Abstract
Vietnam, in the ongoing transition to market economies, has to cope with high rural poverty and a dramatic process of forest loss and environment degradation, particularly in the mountainous regions. The government considers rural poverty as the main cause of environment degradation, associated with slash-and-burn cultivation and to an unclear definition of property rights on forest land. In 1993, the government launched a Forest Land Allocation programme aiming to lease forest lands to individual households and, on this basis, to solve food security problems, halt the increasing environment degradation and preserve the remaining forests.
To evaluate the results of this land reform policy, two upland pilot communes have been intensively monitored. The environmental and economic impacts of the forest land reform allocation in the two study areas are presented, after providing a background on the Vietnamese situation of mountain zones. On the basis of these findings, it is discussed as to whether the current forest land allocation process may actually promote local development and natural resources conservation, and under what conditions. Deforestation problems must be tackled also with new macroeconomic policies (e.g. credit programmes to support sustainable agriculture practices) and social policy (e.g. reduction of demographic pressure), together with the reform of the State institutions (e.g. State Forest Enterprises) involved in management of the forest areas.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ahlback, A.J.: 1995, ‘On forestry in Vietnam, the new reforestation strategy and assistance’, UNDP/FAO Project VIE/92/022, 63 pp.
Altieri, M.A. and Masera, O.: 1993, ‘Sustainable rural development in Latin America: building from the bottom-up’, Ecol. Econ. 7, 93-121.
Barker, R. (ed.): 1994, ‘Agricultural policy analysis for transition to a market-oriented economy in Vietnam’, Selected issues, FAO Economic and Social Development Paper, No. 123, 146 pp.
Beets, W.C.: 1990, Raising and Sustaining Productivity of Smallholder Farming System in the Tropics, Alkmaar, Holland, AgBé Publishing.
Boothroyd, P. and Nam, P.X. (eds.): 2000, Socioeconomic Renovation in Viet NamIDRC/ISEA 200 pp, available on internet at URL: http://www.idrc.ca/acb/showdet1.cfm
Castella, J.C., Husson, O., Le Quoc Doanh and Ha Dinh Tuan: 1999, ‘Mise en oeuvre de l'approche ecoregionale dans les montagnes du bassin du fleuve rouge au Vietnam. Le projet systemes agraires de montagne’, L'Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement (IRD), Cahiers de la Recherche Developpement, No. 45, pp. 114-134.
Chambers, R.: 1983, Rural Development: Putting The Last First, London, Intermediate Technology Publications, 256 pp.
Chambers, R.: 1997, Whose Reality Counts? Putting the First Last, London, Intermediate Technology Publications, 248 pp.
De Koninck, R.: 1999, Deforestation in Viet Nam, IDRC Resources Books, 110 pp.
Desloges, C. and Vu, V.M.: 1997, ‘Methodology for participatory land-use planning and forest land allocation’, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Department of Forestry, FAO, Project GCP/VIE/020/ITA, Hanoi.
Doan Diem: 1997, ‘Participatory land use planning and forest land allocation in Vietnam’, MARD-FAO Project ‘Country capacity strengthening for NFAP implementation in Vietnam’ (GCP/VIE/020/ITA), Hanoi, 20 pp.
Do Dinh Sam: 1994, Shifting Cultivation in Vietnam: Its Social, Economic and Environmental Values Relative to Alternative Land Use, International Institute for Environment and Development, London, IIED Forestry and Land Use Series, No. 3, p. 55.
FAO: 1993, ‘Forest resources assessment 1990’, FAO Forestry Paper 112, FAO, Rome.
FAO: 1996, Workshop on Forestry and Agriculture on Sloping Lands of Northern Vietnam, Phu Ninh, Vinh Phu, Vietnam, 24–28 June 1996, FAO Field Document No. 8 GCP/RAS/142/JPN, 157 pp.
FAO: 1999, ‘Nutrition country profiles — Vietnam 28/1/99’, FAO, Rome, 24 pp.
FAO/IIRR: 1995, ‘Resource management for upland areas in Southern Asia. An information kit’, FAO, FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok; International Institute of Rural Reconstruction, Sillang, Philippines, 207 pp.
FAO/UNDP: 1996, ‘Smallholder Reforestation in Central Vietnam’, Experiences of the implementation of UNDP/FAO project VIE/92/022 ‘Provision of Technical Assistance to WFP Project 4304: Reforestation in Central Vietnam’, Agriculture Publishing House, 30 pp.
