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I Politics and Practices of Conservation Governance and Livelihood Change in Two Ethnic Hmong Villages and a Protected Area In Politics and practices of conservation governance and livelihood change in two ethnic Hmong villages and a protected area in Yên Bái province, Vietnam. Bernhard Huber Department of Geography McGill University, Montreal A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy © Bernhard Huber 2019 i Abstract What happens in a remote village of traditional shifting cultivators and hunters when, in the course of twenty years, traditional livelihood practices are banned, alternative income opportunities emerge, a protected area is established, and selected villagers are paid to patrol fellow villagers’ forest use? In this thesis, I aim to investigate how ethnic Hmong villagers in Mù Cang Chải district, Yên Bái Province, Vietnam, and their livelihood practices have intersected with outside interventions for rural development and forest conservation since 1954. Addressing five research questions, I examine historical livelihood changes, contemporary patterns of wealth and poverty, the institutionalisation of forest conservation, the village politics of forest patrolling and hunting, as well as the local outcomes of Vietnam’s nascent Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) program. I find that these aspects vary significantly within and between two Hmong villages, in which I collected most of my data. The forced transition in the 1990s from shifting cultivation to paddy cultivation increased food security, but has also resulted in new patterns of socio-economic differentiation, as some households had limited access to paddy land. More recently, socio-economic differentiation has further increased, as households have differently benefited from PES, government career opportunities and bank loans. These sources of financial capital are increasingly relevant to peasant livelihoods elsewhere in Vietnam, but remain largely under-studied. I draw on livelihood studies, political ecology and social science studies of conservation to examine the conservation practices and agendas of villagers, state, and non-state actors. In 2006, an international conservation NGO helped establish a protected area in Mù Cang Chải and introduced co-management and community-based forest patrolling to curb illegal forest use. I find that social structure and social capital can hamper effective community patrolling in Hmong communities, which remains very contentious. On the other hand, I find that local governance structures in Vietnam are not conducive to effective village representation in co-management. Vietnam’s most recent attempt to address both forest conservation and rural poverty is the national PES program, which collects over USD 50 million per year, mostly from Vietnam’s hydropower operators. These funds are distributed to over 500,000 rural households living in the watersheds of hydropower operations. The households sign forest protection contracts, but PES ii does not provide any incentive for the recipient to improve forest management or quality. While household payment levels are very high in one of the two study villages, they differ vastly within and across villages, contributing to household differentiation. In theory, PES and individual land tenure go hand-in-hand, but my analysis of Mù Cang Chải suggests that Vietnam’s PES system reinforces state forest governance and forestland tenure, which allows for more efficient and equitable PES distribution. Although the political and institutional contexts of my case study are specific to Vietnam, my thesis identifies limitations to peasant livelihood development, community-based conservation, PES and international cooperation that are very relevant elsewhere in the Global South, as well. iii Résumé Comment évolue un village isolé de chasseurs et d’agriculteurs pratiquant la culture itinérante lorsque, au cours des vingt dernières années, les pratiques traditionnelles de subsistance sont interdites, de nouvelles activités génératrices de revenus apparaissent, une aire protégée est créée et certains villageois sont payés pour patrouiller l'utilisation des forêts faite par leurs voisins? Dans cette thèse, j'ai pour objectif d'étudier comment les villageois de minorité ethnique Hmong du district de Mù Cang Chải (province de Yên Bái, Vietnam) et leurs pratiques de subsistance se sont entremêlés avec des interventions extérieures pour le développement rural et la conservation des forêts depuis 1954. À fin de répondre à cinq questions de recherche, j'examine l’évolution historiques des moyens de subsistance Hmong dans mon site d’étude, les tendances contemporaines d’accumulation de la richesse et de pauvreté, l'institutionnalisation de la conservation des forêts, les politiques villageoises de