Assessing the impact of development social economics on sustainable forest management in thuong an commune, ngan son district, bac kan province, viet nam

DOCUMENTATION PAGE WITH ABSTRACT Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry Degree Program Bachelor of Environmental Science and Management Student name Lưu Huỳnh Đức Student ID

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY

UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURAL AND FORESTRY

Batch: (2017-2021)

Thai Nguyen, 19/1/2022

DOCUMENTATION PAGE WITH ABSTRACT

Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry

Degree Program Bachelor of Environmental Science and Management Student name Lưu Huỳnh Đức

Student ID DTN1754290005

Thesis Title Assessing the impact of development social-economics on

sustainable forest management in Thuong An commune, Ngan Son district, Bac Kan province, Viet Nam

Supervisor (s) Asso Prof Tran Thi Thu Ha

Supervisor’s Signature

Abstract:

In the late decades, forestry issues become a new main situation of the world One main of them have been exiting for long time ago, but now it happening as a huge way, it called “deforestation” Our humans are cutting down trees, destroying the ecosystem without intention or establishing for rasing economics, making a new society, etc So the research appeared to ask the question: “Wether

is there any impacts of development social-economics effect on foresty areas and sustainable forest management (SFM)?

The research was carried out the main case study in Thuong An commune, Ngan Son district, Bac Kan province In Thuong An commune, six cases study villages were selected

The methodology of this study based on the technique for assessing sustainable forest and forest land management in northern Vietnam was established (Tran, 2007) The methodology included gathering and analyzing socioeconomic and forest statistics at the province and commune levels, as well as conducting primary research in the case study villages at the family and landscape size

The surveys were collected by asking the local people, head villages in 6 villages of Thuong An commune Besides, the forest rangers, land use department also were a part of the surveys The researcher stayed there in Ngan Son districts and went to every village of Thuong An commune about 50km to 60km and chose randomly 3 local people in each village so there were 18 local respondents, 12 head villages and secretary, and 3 local authorities who answered the surveys

The second data collected on:

 The documentation: Policies, laws, decisions, planning, and management strategies

 The statistics: General conditions: geography (location), natural aspects (land area, forest land, and forest area, agricultural land), socio-economic aspect (cultural, population and growth rate, income)

 Previous studies: results from the author's previous studies were also used for this research

The results gave general information about the development and management of forestry in Thuong An commune the how development social-economics in that area

The report showed out the traditional policies that exist for a long time and which one does suit, and which one does not suit anymore and suggested some the law and policies that can be better in that area, as well as the feedback and local speak, were also included in the research On the other hand, the report shows the difficulties while doing the projects and following the policies and regulations in villages The second data was used to compare the difference between the past and now

Keywords:

Sustainable forest management, social- economics, Ngan Son commune, Ngan Son district, Bac Kan province, Community Forest management

Several pages: 83 pages

Date of

Submission:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First and foremost, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to Advanced Education Program lecturers as well as lecturers at Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry, who have provided me with in-depth knowledge not only of

my subjects but also of my soft skills, as well as the opportunity to complete my thesis

I want to thank my supervisor, Asso Prof Tran Thi Thu Ha, for her unquestioning support of my bachelor thesis, as well as her patience, encouragement, passion, and vast expertise Her advice was invaluable during the research and writing

of this thesis For my thesis, I could not have asked for a greater adviser and mentor Besides my advisor, I would like to thank Dr Truong Thi Anh Tuyet, for her encouragement, insightful comments, and advice for my thesis

My sincere gratitude also goes to Mr Hung Pham, Mr Hung Nguyen, and Mr Phong for assisting and caring for me while I was surveying Ngan Son And also Thank you very much to the People's Committee of Thuong An commune for making

it possible for me to finish the survey

Last but not the least, I'd want to convey my gratitude to my family and friends, who have always been there for me Their encouragement and support were the fuel that propelled me to achievement

Sincerely!

Luu Huynh Duc

TABLE OF CONTENT

DOCUMENTATION PAGE WITH ABSTRACT i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv

TABLE OF CONTENT v

LIST OF FIGURES viii

LIST OF TABLES ix

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS x

PART I INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Research rationale 1

