet enormous difficulties in their daily life.

III. FOREST RESOURCES.

Thanh Hoa is one of the provinces with a big forest resources with a total forest area of 698,572.59 ha (which accounts for 63% of natural land area), of which actually forested land constitutes 375,439.90 ha; and barren land 323,123.69 ha. Forest cover is 33,6%. (Source: Inventory and results on natural forests of Forestry Department stated enclosed with Decision 238 Q§-NN/UBTH dated March 23th 1996 by Chairman of Thanh Hoa People’s Committee).

IV. PREVIOUS FOREST AND FOREST LAND USE SITUATION. Page 2 of 13

On implementing Decision 129 and 184 H§BT by the Chairman of Council of Ministers (who is currently Prime Minister), Thanh Hoa has reviewed its forest land to allocate to households, individuals and cooperatives for forest development; 562,271 ha has been allocated. Of which:

 157,857 ha to19 State Forest Enterprises.  359,366 ha to 1,500 cooperatives and collective units.  45,048 ha to 79,026 households.

Before 1995, the use of forest and forest land on the part of all sectors of the economy produced little economic value, because essentially the ownership of the land had not been clarified. Previous attempts at land allocation did not result in a dynamic process of preserving and developing forests, which in fact continue to be destroyed. Thus, better forest land allocation to economic units, individuals and households who have capacity to accept effective ownership of the allocated land is extremely urgent condition to stop , develop forest resources step by step, and eventually regreen the destroyed area.

PART II: FOREST LAND ALLOCATION IN THANH HOA

I. APPROACHES AND METHODS.

1 General basis.

1.1 Based on national policies on land use planning and forest land allocation:

 Land law.  and forest development laws.  Government Decree 2, January 1994 on long - term forest land allocation to individuals, households and organizations for forestry development.

1.2 Policies, strategic directions, state management regulations, projects on forest land allocation in the province.

 Provincial strategic directions and policies:

o  Provincial Party Instruction N 24 CT/TU  Project 22 UB/TH of Provincial People Committee.

 Sate Management and Guidelines on forest land allocation:

 Inter Departments - Forest Protection and Cadastrial Department Letter No 60 Guidelines on Forest land allocation and issuing the land certificates on long term use at commune level.  Forest Protection Department Guidelines on forest land allocation according to Government Decree No 2 at commune level.  Methods on Land use planning and land use plans at commune level issued by Forest Protection Department.  Guidelines on mapping and sketching forest land allocation at commune level issued by Forest Protection Department.  Decision on monitoring the forest land allocation at commune level by the Forest Protection Department.

 To make plans, directions, methods and funds, and applied research informatics in forest land allocation, the Forest Protection Department has developed 3 projects which have been approved by the Provincial People Committee as follows:

 "Forest land allocation in plains, midlands and mountains."  "Forest land allocation in high mountainous, remote areas".  "Applied reach informatics in forest and forest land management in Thanh Hoa 1996 - 2000". Page 3 of 13

1.3 Based on forest land resources of the province and the forest land use requirements of people and other organizations inside and outside province.

2 Principles.

 Use all mass means and policies so that villagers should be voluntarily be involved in land allocation.  Social justice should be obeyed. Everybody who has forest land in this area should be allocated land in order to further develop forest economic activities.  Forest land allocation must go hand in hand with land use planning in order to improve land use and put land into production with the right purpose;  Forest land allocation must not base on the average rule, be expensive, tiresome or complicated regarding procedures.  Villagers must be directly involved in land allocation: writing application, discussing land use plans, boundary demarcation, and surveying the land.  Land allocation and permanent settlement must be combined together. Priority should be paid to those areas that have ongoing projects; the projects themselves should cooperate with each other to create an integrated fund to invest in production after land allocation.

3 Forest Land Allocation methods.

Based on specific conditions of each zone to carry out the land allocation.

