Regional Environmental Technical Assistance 5771
Poverty Reduction & Environmental Management Remote Greater
Mekong Subregion (GMS) Watersheds Project (Phase I)

FINAL WORKSHOP PROCEEDINGS

Vientiane, Lao PDR, 9-10 June 1999

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. INTRODUCTION

1. Background

The project, Poverty Reduction and Environmental Management in Remote GMS Watersheds, is an Asian Development Bank (ADB) Regional Environmental Technical Assistance (RETA) twelve month study financed by the Department for International Development Cooperation (DIDC), Finland. The project was awarded to a Finnish consultancy consortium headed by Helsinki Consulting Group (HCG) of Helsinki.

The project, which started in June 1998, has made good progress during the first Phase. Within the first two months of the project start up, national partners were identified in each participating riparian country. The Working Group on Environment (WGE) members were briefed about the project and inception workshop was held on the 4th and 5th of August in the Science, Technology & Environment Organisation (STENO) in Vientiane Lao PDR, and then followed the mid-term review workshop which was held on the 3^rd and 5^th of August 1998. The overall aim of the project is to contribute to the sustainable management of natural resources in watersheds throughout the GMS, thereby mitigating environmental degradation in the region. Aspects to be examined include watershed policy, legislation, strategies and management practices related to natural resource management within watersheds in the GMS.

2. Objectives

The objective of the Final workshop was to provide the opportunity for the participants to share their experiences concerning reviews of previous and current experiences of watershed management in the six riparian countries. Besides a summary of the results rapid rural appraisal in selected watersheds was presented with the display posters to get a better overview of existing preliminary data for the discussion of investment project for Phase II. Together with those objectives the idea for investment options in Phase II were also discussed. Opportunities for regional collaboration, which is one of major issues for the implementation in Phase II, were also included in the discussion.

3. Attendance

Poverty and Environmental Management in Remote Greater Mekong Subregion Watersheds Project works closely with the Working Group on Environment, national partner agencies, and institutions/agencies in each GMS countries. 86 participants from all 5 countries participated in the Final Workshop; 12 participants from Cambodia, 13 participants from Vietnam, 9 participants from Thailand, 4 participants from Kunming- China PR, and 36 participants from Lao PDR (see Appendix). About 22 participants came from different NGO’s from all GMS countries. Representatives from Myanmar as well as from some other institutions expressed their regrets for not being able to attend to this Final Workshop due to the unavoidable circumstances.

II. OPENING THE WORKSHOP

Welcome Address and Keynote Speech

by Mr Noulinh Sinbandhit, Acting President of STENO, Vientiane, Lao PDR

Mr Chairman, Honourable Delegates and Participants

Ladies and Gentlemen

First, let me on behalf of STENO thank the organisers of this workshop for providing me the opportunity to welcome you all here today at the final workshop of this important project concerning poverty and the environment within the Greater Mekong Subregion. It is a great pleasure to note that we have an audience of nearly 100 participants and this endorses the importance placed upon the pressing issues of poverty alleviation and wise environmental management of natural resources. During the next two days the final conclusions and recommendations of the first phase of this project will be presented and discussed with a wide range of project stakeholders; the Asian Development Bank, the Working Group on Environment, the Department of International Cooperation in Finland, MRCS, national government partners, national and regional consultants, NGOs, representatives from watershed based communities, and so on.

Ladies & Gentlemen

The incidence of poverty among the rural communities living in remote and other watersheds in the GMS countries is high and women and children are particularly disadvantaged. Lack of education and basic health facilities in some remote areas frustrate the capability of these communities to escape from poverty. Ethnic minorities can be similarly disadvantaged. Many rural development and conservation projects link such poverty to an accelerating degradation of the natural environment. However, there are many agents of environmental degradation which relate to commercial as well as subsistence needs. Watershed based communities depend upon natural resources for their subsistence and have no alternative resources on which to build their lives. It is therefore realistic to accept this link and to attempt to design development projects which develop sustainable approaches to resource management as well as promote alternative livelihood systems and income generating opportunities. Community based resource management offers opportunity for long term sustainability but must be accompanied with land and resource tenure. However, one should also note that the generally quoted hypothesis that poverty alleviation will in the future reduce the pressures that watershed communities exert upon natural resources is not proven and there are currently no practical field examples to prove the theory. What is important is to design simple and achievable projects that address one or two environment and poverty problems in a practical and pragmatic way.

Watershed management is multisectoral and therefore complex. Many of the institutions responsible for watershed management are not adequately equipped or resourced to undertake effective management. Skills are sometimes lacking and often GMS country governments simply lack the resources necessary for training and development of human resources. Moreover, the riparian countries must prioritise environmental and poverty issues on their national development agendas and support these pledges with real political will. Many of the problems associated with environmental degradation, such as deforestation, shifting cultivation, illegal trade in timber and wildlife products are rooted in a lack of law enforcement and political will to eradicate such environmental damage. Policies are very often in place but their enforcement is hampered by a lack of real commitment.

If environmental degradation persists at current levels then equitable access to common resources such as water will be threatened in the future. Anecdotal information suggests that siltation of the Mekong river as a consequence of uncontrolled upper watershed deforestation has already depleted water levels and fish stocks in the Tonle Sap with dramatic results. Such regional impacts are clearly unacceptable to the region as a whole. The need, therefore, for regional collaboration concerning environmental policy and its enforcement will become more important as resources become scarcer, and more threatened, in the future. Opportunities for regional collaboration should be sought in areas of common resource management and control of illegal border trading in timber and wildlife products. The Asian Development Bank, in recognition of these problems, entered into a programme of subregional economic cooperation in the GMS in 1992. Whilst there will be some mutual advantages for cooperation across the subregion, we must also be fully aware of the practical and political difficulties involved in any trans-national development initiative.

As the region develops in the future so pressures on the environment will increase. Trans-national road building programmes will carry environmental consequences, which must be carefully monitored and controlled at all planning stages. Experience from around the world shows that as countries develop economically it is generally at the expense of their natural resources. Some sort of balance between the preservation of environmental values and economic development is necessary. Eradication of rural poverty will only be possible through the development of some industrial base which will place additional demands on natural resources. The key will be to formulate a view as to what level of natural resource depletion is environmentally acceptable as a cost of economic development. Within the MRC countries, average overall forest cover is currently 36 percent. Is this enough to provide habitats, preserve gene pools, protect watersheds, supply subsistence needs to rural populations, sequester sufficient carbon to counter global warming and to sustain a favourable climate.

The harvesting of forest and its products by rural communities for subsistence is responsible for the clearance of more forested land than is cleared through commercial logging or agriculture. The role of watershed based communities in resource management will become more important in the future. The current initiatives in community based natural resource management are therefore most appropriate and should be encouraged. Finally, ladies and gentlemen, I hope that these general thoughts make a contribution to the debate on how to manage watersheds for the good of people and their environment. There is clearly an intimate link between human activity and the environment. The GMS governments have an opportunity to develop policies that can contribute to the objectives of this and similar projects. Policies, however, require enforcement and such enforcement will require sustained political will.

Ladies and gentlemen, I declare this workshop open.

Adoption of Agenda

The Agenda as adopted by the Technical Assistance team and participants during the Final Workshop is set out below.

Note * RRA resource persons are as follows:

III. TECHNICAL SESSION

The presentation details will be summarized as below.

1. Progress of the Project

By Mr. Stephen Devenish, Team Leader

The progress report is given in detail in the Executive Summary and papers from different sectors for each country and regional level.

2. Cambodia Country Paper

Mr. Chuon Chanrithy, Deputy Director, Natural Resources Assessment and Environmental Data Department presented the Cambodian country paper.

Policy & Institution

Cambodia is still grappling with its legacy of recent past, and the political instability it brought about in the country. A lack of an effective regulatory framework has made policy development second priority in the upland areas. However, the measures taken by the government are gradually improving the situation as we have seen over the last few months, and we foresee that policy development will become an important activity in the near future.

