Forest management at the buffer zone of cuc phuong national park

MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF FORESTRY STUDENT THESIS FOREST MANAGEMENT AT THE BUFFER-ZONE OF CUC PHUONG NATIONAL PARK Major: Natural R

MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF FORESTRY

STUDENT THESIS FOREST MANAGEMENT AT THE BUFFER-ZONE

OF CUC PHUONG NATIONAL PARK Major: Natural Resources Management

Code: D850101

Faculty: Forest Resources and Environmental Management

Student: Nguyen Huu Dung Student ID: 1353091031 Class: K58A Natural Resources Management Course: 2013- 2017

Advanced Education Program Developed in collaboration with Colorado State University, USA

Supervisor: Assoc Prof BUI THE DOI

ACKNOWLEGMENTS

This study would not have been possible completed without the supporting of many people Many thanks to my supervisor, Assoc Prof Bui The Doi, who read my numerous revisions and helped sense of confusion, for his patience, motivation, enthusiasm, and immense knowledge His guidance helped me in all the time of research and writing of this thesis I could not have imagined having a better advisor and mentor for my study

My sincere thanks also goes to Ms Dinh Thi Van from forestry board of Cuc Phuong commune and Mr Nguyen Manh Cuong from Science and International Cooperative Department of Cuc Phuong National Park for having the enthusiastic attitude in providing data, their consultation and introducing to each villages in the interview Furthermore, I would also like to thank the participant in my interview for answering the question of local people in Cuc Phuong commune

Finally, I must express my very profound gratitude to my friend as a partner Ms Vu Thi Anh Hong from Vietnam National University of Forestry for her supporting with snapped photos, collecting data and making note for highlighted information in the interview

Author Nguyen Huu Dung

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEGMENTS i

TABLE OF CONTENTS ii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv

LIST OF FIGURES v

LIST OF DIAGRAM v

ABSTRACT vi

1 INTRODUCTION 1

2 LITERATURE REVIEW 4

3 GOALS AND OBJECTIVES: 7

3.1 Goals 7

3.2 Objectives 7

3.3 Scopes: 7

4 STUDY METHODS 8

4.1 Selection of study site 8

4.2 Data collection 8

4.2.1 Secondary data 8

4.2.2 Primary data 9

4.3 Data analysis 12

5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 13

5.1 Natural condition and socio-economic characteristics 13

5.1.1 Natural condition characteristics 13

5.1.2 Socio-economic characteristics 17

5.2 Forest management situations 26

5.2.1 Planting and protecting forest situations 26

5.3 Solutions 32

6 Suggestions for future research and conclusion 39 REFERENCES

APPENDIX

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CIFOR Center for International Forestry Research

MARD Ministry of Agriculture Rural Development

SPSS Statistical Package for the Social Sciences

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: The average temperature measured at CP hydro-meteorological station (2009-2017)

14

Figure 2: The average humidity measured at CP hydro-meteorological station (2009-2017) 15 Figure 3: Total rainfall measured at CP hydro-meteorological station (2009-2017) 16

Figure 4: Population structure of CP commune 2009 and 2017 18

Figure 5: Gender comparison of CP commune between 2009 and 2017 19

Figure 5: Labor structure of CP commune in gender comparison 20

Figure 6: Total estimation value in breeding of CP commune in 2017 21

Figure 7: The changing of some agriculture crops area in 2009 and 2017 23

Figure 8: Total estimated value of some main agriculture crops in CP commune 2017 24

Figure 9: Total income of some sectors in CP commune 2017 25

Figure 10: Total area of some forest types managed by CP commune 26

Figure 11: Households living standard structure of CP commune 2017 29

LIST OF DIAGRAM Diagram 1: Relationships between natural resources and local people activities 32

ABSTRACT

Sustainability has emerged as an important factor of forest management in the buffer zone, which has a great number of discussions on sustainable forest management However, basic factors in the specific differences have not been explored It means each local region has differences in natural condition and socio-characteristics It leads to the difference in strategies of forest management This study sought to determine those differences which were

in the scope of the research CP commune has also those specific differences with approximately 86% of Muong ethnic, 17.2% of poor households with 570 residents having risk hungry before harvested season (CP commune, 2017) In addition, 91.4% of the buffer zone residents participated in forest exploitation [20] From those data, this study used Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) tools and interview methods to approach local people,

and for the most important goal to assure that the varied voices of the community are heard