3.1 In Plains, Midlands and Mountains.

3.1.1 Organizing:

"Based on principle - allocating land according to one's land use requirement and his capacity to invest. "

At provincial level:

 Forest Protection Department is the deputy body.  Cadastrial Department is the body to direct the land allocation, process and issue land certificates (Decree N 02/CP).

At district level:

 Establish Land Allocation Council, which consists of :  Chairman or vice - chairman of District PC is also Chairman of the Council.  Forest Protection Section is the deputy body of the council.  Cadastrial and agro - forestry sections etc. are members.

At commune level: the Council consists of:

 Chairman or vice chairman of Commune PC is also Chairman of Council.  Forest , cadastrial officers are members.  Heads of villages are also members, together with members of working groups on land allocation.

3.1.2 Professional Training.

To carry out successfully the land allocation, alongside of Party and State policy, professional training on land allocation is of the utmost importance at all three levels: province, district and commune.

Training content contains: Page 4 of 13

 Training material on forest land allocation and land use.  Training material on plan of forest land allocation.  Training material on mapping of forest land allocation.  Training material on economic - technical specifications of protection and special-use forest.  Training material on establishing data base and rapid information systems to monitor changes in forest resources.

3.2 In highland and remote areas.

Steps are the same as above, with full attention paid to the principle "forest allocation together with the formulation of investment projects". During this process, Thanh Hoa has formulated and intends to set up the following project areas:

Special-use forest: + Ben en National Park .

+ Viet - Lao Boarder National Defence Special Forest.

+ Pu Hu Natural Conservation (Quan Hoa).

+ Son Ba Muoi Natural Conservation ( Bat Thuoc).

Protection forest: + Chu River Watershed forest ( Thuong Xuan, Nhu Xuan).

+ Yen Khuong-Yen Thang Watershed forest (Lang Chanh).

+ Ma River Watershed forest.

+ Buoi River Watershed forest.

+ Sim stream Watershed forest ( Muong Lat).

4. Working measures (to be applied for delta, midland and upland / remote areas)

4.1 Inventory of forest resources (using RRA method).

 Stand identification (opposite slope applied).  Identify Forest capacity by using Piteclic Ruler.  Inventory regenerated by counting the standard plots on inventory area.

4.2 Measuring: by using tape - measure, handle compass, three-leg compass to draw the sketch and measure the area of the plot of each owner in the field and the map.

4.3 Making the forest land allocation file:

This consists of: + Application form (of the household, individual or organization).

+ Receiving report (in the field).

+ Sketch of the plot. Page 5 of 13

+ Land certificate.

+ Forest land allocation book.

+ Map of forest land allocated.

+ Collateral ( for natural forest or forest by State fund).

II. RESULTS OF FOREST LAND ALLOCATION (FLA).

All of the province ’s 27 districts have been involved in FLA; 20 districts, 298 communes and 7 Defence Boarder Stations have completed the process. The total area allocated is 416,178.104 ha. Of which:

1 Area allocated to the state enterprises: 106,068.23 ha.

Includes: + Land with forest: 71,467.14 ha

+ Land without forest: 29,122.39 ha

+ Non-forest land: 5,487,70 ha

2 Area allocated to non-state units: 310,109.874 ha

2.1 To recipients to manage:

 Households: 66,717 hhs with 192,837.687 ha.

 Cooperatives and other organizations: 26,834.70 ha.

 Communes: 35,538.78 ha

 7 Defence Boarder stations: 33,683.28 ha

2.2 According to forest classification, there have been

+ 208,135.4 ha of production forest and watershed-production forest allocated, which includes:

 Forest land with forest: 113,811.79 ha  Non-forested land: 84,323.61 ha

+ Protection forest: 67,598.194 ha which includes:

 Forest land with forest: 63,843.504 ha  Non-forested land: 3,754.69 ha

+ Special-use forest: 34,376.28 ha which includes

 with forest 31,207.63 ha  Non-forested land 3,168.65 ha.  Some targeted results in FLA in Thanh Hoa.

