Forest Tenure Reform in Vietnam: What Lessons Can Be Learned for Policy Implementation and Poverty Alleviation in Forest Communities?

Abstract

"The last two decades have witnessed radical changes in forest tenure legal framework in Vietnam. While in early 90s, the state was the primary manager of forests, the approval of the Forest Protection and Development Law in 1991 and Land Law in 1993 opened the door to a national legal framework that took forest management out of solely state hands. Subsequent legal enactments have elaborated these forest management arrangements to include private property. In 2003 and 2004, revisions to the Land Law and Forest Protection and Development Law enabled legal recognition of community in managing land and forest resources. This evolving legal framework for local management and use of forests creates the potential for local people to benefit from forest use, and for forests to contribute to poverty reduction.

"This paper provides an analysis of the on-the-ground pictures of the implementation of forest tenure reform in Hoa Binh (in the Northwest Mountain) and Dak Lak (in the Central Highlands) provinces in Vietnam. Using empirical evidences from eight villages, the authors argue that while forest land allocation (FLA) has been widely implemented, it has not been able to provide necessary power over forest to local people. The state still maintains significant control over the allocated forest area. The practice of power relation, pressure from market, active supports from donor funded projects and customary practices among other factors have contributed to shape forest tenure arrangements at village level. Furthermore, expected effect of FLA on poverty alleviation has not been reached. By contrast, there is a danger of reverse impact from FLA on poverty alleviation."