[15] This study revealed some characteristics of socio-demographic (gender, number of labors), socio-economic (agriculture, handicraft industry, forestry and services) of CP commune It aims to take a fully understanding in forest management towards sustainability strategies For approaching interview and PRA method, further researches would have some ideas for proposing a strategy in finding forest management models This study suggested for some topics in community forest management to encourage local people in participatory forest management The significance of this study would be considered as a basis for planners

and managers in the trend of sustainable forest management

1 INTRODUCTION

Vietnamese has a locution that: “Forest is gold, ocean is silver” To be honest that forests are credibly important to human life by its significances It is not only economic aspects but also many positive effects to environmental matters For examples: reducing GHGs and climate change, providing oxygen, and so on Therefore, sustainable forest management has become a big concern, and more and more complicated Especially with forest in the buffer zone in which the local people was living and having impacts on its resources [28]

In fact, the optimum solutions for forest management are more effectiveness, the balance with negative impacts of local people on natural resources at buffer zones are essential Recent research results indicated that the vulnerable people in many communes, villages and remote areas, who live nearby the forest was overusing forest resources and destroying the nature More than 1.6 billion people around the world depend on forest at varied degrees for their livelihoods: not just for foods but also for fuel, livestock grazing areas and medicinal products [2] At least 350 million people live inside or close to the dense forests, largely dependent on these areas for subsistence and income, while about 60 million indigenous people are wholly dependent on forests [7] In the forested landscapes of India, people depend on the forest for a variety of forest for products such as food, fodder, agriculture and housing It was estimated that 100% people near forest depend on forest resources for firewood house construction materials and non-timber forest products; occupied approximately 32% of total income from forest This dependence has resulted in forest resources degradation [1]

In Vietnam, there are numerous researches on forest management such as Do Anh Tuan (2001) [6], Nguyen Thi Phuong (2003) [21], Pham Quang Huy (2006) [28] All of results from these authors indicated that local people who lived in buffer zone has either negative and positive impacts on forest resources by many ways such as exploitation for

timber, fuel-wood, cultivation activities, and also in socio-economic aspects Therefore, it is strongly believed that forest management at the buffer zone has become extremely necessary

In spite of the numerous functions of forest management strategies, forest ecosystems in general and forest resources in particular are gradually degrading in quality under threats as a result of growing population and expanding consumption of forest resources [7] To be honest that we cannot deny that at the buffer zone of national park, traditional cultivation and over-exploitation happened and so many negatively consequences of local people who lived in buffer zone So that sustainable forest management is the best management plan in this case and the most important point is that to improve local people‟s livelihoods and living standard.Established in 1962, Cuc Phuong National Park (CPNP) is the first and largest national park in Vietnam With large areas, CPNP with 22,200 hectares belongs to three provinces: Ninh Binh, Hoa Binh and Thanh Hoa (Appendix 4) With 1,944 flora species; 2,000 vegetative species; 71 animal species; 319 bird species; 33 reptile species; 16 amphibian species, etc CPNP has become the most important biodiversity home in Vietnam Eco-tourism is a potential in CPNP With a large area, Cuc Phuong is a virgin tropical forest situated at 80 km southwest of Hanoi, a buffer zone of 6,550 ha which located in 14 communes in four districts of three provinces A recent survey of the buffer zone found it to

be inhabited by 1,737 families with 8,560 people of whom 3,690 were the main labors Almost 90 percent of the families belong to the Muong minority Agriculture is dominated by low productivity, extensive rice farming and annual production averages less than 250 kg of paddy rice per person Especially in the upland areas of the zone, degraded land is increasingly the norm More than 50 percent of the families suffer food shortages during at least one to three months of the year About 20 percent of the families still practice a semi-nomadic lifestyle and often enter into the protected area of the park to hunt illegally, harvest wood for fuel and construction or to gather other forest products, both for subsistence and as

traditional cultivation, and having low education level caused by generality of ethnic minority, it leads to be probably complicated in forest management