Total hhs who are recipients: 66,717 Page 6 of 13

Hh has largest area: 154 ha

Hh has the least area: 150 m 2 (0,0015 ha)

Average area/hh: 3.43 ha

Percentage of poor hhs allocated land in each zone:

+ In plains: 25 %

+ Midlands: 43 %

+ Mountains: 65 %

Rate of recipients received land in area:

+ Under 1 ha: 18,618 hhs cover 28.0 %

+ 1 ha - 5 ha: 23,351 hhs 35.0%

+ 5 ha - 10 ha: 19,081 hhs 28.6 %

+ 10 - 50 ha : 4,670 hhs 7.0 %

+ Over 50 ha : 974 hhs 1.4 %

III. SOCIAL-ECONOMIC BENEFITS ACHIEVED AFTER ALLOCATING FOREST LAND.

1 Social impacts.

According to Decrees 02/CP and 01/Cp, land is allocated to organizations, households and individuals for stable and long-term use: , forest protection and forest regeneration. These two Decrees have been propagated widely in the province through public information campaigns and training materials of concerned specialized agencies. Owing to this propagation, forest land allocation and contracting have become urgent demands, and the people have participated actively in the process. Communes and organizations took the initiative in the land use planning prior to allocation, which greatly facilitated the process. All land recipients wrote applications, prepared their own investment funds and labour in order to demarcate their land using poles.

After receiving land, many recipients have invested in afforestation and forest protection activities in order to eventually produce forest products which meet market demands. The process completed, villagers were more aware to some degree of the importance of protecting forest, and all land had a specific owner. In some places, a degree of cooperative relations in managing, protecting and developing the forests have become evident.

Owing to FLA, the province has helped stabilize the livelihoods of 11,056 poor hhs who received (or were contracted) 32,216.25 ha of forest land for planting, protecting and regenerating forest. This confirms the appropriateness of carrying out hunger eradication and proverty alleviation work by means of forest development.

2 Economic benefits following forest land allocation.

2.1 Managing and protecting forest.

Forest allocation has resulted in clear definition of the owners of each plot of forest, who can take measures to manage, protect, and control fire, pest, diseases on this land. Also teams of forest protection have been set up and taken part in by recipients. Page 7 of 13

The natural and plantation forests have been contracted to protect and manage by local people who have collateral and follow other Government regulations( Decrees 1 and 2) .

FLA has reduced much , illegal and hunting of wild animals. Evidence for this is seen in the following table:

No Activities 1994 ( FLA not yet) 1996 ( after FLA) %Rate reduced

1 + Cases: 84 + Cases: 47 + 44.05 %

+ Forest products + Forest products + 53.05 % damaged: 457 m3 damaged: 214.7 m3 different kind of round

2 Slash and burn + Cases: 28 + Cases: 14 + 50% forest for cultivation + Damaged forest area: + Damaged forest area: + 70.84 % 535.0 ha 156.0 ha

2.2 Forest development.

The allocation process has left the recipients with a clear set of rights and responsibilities regarding the land area allocated, especially that allocated for 50 years. Thus they are not worried in investing more inputs to develop their forest and forest land.

Land without forest was allocated for "". This allows farmers to choose the best species which have high quality and yield, apply modern technologies to use land in the best way to meet market demands.

Natural forest is to be protected and managed for the natural regeneration and protection of vegetation which may be combined with economic production (e.g. through selection of valuable species) in order to step by step increase the capacity and productivity of the forest.

As a result of the 1995 FLA, 1996 brought the following results:

 The area where 327 programme has been going on:

- Newly established plantation: 3,921.4 ha

- Tending: 5,843.45 ha

- Regeneration: 7,601.90 ha

- Protection: 44, 150.10 ha

 Outside the 327 programme area:

- Newly established plantation: 3,210.0 ha

- Tending: 5,610.0 ha

- Regeneration: 20,886.70 ha

- Protection: 33,878.70 ha Page 8 of 13

Districts which have made good progress in forest development include: Thanh Thanh, Ngoc Lac, Lang Chanh, Thieu Yen, Hoang Hoa, Tho Xuan, Nhu Xuan, Tinh Gia, Nong Cong, Trieu Son, Cam Thuy.

