Forest Devolution in Vietnam: Patterns of Differentiation in Benefits among Local Households

Abstract

"Proponents of forest devolution have argued so far that by involving local people in the course of forest management, forest devolution can improve economic efficiency in resource management. While empirical evidences show that outputs of devolution at local level remain unclear across different cases, the issue of how benefits from forest devolution is distributed among local people within a community arises. To this aspect, an important question is whether or not different households are in the position to get an equitable share of their benefits from forest devolution or is it the rich and powerful who reap most of these benefits, leaving little to the poor and powerless. This paper subjects this question to empirical analysis. The purpose of this paper is to examine the links between household productive resources and the endowments and entitlements from the devolved forests. With the help of the environmental entitlement framework, the paper applies a combined approach of institutional and econometric analyses to examine the outcomes of forest devolution in thirteen villages in Central Highlands of Vietnam. Forest devolution introduces institutional changes in property rights governing access to and control over forest resources. The environmental entitlement framework enables an in-depth look into the complex institutional arrangements in the study area. The econometric approach is then employed to identify and quantify the different patterns of benefits from the devolved forests. Findings from the study show a wide differentiation in the benefits acquired by different households in the study area. Among other factors, wealth, power and control over cultivated land are influential to the distribution of forest benefits."