The basic and well-known problem in the upland areas is the conflict over land use. Illegal logging has been rampant and forest and agricultural concessions overlap with protected areas and lands customarily held by indigenous people. As a first measure it is necessary to carry out a comprehensive land use planning exercise in the upland areas. While it may be difficult to correct all the mistakes done in the past, there is probably still room for everyone wishing to participate in the sustainable use of upland resources.

The indigenous communities inhabiting upland areas are particularly vulnerable to external pressures. It is clear that their future is crucially dependent on their continued access to land and therefore resolving the issue of indigenous land tenure has highest priority on the upland development agenda. The most promising opportunity seems to be the expansion of community-based tenure.

Regarding indigenous land use it is likely that population growth and other claims to land area will increase land scarcity in the upland areas. While there is no need to force a sudden intensification of land use in the indigenous communities, a gradual change should be encouraged. To this end, the limited resources of the Government should be used to facilitating this change- creating an environment conducive for voluntary change.

Non-Government Organisation

The Non-Government Organisations in Cambodia and with the signing of the Peace Accords in 1991 and the recognition of NGOs in the constitution the number of civil societies has been growing quickly. Today the good work of the more 200 international and a big number of Cambodian NGOs are recognized by the government, who is included them in major development discussions. Their legal status is still unclear but a draft Act has been discussed for some years.

Strong umbrella organisations are developing networking among the NGOs, but quite a number of the small Cambodian organisations are nevertheless working in isolation. The importance of including NGOs in the project work is obvious. There is, however, a lack of qualified Cambodians to run and administer development projects and this makes it difficult for them to participate in bigger projects. The international NGOs have an important role in assisting their local colleagues with funds and training, but a component of human resource development should be included in the future RETA 5771 project.

Social Issues

Cambodian remains the poorest of the GMS countries with an annual per capita income of about US$ 280. In rural areas, malnutrition and infant mortality are high and much of the population lacks access to health and education facilities, safe drinking water, electricity, sanitation, and serviceable roads. Land mines continue to limit the use of arable land. Chloroquine-resistant malaria is a major cause of death. At accountability and transparency, improving governance, combating corruption, respecting human rights, strengthening the rule of law, and increased commitments to health and education were all critically important.

The Stung Pursat priority watershed was traditionally ruled by Puor minorities in the uplands. These groups have been largely displaced to the lowlands in the past 25 years, where they live in poverty and wish to return to the uplands. However, a new and highly virulent strain of malaria may now threaten all habitation in the Stung Pursat uplands.

In the Stung Sen priority watershed in Preah Vihear province, the Kuay minority is the main group and fairly well-integrated into lowland society. In the Se San priority watershed in Ratanakiri province, eco-tourism potential is high. A proposal to settle tens of thousands military veterans in the watershed could hasten the likelihood of environmental disaster already posed by vast logging operations, which threatens the culture and quality of life of the Brao, Tampuan, and other forest-based communities as well as the viability of downstream fisheries and agriculture in central Cambodia. Although some inactive concessions have been revoked, in reality little progress has been made in halting transboundary logging in Virachey National park and in curtailing logging elsewhere in the watershed.

Prior to the gender issues, the emerging critical gender and social issues include the high rate of female-headed households and increasing feminization of poverty in rural areas. This is partially due to the civil and political events, which are reflected in the situation of women and children in the country.

Gender Issues

The land area for cultivation is scarce. This is also due to the mining, economic hardships and poverty push the "poorest of the poor", mostly young women and men to move to urban areas where employment opportunities are scarce. Pull-factors into prostitution, illegal economic activities including cross-border trading, smuggling and trafficking are alarming increasing.

The HIV/AIDS figures in Cambodia have the highest increase rate in South-East Asia according to the UNAIDS, and the development agencies are supporting new project approaches. These include: training border police for law enforcement and handling returnees and female victims, economic analysis of HIV/AIDS and counseling services for victims of family violence, prostitutes and HIV carriers. Development of new poverty indicators and studies of rural malnutrition and food security- are some of the latest development interventions.

Other recommendations include support to farm technology development, credit schemes, market development and functional literacy programs for rural areas. The Ministry of Women’s and Veteran’s Affairs has launched a new national women in development policy "Rattana Nieri".

Upland agriculture

In Cambodia, the extreme rural poverty and lack of important social support services (health, education and roads) are major challenges for the development of the rural sector. The former governments have been reluctant to channel funds to the rural sector. Regarding environmental degradation the population pressure in the highlands is not yet alarming. Thus, there is potential to intensify the existing land use systems within their traditional framework in many areas. Land-use patterns and arrangements should be carefully understood before changes are pursued. There is a proposed legal framework and administrative structure for mountain people’s development. Moreover, there are established Village Development Committees, which can enable community participation. But unclear land tenure and tenure of other natural resources reduces communities’ control over these resources.

Concerning the wood trade in the past years, after the Paris Peace Accord, Cambodia became the most important source of wood in the GMS. Actually, the logging volumes have been above the sustainable levels. However, even the sustainable yield has not been established recently and may be subject of discussion. Total removals are dominated by domestic consumption of fuelwood and building materials.

A major issue in the Cambodian forestry is the lack of information on the resource and its utilisation. Practically all of the logging has been unauthorized and carried out in other people’s concessions and protected areas. The situation has been due to both deficiencies in legislation and lack of implementation of the existing laws.

Fortunately there has been recent work done to improve the situation and based on that, the Royal Government of Cambodia has issued guidelines to solve the situation. The outcome of the recent measures taken is still to be seen. One thing is evident, the current level of activity cannot be maintained; if the official crackdown is not successful the resource will be exhausted and large-scale logging will stop.

Biodiversity and Protected Areas

Cambodia is moderate rich in biodiversity and endemism. Its biodiversity index of 7.5 is fourth highest of the five GMS countries for which an index has been calculated.

The forest cover is estimated of 62 percent, the highest for the GMS, but much of it is degraded. Wetlands also provide critical sources of biodiversity, more so than in any other GMS country. The most valuable wetlands are Tonle Sap and the Mekong river plus its environs.

There are at least 2,300 known vascular plants and 1,000 vertebrates. Threatened species comprise 217 plants and 110 animals. Eight of the animals are critically endangered.

Cambodia shares a broad range of issues concerning biodiversity and protected area management with other GMS countries: in Particular, rising human populations, agricultural expansion, loss of forest and unsustainable harvesting of non-timber forest products. The principal issues in Cambodia appear to be as follows.

Policies are moderately good. The National Environmental Action Plan for 1998-2002 contains guidelines for biodiversity and protected areas, and strategies for achieving objectives.

Laws are weak, incomplete and largely unenforced. A 1993 Royal Decree, Creation and Designation of Protected Area, only prescribes principles so that further sub-decrees are needed to make it enforceable. The Law of the Environment 1996 is also reported to be without force, and requires sub-decrees (including one on protected area maintenance) to be promulgated.

The protected area system is large, well-designed and representative. It occupies 18.8 percent of Cambodia, a higher proportion than in any other GMS country. It comprises seven national parks, then wildlife sanctuaries, three protected landscapes and three multiple use areas. They are nominally, at least managed by the Department of Nature Conservation in the Ministry of Environment in conjunction with Provincial Departments of Environment.

Eight protected areas were identified as an area of major biodiversity significance, parts of two of these areas lie on the Strung Pursat watershed selected for investment proposals in Phase II.

Management capacity is low in skills and numbers of personnel. The ratio of one staff member to 345 km² is by far the lowest for the GMS; and only four of the 23 areas have any personnel. It is doubtful whether so large protected area system can effectively be managed within the foreseeable future.

Official and public apathy, widespread in the GMS, was given greatest emphasis in Cambodia. There is a little or no ‘constituency’ for biodiversity conservation; and protected areas are plundered and violated without arousing and obvious public hospitality.