In addition, total coverage of CP forests were approximately 75.2 % [20] and whole territory of Vietnam was 41.45% accorded to Decision no 1187 / QD-BNN-TCLN announcing the status of forest nationwide in 2017 Therefore, having 91.4% local people at the buffer zone of CPNP who participated in exploitation and hunting in forest Traditionally, the Muong lived in mountainous limestone country, primarily in the narrow valleys, within a distinct territorial area They engaged in shifting slash and burn agriculture in forest clearings, hunting and timber cutting, and some irrigated rice growing in valleys The forest clearings were used to grow cotton, cassava, maize and some pumpkins and gourds [23] The Muong today also engage in animal breeding, mostly small animals such as pigs and poultry Buffaloes are raised for meat, as well as being used as draught animals The Muong diet is traditionally supplemented with bamboo shoots, mushrooms, wild tubers and vegetables and sometimes meat from forests [3]

In order to deal the issue, this research is to identify activities that local people are implementing with the forest and to propose the managers had a deeper look into forest management strategies in future On the other hand, there is no specific study on the community's participation in forest management in the buffer zone of CPNP There are no reasons to prevent people from participating in forest protection and management Wishing to understand the current status of forest protection and management in the buffer zone of CPNP, from that to suggest solutions are in order to attract local communities to protect forest resources Thus reduce the pressure of communities living in the buffer zone to the national park Hence the topic: “Forest management at the buffer-zone of CPNP” has been implemented

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

People probably mentioned about Cuc Phuong National Park (CPNP) with wild animals conservation area, primary forest, or as a paradise place for eco-tourisms However, a little bit of people who has known about the buffer zone of CPNP, its significant and forest management in order to protect wild animals, forests and to be our lifebuoy In this study, Cuc Phuong commune located in the buffer zone of CPNP chosen for study field A study on forest management in Cuc Phuong commune of the buffer zone CPNP was the new topic which discussed on forest management in the commune for further studies related to the

matter

The novelty of the topic was impressed by outwardness from study method The informed consents and semi-structured questions were designed to interview people who was directly participated and related to the forest management in which they live Instead of choosing other objects for the research, this study focused on interview results to archive the final aim to propose some solutions for forest management in Cuc Phuong commune

With the random interview on 14 communes, the case study has a large of study sites [27] Author indicated that the survey distributed on all of communes in CPNP buffer zone may be a weakness of research To be honest, with a large area of the buffer zone in 3 provinces, the author may not choose the object who strongly related to his survey In general, the natural and socio-economic conditions of those communes are mostly different For example, the ethnic composition, culture, education level, and socio- economic which directly related research topics In this study, having 3 criteria were taken in the selected area However, with Pham Thi Trang in term of forest management in Ba Vi National Park [29] In the report has not included any idea for how many people would participate to those surveys

In my desire, I recommend that having a specific in method personally Because of the model

or sample must be enough size, random and representative for the object

About the theoretical basis, the concept of buffer zone was institutionalized in Decision no 186/2006 / QD-TTg, August 14th, 2006 of the Government Once again, the buffer zone is located outside the national park This decision mentions a relatively comprehensive description of the location, functions, tasks, activities and coordination among the stakeholders in socio- economic and development in the buffer zone According to this decision, the buffer zone was defined that is a forest, land or water surface adjacent to the national park (NP) or nature reservation zones that covers all or a part of the commune, wards

or townships adjacent to the NP and the natural resources (NRs) The buffer zone is established to prevent and reduce the vulnerability of people to the NP and the nature reservation zone Investing for the buffer zone development aims to mitigate the threats, challenges and difficulties in protecting biodiversity The important requirement for buffer zone management is to involve stakeholders whom it was in particular highlighted the roles, responsibilities and rights of local people [35] Besides, having a great number of definitions about the buffer zone and most of the noteworthy one belongs to D.A Gilmour 1999 [5] It also mentioned about the activity for community development, about socio-economic, living standard for local people who live in the buffer zone For these reasons, the object is the one

of stakeholders who has been focused on this research would be local people in the buffer zone (CP commune)

