sustainability Review Complexity of the Socio-Ecological Dynamics in Hong Ha Commune in the Vietnamese Highland—A Review through the Coupled Human and Natural Systems Framework Holger Schäfer 1,* , Takaaki Miyaguchi 2 , Miki Yoshizumi 3 and Nguyen Ngoc Tung 4 1 Laboratory of Forest Utilization, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture 606-8502, Japan 2 Department of Global Studies, Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture 615-8558, Japan;
[email protected] 3 College of Gastronomy Management, Ritsumeikan University, Kusatsu City, Shiga Prefecture 525-8577, Japan;
[email protected] 4 Faculty of Architecture, University of Sciences, Hue University, 77 Nguyen Hue St., Hue City, Thua Thien Hue Province 530000, Vietnam;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected] Received: 18 June 2020; Accepted: 1 August 2020; Published: 3 August 2020 Abstract: In Vietnam, government policies have led to improvements in the national forest cover and poverty situation. However, numerous recent case studies in the Vietnamese highland found that socio-ecological dynamics were highly complex on a local scale, resulting in unintended policy impacts and varying policy success among regions. While such complexity has become apparent, it has been difficult to understand and compare between regions, as assessment methods and targeted aspects of socio-ecological dynamics differed between case studies. In this review, complex socio-ecological dynamics in Hong Ha Commune in Thua Thien Hue Province were identified in published case studies and organized into complexity features based on the coupled human and natural systems (CHANS) framework, to make information more accessible and comparable under the widely applied framework.