Uncontrolled logging occurs in all 23 protected areas, 17 of which have commercially valuable species. Significant amount of uncontrolled logging is carried out by military units. Only 10 percent of logging concessions are reported to comply with forest law.

Wetlands are being lost through conversion of swamp to agricultural land. Forest removal around Tonle Sap has led to increased siltation and decreased depth. Life cycles of fishes that move between the main rivers and spawning areas in upstream tributaries or swamp forests are being disrupted.

Donor support accounts for 90 percent of all protected area funding. Continuance is in jeopardy. Political instability led to withdrawal of USAID in 1997. Others may follow.

3. China Country Paper (Yunnan)

By Mr. Bo Zhou, Senior officer, Yunnan Institute of Environment

Policy and Institution

The Yunnan Government sets high priority to watershed protection and restoration of degraded environment. To this end, the Government has launched large-scale reforestation programmes and large areas have already been replanted. However, the Government has become aware that reforestation is only dealing with the symptom of problem, not it is cause. In order to ensure the sustainability of the achievements, it will be necessary to identify the root causes. Given that household use accounts for 90 percent of all wood use, it is clear that in many areas of the Yunnan province the problems can be traced back to social issues. It appears therefore that in the future we need to pay more attention to social aspects of various development programs in order to accommodate local peoples short term needs. In practical terms we have to, for instance, increase the reforestation area, where agricultural tree crops will be planted.

Accompanying this change it would be necessary to decentralize and reorient the public administration to implement more people-centered development. It is necessary to recognize that under any circumstances local people will be major actors of developments. The main strategy is to strengthen the extension function of the public administration.

Strengthening links with the urban areas, especially upland towns, is another option for relieving land pressure in remote watersheds. Relaxing the present regulations on migration would probably encourage people to move out of the remote areas. If it were possible to attract the migrants to stay in the upland towns, congestion in large cities would also be mitigated.

Arrangements for land tenure in China PR are highly varied especially as regards forest land. The array of options seems adequate, but the change has been so rapid that it has eroded confidence in the stability of the system. Therefore, for the time being, the emphasis must be placed on consolidating the existing models. In the upland areas, caution should be taken in introducing market-based options, as the upland people are often unfamiliar with how the market mechanism functions.

Non-Governmental Organisation

The concept of NGOs in Yunnan is fairly new and the role of NGOs not yet fully understood. There is no legislation for international organisations while local ones are ruled by a State Council Order from 1998. A small number of international NGOs have established themselves in Yunnan and work mainly with issues concerning social matters and natural resources management. Several local associations and foundations exist but only few can be defined as development NGOs. NGOs and a wider donor group meet regularly to discuss and exchange views on development matters and since some years back a newsletter "Chinabrief" is published. In order to determine the possibilities for future cooperation with the NGO sector, the project should assess the capacity of the NGO and discuss the cooperation mechanism within a wider development context.

Gender Issues

The most critical gender and social issues in Yunnan include: the transition of the economy with accompanying rapid social change; concerns about reaching the ethnic minority women in development planning (impact of cross-border movements (illegal and legal) such as logging, trafficking, drug trade, spreading HIV/AIDS, prostitution, lack of marketing opportunities in the rural areas), and capacity building through education, technical training and research. The highland women in Yunnan have expressed high ideals of the future and established many business and production activities to become economically prosperous- from mushroom trade to textiles and garment marketing. In the project interventions, through participatory planning, support should be included in the areas of trading non-tree forest products, and developing marketing and management skills. There is need also to provide level gender statistics and databases, and to increase functional literacy programs for upland women. Critical is also to provide support to health and population issues, to raise awareness of trafficking (of girls from Yunnan to Thailand), increasing prostitution and spread of HIV/AIDS in Kunming and other industrial and cross-border areas along the transport routes.

Upland agriculture

Poverty alleviation programs have been rather efficiently implemented by the Government channels. Intensification and diversification of production systems by provision of improved seeds and other inputs through rural financing started in late 1980s, are having an impact. The major challenges are steep slopes and light soils, which are vulnerable to erosion. In the social side, there is great variation in poverty level of the communities, especially in Xhishuangbanna, which calls for careful selection and stakeholder analysis in planning of the assistance program.

Wood Trade

The Yunnan forest sector is going through a major change after a natural forest logging ban was introduced in October 1998. The province has notable forest industry and has also been exported logs to their neighbouring provinces. Yunnan, like the whole of China, has been introducing private sector approaches and commercialization also to the forest sector in order to increase efficiency and productivity. However, the administrative roles of the public sector have not been clearly differentiated from their recently introduced business interest. This has left a potential pro-parastatal enterprise bias in public forest administration. The logging ban has been introduced after only little feasibility analysis. It is evident that the wood needs in the province cannot be met from plantation sources; not even the autonomous household demand and the ban only drives much of the current logging underground. The total ban on logging needs to be reconsidered and compared to improved forest management practices that would allow logging in less sensitive areas.

Biodiversity and Protected Areas

Yunnan is the richest province in China for biodiversity. No biodiversity index has been calculated but if it were, Yunnan would likely to rank among the highest for the GMS. Forest cover is estimated of 24 percent, making Yunnan one of the three GMS countries with the least forested land. There are at least 18,000 known plants and 1,638 vertabrates. Threatened species comprise 108 plants and unknown number of animals. At least three animal species are critically endangered. Yunnan shares a broad range of issues concerning biodiversity and protected area management with other GMS countries; in particular, rising human populations, agricultural expansion, loss of forest and unsustainable harvesting of non-timber forest products.

The principal issues in Yunnan appear to be as follows:

1. Policy. Policies are moderately good to poor but are undergoing development. A Biodiversity Conservation Action Plan for China was prepared in 1995 in response to Agenda 21. A National Forest Construction Programme is in preparation. A Tropical Forest Action Plan is being prepared for Yunnan Province. Provisions for protected areas are presently implied in wildlife legislation.
2. Protected Area System. The protected area system is small and has the lowest mean size for individual areas in the GMS. The proportion of cover is 5.0 percent, fifth in ranking in the GMS. It comprises 111 nature reserves and 26 forest parks. They are mostly managed by the Provincial Forest Department and by Prefecture and County Forest Bureaus. Six areas were identified as areas of major biodiversity significance, of which some are clusters of protected areas. One lies on the Luishahe/Nanguohe watersheds selected for investment proposals in Phase II.
3. Management Capacity. Management capacity varies from moderately good to low. The staffing ratio of one staff member to 18.5 km2 is third highest for the GMS; but there is deficiency in skills and the application of professional management techniques.
4. Human Population Pressures. The principle concern voiced in Yunnan was the immense pressure placed upon natural resource management by the enormous, and still increasing, human population. Although the annual increment of 1.4 percent is one of the lowest for the GMS, it still adds over half a million to the Province’s population each year. Increases are highest in the remoter watersheds. All protected areas irrespective of size have villages nearby. Some human settlements are large. Baimaxueshan Nature Reserve of 1,901 km2 has an estimated population of 8,000 spread over 24 administrative centres and about 128,000 people living in close proximity, of which 67,000 live adjacent to its boundary and encroach upon it.
5. Trade in Wildlife. The massive flow of wildlife and by-products into Yunnan Province (and other provinces) from Vietnam and Myanmar contributes to the depletion of biodiversity in those countries and in Lao and Cambodia. The trade occurs in spite of China’s accession to CITIES, enforcement of which in Yunnan is entrusted to the Nature Conservation Office in the Forest Department.

4. Lao Country Paper

By Mrs. Keobang A Keola, Deputy Director of Cabinet, In-charge Foreign Cooperation

The PR Lao Government has developed national development programme, food-, fixed cultivation-, and national policies. Lao PDR appreciates watershed selected, the Nam Ou.