1.2 Research Objective 2

1.3 Research questions and hypotheses 3

1.3.1 Research questions 3

1.3.2 Hypotheses 3

1.4 Significant of research 4

1.5 Limitations 4

1.6.Definitions 4

PART II LITERATURE REVIEW 7

2.1 Define and History of Forest conservation 7

2.1.1 Forest conservation 7

2.1.2 History of Forest conservation 8

2.1.3 Forest conservation in Southeast Asia and Viet Nam 8

2.3 Relationship between Socio-economic aspect and sustainable forest management 12

2.4 The impact of socio-economics on forest management 14

2.5 Sustainable forest management in South-East Asian countries 15

2.6 Relationship between minority ethnic groups and sustainable forest management 18

2.6.1 Dao’s Ethnics 18

2.6.2 Tay’s Ethnic 19

2.7 Overview research area in Bac Kan province 20

PART III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND CONTENTS 22

3.1 Study area 22

3.2 Materials 23

3.3 Methodology 23

3.3.1 Research data collection 23

3.3.2 Interview design and process 23

3.4 Contents 27

PART IV RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 28

4.1 General information of respondents 28

4.1.1 Education of local people 28

4.1.2 Main sources of income 28

4.2 The knowledge of local people on sustainable forest management 32

4.3 The impacts of socio-economics development into forest management 34

4.4 Impacts of policies, regulations, and projects on forest management 38

4.4.1 Impacts of rules, regulations, and projects into forest management in

Ngan Son district 38

4.4.2 Local people’s participation in the rules, regulations, and projects 41

4.5 Local concepts for applying into sustainable forest management 41

4.5.1 Putting up a fence 41

4.5.2 Coordinate patrolling in groups 42

4.6 Discussion and approach suggestion for sustainable forest management

in local concept 42

4.6.1 Discussion 42

4.6.2 Suggestion 44

PART V CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 46

5.1 Conclusion 46

5.2 Recommendation 47

REFERENCES 48

APPENDICES 58

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1 Under the five shared socioeconomic paths (SSPs) (2015–2050), maps depicting geographically allocated predicted forest Cambodia (inset 2),

Malaysia (inset 3) and Indonesia (inset 4) 10

Figure 2.2: Forest replacement analyzed commodities 2001-2015 15

(Source: (Mikaela Weisse and Elizabeth Dow Goldman, 2021)) 15

Figure 3: Map of the research area 22

(Source: Google map 2021) 22

Figure 4.1 Product quantities per crop per inhabitant in the research area 31

Figure 4.2 The quantities of the industrial products depend on harvest time 31

Figure 4.3 The variety of agricultural products and industrial crops in the research area 32

Figure 4.4 Photos of deforestation a and b: burned the forest to grow maize; 35

c and d: cleared natural plants to grow acacia 35

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1:Structure of questionnaire for surveying the local people based on the table

of open-ended questions for interviewing key informants at the village level, head

village, and local government 25

Table 4.1: Background of respondents in 6 villages in Thuong An commune 29

Table 4.2: The responses of participants in people awareness 33

Table 4.3: the awareness of respondents in the reseach area 34

Table 4.4: the numbers of respondent in the research area 34

Table 4.5: Reasons of socio-economic development impacts on SFM 37

Table 4.6: Reasons for deforestation from interviews 37

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

GFC The Global Forest Coalition

CSSP

Commercial Smallholder Support Project in Bac Kan and Cao Bang

provinces

FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

PART I INTRODUCTION

1.1 Research rationale

Forests are the trees and plants that occupy a third of the earth's surface and are typified by green in most environmentalist concepts (Madaan, 2016) They help drive sustainable development by regulating habitats, preserving biodiversity, playing an important role in the carbon cycle, supporting livelihoods, and regulating ecosystems forests play a dual role in climate change They contribute to both the origin and the reduction of greenhouse gas pollution Deforestation and habitat depletion account for around half of these 5-10 GtCO2e per year and Forests offer products and services worth

$75–100 billion a year, such as clean water and fertile soils, which are home to 80% of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity (IUCN, 2017) That is why Forest is always an important role in our life (Madaan, 2016) Vietnam is wooded to the tune of 44.5 percent

or 13,797,000 hectares Primary forest, the most biodiverse and carbon-dense type of forest, accounts for 0.6 percent (about 80,000 hectares) of the total There are 3,512,000 hectares of planted forest in Vietnam (Vietnam Forest Information and Data, 2011) Also, according to them, between 1990 and 2010, Vietnam added an average of 221,700 hectares each year, or 2.37 percent Vietnam added 47.4 percent of its forest cover or roughly 4,434,000 hectares Although the forest area increased, during that time, Vietnam's forest heritage has been severely damaged by deforestation Between 2001 and