Fox, J., Truong, D.M., Rambo, T.A., Tuyen, N.P., Cuc, L.T. and Leisz, S.: 2000, ‘Shifting cultivation: a new paradigm for managing tropical forests’, BioScience 50(6), 521-528.
Freudenberger, S.K.: 1994, ‘Tree and Land Tenure — Rapid Appraisal Tools’, FAO, Rome, 80 pp.
G-D-NGO (Government-Donor-NGO Working Group): 1999, ‘Vietnam Development Report: Attacking Poverty’, Joint Report of the Government-Donor-NGO Working Group, 168 pp.
Giampietro, M. and Pastore, G.: 1999, ‘Multidimensional reading of the dynamics of rural intensification in China: the Amoeba approach’, Critical Review in Plant Sciences 18(3), 299-329.
Giampietro, M., Bukkens, S.G.F. and Pimentel, D.: 1997, ‘Linking technology, natural resources, and the socio-economic structure of human society: examples and applications’, Advances in Human Ecology 6, 131-200.
Hayami, Y.: 1994, ‘Strategies for the reform of land policy relations’, in R. Barker (ed.), Agricultural Policy Analysis for Transition to a Market-Oriented Economyin Viet Nam, Selected issues, FAO Economic and Social Development Paper, No. 123, pp. 9-59.
HPP Management Team — UNDP: 1997, ‘Highland Peoples Programme — Regional Workshop Country comparisons on Highland Peoples development issues — Vietnam’, March 1997. A background document. Inter-Ministerial Committee for Highland Peoples development in the North-East of Cambodia. Phnom Penh, 8–10 April 1997, Bangkok.
Johnson, J. and Nguyen Hai Nam: 1998, ‘Land Management Component in Vietnam-Sweden Mountain Rural Development Program (1996–2000)’, Proceedings of the National Workshop on ‘Participatory Land Use Planning and Forest Land Allocation’, MARD-FAO, Hanoi, 4–6 December 1997, Hanoi, Agriculture Publishing House, pp. 97-106.
Lang, C.R.: 1996, ‘Problems in the making. A critique of Vietnam's tropical forestry action plan’, in M.J.G. Parnwell and R.L. Bryant (eds.), Environmental Change in South-East Asia, London, Routledge, pp. 225-234.
Le, V.L.: 1992, ‘Recipes for restoration: mixed methods help rescue the midland of Vinh Phu’, Ceres, No. 134, 17-22.
Lindskog, E.: 1992, ‘Participatory Rural Appraisal for TFAP project formulation’, People's participation in the design of a small-scale rural development project in Tien Yen district’, Quang Ninh province, Vietnam, Hanoi, 61 pp.
Linh, V.B. and Nguyen, N.B.: 1995, Agroforestry Systems in Vietnam, Hanoi, Agriculture Publishing House, 160 pp.
McNamee, J.P.: 1991, ‘Design of Environmental Monitoring System for Forest Development area, Vietnam’, Plantation and Soil Conservation Project, Interforest, 65 pp.
MAFI (Ministry of Agriculture and Forest Industry): 1993, ‘Bare lands in Vietnam: the existing situation and the improving and using orientation up to the year 2000’, Hanoi, MAFI.
MARD (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development): 1996, ‘Approaches to Social Forestry in Viet Nam’, Proceedings of the Seminar Workshop held in Hanoi, 28–29 September 1995, 85 pp.
MARD-FAO (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development/FAO): 1996, ‘Land use planning and forest land allocation and other project activities’, Proceedings of the Review Workshop held in Hue, 15–19 October 1996, MARD-FAO Project ‘Country capacity strengthening for NFAP implementation in Vietnam’ (GCP/VIE/020/ITA), Hanoi.
MARD-FAO (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development/FAO): 1998, ‘Participatory land use planning and forest land allocation’, Proceedings of the National Workshop in Hanoi, 4–6 December 1997, Hanoi, Agriculture Publishing House, 199 pp.
Ministry of Forestry: 1991, ‘Vietnam. Forestry sector review’, Tropical Forestry Action Programme, Main Report, Hanoi, 201 pp.
Nguyen, Van Thang: 1995, ‘The Hmong and Dzao people in Vietnam: impact of traditional socioeconomic and cultural factors on the protection and development of forest resources’, in T.A. Rambo, R.R. Reed, C.C. Le and M.R. DiGregorio (eds.), The Challenges of Highland Development in Vietnam, Honolulu, USA, East-West Center, pp. 101-119.