Five criterias selecteds indicators:

1. Cross border activity
2. Livelihood of Uplands
3. Important National biodiversity in this area
4. Unsustainable shifting cultivation – create job creation in those area, such as Government jobs
5. Extreme poverty, basic needs

1. Proposed activity:

Keep the ongoing activity for the interim period

• The second phase is yet to be known, to keep the valuable existing facility
• Phase 1, maintain an interim period to secure a smooth transition, the physical facilities, to build up the national and international capacity

2. Phase II Outline:

Decree on the selection of watershed; proposal of further discussion for the methodology that will be used in Phase II for participating countries;

1. Familiarisation with the documents collected
2. Familiarise with the development thinking
3. Secondary data collection and location selection data classify for corrections and for easy use
4. Natural resource inventory, data collected and compiled, forest, land use, climate, data insert into site specific interventions for Phase II
5. Social data for the second phase; education, health, etc, for specific systems within the watershed system.
6. Plan in Phase I have to be completed
7. Participatory rural development training and technology, village resource management planning and other participatory planning and gender analysis, training also required for the remuneration and the data analysis and training, Institutional support for consultancy and facilitator for recurrent costs, the existing project can be utilised during the interim phase.

Concerning the overall process that will lead up to Phase II

1. Recommendations that are made by the consultants
2. Reach conclusion here and take this back to the Bank
3. The views of the Bank and this is the first step
4. To proceed, a great deal of information is needed in these watersheds on the social and other economic situation that ultimately has to do with poverty alleviation. Ultimately it must focus on people.

5. Myanmar Country Paper

Due to last minute withdrawal of the Myanmar delegation this was presented by Dr Eija Pehu, Upland Agriculture Specialist, RETA 5771

Policy and Institution

• Government resources restricted under any scenario attention to mobilization of people’s resources
• Local land tenure key measure; incentive to "protection through production"
• Severe conflicts between land uses é land use planning, inter-sectoral cooperation

Non-Government Organisation

Only some few international NGOs are operating in Myanmar and most of them have emerged during the 90’s. Local organisations deal with issues concerning e.g. health, education and community development, but cannot be defined as NGOs in strict meaning.

No legislation for NGOs exists.

Should RETA 5771 implement a project in Myanmar an assessment of the existing NGOs and other organisations should be carried out. The cooperation mechanism needs to be clarified.

Gender Issues

• Overall Concern: Cross-Boarder "Wheeling and Dealing" with Neighbors
• Impact of Trade (Yunnan) and Transport Infrastructure on Women’s Lives - Economic Empowerment
• Business Opportunities, Shelters & HIV-Counseling, Tourism Concerns
• Regional Networking and Training Among Ethnic Women and Youth

Upland Agriculture

• Potential to expand agricultural production area
• Potential for increasing exports
• Foreign investments encouraged and export-driven agriculture promoted
• Enabling environment for diversifying and intensifying agricultural production
• Major constraint is access to support services in the agricultural and social sectors (seed, fertilizers, livestock, machinery, credit, markets, extension, health, education, etc.)

Wood Trade

Myanmar has for centuries been a major supplier of valuable tropical hardwoods and is internationally famous for its teak resource. And even currently, log and sawnwood exports are important sources of foreign exchange for the country. However, some institutional arrangements, like State logging and exports prerogatives indicate, that institutional development could lead to increased national economic benefits.

The forests are managed by the state leaving little room for local community participation. Unlike in other GMS countries, Myanmar a has well-developed scientific forest management system (Myanmar Selection System) providing the theoretical background for sustainable forest utilisation. Despite that, some areas in the country have suffered from overlogging.

The domestic fuelwood is in volume terms the most notable product but researchers have varying opinions on the sustainability of fuelwood supply in the country.

Like in other forested countries, the Myanmar should open discussion on how this valuable resource could be utilised in a more sustainable and economically beneficial way.

Biodiversity and protected areas

Myanmar is moderately rich in biodiversity and endemism. Its biodiversity index of 6.8 is the least of the five GMS countries for which an index has been calculated. Estimated forest cover of 48 per cent is the third highest for the GMS although much is degraded.

There are 7,000 known flowering plants and nearly 1,400 vertebrates. Threatened species comprise 833 plants and 261 animals. Ten animals are criticially endangered. A new species of small muntjac was discovered in Kachin State during 1998.

Myanmar shares a broad range of issues concerning biodiversity and protected area management with the other GMS countries: in particular, rising human populations, agricultural expansion, loss of forest and unsustainable harvesting of non-timber forest products. The principal issues in Myanmar appear to be as follows.

POLICY. Policies are moderately good—to the point but rather sketchy. The National Forest Policy of 1998 includes provision for protected areas and their expansion.

LEGISLATION. Laws are moderately good and have a long history. The first protected area was declared in 1859, and the first wildlife legislation (Wild Elephant Protection Act) was enacted in 1879. Other legal instruments followed up to the 1994 Protection of Wildlife and Wild Plants and Conservation of Natural Areas Act.

PROTECTED AREA SYSTEM. The protected area system is small, covering only 2.1 per cent of Myanmar, the lowest proportion for any GMS country. There is, however, good potential for expansion into well-forested terrain in the northern half of the country. The system comprises two national parks, one national marine park, 19 wildlife sanctuaries, five bird sanctuaries, one wildlife park, one elephant range and one mountain park. It is managed by the Forest Department, in the Ministry of Forestry.

Four areas were identified as being of major biodiversity significance. None occurs on the Mae Nam Kok watershed selected for investment proposals in Phase II.

MANAGEMENT CAPACITY. Management capacity is good. The Forest Department employs 14,000, of which 850 are assigned to the Wildlife and Nature Conservation Division. Five per cent are graduates. Staffing ratio for protected areas is one staff member to 17km²—the second best of the GMS countries.

LOGGING. Most protected wildlife areas have suffered or are suffering damage from logging. A switch in recent years towards logging evergreen dipterocarp forest threatens moist tropical forest, and intensified teak removal threatens biodiversity in mixed deciduous forest. Unsustainable harvesting in the dry central zone has led to severe deforestation but the most northerly forests are reported to be virtually intact.

POLITICAL INSTABILITY. Separatist movements render some parts of the country ungovernable, which has hampered progress in designating additions to the protected area system and in enforcing existing legislation.

PUBLIC INDIFFERENCE. Rural inhabitants in general are not in sympathy with government attempts to manage protected areas and conserve biodiversity, or are completely unaware of why these initiatives are being taken. Many groups are downright antagonistic towards any government action.

6. Thai Country Paper

By Dr. Monthip Tabucanon, Director

Policy and Institution

The key issue concerning watershed management is the role of local communities. More than 300,000 people live in the watershed forests, but legally they do not have rights to settle or use the watershed areas. The issue has been debated on and off more than a decade, but legislation has remained unchanged. At the same time, a number of pilot projects have been launched aiming at on-site development in the watershed areas. It is likely that future development efforts will be based on this approach, but for a broader and more sustainable solution, a political agreement must be reached.

Another trend that can be seen in is people outmigrating from remote watersheds to urban areas. Especially young people seem to be leaving the upland areas, and it is likely that this trend will continue no matter what development strategy is adopted in the upper catchments. Most migrants are moving to large cities, which is causing social problems. Another option that may have to be looked at more carefully is the development of upland towns as an alternative destination for the migrants. However, at the same time, it is necessary to continue the development of upper catchments so that upland people will have a real choice, whether to stay or leave.

The present strategy for development of upland agriculture is based on encouraging permanent settlement and cash cropping. While the strategy has been successful in encouraging fixed cultivation and increasing production, it has some negative consequences through pesticide use. As there appears to be considerable interest to practice alternative, less intensive forms of agriculture, the options of increasing research support to developing such alternatives merits further analysis.

In order to overcome the long-standing problem of lacking intersectoral coordination, the Thai Government has studied many alternative models of administration. However, the issues related to watershed management structures should be paid particular attention to in the future.