2.3 Impacts on ecological environment.

FLA has assisted and promoted the regreening of barren and waste land, increasing forest cover, protecting water sources, preventing soil erosion, limiting effects of natural disasters and general protection of the environment.

Sketch of land allocation steps in Thanh Hoa province.

Review and classify according to the three forest Collecting applications; submitting to categories authorities.

Total forest land area according to three categories. Stating the approval of applications and FLA regulations.

A general plan of forest land distribution (draft) Measuring and allocating land to recipients in the field

A meeting held in which locals were well informed of Making registry of LA and issuing of land Government policies and briefed the general plan of certificates forest land distribution, then given applications for land allocation Format data of land allocated map and save it in the computer.

Forest protection stations

Production forest owners

Connect information network in computers to Protection Boards

Special Forest Management Boards

Provincial People Committee

MARD

Department of Forest Protection.

Defining the area for forest plantion and regreenation

Printing and utilising the data Identifying the forest area for regeneration and protection.

Forest area allowed to harvest forest products and the area "to be closed" Page 9 of 13

PART III: INFORMATICS APPLIED IN FOREST MANAGEMENT AND FOREST ALLOCATED LAND

To manage the forest and forest allocated land in Thanh Hoa province, the Project "Applied informatics in forest management and forest allocated land 1996 - 2000" was formulated.

1 Contents and implementing methods.

1.1.Contents.

1.1.1 Construct a data bank of forest and forest allocated land to be saved in computers by Provincial Department of Forest Protection via forest allocation.

1.1.2. Follow up the changes of forest resources and up-date the computer data-base, which is done by local forest protection staff.

1.1.3 Follow up the changes of management components according to land law, which is done by local forest protection and cadastrial staff.

1.2 Implementing methods:

1.2.1 Institution:

At the provincial level: establish a consulting centre of forest informatics and archives which has 7 staff and would be divided into two divisions: One is the collecting and archiving of data, documents division. This has the duty of data collection, monitoring the results of FLA and changes in forest resources. Second is to use computers to digitize maps, input data relating to FLA and update according to changes in forest resources.

At the district level: Forest Protection Station is considered to be the primary unit, and it also has two divisions. One is the implementing agency (for database collection) with 15 - 20 forest technicians and . The second division, which operates computers, has 1 - 2 computer technicians who are responsible to make use of FLA results saved in the computers and transmitted from Informatic Centre via the network.

1.2.2 Equipments and applied software.

(We here present our current model for equipment and software for your reference.)

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At the province level: Set up a Centre of Forest Informatics and Information Storage equipped with:

Items Quantity

+ Server 586 ( RAM-32 MB; 2GB) 1

+ Digitizer (AT 486;RAM-8M-540MB) 4

+ Digitizer table A4 3

+ Colour Scanner A3 1

+ Colour Laser Printer HP 350C Plus A0 1

+ Hard Disk 2.1 GB 1

+ Optical Disk 1

+ Modern to link with network 1

+ Laser Printer A4 1

+ CD Room 1

4 other sets of computers to equip the Management Board of the Departments (AT 586 - RAM 8M - 1.2 MB Computers and Laser Printers). 3 more sets to professional sections:

1 for word processor, 1 for personnel management and the final for accounts.

At the district level: 15 Forest Protection Stations have been equipped with 15 sets of computers - one for each. Besides these above, there are still some other equipments to link Local Area Network (LAN) and Wide Area Network (WAN).

2.1 Applied software:

 Professional software: GIS, Mapinfo, and Foxpro for Windows.  For network link: Windows NT

2.2 Staff training.

To apply informatics in managing forest and forest allocated land, it is necessary to provide knowledge of these information systems to the staff. Staff have been involved in training courses during the last few years.

