Đề tài achievements and lesson learn from implementation of community-Based forest development and management

Collaboration for Agriculture and Rural Development (CARD) Program 228 ACHIEVEMENTS AND LESSON LEARN FROM IMPLEMENTATION OF COMMUNITY-BASED FOREST DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT Project title: Sustainable community-based forest development and management in some high-poverty areas in Bac Kan province Project code: CARD 017/06VIE Authors: Tran Van Dien1, Tran Thi Thu Ha1 and Khongsak Pinyopusarerk2 Project Implementing organisations: 1 Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry, Thai Nguyen, Vietnam 2 CSIRO Plant Industry, GPO Box 1600, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia 1. Introduction Ethnic minority communities in the remote mountainous northern provinces of Vietnam are among the poorest in the country, with limited access to agricultural land, health facilities, markets and infrastructure. Van Minh and Lang San communes of Na Ri district in Bac Kan province have poverty rates of 63-68% [1]. Forested land comprises 84% and 90% respectively of the total land area and is of paramount importance for community livelihoods, including collection of firewood and harvesting food and herbal medicinal plants. However, lack of access to utilise forest land and unequal allocation of forest areas to the poorer families have led to serious poverty of many households. Management of the forest has also exacerbated the situation through many problems: (i) low productivity due to forest degradation after excessive use and little investment; (ii) perceptions of forest as common land with free access, with unclear boundaries and poorly defined ownership obligations; (iii) few incentives to reinvest in the forest (no security) and reluctance to take direct responsibility for the land; (iv) poor awareness of user rights, forest laws and regulations, and rights of participation in official processes such as forest land allocation; and (v) very limited support from government agencies in approaches to effectively use the forest land and earn income [2]. The Land Law which came into effect on July 1, 2004 allows communities (villages) to receive land and forest land [3]. However, there is no mechanism to realise this option. A project supported by AusAID’s Collaboration for Agriculture and Rural Development (CARD) program developed mechanisms under Community Forestry Management including participatory land use planning and land allocation to facilitate land distribution and address the sustainable management of the forest. The project Goal is Sustainable improvement in livelihood security of disadvantaged forest-dependent people in northern mountainous areas, through empowerment of access to forest and forest land, influence over forest land management, conservation of the natural resources and development of relevant skills. 2. Methodology Four villages: Na Muc and Khuoi Lieng in Van Minh commune and To Dooc and Ban Sang in Lang San commune in Na Ri district, Bac Kan province which have community forest lands were selected to be the research site for the project. The community forest lands were target area for project interventions which included land use planning, forest land allocation, forest enrichment, nursery, plantation and agro-forestry development. The CARD 017/06 – Community based forest management 229 quality of community forest was assessed through forest survey to identify the productivity as well as biodiversity. The social economic condition of local community and the dependency of livelihood of local community on the forest were identified by socio-economic survey. The data relating to land use planning, forest land allocation, forest enrichment, nursery, plantation and agro- forestry models were also recorded in the field based samples. The processes of land allocation, management of community forest development fund, implementation of community forest management plan were also recorded. The outcomes and impacts of training activities were assessed at the phase out period. Cost benefit for each community forest management models was analyzed to evaluate the effectiveness of each activity. 