Page 1 of 11 ASIA FOREST NETWORK The Asia Sustainable Forest Management Network supports the role of communities in protection and sustainable use of the region's natural forests. The Network comprises a small, select coalition of Asian planners, foresters, and scientists from government agencies, universities, and non-government organizations, many of whom have collaborated for years. The solidarity of the Network members is based on a common commitment to exploring alternative management strategies for Asia's disturbed natural forest lands. The emphasis of the Network's research includes the ecology of natural regeneration, the economics of non-timber forest product systems, and the community organizations and institutional arrangements which support participatory management. The lessons stemming from the research aim to inform field implementation procedures, reorient training, and guide policy reform. For more information about the Network and its publications, please contact: Center for Southeast Asia Studies Institute of Environmental University of California, Berkeley Science for Social Change 2223 Fulton Street, Room 617 1/F, Manila Observatory Bldg. (ESSC) Berkeley, CA 94720 Loyola Heights, P.O. Box 244 U.S.A. 1101 U.P. Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines Tel: (510) 642-3609 Tel: (63-2) 924-1751 Fax: (510) 643-7062 Fax: (63-2) 924-4414 ©1998 Asia Forest Network Front cover photograph : An elder Dzao expert in traditional medicine displays one of the forest tubers that is a key ingredient in many of her prescriptions. Eighty percent of the households in Yen Son village, a buffer community of Ba Vi National Park, gain much of their cash income from ethnomedicine. (photo: Poffenberger) Page 2 of 11 STEWARDS OF VIETNAM'S UPLAND FORESTS A collaborative study by the Asia Forest Network and the Forest Inventory and Planning Institute Vo Tri Chung Eric Crystal Nguyen Huy Dzung Vu Van Dzung Nguyen Huy Phon Mark Poffenberger Thomas Sikor Jennifer Sowerwine Peter Walpole Edited by Mark Poffenberger Research Network Report Number 10 -- January 1998 CONTENTS List of Figures and Boxes Foreword PART I: THE NATIONAL FOREST SECTOR 1 Changing Forest Cover 1 A History of State-Upland Community Relationships 9 Adapting National Policies for Upland Contexts 12 Conclusion 15 PART II: FOREST POLICY REFORM: FROM STATE TO HOUSEHOLD 18 FORESTRY State Forestry 19 Major Policies 19 Policy Outcomes 21 Problems of State Forestry 22 Page 3 of 11 Household Forestry: The Emergence of a New Model 25 Major Policy Reforms 26 Experience from Policy Implementation 29 Conclusion 32 PART III: COMMUNITY CASE STUDIES FROM UPLAND VIETNAM 39 Da River Watershed: A Regional Overview 39 Ethnic Groups and Their Land Use Practices 41 The Hoa Binh Dam 43 Local Administration 45 Resource Management in a Tai Village 47 Tai Land Use Practices 48 Emerging Forest Management Issues 52 Resource Management in a H'Mong Village 55 H'mong Land Use Practices 57 Emerging Forest Management Issues 62 Changing Resource Management Roles for Community and Government 64 Conclusion 68 PART IV: BA VI NATIONAL PARK AND THE DZAO 71 Ba Vi National Park: History and Context 71 Park Administration 73 Management Zones 75 Forest Land Allocation Policies and Buffer Zone Development 77 Projects Ethnomedicine and Forest Management 80 Dzao Traditional Medicine 81 Collection 83 Processing 84 Prescriptions and Marketing 84 Managing and Development 84 Conclusion 86 PART V: THE ROLE OF COMMUNITIES IN UPLAND FOREST MANAGEMENT 90 References Contributors LIST OF FIGURES 1 Historical Population and Forest Cover Trends in Vietnam 2 Changing Forest Cover in Vietnam-1943 to 1992 3 Map of Vietnam's Uplands & Forested Regions- 1992 4 Da River Watershed Map 5 Sketch Map of Chieng Hac Commune, Yen Chau District Page 4 of 11 6 Map of Tai Land Use Classification - Ban Tat Village, Da River, Vietnam 7 Transect of Tai Land Use Classification - Ban Tat Village, Da River, Vietnam 8 Map of H'mong Land Use Classification - Chi Dai Village, Da River, Vietnam 9 Transect of H'mong Land Use Classification - Chi Dai Village, Da River, Vietnam 10 Ba Vi National Park & Management Zones 11 Land Use Transect of Ba Vi National Park, Vietnam LIST OF BOXES 1 The Xompa of Na Phieng 2 Mrs. Lan, Dzao Herbal Healer FOREWORD In precolonial times, the uplands of Vietnam were heavily forested and sparsely inhabited by a variety of ethnic groups who settled in the narrow mountain valleys growing irrigated rice or practiced long-rotation rainfed farming at higher elevations. Even remote watersheds were inhabited by diverse hill tribes who had moved into the region from other parts of Southeast Asia and Southern China. Community institutions and regional chiefs defined territorial rights, permitting the establishment of new