 In 1995, 2 staff at B level of informatics to operate the computers for forest information and install the simple database.  In 1996, three B level courses were organized. Course A had 10 participants who are head and vice- head of divisions. Course B also had 10 participants who are foresters. Course C had 10 participants, who are also heads of District Protection Stations.  4 foresters who have B level of informatics took part in training on Mapinfo, GIS and Foxpro for Windows.  For future, 1 or 2 informatics engineers and 1 technicians would be trained. For short coming time, 1 informatics engineer would be recruited and a would take part in training at university level on informatics.

Total staff involved in training: 35. Page 11 of 13

3 Results of applied informatics in managing forest and forest allocated land.

3.1 Achieved results.

Thanh Hoa has stored the data and map of forest and forest allocated land in computer. In detail: - Digiting map of FLA for 215 communes.

 Data installment for 190 communes.

Recently, the province also monitored and updated changes in forest resources in some communes in 4 districts: Tinh Gia, Ngoc Lac, Sam Son, and Thach Thanh.

3.2 Capability to apply and its benefits

3.2.1 Capability to apply informatics in managing forest and forest allocated land

Owing to research results mentioned above, forest informatics technology has created an accurate database which is capable of accurately monitoring the changing forest situation; the system helps to:

 Monitor changes of forest resources and manage three forest categories: production, protection and special .  Monitor changes of wildlife, vegetation to be conserved in national parks.  Demarcate the three protection forest levels: special critical area, critical area and less critical area. On evaluating capability of each protection forest, adequate sivilculture activities can be applied.  Apply informatics in forest production by determining the appropriate level of productive capacity of the forest each year.  Forecast disease and forest fire.  Prepare forest development projects.  Solve conflicts relating to land, land boundaries and land use right (according to land law).

3.2.2 Economic benefits.

Applied informatics is able to:

 Help figures regarding forest resources correspond more to reality.  Save funds and labour in carrying out in comparison with conventional methods to date, which have cost several billion dong.  Provide daily, monthly, quarterly to assist managers and staff in forest and forest land management, so that problems which arise are rapidly detected and timely solutions can be found.  Current forest database helps to more accurately set rational and scientific targets for suitable forest exploitation, which will bring long term ecological benefits (though impossible to measure precisely).

PART IV: PROJECT FUND

Total budget fund for 1995 (FLA): VND 1,930,000,000

Total fund for 1996: VND 2,137,000,000

of which for FLA: VND 1,833,000,000

for applied informatics VND 304,000,000

Total fund for 1997 VND 2,670,000,000 Page 12 of 13

of which for FLA VND 2,008,000,000

for map and data installment VND 476,000,000

for computers and network link VND 186,000,000

Grant total cost/ha VND 17,511

Break down:

Average cost/ha for FLA: VND 15,000

Average cost/ha for applied informatics VND 2,511

Summary of Project " Applied Informatics in Forest Resources Management".

Phase I:

Collect database forest and forest land in the field Technical specifications of forest and forest land Map

Database adjusted and digitted Map of FLA

Data of FLA

Printing and using Check up data collected in the field and installed in computer

Map of FLA results Area (ha)

Install digiting data in main computer

Link information network (detailed sketch attached)

Printing and using

General report on forest Plans of logging, Preparing and Technical Arguments resources and forest banning planting, managing projects of land regenerating, and join venture and managing. economics investment

Foresee the changes of forest resources

Phase II:

 Collecting database of annual forest resources changes Page 13 of 13

 Adjusting and correcting the above database  Install the changes of forest resources in main computer  Transfer database installed via computer network  District, town receive database through computer network  Printing and using

Phase III: Local Area Network

Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development

National Department of Forest Protection Management Boards of Protection Forest

Provincial Department of Forest Protection Management Boards of Special Forest

Provincial People Committee Owners of Production Forest

15 Forest Protection Stations

Listed above are our detailed activities and our first achievements in FLA and applied informatics in forest and forest land management in Thanh Hoa province. We are looking forward to further assistance, cooperation and experience exchange with other provinces, branches, and international organizations concerned with forest land allocation and applied informatics in forest and forest land management.

With sincere thanks,

Thanh Hoa Department of Forest Protection