3. Results and discussions 3.1 Allocation of community forest lands to communities Allocation of communication forest lands to communities was firstly implemented in Bac Kan province. The allocation process met many difficulties both paper work and field work. The most difficult work was solving conflicts on the border of community forest. In the past, community forest was considered common property which was freely exploited by local people from many villages. Therefore it was extremely difficult to allocate the community forest to only one particular village. However, by participatory approach in solving the problems, consensus was achieved among neighboring villages. The borders of community forest in the four pilot villages were clearly defined and field maps constructed. The formal processes of community forest land allocation have been completed for the four project pilot villages with “Red Book” for long-term use rights (Table 1). This has given local communities the confidence to contribute and invest labor and other inputs to the protection and development of community forest lands for overall local benefits. Table 1: Results of community forest land allocation in four target villages No. Village Community forest land allocated (ha) % of Community forest land allocated 1 Ban Sang 154.3 100 2 To Dooc 45.1 100 3 Na Muc 118.3 100 4 Khuoi Lieng 121.1 100 Lessons learnt - The boundaries of community forest must be clearly defined and accepted by all neighboring villages by participatory approach before processing the paper work. - Strong cooperation between district and commune authorities, especially between Forest Protection Department and Department of Natural Resources and Environment in conducting the field work as well as the paper work play a key role in the success of the community forest land allocation. - Adequate finance resources is needed to conduct field work by the commune and district staff. 3.2 Establishment of community forest management (CFM) plan After receiving the official rights of using the CF lands, CFM plans have been established for each village. The CFM within each village consists of two elements: (1) regulations which provide a legal framework for village members to implement the CFM plan at the village level, and (2) a CFM plan which describes and lists the activities that would be undertaken. Both the regulations and plans were a result of separate village meetings and discussion. Tran Van Dien, Tran Thi Thu Ha & Khongsak Pinyopusarerk 230 Therefore while the general scope has been maintained across the four villages, the contents differ depending on the land use preferences and enforcement level of each village. General contents of CFM regulations - Rights and responsibilities of all community members in forest protection and development - Rules to protect forests and mobilize human resources to protect and develop forests - Logging, buying and selling of timber and non-timber products - Animal grazing in the community forest - Prevention of forest fire - Checking and preventing outsiders from shifting cultivation, illegal logging or hunting, and illegal buying, selling and transporting timber/non-timber/animals within the village. - Cooperation among community members in forest protection and development, production services and sale of products. - Collaboration with other villages to protect and effectively develop the forests - Regulations on penalty for infringement of the forest protection rules - Regulations on sharing benefits among community members - The regulations should be presented to all community members and submitted for approval by Commune People's Committee. General contents of CMF Plan - New plantation plan such as chice of species, planting area, where and when to plant labor cost, number of seedlings, and sources of seedlings - Nursery plan, seedling production - Maintenance and protection - Harvesting plans - Human resource (labor input) plan - Other activities such as agro-forestry Lesson learnt from establishment of CFM plan - It is necessary to modify the Guidelines of MARD on Community Forest Management (Figure 1) which was issued on November 27, 2006 (Decision 106/2006/BNN-PTNT) for more simple and practical in local conditions [4]. - Participatory approach to develop the CFM is crucial factor for establishment of a feasible and practical CFM plan. - Staff of district Forest Protection Department and commune extension workers are main technical sources to provide support to community in developing the CFM plan. 3.3 Implementation of CFM plans 3.3.1 Involvement of community members in CFM Within each village, a CFM board of five persons has been elected by open votes to oversee overall implementation. All four villages have placed a strong emphasis on plantation forest, protection of watershed areas and commercial wood production. During meetings and discussions which were attended by at least one member of every household, all household representatives expressed their commitment to contribute labor inputs in the implementation of the plan. Another common agreement across all four villages was an attempt to reduce and stop shifting cultivation and free grazing in community forest areas. Number of households involved in CFM is presented in Table 2. Table 2: Current involvement of community members participating CFM [5] Village Total households involved in CFM Total males aged >15 involved in CFM Total females aged >15 involved in CFM Quantity % Quantity % Quantity % Na Muc 23 100 54 100 52 100 Khuoi Lieng 35 100 81 100 72 100 To Dooc 19 