2019, 68% of tree cover loss occurred in regions where forest exploitation for economic

development was the main driver (Vietnam Deforestation Rates & Statistics: GFW, 2020) So, we are facing now a status that could happen in the short future in Viet Nam, which is called deforestation by development social economics, especially, in the high upland where have big areas of forestry, need to protect and prevent from human’s factors Because in high upland the local people seem like lower educated, do not have any or less updated the information related to Viet Nam easy to get seduction from poaching or whatsoever To understand more about this issue, the research surveyed how people protect the forests and are there any activities that are related to social- economics even directly and indirectly to the natural forests? And Thuong An commune, Ngan Son district, Bac Kan province is the place to do for this research because Bac kan is one of the provinces that have big natural areas in Viet Nam around 274,086.1 ha (Bac Kan Department of Agriculture and Forestry) and there is more 5 mains ethenic’s group living

in that place (Tay, Nung, Dao, San Dìu, etc.) However, this research did only on Tay and Dao two mains ethenic’s groups in Thuong An commune, the Ngan Son district So, this study had shown the relationship between forests and socio-economics by using surveys and the secondary data collected before research that is related to the topic

1.2 Research Objective

There were three over four main objectives that were aimed for compared to the proposal Firstly, determine the awareness of people in Bac Kan to the impact of socioeconomics on sustainable forest management and development Besides, show the people about the benefits of development forests bring to them Secondly, shows the general and detailed impact of socio-economic to (SFM) and also be able to show the

main factors that form socio-economic impact on (SFM) thirdly, the result of the research will show to the authorities so that they will have a more general look at the socio-economic status and the forest status in that place where they are managers Fourthly, we showed out the policies and projects that have been used in that place and which one is not suited anymore in those issues and suggested the possible one in this paper

1.3 Research questions and hypotheses

1.3.1 Research questions

The research appeared to ask the question: “Wether is there any impacts of development social-economics effect on foresty areas and sustainable forest management (SFM)? and the evaluation on them in Thuong An commune, Ngan Son district, Bac Kan province That question will answer by addressing three subsidiary questions:

1) How do people assess the impacts of socioeconomics effect on sustainable forest management?

2) What policies or projects have been applied in the research area? And are they still suitable now?

3) How do people here adapt to those policies and projects?

1.3.2 Hypotheses

The research wants to address the null hypothesis:

a There are no impacts of development in socioeconomics that can affect

Sustainable Forest management according to the survey

b Most local people are well-informed and have so far preserved forest areas

c The main category of socio-economics effects to SFM is economic instead of

culture or social

1.4 Significant of research

a Students: Research findings may be utilized as secondary data to assess

students' level of comprehension and interest in forestry, as well as economic factors affecting ethnic minorities' living circumstances in Vietnam

socio-b Local people: Research findings could well be used to improve local people

about socioeconomics and SFM, as well as how to safeguard them and identify appropriate solutions for future development

1.5 Limitations

Through did whole research the writer figured out some things that can be seen as

a drawback of this research that could be a lesson for other researchers in the future (1) The roads leading to the study area are quite rough, thus getting to other locations takes longer (2) The researcher had to have other local people interpret again since not everyone in the hamlet can speak and comprehend Vietnamese properly, especially the elderly folks, so it took longer (3) many local people felt shy when the recorder comes and ask to do the survey

1.6 Definitions

Socioeconomics is a word that is commonly used Even though it is frequently

associated with widely different interpretations of what it truly means (Hellmich, 2015)

Sometimes it is applied to rather specific scientific endeavors, etc But this paper just only showed the economics part which is the social sciences that study how economic

activities affect and are affected by social processes In general, it analyzes modern societies that have grown, stagnated, or in decline due to their local or regional, or global economies (How Social Economics Influences Your Future., 2019) Society is divided into three categories: social, cultural, and economic It also mentions how economic and social factors affect the environment Within the local community and household, social and economic influences intersect in the socio-economic system at the regional level and these systems have a significant impact on the environment through deforestation, pollution, natural disasters, production, and energy use (What is Socioeconomic (Socio-economic)? (n.d.), 2019)

Sustainable forest management (SFM): The SFM concept as addressed in the

Forest Principles and Chapter 11 of Agenda 21, was first formally formulated at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED, 1992) Many SFM definitions were developed by numerous international and related national initiatives and are regarded as a logical extension of the Brundtland concept of sustainable development (Ferguson, I.S, 1996) However, there was no "universally-accepted" definition of SFM (Varma, V.K, Ferguson, L and Wild, L., 2000) So for a simple and easy to understand definition, the writer took defined that said: “Stewardship and use of forests and forest lands in such a way and at a rate that they maintain their biodiversity, productivity, regeneration capacity, vitality, and potential to fulfill relevant ecological, economic, and social functions now and in the future, at local, national, and global levels, while causing no harm to other ecosystems.” (Forest Europe and adopted by the UN Food