Undoubtedly, the local people and their significant couldn‟t be denied anyway The combination of local communities in forest management is called: “Community forest management” [35] And a model was designed for: “best of both worlds” between

“civilization state” and “aboriginal people” [33] Obviously, the research was impressed by the coordination between “native knowledge” and “government policy” in community forest management Buffer zone management is seen as a long-term interventions aimed at achieving ecological, socio- economic sustainability Because of that argument, the both social and the economic matters should be focused [10]

Moreover, “the contractual agreement” was mentioned in forest protection and management [17] The buffer zone communities are involved in the cooperation with a

number of stakeholders to manage natural resources in the buffer zone for the tourist service The benefits of community participation in resource management are about 30% - 50% of gross benefits from eco-tourisms would be return to return investment for the economic development and social development of the community [26] This research has only attracted the attention of communities to the management of forest resources for tourism in the buffer zone Residents have demonstrated their ability to organize their own conservation activities, and in collaboration with the Royal Forestry Department, develop management systems for forest management to ensure ecological stability the same as serving the interests of the people in the region They insisted that if the government had a policy of encouraging and transferring power, they would surely succeed in controlling overexploitation of forest resources, deforestation and the impact on the environment [30]

In Vietnam, according to Decision no 24/2012/QD – TTg, June 1st, 2012 period of time 2011 to 2020 about investment policy for special-use forests development, the decision probably mentioned about the policy encourages the development of forest ecosystem services Thus, promoting the role of communities in managing these resources is both a matter of promoting tradition and of creating a more effective and sustainable way of managing resources, consistent with the development trend of the world [35] Therefore, people completely agree with the idea: “tourism impacts on resident who live in the buffer zone” [27] In following that argument, this research reports on opposite sides of how the resident impacts on the buffer zone of CPNP that frankly helps the novelty impress with readers and researchers

Finally, the natural conditions was gathered in this research may help other researchers, readers, managers having a noteworthy materials for sustainable forest management and socio-economic development of CP commune This topic would improve that the inter-relationship between socio-economic and forest management in local people awareness and so on

3 GOALS AND OBJECTIVES:

3.1 Goals

This research aims to evaluate forest management status in Cuc Phuong commune – one of

14 communes around the Park, and propose some solutions for sustainable forest management

in Cuc Phuong National Park

3.2 Objectives

- To identify characteristics of socio-economic and natural conditions in Cuc Phuong commune of Cuc Phuong National Park

- To analyze effectives and limitations of forest management in Cuc Phuong commune

of Cuc Phuong National Park

- To propose some solutions for sustainable forest management in Cuc Phuong National Park

4 STUDY METHODS 4.1 Selection of study site

There are many National Parks in Northern of Vietnam were considered as the potential study site for this research Cuc Phuong National Park was selected for two main reasons:

- It is the first National park of Vietnam (established in 1962) with 55 years for foundation and development; and with 22,200 hectares belongs to three provinces Ninh Binh, Hoa Binh and Thanh Hoa

- It has about 50,000 people living in total area of 30,625 hectares of buffer zone [9]

- It has diverse components of population included many ethnic minority communities For the selected study area (commune) should be representative for the whole area and respond to these criteria:

- Be one of the 14 communes in the buffer zone of Cuc Phuong National Park (Appendix 3)

- Having deserved ethnic groups (≥2 groups)

- Gross strictly or restriction protected forest is the largest area compared with another commune in CPNP buffer zone

Selected villages represent for that commune (number of households and ethnic group, economic customs) and selected household represent for that village (some wealthy, poor ones, some closed-poor families) [29]

From those criteria and based on CPNP‟s documents, Cuc Phuong commune were satisfactorily selected and the interview would be conducted in 10 villages of Cuc Phuong commune

4.2 Data collection

4.2.1 Secondary data

 To collect the data to present the changes of forest areas in recent years (2009- 2016)

 To gather information about exploitation activities of local people and socio-economic aspects, and their livelihoods

 To review reports of communal people‟s committee related to forest management, and projects from foreign and government organizations

