Devolution of Forest Management in Vietnam

Devolution of Forest Management in Vietnam

Assessment Methods for Forest Land Allocation

Research Project Supported by the Tropical Ecology Support Program (TÖB) - GTZ

Purpose	Who are We?	Documents
Background	Main Partners	Contact Us
Objectives	Timeline	Related Links
	Major Events

Purpose

It is increasingly understood that forestry can only be sustainable if it involves local people. The question today is no longer whether or not governments should devolve rights to forest land and resources, but under what conditions and how they should devolve authority over forest management. Yet decision-makers lack empirical knowledge and analytical tools to evaluate the outcomes of devolution, identify the conditions conducive for successful devolution, and develop appropriate processes of devolution. As government are initiating devolution policies and programs, there is an urgent need for assessment methods that serve decision-makers need for timely and concise information about policy implementation and outcomes.

This project has the goal to develop assessment methods for forest land allocation in Vietnam. Over the past eight years, the Vietnamese government has initiated massive efforts at finding new forms of cooperation between state and local people in forest management. Dak Lak province has in this process experimented with the allocation of standing forest to local people, giving local people rights to forest resources that exceed those received by people in other provinces of the country. With funding by the Tropical Ecology Support Program (TÖB) of the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ), this project aims to support forest land allocation in Vietnam by developing and testing assessment methods that help decision-makers analyze the impact of forest land allocation on local livelihoods and forest conditions.

For further information on forest policy in Vietnam and Dak Lak please click here.

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Objectives

The purpose of this research project can be stated as:

"The Dak Lak Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is in a position to apply and develop assessment methods for forest land allocation, with support in the form of scientific expertise and active research collaboration provided by Tay Nguyen University."

The project is intended to yield the following results:

Knowledge about the outcomes of forest land allocation is generated.
Methods for assessing the outcomes of forest land allocation are developed.
Capacities have been strengthened at the Dak Lak Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and Tay Nguyen University for further adaptation of the methods.

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Who are We?

The research team includes Mr. Tran Ngoc Thanh and Mr. Nguyen Quang Tan. Thanh and Tan will perform the bulk of the research and concurrently pursue doctoral studies at Humboldt University Berlin. Thanh comes out of the Dak Lak Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and has been one of the key staff members in Dak Lak's experiments with forest land allocation. Tan used to work for a social forestry development project in northern Vietnam, for which he served as a Monitoring & Evaluation expert. Both researchers hold master degrees from universities in the USA and UK.

A Scientific Support Team advises the two researchers. The Team consists of Dr. Bao Huy from Tay Nguyen University, Dr. Cu Chi Loi from the Institute of Economics in Hanoi and Dr. Vuong Xuan Tinh from the Institute of Ethnology in Hanoi. The main tasks of the Team is to provide scientific backstopping on social forestry, economic and ethnological issues.

A National Advisor Team ensures the linkages between the research conducted in Dak Lak and national-level policy discussions. The Team includes Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Lung, the former Director of the Department of Forest Development, Dr. Nguyen Hong Quan, the current Vice Director of the Department of Forest Development of Vietnam, and Mr. Pham Xuan Phuong, a senior policy expert in the Policy Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The main tasks of the National Advisor Team are to feed ideas and expectation by national policy-makers into the research process and channel research findings into national-level policy discussions.

The Division of Resource Economics at Humboldt University Berlin is responsible for the overall scientific quality of the research, integration with international discussions on forest devolution, and supervision of the doctoral dissertations written by the two main researchers. Within the Division, Prof. Dr. K. Hagedorn and Dr. Thomas Sikor are most directly concerned with the research.

The Sustainable Management of Natural Resources in the Lower Mekong Basin Project (SMRP): provides administrative and institutional support to the research team. Project staff directly involved with this research are Dr. Hans Helmrich and Mr. Michael Glück.

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Main Partners

Daklak Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, 47 Nguyen Tat Thanh, Buon Me Thuat, Dak Lak, Vietnam.

Department of Forest Development, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Suite B9, No. 2, Ngoc Ha, Hanoi, Vietnam.

Department of Silviculture and Forest Management, Tay Nguyen University, Buon Me Thuat, Dak Lak, Vietnam

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Timeline

The research commenced in April 2001 with an Inception Workshop. It will last for a duration of three years, until June 2004. Its timeline is as follows:

Preparation: April 2001 - January 2002

In Vietnam

Commence project
Conduct exploratory field work
Study background documents

In Germany

Review literature
Develop detailed research prospectis

Field Research: February 2002 - April 2003

Step 1 (February - July 2002): In-depth research in 2 villages.
Step 2 (August - October 2002): Method development:

Summarize findings from 2 villages
Define measures and indicators
Determine data collection techniques
Discuss method with decision-makers

Step 3 (November 2002 - January 2003): Trial application in 2 villages:

Team from Tay Nguyen University applies method
Researchers monitor trial application
Evaluation of methods is jointly done with decision-makers

Step 4 (February - April 2003): Large-scale application in 10 villages:

Team from Tay Nguyen University conducts application
Researchers assist analysis of results
Evaluation is done with decision-makers

Dissertation writing at Humboldt University Berlin: May 2003 - July 2004.

For a description of major events, please click here.

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Documents

Please click on the document title to view or download.

Title	Author(s)	Note
Project proposal	Dr. Hans Helmrich
Report on Findings from Field Visits to Forest Land Allocation Locations in Cu Jut and Krong Bong Districts, Dak Lak Province	Nguyen Quang Tan	Report No. 1
Factors Influencing Local Organization of Forest Management: A Case Study of Forest Devolution in Daklak, Vietnam	Tran Ngoc Thanh	Ph.D Research Proposal
Devolution of Forest Management: An Analysis of Benefits of Local Farm Households in Daklak, Vietnam	Nguyen Quang Tan	Ph.D Research Proposal
The Local Outcomes of Forest Land Allocation: Evidence from Dak Lak	Tran Ngoc Thanh, Nguyen Quang Tan and Sikor, T.
Local Impact Assessment of Forest Land Allocation: Manual	Tran Ngoc Thanh, Nguyen Quang Tan and Sikor, T.

Please visit MekongInfo for more documents on forest policy in Vietnam and Dak Lak.

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Contact Us

You can reach us via Email under mekongt@yahoo.com (Mr. Tran Ngoc Thanh) or tananh@hn.vnn.vn (Mr. Nguyen Quang Tan).

Our mailing address is:

Between Jul 01-Jan 02 and May 03-Jun 04:	Between Feb 02 - May 03:
TÖB c/o: Division of Resource Economics - Department of Agricultural Economics and Social Sciences Humboldt University Berlin - Luisenstr. 56, Berlin 10099 Germany Tel: (+49) 30 - 2093 6312 Fax: 2093 6339	TÖB2 c/o: So Nong nghiep va Phat trien Nong thon Dak Lak 47, Nguyen Tat Thanh, Buon Me Thuat, Dak Lak Vietnam Tel: (+84) 50 - 951 258 Fax: 952 091