patrouille forestière et de chasse, ainsi que les résultats locaux du programme de paiements pour les services écosystémiques (PSE) qui a récemment été instauré au Vietnam. Je constate que ces aspects varient considérablement au sein des deux villages Hmong que j'étudie ainsi qu’entre ces deux villages; tous deux situés dans la zone tampon de l'aire protégée de Mù Cang Chải. La transition forcée, dans les années 90, d'une culture itinérante à une culture de riz sédentaire a accru la sécurité alimentaire mais a également entraîné de nouvelles tendances de différenciation socioéconomique, certains ménages ayant un accès limité aux rizières. La différenciation socio-économique ne cesse de s’accentuer, alors que certains ménages réussissent davantage à bénéficier des PSE ou à obtenir un poste dans le gouvernement ou des prêts bancaires. Ces sources de capital financier jouent un rôle de plus en plus important dans la subsistance des paysans dans mon site d’étude et ailleurs au Vietnam, mais elles demeurent encore insuffisamment étudiées. Je fais appel aux études sur les moyens de subsistance et à la littérature ressortant des domaines de l'écologie politique et la science sociale de la conservation pour examiner les stratégies et les pratiques de conservation des villageois et des acteurs étatiques et non étatiques. En 2006, une ONG internationale de conservation a appuyé l’établissement d’une aire protégée à Mù Cang Chải et a introduit la cogestion et les patrouilles communautaires pour freiner l’exploitation iv illégale des forêts. Mon étude démontre que la structure sociale et le capital social qui se trouve au sein des communautés peuvent entraver l'efficacité des patrouilles communautaires, qui demeurent très controversées au niveau du village. D'autre part, mon étude démontre que les structures de gouvernance locale au Vietnam peuvent limiter l’efficacité de la représentation des villages dans la cogestion. Le programme national de PSE représente la tentative la plus récente au Vietnam de s'attaquer à la fois à la conservation des forêts et à la pauvreté rurale. Ce programme reçoit des éloges internationaux pour avoir collecté plus de 50 millions de dollars, principalement auprès des opérateurs hydroélectriques au Vietnam. Ces fonds sont distribués à plus de 500 000 ménages ruraux vivant dans les bassins versants des exploitations hydroélectriques. Alors que les ménages signent des contrats de protection des forêts, mon étude démontre que les PSE n'incitent pas les bénéficiaires à améliorer la gestion ou la qualité des forêts. Bien que les niveaux de paiement des ménages soient très élevés dans un des villages d'étude, ils diffèrent considérablement d’un ménage à l’autre ainsi qu’entre villages, ce qui accentue la différenciation socio-économique. En théorie, les PSE requièrent un régime foncier de propriété individuelle. Cependant, le programme ne contribuera probablement pas à l'allocation des terres forestières car le maintien d'un régime foncier étatique, comme on retrouve à Mù Cang Chải, permet une distribution plus efficace et équitable des PSE, même si la littérature sur les PSE le contredit. J’identifie dans ma thèse les obstacles et défis que confrontent les paysans pour développer leurs moyens de subsistance et ceux qui limitent la conservation gérée par les communautés, les PSE et la coopération internationale. Bien que les contextes politique et institutionnel de mon étude de cas soient spécifiques au Vietnam, ces défis sont également très pertinents à d’autres pays du Sud. v Acknowledgements Completing this PhD dissertation would not have been possible without many individuals and institutions providing me with vital supervision, funding, field support, friendship and work/life balance. Academically, I am indebted to my supervisor Sarah Turner, whose dedication to teaching and supervision is exceptional. Sarah took me on as a student before I had secured any external funding and guided me to develop my own PhD project. Although our research interests and our approaches to field work and writing differ in some ways, Sarah remained dedicated and supportive throughout my long PhD journey. Sarah’s detailed feedback on grant proposals and draft chapters was invaluable, and I sincerely appreciate her advice, understanding and patience. Thomas Sikor (University of East Anglia) soon joined my supervisory committee and helped me shape my research objectives and conduct my field work. Sadly, he could not continue his work due to poor health, and his contributions to the study of forest governance in Vietnam are sorely missed. Fortunately for me, Brian Robinson agreed to join my committee in my final year, and I much appreciate his thoughtful feedback on my thesis drafts. George Wenzel, my fourth committee member, also provided important feedback,
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