73 30 46.7 32 46.3 Ban Sang 69 100 157 100 145 100 CARD 017/06 – Community based forest management 231 3.3.2 Capacity building for local people Based on the training needs of local community, various trainings were conducted as presented in Table 3. Most of the trainings were conducted using Farmer Field School (FFS) approach. The trainings helped all local community members to be aware of laws on forest protection and development and be more knowledgeable and skillful in technical issues relating to forest management. Table 3: Training courses conducted in the project area [6] No. Training topics Number of direct beneficiaries 1 Land-use planning and land allocation 26 2 Planning and implementation of community forest management 25 3 Village nursery propagation 125 4 Plantation forest development 82 5 Law on forest protection and development 80 6 Agro-forestry model for income generation 64 7 Sustainable harvest of non-timber forest products 82 In addition to the above, this CARD project also organized study tours to other CFM projects and community workshops for sharing experience. 3.3.3 Establishment of village-based nurseries One of the constraints in development of both community forest lands and household allocated lands is the lack of quality forest seedlings. Some projects had provided seedlings to area but it was not successful. The survival rate was very low probably due to the long distance in transport of seedlings to the village sites. Therefore, the establishment of village nursery garden to produce the seedling near plantation site is not only to ensure the high survival rate of seedlings but also create potential income generation for local people. The project facilitated the establishment of village-based community nurseries to raise quality tree seedlings for sale or distribution to land owners. The project has paid special attention to using seed of good genetic quality. Key inputs provided by the project included training in nursery management and provision of access to quality genetic seed sources of Acacia mangium (keo) (from CSIRO and Forest Science Institute of Vietnam) and Manglietia conifera (Mo). During three years of project implementation, a large number of forest seedlings were produced for planting in both community forest lands and household allocated lands as presented in the Table 4. Tran Van Dien, Tran Thi Thu Ha & Khongsak Pinyopusarerk 232 Table 4: Number of seedlings produced annually in four target villages Village Manglietia conifera Acacia mangium Total Na Muc 30,000 40,000 70,000 Khuoi Lieng 20,000 30,000 50,000 To Dooc 20,000 30,000 50,000 Ban Sang 30,000 40,000 70,000 Table 5 reveals that a community requires at least 5 million VND to establish a nursery and more than 16.5 million VND per year for operating expenses. The production cost for each seedling is only 309 VND, while the current market price is 700 - 1000 VND. Table 5: Costs for a village-based nursery producing 70,000 seedlings/year [7] Cost item Cost (VND) Construction of nursery garden (capital cost) 5,120,000 Operating cost 16,498,000 Total cost 21,618,000 Cost per seedling 309 3.3.4 Agro-forestry models in community forest lands The design of the agro-forestry model takes into account the need for income generation for communities. Expanding market opportunities exist for planted trees of a number of species reflecting the transition from dependency on a natural forest to a planted resource. By selecting appropriate species well adapted to the local environment, which are fast growing and meet a market need, communities can benefit financially from tree planting projects either on community land or other land surplus to agricultural requirement. Crops on the other hand will provide opportunities for added food security with surplus crops providing additional income. The areas for the agro-forestry model trials are about one hectare each village. The selection of species was based on the key species recommended in the land use planning surveys which were considered to have potential as either commercial species or for use in alley cropping systems. For timber production, Acacia (Keo), Manglietia conifera (Mo) and Melia azedarach (Xoan) were preferred by villagers, and these were the tree species for this model. In addition, one fast- growing, multi purpose species, Cassia (cot khi) has been included for planting on the contours for soil erosion control. Agricultural crop planted between tree rows was chosen by villagers based on local experience. Hybrid corn, improved soybean, taro and cassava have been selected for growing in agro-forestry models. Table 6 shows the yields of the agriculture crops in the agro-forestry models in the target villages. Table 7 shows height growth one year after planting in the four agro- forestry plots. CARD 017/06 – Community based forest management 233 Table 6: Agricultural crop yields