Non-Government Organisation

NGOs have participated in development activities in Thailand for more than 30 years and take active part in discussions concerning development processes and impacts on natural resources and environment. Their experience is used by the Government in connection with e.g. preparation of new Bills such as the Community Forestry Bill.

Nonprofit organisations are governed by the Civil and Commercial Code but also the Act on National Environment Quality is recognizing the NGOs.

A nationwide umbrella organisation does not exist but several smaller ones, some covering the whole country, have strong networking. E.g. NGO-CORD is recognized by several government organisations and funding agencies as a major representative for Thai NGOs.

For a successful result a close and open dialogue on cooperation mechanisms between the NGO community and the project is essential.

NGO entitled to receive support from the government, national development and social plan, public participation and capabilities for communities.

NGO in Mekong region, NGO network. The Government receives feedback from NGO in the Ministry of Environment many different forms. 87 registered under Ministry. NGO forum, Mass media in Thailand provide clear & reliable information, Thailand trade, logging ban on national forest, floods furthering ban, Supply industry, Sustainable Forest through ITTO and ITTA.

Social Issues

Poverty. In 1992, 15.5% of the rural population was below the RGOT’s poverty line, but only 0.1% was below the international US 1 per day poverty line. With a relatively robust market economy functioning in the lowlands, the RGOT has a good chance of eradicating poverty in the uplands by the year 2020.

Health and Education. The AIDS epidemic has been particularly virulent in Northern Thailand. Opium eradication programmes in Northern Thailand lacked adequate emphasis on detoxification of addicts and therefore had the unintended consequences of fostering a shift to heroin addiction that included younger people and resulted in women being forces in prostitution due to the escalating coat of substance abuse in upland villages. At 94% in 1995, Thailand and Vietnam had the highest adult literacy rates in the GMS.

Ethnic Diversity. There are an estimates 76 living languages in Thailand. Scripts have been created for some of the minority languages, but only Thai is allowed to be used in the school system.

Land Rights. A draft community forestry would allow upland communities some tenure security within Class 1 watersheds. NGOs are currently active in preventing the Royal Forestry Department from relocating upland communities from upland communities.

Maek Gok Prioritiy watershed. This west to east flowing tributary starts in Myanmar and then passes through Chiang Rai province. Ethnic groups living in this watershed inlcude Thai, Chinese, Hmong and Karen.

The planned Kok-Ing- Nan water diversion scheme would divert 1-3 billion cubic meters of Mekong tributary water into the Chao Praya basin, for an estimated reduction of Mekong wet season flow of 1-3%. It is as yet impossible to estimate the social costs of such a diversion in downstream riparian countries.

Gender Issues

When highlighting the most critical gender issues in Thailand we need to consider the critical role of women in the Thai economy and what is the role of the economy in women’s lives. For example one senior male economist described that " Thai economy is drawn on the backs of women". Although women have contributed extensively to economic boom in the country, the consequences need to be seen also through a gender lens, and how the impact of the macro-economic situation on rural families and women need to be considered in project planning and interventions.

Other issues, particularly in the Northern Region, include the consequences of illegal economic activities such as drug trade, on the spread of HIV/AIDS particularly among the youth. For example, last year about 20 percent of the young men recruited for the army were HIV positive. There is also an increasing number of mothers and orphans living with HIV. This has prompted actions to initiate new projects and support services for prevention and rehabilitation.

Internal and cross-border migration, traficking of women and children (for agricultural and industrial labor and entertainment industries) have been widely reported in the media. The impact of tourism development particularly in the border and upland areas are seen and analyzed in a new light after the "Amazing Thailand" Campaign.

All these need awareness building on the importance of gender analysis and monitoring.

Upland Agriculture

The changes that the upland areas are under-going are similar than in the other GMS countries. But the intensification has proceeding further than in most other areas. Well-developed manufacturing industry in Thailand avails more opportunities for adding value to the introduced upland crop produce. There is also good research support available which can provide answers to many technical, economic and social questions. The main constraint for development is that new income generation opportunities have led to rapid expansion of production of that crop leading to further encroachment into forests. Other problems include high pesticide use in vegetable crops and overexploitation of wild species if demand exists.

Because of the strong national research capacity it would be interesting to assess the potential to domesticate certain species of pharmacutical or other industrial interests and to capture the value by chemical extraction. Biotechnology can offer exciting possibilities in this area.

Wood Trade

Thailand has two notable characters in its wood trade; while being a notable wood product industry country it has banned all logging in natural forests. The country needs to import large quantities of logs and sawnwood from the neighbouring countries. Other main source of supply is rubberwood.

Deforestation is, despite the logging ban, a problem in the country. One, though not the only reason, is the widespread illegal logging. This supply combined with legally imported and smuggled logs and rubberwood form the raw material base of the industry.

It is evident that logging ban has not been able to meet all the expectations and the forest policy may need to reconsidered. Have we instead of banning logging actually banned environmentally responsible forest management in Thailand?

Biodiversity and protected areas

Thailand is moderately rich in biodiversity and endemism but levels of endemism are unremarkable. Its biodiversity index of 9.8 is the highest of the five GMS countries for which an index has been calculated.

Estimated forest cover is 25 per cent, making it one of the three least forested countries in the GMS.

There are an estimated 25,000 known flowering plants and 3,000 vertebrates. Threatened species comprise 1,555 higher plants and 276 animals. Thirteen animals are critically endangered.

Thailand shares a broad range of issues concerning biodiversity and protected area management with the other GMS countries: in particular, rising human populations, agricultural expansion, loss of forest and unsustainable harvesting of non-timber forest products. The principal issues in Thailand appear to be as follows.

POLICY. Policies are good but fragmented. Biodiversity and protected areas are addressed in the National Forest Reserves Act of 1964 and the Policy and Prospective Plan for Enhancement and Conservation of National Environmental Quality 1997-2016.

LEGISLATION. Laws are good but fragmented, being divided between the National Parks Act, 1961; National Forest Reserves Act, 1964; and Wildlife Protection and Preservation Act, 1992.

PROTECTED AREA SYSTEM. The protected area system is very extensive and representative, being far larger in sheer size than any other GMS country. The proportion of land covered is 15.2 per cent—second highest in the GMS. The system comprises 64 national parks, 18 national marine parks, 42 wildlife sanctuaries, 66 forest parks and 49 non-hunting areas. It is managed by the Royal Forest Department.

Four areas were identified as being of major biodiversity significance although some are clusters of several protected areas. None occurs on the Mae Nam Kok watershed selected for investment proposals in Phase II.

MANAGEMENT CAPACITY. Management capacity is good. The Royal Forest Department employs 17,000, of which 1,500 are assigned to the Natural Resources Conservation Bureau, which includes the three divisions concerned with managing most protected areas. Levels of skill are relatively high: about 10 per cent are graduates and 10 per cent hold forestry school certificates. Staffing ratio for protected areas is one staff member to 30 km²—fourth highest of the GMS countries.

HIGHLY DEVELOPED TOURISM INDUSTRY. Tourism in Thailand is well developed and diverse. It focuses on archaeological, historical and cultural sites, on protected areas and on resorts. There is some overlap between them. Visits to protected areas in 1997 reached 19 million (about 87 per cent domestic). Thailand is the only GMS country to report visitor impacts as a significant problem to protected area management. Impacts include damage to trails and vegetation, pollution and littering. The Royal Forest Department reported that it has insufficient staff to cope with the demands of visitor control.

REFUGEES. Past and present war and associated turmoil led to floods of refuges (from Cambodia and Myanmar in particular) entering border protected areas with subsequent environmental damage.