 Most secondary data will be collected from head offices of local government, communes and the service center of Cuc Phuong National Park

4.2.2 Primary data

 Semi-structured interview

We use semi-structured interview method for interviewing stakeholders who related to forest management in Cuc Phuong National Park (included by visitors) In order to conduct interviews, some samples for questionnaire were established and developed for each one of actors

 Sample size and sampling technique

Fortunately, the data regarding the population size has been recently updated, the researcher surmised that the actual commune population could be not far above the abovementioned figure of 916 households with 3196 residents (CP commune, March 2017); hence, it was decided that the representative sample size would comprise approximately 320 residents, or equal to 10% of the total population of the study area [12] A combination of systematic and stratified random sampling approaches was employed for the sample selection

Decisions regarding the number of people to sample at each village were based on the following formula:

In this manner, a total of 91 households were contacted and the returned questionnaires with missing data were eliminated from analysis for example missed interviewer information, empty, or not local people For this following eliminated process, a total of 140 response questionnaires with complete data were retained for the analysis, which indicates a response rate of 43.75%

 Interview officials of Cuc Phuong commune and CPNP

Based on questionnaire, the study conducted an interview of 2 officials of Cuc Phuong National Park and 2 officials of Cuc Phuong commune in forestry division and department respectively To be honest that the questions are about changes of forest in buffer zone by communes in recent years and some information about cooperation programs between National Park and local communities in buffer zone for forest management plans

 Interview forest rangers or patrollers

The questionnaire used to interview 2 head officers of forest ranger department, 1 head official in each of the commune This activity aims to certainly recognize and gain exact information about forest management, policies and some investments from programs for forest protection and sustainable management

 Using PRA tools for interviewing commune members

Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) is a growing combination approach and method that enable rural people to share, enhance and analyze their knowledge of life and condition to plan, act, monitor and evaluate their situation and finding solutions The role of outsiders is that of a catalyst a facilitator of processes within a community which is prepared to alter their situation

RRA methodology is a method of using a combination of tools for the purpose of collecting information to identify problems and programming rural development plans The RRA method, however, is not a purely informative methodology, but rather a creative use of a

range of investigative tools to assess a common situation, a problem The RRA sets out the following principles [37]:

- Use cross-checking to check the accuracy of the information

- Use interdisciplinary knowledge to tackle holistic and practical issues (eg assessment

of environmental aspects)

- Use local knowledge to promote the self-management capacity of the community

- Be implemented in multi-disciplinary team to create learning process

RRA can be used in the assessment of all rural development-related activities, which assess activities related to forestry and community forest management RRA toolkits used by many different professionals at various levels include:

- Method of document study

- Method of observation and field survey

- Meeting method: flexible interview method This method uses six questions: what, who, where, when, how much and how?

- Methods of analysis and synthesis of data such as general methodology by household groups, statistical methods of analysis, modeling and modeling methods

In this thesis, PRA tools used to interview leaders of village members and households in each village Immediately interview leaders or managers of villages when arrived to those villages

In order to gather more information of socio-economic, population, livelihoods, trend of labors, exploitation activities, land and forest resources consumption and selling sources This activities aims to provide information from leaders and managers gained, awareness of local people and tested by village members for whole of those provided information

Randomly interviewing household‟s leaders at Cuc Phuong commune in total number of 120 households This interview aims to find out economic issues, trend of labors, main ways of negative effects, its causes and some solutions to improve in policies or related issues for sustainable forest management With another goals that learned more about some

organizations at local such as Women Association, Communist Youth Union, Elder People Association… etc Some short questions and semi-structure questions will be applied for these objects (Appendix 2)

4.3 Data analysis

Secondary data was gathered from officials of Cuc Phuong National Park and Cuc Phuong commune supports to the overview of forest situation, forest management, and some related information Data from conducting survey by interview questionnaires will be saved and analyzed by Excel software In order to build data and statistics from output such as trend of labors, changes of forest in order to predict trends of socio-economic, benefits comes from sustainable forest management

5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 5.1 Natural condition and socio-economic characteristics