in 2008 and 2009 in the four project villages Unit: kg/ha Years Crop Na Muc Khuoi Lieng To Dooc Ban Sang 2008 Soybean 400 630 650 700 Taro - 300 - - Cassava - 5,000 - - 2009 Maize 4,500 2,000 2,200 2,000 Soybean 1,400 - - - Table 7: Plant height of forest tree in agro-forestry models after two years of planting Unit: m Species Na Muc Khuoi Lieng To Dooc Bang Sang Manglietia conifera 2.0-2.5 2.0-2.5 1.5-2.0 1.5-2.0 Acacia mangium 2.5-3.0 2.5-3.0 2.0-2.5 2.0-2.5 Melia azedarach 2.0-2.5 2.0-2.5 - - 3.3.5 Community forest development funds (CFDF) Community Forest Development Fund has been developed by the community through initial seed money from CARD project. The main purpose of this fund is for forest development activities in community forest areas in the village. Activities related to community forest development can use this fund following the community's regulations. This fund will be maintained and grown for long-term purpose. The fund is managed by Community Forest Management Board. Financial issue is reported to village meetings to ensure transparency. Sources for CFDF a) Funding from CARD project: - CARD project contributed 1,000 AUD (13 million VND) as "seed money" to establish the fund. - Households who receive seedlings from the village nursery to plant on their own land must contribute 50 VND per seedling to the fund (following regulations of nursery management). b) Income from timber and non-timber forest products from the community forest area: - Contribute 20% of total income from non- timber forest product harvest such as mushroom, fruits, and medicinal plants to the fund. - Households within the village community are permitted to use timber from the community forest areas to build their houses; they have to contribute 20% of the total value to the fund. c) Interest from loan - The fund can be used for loan for agricultural and forestry production with low interest of 0.6% per month based on demand of household members of the community forest. d) Penalty from illegal actions following CFM regulation - All fines from illegal actions following the CFM regulations will be put into the fund. Management of CFDF - CFM Board has a responsibility to manage the CFDF. - Use of the fund follows government's financial regulations (receipts and reports are required). - Accountant and head of the Community Forest Management Board must report to Commune People’s Committee on financial issues Status of community forest development funds after two years of implementation (Jan, 2008 - Jan, 2010) is presented in Table 8. Tran Van Dien, Tran Thi Thu Ha & Khongsak Pinyopusarerk 234 Table 8. Status of community forest development funds in four villages after 2 years of operation Unit: Thousands. VND Indicator Khuoi Lieng Na Muc To Dooc Ban Sang Principal funds 13,000 13,000 13,000 13,000 Fund growth 6,160 7,068 10,000 3,188 Loans 14,650 10,300 21,000 7,500 Expenditure for CFM 1,465 127 850 594 Outstanding balance 3,195 7,784 2,735 9,968 The figure in Table 8 indicates that CFDF has been well managed by local community. The fund size of all four villages has increased significantly. The poor households in the community can access to CFDF as microfinance sources for forest development. Lessons learnt from implementation of CFM plan - Capacity building for local people on the rights to access to the community forest lands, the rights to harvest and the responsibility to protect the community forest is considered the most important activity for the success of the implementation of CFM. - Control of free grazing in Bac Kan is a crucial factor for the success of the agro- forestry models and reforestation in community forest lands - Clear demarcation of the community forest boundary can avoid the conflicts between villages in harvesting forest products in the community forest. 3.4 The impacts/changes due to implementation CFM plan Survey to identify the impacts and the changes due to implementation of CFM plan on the communities of four villages was conducted in March 2010. Results of the survey show that implementation of CFM plan has positive impacts on communities in term of livelihood improvement, environment protection and forest quality (Table 9). 57-100% members of communities agreed that implementation of CFM plan has decreased the number of illegal cases of forest exploitation or violation. 59- 100% members of communities responded that community forest was well protected so it has been enriched. Therefore it creates a better environment such as having water throughout the year, less natural disasters in local areas. In addition, the implementation of CFM plan has created the equality and solidarity in the communities. Table 9. Impacts and changes due to application of CFM plan [5] Indicator Percentage of local people agreed (%) Na Muc Khuoi Lieng To Dooc Ban Sang Decreased illegal forest exploitation 100 94.1 81.8 86.4 Enriched