Community forest management (CFM): The CFM is one of the methods of

effect and harmonious management between the forest tenure right, the traditional value

of local communities, economic benefits, and forest conservation (DAI, 2019) Several international initiatives have used CFM to contribute to better sustainable forest management and poverty reduction, notably for forest-dependent ethnic minority populations, during the last 15 years (IUCN, 2011) The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) originally defined community forest in 1991, with the following content: "to characterize a variety of activities that link people with forests, trees, forest products, and distribution of the benefits of these goods." In Viet Nam, two aspects of community forest management are congruent with the concept given above: 1) Forests under the community's common use right, with community members participating in management and business; 2) Although the community does not own the woodlands, community members are nevertheless active in their maintenance As a result, communities remain inextricably linked to forests in terms of providing work, collecting revenue goods, or enjoying immeasurable forest advantages (such as preserving water supplies, beliefs, migration, accumulation, and so on.) (Anh, Nguyen Quang Hoa, 2009)

PART II LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Define and History of Forest conservation

multiple benefits too such as the forest in keeping the environment healthy Forests are also lowered the air temperature by releasing water vapor into the air, etc (V.Rothkar, 2015)

2.1.2 History of Forest conservation

The Main Ridge Reserve in Tobago is the world's oldest protected area, having been established on April 13, 1776, to protect the watershed that colonial sugarcane farms relied upon (Ramdial, B.S , 1980) Then, many of the greatest problems in forest conservation were previously identified by early environmentalists Indeed, the quick loss

of the formerly huge woods in the American Great Lakes region was one of the major causes of early conservationism in the United States in the mid-19th century (Ladle, R.J and P Jepson, 2010) Most people in the early twentieth century were aware that forests deserve to be protected and managed to preserve their valuable resources (primarily timber), their vital roles in the water cycle, and their significance as key facets of the landscape with unique cultural and historical value Currently, there are many governmental and non-governmental organizations (such as GFC, etc.) working with countries to come up with solutions to protect, restore and develop forests through many different projects, including REDD+ (WILLIAMS, 2019), Kasigau Wildlife Corridor Project in Kenya, Buddhist Monk Forest Conservation Project in Cambodia, etc (Prolman, 2016)

2.1.3 Forest conservation in Southeast Asia and Viet Nam

Tropical forests are the most popular forest in the south-East Asia countries Southeast Asia is home to nearly 15% of the world’s tropical forests but is home to nearly two-thirds of the world’s floral and faunal diversity (DeFries, R., Hansen, A., Newton, A

C & Hansen, M C., 2005) However, According to estimates, Southeast Asia's forest

destruction is among the worst (Achard, F et al., 2002) and most severe in terms of biodiversity loss (Sodhi, N S et al, 2010), with only Latin America's deforestation rate comparable (Hansen, M C et al, 2013) “The future of Southeast Asia’s forests,” wrote that their strategy is based on recently developed shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs) They divided into 5 main scenarios those are: SSP 1, or the green road scenario; SSP 2,

or the medium road scenario; SSP 3, or the regional rivalry/rocky road scenario; SSP 4, or the inequality/road divided scenario; and SSP 5, or the fossil-fueled development/taking the highway scenario (Nilsson, A E et al., 2017) and (Popp, A et al., 2017) Of These five scenarios, SSP 1 shows the highest increase the forest cover in the Asia region They anticipate that five shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs) would lead to changes in Southeast Asia's forest cover by 2050 There will be a distinction between deforestation and forest restoration depending on the area (as indicated in figure 2.1)

Figure 2.1 Under the five shared socioeconomic paths (SSPs) (2015–2050), maps depicting geographically allocated predicted forest Cambodia (inset 2),

Malaysia (inset 3) and Indonesia (inset 4)

(Source: Estoque, R.C., Ooba, M., Avitabile, V et al., 2019)

That is why Asia countries are step by step to find a way such as open consultations between countries on forest issues or make projects to improve the forests areas namely Rimba Raya Orangutan Reserve Project in Indonesia, Buddhist Monk Forest Conservation Project in Cambodia, etc

Viet Nam is one of the Southeast Asian countries with a large forest area, so the government has taken measures to overcome, restore and protect forests Many projects have been applied in Viet Nam support that REDD+, sustainable forest management

(SFM), Commercial Smallholder Support Project in Bac Kan and Cao Bang provinces (CSSP), Community forest management (CFM), etc

2.2 The principles of sustainable forest management

There are four main principles of sustainable forest management (Nhi, 2020)

The first premise is: Equality in the utilization of forest resources across

generations: Natural resources are constantly related to human existence, and to use them,

we must safeguard them since natural resources are finite

The second principle is: In sustainable forest resource management, prevention is

defined as if there is a danger of forest resource degradation and there is insufficient scientific evidence As a result, environmental protection actions should be avoided

The third principle is: Equality and fairness in the use of forest resources in the

same generation: This is a difficult problem because while trying to create fairness for future generations, we still have not created equal opportunities for people living in the present generation