villages established as the population expanded. Forests lands were valuable resources for hunting and gathering, providing land for new fields and settlements, and for stabilizing the water sources that fed their villages, fish ponds, and rice fields. Ethnic communities controlled forest use through their unique traditional institutions, imposing fees, fines, and other regulatory mechanisms. Over the past century, the government has gained increasing control over the management of Vietnam's forests. As government ministries and public and private industry have taken a broadening role in resource exploitation and management, traditional forest use systems have eroded. During the 1960's and 1970's, the government intensified efforts to establish new administrative structures and implement national policies in many remote upland regions around the country, accelerating the displacement of indigenous institutions. Upland resources have been exported to lowland, urban centers to finance economic development, often at the expense of resident people. Population growth in upland provinces is driven both by natural increase and a steady influx of lowland migrants, sometimes exceeding 6 percent annually, and placed intensifying pressure on the mountainous areas leading to progressive forest degradation and ultimately deforestation. There are many parallels between Vietnam's experiences in forest management and that of other Asian nations, and other countries around the world. At the end of the 20th century, human societies are confronted by the challenge of balancing the roles of government, community, and the private sector in sustainably managing forest ecosystems allowing upland watersheds to perform essential environmental functions while meeting the resource needs of expanding populations. Part I provides a brief history of forest management in Vietnam, followed by an assessment of the sociopolitical and demographic forces that are the underlying causes of deforestation. Part II examines changes in national forest policies, focusing on the transition from state control to household management. The success of emerging privatization policies and programs in stimulating increased timber productivity in some lowland and midland regions is contrasted with the difficulties encountered when such projects are implemented in upland contexts, especially where communal forest management traditions persist. Part III describes how Tai and H'Mong communities in Yen Chau District in the Da River watershed of Northwest Vietnam use their forest resources and discusses some of the forest management issues villagers face as demographic pressures build Page 5 of 11 and policies change. Part IV reviews how one Dzao village was resettled in a buffer area, bounding on Ba Vi National Park near Hanoi, and how villagers continue to depend on the forest for their livelihoods. Both case studies illustrate ways community forest use practices are supported by and are in conflict with emerging policies. Part V synthesizes the information presented in this monograph and suggests how community forest management policies and programs could be strengthened in the uplands and made more responsive to local cultures and indigenous management systems. The Asia Forest Network (AFN) seeks to synthesize learning from academic research and development activities to illuminate both the underlying causes of and potential solutions to the problem of deforestation. Over the past five years, the AFN has published a series of country reviews that describe the state of community involvement in forest management in Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, and India. Each case examines the history of forest management and evolving forest policies, and presents case studies illustrating contemporary strategies and emerging issues. This fifth country case study examines the changing direction of Vietnam's national forest policies and how they are affecting forest dependent communities. Over the past five years Asia Forest Network and the Forest Inventory and Planning Institute have been supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. We are most grateful to the Foundation for this opportunity to collaborate, with special thanks to Dr. Kuswata Kartawinata. We thank the East West Center's Program on the Environment for their administrative assistance, especially Jeff Fox and Meg White. The Asia Forest Network would also like to appreciatively acknowledge the core support it received from the Wallace Global Fund and USAID's Global Bureau. Many individuals have contributed to the development of this report. The commitment of Dr. Nguyen Huy Phon, Deputy Director of the Forest Inventory and Planning Institute, to Vietnam's participation in the Asia Forest Network has