7. Vietnam Country Paper

Presentation by Mrs. Nguyen Thi Tho
Head of International Relations, National Environmental Agency

Policy and Institutions

Until now the government’s support to remote watersheds has focused on interventions that have an impact within the upper catchment. While this approach will remain necessary under any upland development strategy, it is not a sufficient response in areas, where the carrying capacity of the environment has been pushed to its limit. A broader scope is necessary in particular in areas, where poverty and environmental degradation make outmigration inevitable. The challenge is to channel outmigration in a manner, which minimizes the adverse effects. This perspective seems particularly relevant to Northern Mountains, where a significant number of migrants are moving mainly to Central Highlands, where they fuel environmental and social problems. The alternative is to create them an opportunity to stay in semi-urban environments close to the area they originally inhabited.

In the Central Highlands the main development trend is the Government’s drive for modernisation and intensification of agriculture. As a result, economy in the Central Highlands is expanding rapidly and large number of people, mainly in-migrants, have been able to improve their livelihoods. On the other hand, agricultural production and inmigration are expanding so rapidly that the carrying capacity of the environment is put at risk. In addition, the indigenous people are often pushed into remote areas, as corporations and in-migrants take possession of their customary lands.

In order to avoid marginalisation of indigenous people it is necessary to grant them land tenure. It would provide them with a legally recognised right to settle in their customary land as well as an initial asset base. While this would probably not stop in-migrants or corporations acquiring user rights to customary lands, but legally recognised land rights would put the indigenous people in a much stronger position to negotiate fair terms of trade.

Regarding the techniques of watershed management there is a need to modify Government’s afforestation programs so that they better accommodate the local’s people needs for short-term benefits. The option of further relaxing restrictions on forest use inless critical watershed areas should be considered. Placing increased emphasis to afforestation with species combining capacity for environmental protection and short-term benefits should be considered. The expansion of local tenure may be necessary in certain areas, where lacking enforcement capacity threatens to make them open-access areas. While strictly protected areas must be kept in state ownership, in less critical watersheds it may be worthwhile consider granting local land tenure and combining it with at least limited user rights to the forest resource.

Non-Governmental Organisations

More than 400 international NGOs are active in Vietnam in a big variety of fields. Most of them have emerged following Doi Moi in the mid 80’s. Local NGOs is a new concept and there is a debate on whether those organisations can be defined as NGOs considering their sometimes close links to the Government.

Mass organisations, implementing government policies have a network stretching through the whole hierarchical structure down to grassroots level. They have reoriented themselves towards new approaches in their development work and play an important role.

Legislation is in place for international NGOs and mass organisations, while there is a possibility for other organisations to register as research and scientific organisations under a government agency.

The local organisations being young organisations are facing a number of problems related to shortage of funds, experience and management skills. Their technical experiences and their networks are however important. The project should in its future activities look at the local NGOs involved in research and training and the mass organisations as organisations complementing each other and being backed up or working in cooperation with international NGOs when necessary.

Social Issues overview

Poverty. In January 1995, poverty was defined as 1,040 thousand Dong in rural areas. According to this, poverty line, about 51 percent of the Vietnamese population was defined as poor.

Health and education. The extent of the education system is considered remarkable for the per capita income level. By 1996, 91 percent of children between ages 5-10 were enrolled in school, and 88 percent of the working age population was reported literate.

Ethnic Diversity. Beginning in 1954, minorities have been granted fully rights of citizenship. Ethnic minorities make up about 13 percent of the national population. The ten largest groups have each from 100 000 to 1 million people. The six smallest groups have less than 1 000 people each. Many of these smaller communities are highly vulnerable to language loss.

Land Rights. In 1993, the Land Law provided for the long-term allocation of land use rights to individuals, households and organisations. Such rights can be transferred, exchanges, mortgaged and inherited. The Law authorizes households to be given 20 year tenure rights to land growing annual crops, and 50 year tenure rights on land planted to long term crops.

Gender Issues

In the Vietnam summary report on Gender Issues, some of the national gender and social issues are addressed and the main focus is in the Central Highland communities. These include: food insecurity in the households; medical and health services including family planning; illiteracy and lack of work, lack of technologies and extension services; diminishing access to natural resources, poor services and infrastructures regarding transport roads, energy, communication (lack of common language).

Additional border area’s gender concerns include both in northern-, central- and southern areas: border trafficking of migrants, women-, children- and elderly labour exploitation (prostitution, entertainment industries, begging); and other illegal movements related to logging, trading and gem-smuggling.

Regarding the possible project interventions, women would need to be acknowledged as farmers and producers, instead as merely wives of male farmers, to have access to the extension services. There is a need to identify and respond to agricultural and household technology needs of women, in close collaboration among agricultural researchers, implementing agencies and Vietnam Women’s Union members.

New strategies to expand women’s opportunities to benefit from the transitional economy are needed, for example through providing local marketing information, providing information, improving transportation and provision of credit.

Developing adult education programs and increasing literacy among ethnic women in order that they can understand food and nutrition information and adopt household sanitation and farming technologies would make a difference.

Providing legal education and support to women in order to improve their access and control over land and resources, including their names in "Red Books" together with their husbands.

Upland Agriculture

Vietnam has undergone miraculous economic growth after the liberalisation policies were launched. Much of that growth comes, in addition to paddy rice, from production of upland crops like coffee, tea, fruit trees, sugarcane and vegetables. There is still potential to expand the production, however, to promote exports, product quality and level of processing has to improve. The mid-elevation areas have been able to integrate better to the mainstream economy than the remote highland communities. From development experience it seems that a horizontal, integrated approach is required to assist the remote communities to reach the level to be able to integrate. Moreover, community participation and associated learning processes are essential to achieve development. Land use rights in the uplands need to be clarified to prevent social disruption resulting from farmers loosing their land to concessions, especially in the Central Highlands.

Wood Trade

Vietnam has increased her wood products industry vastly in the past years and has emerged as a world class supplier particularly of wooden garden furniture. Much of this industry is based on imported logs as the government trying – by curtailing domestic natural forest logging- to reintroduce sustainability in the Vietnamese forests.

Analysis of forestry in Vietnam is by lack of statistic transparency. The additional problem in the analysis is caused by the apparently notable role played by unrecorded domestic authorised logging and the clandestine supply from Cambodia and Lao PDR.

Based on the information available the increase in production in the wood industry is based on sustainable raw material sources and this may jeopardise the future of the Vietnamese wood industry if alternate and sustainable sources of supply are not found.

Biodiversity and protected areas

Vietnam is moderately rich in biodiversity. The biodiversity index is 8.5, the second highest of the countries of the GMS for which an index has been calculated. Rates of endemism are high in some taxa, for example, up to 50 per cent of plants and 38 per cent of freshwater fishes. Vietnam is the 10^th most important country in the world for bird biodiversity

Estimated forest cover is 28 per cent, making it one of the three least forested countries in the GMS. Decree on protected forest and protected area system is small but representative - 6.4% of the land cover including 52 national parks. There are an estimated 7,000 known plants and 3,725 vertebrates. Threatened species comprise 1,485 higher plants and 230 animals. Seventeen animals are critically endangered. Four species of large mammal new to science occur along the eastern border with Lao.

Vietnam shares a broad range of issues concerning biodiversity and protected area management with the other GMS countries: in particular, rising human populations, agricultural expansion, loss of forest and unsustainable harvesting of non-timber forest products. The principal issues in Vietnam appear to be as follows.

POLICY. Policies are good to moderately good. They are expressed most fully in the Biodiversity Action Plan, 1995; and also in the National Conservation Strategy of 1985, Decision 327/CT of 1992, the National Plan for the Environment and Sustainable Development of 1992, and the National Tropical Forest Action Plan of 1995.

LEGISLATION. Laws are good but need updating. Early laws still in force are the Ban on Hunting Elephant, 1960; Regulation on Hunting of Forest Wildlife, 1963; and the Decree on Protected Forests. The Law on the Protection of Forests, 1972, lays the basis for protected areas, and the Forestry Protection and Development Act, 1991. added to it.