The fourth principle is: efficiency in Forest resources must be used rationally and

effectively in terms of economy and ecology

From sustainable forest management in Viet Nam, which is the land user, market

access, and access to high-quality seed varietals all limit people's capacity to properly manage their forests That’s why the Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) Activity of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) helps Vietnam's people share in the country's fast growth in a balanced and efficient way by tackling the interwoven

concerns of economic opportunity and forest stewardships assists the Vietnamese government in reducing carbon emissions caused by deforestation, land degradation, and inadequate plantation management SFM uses a “Green Prosperity” strategy to help local communities maintain their natural resource base and decrease emissions while also laying the groundwork for long-term livelihoods and fair economic development (DAI, 2019)

2.3 Relationship between Socio-economic aspect and sustainable forest management

The loss of forests has led to many serious problems for both people and the environment The world is facing serious environmental degradation (for example, loss of biodiversity, soil degradation, water problems, climate change) and socio-economic issues (for example, loss of materials and food, loss of cultural properties and skills, loss of livelihoods of indigenous peoples) and the people who depend on forests, the inequality, and the depletion of the forest asset base as a source of national wealth land depletion and degradation) as a result of production So the concept of SFM has consequently evolved,

at both national and global levels (Ha, 2007) The concept of SFM has had a long history and definitions of sustainable forest management are often regarded as a logical extension

of Brundtland's concept of sustainable development (Ferguson, I.S, 1996) So according

to FAO in 2018 sustainable forest management (SFM) is defined as a "dynamic and evolving concept that aims to maintain and enhance the economic, social, and environmental values of all types of forests for the benefit of current and future generations

" Nowadays, there are a lot of researches and projects to show out the impact between socio-economic and (SFM) for example:

* In Vietnam:

“The Impacts of the Doi Moi A process on Communities and Forest Land Management in the Northern Mountainous Region of Vietnam A Ph.D thesis, Fenner School of Environment and Society, to the Australian National University.” By Tran Thi

Thu Ha in 2007 It was mentioned to reform and update policies into the forest management and development in Viet Nam and the impact of socio-economic to (SFM)

in three provinces in the Northern Mountainous Besides, it was shown clearly about the feature in each area

* In international:

“Forest-related partnerships in Brazilian Amazonia: There is more to sustainable forest management than reduced impact logging.” By Ros-Tonen, M.A.F., van Andel, T., Morsello, C., Otsuki, K., Rosendo, S and Scholz, I (2008) (Ros-Tonen, 2008) It referred

directly to the impact of socioeconomics on the forest through “there is more to sustainable forest management than reduced impact logging” in the abstract This article aims to show the existence and diversity of forest-related collaborations in the Brazilian Amazon The main features of effective relationships are listed, with an emphasis on political and socio-economic issues, based on the lessons learned from these cases and the authors' experience In addition, the product-oriented partnerships focus on sustainable forest management; there is also a need for politically oriented partnerships based on civil

2.4 The impact of socio-economics on forest management

As far as we are all aware that forests’ benefits are supported by high income, protect people from disaster, an important part of human ling in forests, control of climate, Soil-improvement, control of water flow, etc According to the World Bank (2013), the GDP of Gabon grew from 2.4 percent to 9.0 percent between 2004 and 2009 As the world's population grows to 9 billion people by 2050, forests can assist fulfill rising demands for food, fiber, biofuel, shelter, and other bio-products they expected (Worldbank, 2013) On the other hand, because of the great economic, social, cultural benefits that forest trees bring, local people have exploited inefficiently, leading to forest degradation and loss

of forests A total of 12 million hectares of forest are destroyed each year (Mondal, 2007) Agriculture is one of the economic sectors that have a great influence on forests, residents living near forests have cleared the land for cultivation ( figure 2.2) Between 2000 and

2010, around 13 million ha of forests were converted to agricultural land and other uses or lost through natural causes (Sustainable Forest Management, 2016) Social also is the main impact on forest area, the ecosystem faces a significant threat as a result of the population increase To make room for human settlements, vast swaths of forest land are stripped of trees (factories, agriculture, housing, roads, railway tracks, etc.) The need for forest goods such as lumber, firewood, paper, and other important industrial items grows as the population grows, necessitating the cutting of trees (Mondal, 2007)

Figure 2.2: Forest replacement analyzed commodities 2001-2015

(Source: (Mikaela Weisse and Elizabeth Dow Goldman, 2021))