Nguyen, C.G. and Vu, V.M.: 1998, ‘Guiding principles for forest land allocation as a tool to implement the Government's top priority on land use policy’, Proceedings of the National Workshop on ‘Participatory Land Use Planning and Forest Land Allocation’, MARD-FAO, Hanoi, 4–6 December 1997, Hanoi, Agriculture Publishing House, pp. 78-83.
Paoletti, G.M. and Bukkens, S.: 1997, ‘Minilivestock: sustainable use of biodiversity for human food’, Ecology of Food and Nutrition 36(2–4), 95-346.
Parker, K.J. and Burch, W.R. Jr.: 1994, ‘Towards a social ecology in Asia’, pp. 59-84, in W.R. Burch Jr. and K.J. Parker (eds.), Social Science Application in Asian Agroforestry, USA, Winrock International and USA, South Asia Books, 180 pp.
Phuong, N.N. and Dembner, S.A.: 1994. ‘Improving the lifestyle of people in protected areas of Viet Nam’, Unasylva 176(45), 15-21.
Poffenberger, M., Vo Tri Chung, Crystal, E., Nguyen Huy Dzung, Vu Van Dzung, Nguyen Huy Phon, Sikor, T., Sowerwine, J. and Walpole, P.: 1998, ‘Stewards of Vietnam's forests: a collaborative study by the Asia Forest Network and the Forest Inventory and Planning Institute’, Research Network Report, Center for Southeast Asia, University of California, Berkeley, No. 10, 104 pp.
Porter, G.: 1995, ‘Managing renewable resources in Southern Asia: the problem of deforestation’, in Y.C. Kim (ed.), South East Asia's Economic Miracle, New Brunswick, Transaction Publisher.
Prosterman, R. and Hanstand, T.: 1999, ‘Legal impediments to effective rural land relations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia’, A comparative perspective. World Bank Technical Paper, No. 436, 325 pp.
Rambo, T.A.: 1995, ‘Privatization of communal land in northern Vietnam’, Common Property Resource Digest, April, pp. 7-9.
Rambo, T.A., Reed, R.R., Le, C.C. and DiGregorio, M.R. (eds.): 1995, The Challenges of Highland Development in Vietnam, Honolulu, USA, East-West Center.
Sikor, T.: 1995, ‘Decree 327 and the restoration of barren land in the Vietnamese highlands’, in A.T. Rambo, R.R. Reed, Le Trong Cuc and M.R. Di Gregorio (eds.), The Challenges of Highland Development in Vietnam, East-West Center, Hawai; Center for Natural Resources and Environmental Studies, Hanoi University; Center for Southeast Asia Studies, University of California, pp. 143-156.
Smith, W.: 1998, ‘Land and the Poor. A Survey of Land Use Rights in Ha Tinh and Son La Provinces’, Proceedings of the National Workshop on Participatory Land Use Planning and Forest Land Allocation, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development-FAO; Hanoi, 4–6 December 1997, Hanoi, Agriculture Publishing House, pp. 158-177.
UNDP: 1995, ‘Incorporating Environmental Consideration into Investment Decision-Making in Vietnam’, A special Report for the Government of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, United Nations Development Programme, Hanoi, VietNam, 85 pp.
UNDP: 1998a, ‘Viet Nam Annual Report’, UNDP Ha Noi, http://www.undp.org.vn/efault.htm
UNDP: 1998b, ‘The Dynamics of Internal Migration in Viet Nam’, UNDP, Hanoi.
Vu Van Me: 1997, Proposal for the establishment of a working group for forest land allocation in aid projects, Workshop on technical assistance for effective use of external support to integrated agricultural and rural development, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, 10–11 January 1997.
Vu Van Me and Desloges, C.: 1996, ‘Methodology for Participatory Land Use Planning and Forest Land Allocation’, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development-FAO, Hanoi.
Wolf, S.A. and Allen, T.F.H.: 1995, ‘Recasting alternative agriculture as a management model: the values of adept scaling’, Ecological Economics 12, 5-12.
World Bank: 1997, ‘Vietnam. Deepening reform for growth’, An economic report, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Unit, East Asia and Pacific Region, 66 pp.
World Bank: 2000, ‘World development indicators 2000’, available on internet at URL: http://www.worldbank.org/data/countrydata/littledata/htm
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gomiero, T., Pettenella, D., Phan Trieu, G. et al. Vietnamese Uplands: Environmental and Socio-Economic Perspective of Forest Land Allocation and Deforestation Process. Environment, Development and Sustainability 2, 119–142 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011443731674
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011443731674