PROTECTED AREA SYSTEM. The protected area system is relatively small but representative. The proportion of land covered is 6.8 per cent — fourth highest in the GMS. The system comprises 10 national parks, 52 nature reserves, 18 species/habitat reserves and 22 protected landscapes. It is managed by the Forest Protection Department, in conjunction with provincial and district forest offices.

Four areas were identified as being of major biodiversity significance, two of them being clusters of several protected areas. One occurs on the Se San watershed selected for investment proposals in Phase II.

MANAGEMENT CAPACITY. Management capacity is moderately good to low. There are adequate numbers of personnel: about 3,500, which gives a staffing ratio for protected areas of one staff member to 6.5 km², which is the best of all GMS countries. However, levels of skill are relatively low, and coordination between the Forest Protection Department HQ and the provincial and district offices is reportedly inadequate.

HUMAN POPULATION PRESSURE. Vietnam has the highest population density in the GMS: 240/km2. The imperative to bring population growth to zero was stressed in the National Conservation Strategy but there are no signs that this can be achieved within the foreseeable future. Given high population density and continued growth, the biggest conservation challenge is to stabilize use of natural resources in the face of heavy and increasing reliance upon them. There is no obvious solution to this problem, and it seems unlikely to go away.

TRADE IN WILDLIFE. The flow of wild animal products northwards into China affects biodiversity not only in Vietnam but also Lao and Cambodia. Vietnam is a signatory to CITES and is failing to discharge its responsibilities. Regulatory mechanisms are under funded and undeveloped. Control is minimal. CITES Convention is important and needs to be further examined.

Comments:

Mak Sithirith, Cambodian Delegate

8. Open Discussion

Nick Wright, ChinaWatch

Comment:

Final Selection of the Watersheds for Phase II

9. Summary of Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) in Selected Watersheds

Day two, June 10, 1999

RRA Presentation

By Mrs. Latsamay Sylavong, IUCN and consultant to RETA 5771

The summary of RRA works was carried out in all GMS countries after been selected by the Working Group on Environment, National Partner Agencies and other stakeholders during the Mid-Term Review Workshop. At first, a great appreciation was given to the RRA team at each country who had a very strong effort to this work due to the time limitation. An introduction about details RRA was briefed to the workshop about the types and forms of information gathered during the field. In addition, the number of villages visited in each country or watershed is shown in the Table with focussing on different types of ethnic minorities in that particular watershed.

9.1 Nam Ou Watershed

Nam Ou watershed is located in the Northern part of the country, and it cover the whole province of Phongsaly and some parts of Oudomxay and Luang Prabang provinces. The total watershed is about 24,653 km2 of which about 58 percent is attached to Phongsaly province. Nam Ou is the longest Mekong tributary in Lao PDR. Phongsaly comprises of seven Districts namely Phongsaly, Nhod Ou, Boun Nuea, Boun Tai, Samphanh, May and Khoua with 609 villages. The Province is considered as the most remote in Lao PDR with a rudimentary infrastructure and poor communication.

Resources in the Watershed

Demography

The population in Phongsaly Province is considerably diverse in ethnic groups compared with population in other provinces in the country. At present, there are about 156,300 people inhabit in Phongsaly Province. From the census in 1995, population growth was estimated at about 2.3 percent per annum (NSC, 1995).

The movement of population is in dynamic conditions. Due to the limitation of low land and irrigated paddy fields, some of its population have moved to other provinces namely Louang Namtha, Louang Prabang, Borikhamxay where some potential lands for paddy development.

From the census in 1995, population in Phongsaly was 152,848 inhabitants. In 1998, the provincial statistic estimated that the population in Phongsaly was about 156,300 inhabitants. From this figure, it is estimated that about 2,000 people were added up every year.

Ethnic group and population in Phongsaly Province as summarized by the Planning and Cooperation Office of Phongsaly Province. In the report of Stephen (1998), there were 31 different ethnic groups classified (Table 1 and 2).

Forest Resource (Map shows forest cover of the watershed)

• Forest cover 30%
• Production forest is classified in Bouneau District
• NBCA (Phou Denedinh) locates in the northeast of the watershed, covers 5 Distrcit (Nhod Ou, Phongsaly, Boun Neua, Samphanh, and May)

• Shifting cultivation (photo shows shifting cultivation practices) is practiced by almost all ethnic groups

• 12,600 ha in 1998 (officially the area is decreased but in practices the figure seems to be opposite)

• Rainfed Paddy cultivation is practiced by some minor ethnic groups (Lue, Lao Seng, Phou Noy)
• Cash crop plantation (shows photo of sugar cane plantation)

Environmental conditions and indicators

Forest resource and forest land is considered in threatened due to the need for agricultural land for both food and cash crop production. While timber and wood demand for income generation is decreasing, need for house construction and energy is increasing as a result of population growth and economic development.

Fish population is degraded resource since the harvesting of this resource has no restriction in terms of quality, season and methods. Although the fish population and its diversity are not yet recorded, but based on the information from local people indicated that some fish species are rare and some species is reduced in number when compared to the last twenty years.

The degradation of species and population of fish are possibly due to the change of water quality and quantity in the Nam Ou main stream since the waste water, sediment, chemical and hazardous substances have accumulated in the river.

The development with less intention and poor knowledge on ecological systems are presumably creating the adverse impacts to the ecological balance. Water shortage in Phongsaly District and Provincial administrative centre is apparently a good indicator for the degradation of the environment and the imbalance of human need and natural supply.

The steep slope land is very fragile for land degradation if cultivated without conservation measures. Although the present density of people is low, in order to maintain the quality of resources, effective land regulation in which local people accepted and agreed is required.

Based on field observation and discussion with local people, sustainability of resource in the watershed is dealt with way of extraction and level of living condition. More often, local ethnic groups consider forest land as a free area for food and cash crop cultivation areas, ignoring the value of timber and their indirect benefit to the ecosystem. Since wood and timber are very seldom used for house construction it offers no direct benefit to their living.

Many ethnic groups are relied on natural resource base and they have their own management system. The extraction of natural resources may not be hazard if only used for local consumption. Normally, with the growth demand due to market accessibility, the rate of resource extraction will be. For example, the collection of some NTFPs may not be a serious problem in Phongsaly District but since the Chinese come with truck and good price, some pants species are considered scarce and threatened to be extinct.

Poverty indicators

Quality of the education is far below standards (low qualification of teachers, poor facilities)

• Customs and culture of few ethnic groups that are not allowed women to go to school
• Each ethnic group prefer to have teachers from their own group, but this preference can not be fulfilled due to number of teacher from each ethnic group are not well distributed
• The ratio between number of teachers and students is not in a good balance. Lack of teachers as well as poor school buildings are very common in the remote villages.
• Teachers who have been assigned the task in remote area do not often like to teach in the remote area where communication and transportation are in difficult.

• Semi permanent house is occupied by almost 72 per cent of the population
• Wooden house occupied by 21 per cent
• Concrete dwelling was recorded about one per cent and mostly were in the urban areas of Phongsaly, Khoua, May, Boun Neua and Boun Tai Districts

• 287 health service staff
• Common diseases caused dead reported as malaria, diarrhea, lung disease

• Employment opportunities are foreseen in forestry and agriculture, education, and health services.
• Job opportunities in public sectors are also limited due to the lack of budget to pay for salary.
• Growth of private sectors is not feasible, most of the work opportunities are relied on public sectors.
• As many projects will be implemented in the province, qualified and skilled personnel is necessary in order to absorb knowledge and experience.