2.5 Sustainable forest management in South-East Asian countries

According to an article published in the Manila time by (Lee, 2018), the Philippines loses about 47,000 hectares of forest cover annually will keep losing more as a result of irresponsible broad logging and mining activities taking place all over the nation, making

it one of the most seriously deforested countries in Southeast Asia, if not the globe The cost of deforestation is enormous; food insecurity will be a problem for the country; there will be a reduced output of agricultural produce due to soil erosion (Lee, 2018) Thus, according to data from the Forest Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Philippines requires an estimated 54 percent of forest cover to protect areas from landslides and provide a water supply By 2022, the goal is to repair 1.2 million acres of degraded and deforested forest area And, one of the alternatives that the Philippine Forest industry is considering is sustainable forest management

Sustainable forest management (Lee, 2018), according (Forest Europe and adopted by the

UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 2019), tackles the importance of forest degradation and deforestation while boosting direct benefits to people and the environment

Vietnam is currently cooperating with international organizations on forest management issues, among them USAID In seven Vietnamese provinces, USAID has devised a solution called "sustainable forest management" to reduce emissions caused by deforestation, forest degradation, and inadequate wood plantation management practices The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has proposed a solution called "sustainable forest management," which attempts to minimize emissions from deforestation, forest degradation, and inadequate wood plantation management practices in several Vietnamese provinces such as Quang Binh, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Quang Tri, etc The USAID partners and assists the Government of Vietnam (GVN), the Vietnam Forest Owner Association (VIFORA), forest owners to design and implement community forest management models strengthen its legal framework by focusing on administrative enforcement, such as identifying and addressing barriers to effective forest law enforcement, improving law enforcement coordination, promoting community self-governance, and building technical capacity in forest monitoring and forest crime case development And also, expand the Payment for Forest Environmental Services (PFES) program and develop Carbon - PFES, both designed to compensate forest residents for forest protection and development while reducing carbon emissions To promote sustainable forest management, USAID will provide training in sustainable forest

management and livelihood development to approximately 25,000 individuals and 70 institutions More than 260,000 hectares of forest will be under enhanced natural resource management thanks to a $12.5 million grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) After five years of implementation, the direct project interventions will have decreased carbon emissions by at least 7,8 million tons (USAID, 2021)

According to World Bank (bank, 2013), the Lao PDR government is also actively collaborating with the international community, proposing initiatives and policies to enhance, develop, and repair forests One of them is called Scaling-Up Participatory Sustainable Forest Management Project (SUPSFM) SUPSFM is a sequel and expansion

of the SEAFORD (Sustainable Forestry and Rural Development Project) that ran from

2003 to 2012 The project's main goal is to minimize carbon emissions in priority regions through participatory sustainable forest management, as well as to pilot forest landscape management in four northern provinces of Lao PDR The project's goals include expanding the areas covered by approved Participatory Sustainable Forest Management (PSFM) plans, developing and piloting a Landscape approach to forest management, increasing the number of people who benefit financially and non-financially from forests, reducing the rate of forest cover loss, increasing carbon storage through improved

protection and forest restoration, and more In addition, it is possible to mention the REDD+ project, which reduces emissions from deforestation and forest degradation The

"Forestry Strategy to the Year 2020" (FS2020) was developed by the Government of Lao

National REDD+ Task Force (NRTF) to focus on all aspects of REDD+, recognizing it as

a potential for forest conservation and generating benefits for local people (F-REDD, 2015)

2.6 Relationship between minority ethnic groups and sustainable forest management

2.6.1 Dao’s Ethnics

The Dao people are also known by various names such as Dong, Trai, Diu Mien, Kim Mien, and so on They are the 9th most populous ethnic group in Vietnam, with nearly 1 million people The Dao dwells in hilly villages ranging from Cao Bang, Ha Giang, Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Lai Chau, Tuyen Quang, Bac Kan, and others in the north to Phu Tho, Vinh Phuc, and Hoa Binh in the south (Hang, 2014)

Agriculture (rice, maize) is the major source of subsistence for the Dao ethnic group,

as it is for many other ethnic groups in Vietnam's north And, shifting cultivation is the most common type of farming Terraced fields and paddy fields make up a relatively tiny percentage of the total The Dao live in all three regions (upland, midland, and lowland); Therefore, depending on the natural conditions of each region where they live, they have different types of farming ( (Viettourist, 2017) Besides, Dao people also do some other jobs to supplement their families such as fabric making (cotton growing and indigo dyeing), cattle (mostly serve for family), sewing, embroidery, etc

The Dao people in Bac Kan have nearly 47,000 people accounted for 18-20% of the total population in Bac Kan (Tập, 2021) They make a living by rearing livestock, growing upland rice, and doing wet rice Growing tobacco is quite common and grew most by Dao and Tay because the crops can bring high economic value to the people

Said to a local people “one hectare of tobacco plants will yield from 23-25 quintals, with the current average selling price of about 5,000-7,000 VND/kg, we will earn about 120 million VND/ha, 3-4 times higher compared to rice and maize”

2.6.2 Tay’s Ethnic

In 2020, the Tay’s population are over 1,8 million people (General Statistics Office

of Vietnam, 2020) Many provinces in northern Vietnam are home to the Tay ethnic group, including Lang Son, Cao Bang, Bac Kan, Thai Nguyen, Tuyen Quang, Ha Giang, Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Quang Ninh, and Bac Giang The Tay people often reside in river basins and valleys where the terrain is generally flat, useful for manufacturing and transportation, and reasonably simple to communicate with the outside world (google sites, 2015)

The Tay people's major source of income is farming They have a long history in this field, amassing a wealth of knowledge in selecting arable land, determining the best season for each plant type, as well as soil preparation, fertilization, intercropping, and crop support Cultivation requires animal development to gain traction and fertilizer for crops As a result, animals and poultry are raised in each home Buffaloes, cows, horses, goats, pigs, dogs, cats, poultry with chickens, ducks, geese, and swans are among the cattle grown, and the products are mostly for family consumption and trade in the market because the market is an important economic activity of Tay (committe for ethnic minority affairs, 2017)

The Tay people have resided in Bac Kan for a long time, making up more than half

of the province's population The Tay are found in the majority of the province's 122 communes, which are spread over eight districts and cities Farming and livestock rearing are the primary economic modes here, as they are in other locations Tobacco is also a form of agriculture that generates a lot of money for the people who live here (TTXVN, n.d., 2017)

2.7 Overview research area in Bac Kan province

Bac Kan covers an area of 4868.4 square kilometers and borders many other provinces, including Cao Bang (to the North), Tuyen Quang (to the West), Lang Son (to the South-East), and Thai Nguyen (to the South) Mountains and hills cover the majority

of Bac Kan's land, which is dotted by a complex network of springs, streams, and rivers Based on the advantages of soil type and topography, agroforestry is one of the key economic development sectors of Bac Kan According (vietnamnet, 2021), Despite the effect of diseases and natural catastrophes, the total value of agriculture and forestry output in Bac Kan province was projected over 1000 VND billion in the first six months

of 2021, and Bac Kan aims for a production value of more than VND 2,380 billion in agriculture and forestry at comparable prices by 2025, an increase of 1.29 times over the current level (Sơn, 2021)

Ngan Son district, Bac Kan province located in the north-eastern part of Bac Kan The natural land area of Ngan Son is 644, 4 km² The population of this district in 2019 was 29,269 people and the population density was 45 people/square kilometers (Nam, n.d., 2021) The topography of Ngan Son is formed by the convergence of a system of bow

convex ridges, which are firmly divided by a system of rivers, streams, mountains, and deep valleys, producing various terrain types Ngan Son commune is divided into 10 administrative divisions, including 1 Na Pặc town and 9 communes called Bang Van, Coc Dan, Duc Van, Hiep Luc, Thuan Mang, Thuong An, Thuong Quan, Trung Hoa, Van Tung (capital district)

PART III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND CONTENTS

3.1 Study area

The research was carried out in the second week of April 2021 (from April 14 to April 19) in 6 villages of Thuong An commune, Ngan Son District, Bac Kan province

Figure 3: Map of the research area

(Source: Google map 2021)

Thuong An commune of Ngan Son district, Bac Kan province, was founded before the French colonial time and was dubbed the Canh Tan commune during the hidden revolutionary period After the August Revolution in 1945, it changed with the name Thanh Tam commune From May 1964 to now it is back with the first old name “ Thuong An commune” People here are always pleased to be the origin of the revolutionary motherland and the site of Bac Kan province's first communist Party cell,

named Chi Kien (Bac Kan province's web portal, n.d, 2018) Thuong An commune is divided into 18 small hamlets (Figure 3) in which Duom A, Duom B, Tham Ong, khuoi-slao, roong Thu, and Na Pai hamlets were the main places of the research

3.2 Materials

During the research work, the materials or the resources are necessary to include so that the researchers will have enough equipment or techniques to do the research This research wants to have some materials followed by: firstly, notebook and pen are used for writing surveys or taking notes, the necessary things such as numbers of respondents or the main ideas that will be used during having a conversation with the local people Secondly, the cellphone is used for shooting photos and recording (if have), thirdly, the questionnaire paper will give to the respondents and the tester will guide and help them to

do it correctly Finally, Laptop will be used for analyzing the data, determining the results, and writing the report

3.3 Methodology

3.3.1 Research data collection

Primary and secondary data were used as study inputs The primary data consisted

of a transcribed small interview and the survey paper was given to respondents And Secondary data is made up of existing studies from journals, books, articles, and other trustworthy sources