1. more than half of the population has rice shortage more than 5 month in a year
2. no access to road
3. children have no opportunity to go to school
4. population in the age between 14-40 has an illiteracy more than 10%
5. no health care centre or public health service
6. no vaccination for the children
7. more than half of the population have paddy land less than 0.4 ha per household
8. no external support and development intervention
9. no market, commercial shop or trading of production
10. no rice mill
11. more than half of the population have average income less than 50 USD per year/household
12. Number of houses built by sawn wood less than 20 per cent of total houses in the village

Summary of Poverty Condition:

Table 6.2: Number of villages considered under poverty conditions*

Source: Cooperation and Planning Office Phongsaly Province, 1998

TREND OF DEVELOPMENT

Development Plans and Actions (by government)

Hydropower Development Projects

Road Development

Development Project (by donors)

• Rural Development of Phongsaly District (PDDP)
• Forest Conservation and Rural Development Project in Phongsaly Province (EU)
• Health and Sanitation Promotion and integrated Rural Development (AusAID)
• Non Government Organizations Project

Conclusion

Infrastructure development includes road, school and health care, which seems to be the most urgent need and have been ranked as the first priority for almost all districts in the Province. However, road cutting to some of the forests rich in biodiversity should be taken in consideration especially to Phou Dene Dinh Protected Area.

Resettlement scheme of the province should have further study especially in short and long term impacts on the sustainability of natural resource management and socio-economic conditions of those who resettle to new accessible areas, mainly along the newly cut roads.

A long-term development in the province as well as in the watershed should focus on natural base production, especially how local people treat and extract forest resources in forms of non-timber forest products (NTFPs). Promotion to grow some species such as cardamom, rattan, and some medicinal plants as well as some shade loving agricultural crops like coffee and tea are considered as a long-term viable economic plants, experiences on market of these products are already available especially with Chinese market.

An illegal trade of NTFPs and wildlife to Vietnam and China is still going on. Inter-sectoral coordination between central level and provincial level is important. All projects should be in the same framework and follow provincial development priorities, as well as to consider the need of local ethnic minorities.

Due to poor government actions in rural development and natural resource management, capacity building to support watershed management are needed.

Improvement of farming systems which mainly focus on water- and soil conservation needs outside support and intervention. Some experience in natural forest regeneration and farming systems development are available. This experiencecan be promoted and applied in the areas where socio-, cultural- and physical conditions are similar.

As to secure food production for self-subsistence purpose, besides wet paddy rice, upland rice is also having potential to fulfill the rice production target and need. In the development plan, figures always target to increase yield from upland field while the rotation of upland or shifting cultivation area is shorter. There is no technical support on soil improvement and extension to farmers. Attempts to soil and water conservation should be put on the ground to show people how the measures prolong the life of soil and water, as well as yield of crops are maintained and increased.

9.2 Luishahe & Nanguohe Watersheds (Xishuangbanna Prefecture)

There are 4 villages that has been visited by the RRA team in both watersheds; Xiaonuoyou, Mansaoxiu, Manping and Naxiu. The main ethnic minorities in those watersheds are Dai, Hani, Lahu and Yao. In general, one rural clinic is found in each village. More than half of the total population is illiterate. Primary school is found at each village, and some secondary and vocational school were also found in some villages.

There are two types of land ownership as Langshan policy. About 34 percent of forest cover is located in watershed. Shifting cultivation is also found as main activities practiced by local communities with short fallow period. Cash crop plantation is widely practiced in the watershed area, for example rubber, sugarcane, peanut and amomum fruits.

Challenges found in the area are as follows:

• Fuelwood consumption
• Drinking water and water for agriculture production
• Malaria
• Animal diseases
• No micro-credit

Major threats found in the area can be summarised as follows:

Policies (Liangshan)

• Population growth
• High demand of land for cash crops
• High consumption of fuelwood

Development Priorities

• Education (complete primary-, vocational- and secondary school)
• Improvement of health conditions by changing their traditional beliefs, improving the quality of drinking water and preventing of contagious diseases from both human and animal.
• Improving agricultural techniques by extension and training farmers
• Microcredit
• Fuelwood and fruit tree plantation
• Resolving drinking water

9.3 Pursat Watershed, Stung Pursat, Cambodia

Pursat Watershed is located on the West of Cambodia, and has a total area of 12,692 square kilometers. This watershed composes of 6 districts, 49 communes of about 350,000 inhabitants. The main ethnic minorities living in this watershed are Puor and Khmer. There is a wide variety in the physical and socio-economic status among communities in the watershed. There are some local and international NGOs found in Pursat watershed,for example CARE International (Seila project) and EPDO.

Main activity of local communities in this watershed is shifting cultivation, which is widely practised by all ethnic minorities. In general, the productivity of shifting cultivation is fairly low throughout the area, about less than 1 tonne per hectare (except for Kbal Toek). The agriculture production is mainly produced for home consumption. In addition, the agricultural extension programme was set up in the area.

Refineries of sandalwood oil are found operated in the area illegally, as the high price of the refined oil is offered. It is also observed that local communities are highly relied on forest products beside the agriculture production.

Major problems observed in the area are as follows:

• Institution capability
• Destruction of health facilities
• Logging control (as seen number of concessionaires and illegal logging found in the area)
• Lack of water supply in the dry season
• No marketplace in some villages

Therefore, there is a great need for human resource development including adult literacy, life skill training, vocational training, ecotourism and others (as environmental, health and education training).

Development priorities in the watershed area can be summarised as follows:

• Stabilisation of agricultural practices (by extension services, improved plant varieties, improved the use of manure, and introduction of soil and water conservation techniques)
• Reforestation through small-scale community forestry programmes
• Promotion of sustainable harvesting for forest products
• More opportunities for women, especially in decision-making
• Micro-projects (income generating)
• Improvement of infrastructure (roads linked to markets)
• Promotion of safe drinking water

9.4 Se San Watershed, Kon Tum Province, Vietnam

Se San watershed is located in two provinces of Kon Tum and Gia Lai provinces. About 740,100 hectares is the total area of Se San watershed. The elevation is varied from 500 to 1,750 metres. The average annual rainfall is about 2,400 to 2,800 millimetres. There is a big difference between dry and rainy seasons.

Demographic and ethnicity:

The annual population growth rate is from six to eight percent. 50 percent of the population is composed of indigenous people living in the watershed, others are immigrants. In general, indigenous people live in higher elevations, and the remained groups of immigrants inhabit in lower elevations.

Environment:

Se San watershed is predominantly covered by dipterocarp forests. The loss of forest cover is still ongoing due to high population pressure beyond the carrying capacity of natural resources. There is a significant conversion of land into agro-industrial use. Water scarcity becomes a serious problem in the area, especially during dry seasons. There are about 50 endangered flora species found in the area. In general, the degree of degradation is varied. It is moderate in the northern and upper watershed and from medium to high in Central and Southern Se San watershed. The biodiversity in the Se San watershed is basically lost by dams, large-scale development and agroforestry.

Problems:

A severe famine is still a major problem in Se San watershed. Besides, unhygienic lifestyle such as drinking unboiled water, eating unhygienic food and sleeping without a mosquito shelter is also typical in Se San watershed. There is a lack of clean drinking water, only 25 percent of the total population in the watershed can access to clean water. Main diseases found in the area are malaria, obstetric and malnutrition illnesses. Problems such as high population growth and high mortality in child and mothers are found as serious problems in Se San watershed.

Major threaths to forest resources are:

• 9,438 hectares are under shifting cultivation, 50 percent of this is classified under illegal forest clearing and seven percent of forest fires.
• High support of cash crop plantation and resettlement programmes led to increase in land trade (as the price of land in the upper watershed rose from 700,000 to 1,000,0000 Dong per hectare).
• More immigrants from the North come to settle to Chua Se and Kbang of Gia Lai Province. They usually offer their labour to local communities for clearing land.

Development Priorities:

• Land allocation (land tenure, especiallyfor indigenous people)
• Intensification of rainfed rice fields in the valley
• Intensification of home gardens
• Change land-use on slopping land
• Fallow fertility enrichment
• Agricultural intensification
• Infrastructure improvement
• Stop illegal purchase and lease of land
• Indigenous awareness and access to education
• Improvement of health in the community
• Promotion of family planning programmes
• Enhanced resettlement schemes

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