3.3.2 Interview design and process

The process of collecting in the field includes data on local people's understanding

years Their adaptation can be a new potential finding knowledge that we can learn to protect the forest areas shortly The following steps can help you prepare for an interview:

We gathered some of the most important information about the research area, such as human culture, living conditions, and distinguishing characteristics; we planned access, or how to select and reach interviewees; we drafted a draft set of interview questions (Table 3.1) we planned meetings with local people, and we prepared the logistics of the trip itself

* Questionnaire structure (Semi-structured questionnaire)

The questionnaire defined the socio-economic situation in the Ngan Son district and the forest development conditions in that area The structure made based on a set of checklists and open-ended questions for interviews at different levels in detail open-ended questions for interviewing key informants at the village level, head village, and local authorities (Tran, 2007) Because the open-ended character of the question identifies the issue under inquiry, it also allows both the interviewer and the interviewee to go further into particular themes (Nigel Mathers, Nick Fox, 2002) The benefits of this technique are that if the locals have difficulty answering a question or simply make a quick response,

we may utilize recommendations or prompts to help them assess the subject further We can also answer inquiries, clear up ambiguities, provide feedback, explore replies, and track down new ideas To assess whether the situation was correctly transmitted, each was

by the interview's conclusion the interviewer has been debriefed means the research will focus on the host of each household because the host is the one main decision in each

household Moreover, the questionnaires related to specific issues such as income, activities, etc

The questionnaires were made based on local people, head village, commune, etc For this research, they will focus on local people and head village living at the village and local government so the question list made based on their level of knowledge and understanding because each of respondent has a different level and attitudes and the structure placed on (table 3.1), the (table 3.1) were made contingent on the question list from (Ha, 2007)

Table 3.31: Structure of questionnaire for surveying the local people based on the table of open-ended questions for interviewing key informants at the village level,

head village, and local government

To establish attitudinal behavior regarding the impact of socio-economic, and

to assess the familiarity of the respondent with, situation, threats in the life and to identify the socioeconomic characteristics of the respondent

* Respondents

There were 3 main levels that the research focuses on local people, head village, and local’s government and most of the respondents are Dao and Tay ethnic’s groups For the local people, the researcher chose 3 random people in each area explained every question for them to understand and helped them to write down their answers For the head village, the researcher chose 2 people (head village and village general secretary) gave them the survey paper with higher levels of questions and let them answer those questions And for the local government, the researcher just chose a total of 3 people those were forest rangers and two from land-use management

* Field observation

Using observational methods to study the repercussions on forests in the investigated region when following CSSP colleagues who are working on a forest allocation project in Bac Kan The researcher had a general status of forest areas and took some photos for supporting the thesis And the investigator had interaction and a deeper grasp of living situations as well as the purpose of the study as a result of this field observation

* Data analysis

The interviews and surveys were transcribed and then translated into English from Vietnamese Manual coding was used to conduct the content analysis To verify that there was no bias in the coding, the researcher double-checked all of the interview notes Furthermore, Excel has been utilized to code which questions required a percentage result, and google earth was used to identify the location of each village (Figure 3)

3.4 Contents

The knowledge of local people on sustainable forest management

Impacts of socio-economics development on forest management

Impacts of policies, regulations, and projects on forest management

Local concepts for applying into sustainable forest management

PART IV RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 General information of respondents

4.1.1 Education of local people

Throughout the fieldwork, participant observation was employed to foster a friendly connection with participants, make it easier to share sensitive opinions, and learn about everyday habits and expectations Insights and observations were expanded upon during the interview process Survey research also allowed participants to directly witness the effects of socioeconomic challenges on long-term forest management

There were 3 main levels that the research focuses on local people, head village, and local’s government and most of the respondents are Dao and Tay ethnic’s groups According (table 4.1) the average age that joined the survey was from 32 to 60 years old

“because the majority of the young folk removed their village and went to work somewhere else” said the local people For education, most of the respondents completed the old education system at least in primary school about 39%, and secondary school was 27%

4.1.2 Main sources of income

Figure 4.1 indicates the respondents' primary sources of income it was an essential line of inquiry for this study since it began to construct a picture of the livelihoods of the Dao and Tay communities Figure 4.1 presents that agriculture is the primary source of income for the locals

Table 4.1: Background of respondents in 6 villages in Thuong An commune

According to the respondents who answered the survey, the main products that local people grow are maize, rice, tobacco, and tangerine, and the agricultural goods are classified differently depending on the height of the communities Rice and maize are the main products of Khuoi slao and Tham Ong villages because two of those villages are living in the highest elevation over a total of 6 surveyed villages However, the quality

Categories Numbers Percentages (%)