5.1.1 Natural condition characteristics

- Cuc Phuong commune was located in the west of Nho Quan district, Ninh Binh province It is 30 kilometers far away from 1A highway, and the southwards for 120 kilometers from Hanoi and 42 km from Nho Quan town Total natural area is approximately 12.373,5 ha (CP commune, 2017) With a large area and having 2 villages in the core zone of

NP, the commune perfectly is able to develop eco-tourisms services It is adjacent with 7 communes of 2 provinces Hoa Binh and Thanh Hoa [29]

- With high topography, the commune surrounded by limestone mountains absolute altitude is average 400-450m above sea level The elevation of the valleys is approximately

200 - 350m (CP commune, 2017) The karst topography is the most popular terrain of CP commune Karst topography is a three-dimensional landscape shaped by the dissolution of a soluble layer or bed rock, usually carbonate rock such as limestone or dolomite [11] These landscapes display distinctive surface features and underground drainages, and in some cases there may be little or no surface drainage For these topographical characteristics, the high elevation of CP commune completely affects socio-economic, culture, cultivation methods [8]

 Climate characteristics

The average year temperature of CPNP was recorded 22.5 ˚C The highest break recorded average value is 23.7˚C (1998) The lowest one is more than 15.8˚C The lowest month average temperature recorded is 5.3˚C (January, 1993) and the highest one is 38.4˚C (June, 1997), the average temperature in rain season is 26.4˚C mostly in the summer and dry season 18.6˚C in the winter [20] The average temperature of northern Vietnam closely equal to 25˚C Compared with CP value measured at hydro-meteorological station, thus 2.5˚C is the

number of the unequal temperature People perfectly believe in forest could be useful in reduce GHGs and local temperature [16]

Figure 1: The average temperature measured at CP hydro-meteorological station

(2009-2017)

Unit: Celsius degree (˚C)

Source: CPNP, 2017 The bar chart compares the average temperature of CP commune and CPNP It is clear that the average temperature is mostly flat There is only 1.7 ˚C from highest 23.6˚C (2015) to the lowest one 21.9˚C (2016) With the stable year temperature and the cooler weather is a superb condition for ecosystem development In general, the air humidity of CP commune which was recorded in CP hydro-meteorological station is completely high (approximately 84.8%) Relatively high humidity from early January to April and dry season from October to December

Figure 2: The average humidity measured at CP hydro-meteorological station

The average of total year rainfall which recorded approximately from 1700-2000 mm/yr Therefore, the rain season from May to October, the precipitation estimated for 89.1% in total The dry season from November to April next year estimated for 10.9% [20] Low precipitation and temperature in the dry season make the weather harsher and negatively affect the local people such as crops, cultivation, and ecosystem…etc

Figure 3: Total rainfall measured at CP hydro-meteorological station

In the wind regime, CP commune is probably affected by two types of monsoons The rain season has the hot southeast monsoon, with wind speed from 4 to 12 m/s The dry season has the cold northeast monsoon, with wind speed from 4 to 20 m/s which usually bring dry and

cold air At the end of season has fog and hoarfrost is the same with Vietnam climate characteristics It negatively damaged to crops, animals and ecosystems…etc

 Hydrological characteristics

In hydrological: due to karst topography, CP has not much of surface flow Otherwise the chemical characteristics of karst with limestone, having pretty number of underground streams (Nga village) From these characteristics about Hydrological of CP commune which compare the positive and negative impacts of karst topography:

+ Positive impacts: having a great number of underground of streams lead to be a great number of local companies could be exploited for agriculture services such as the mineral water spring bath, resorts or drinking bottled water…etc

+ Negative impacts: lack of water supply especially in dry season, water is easily

contaminated from human activities

To conclude of natural conditions of CP commune, it probably would be had a big number of tourism exploited potential for nearby CPNP, and with the positive impacts of climate, it could be considered to be a favorable conditions for local people living, cultivation activities and ecosystem in general For the last mentioned about topographical and wind regime, CP commune has got the goodwill from natural condition characteristics for the karst terrain, and great cooler temperature which compared with surrounding areas However, it has some negative impacts of natural conditions Caused by the karst topography, the lack of water supply for communities in the commune has become a big problem when the dry season prolonged more than 5 months The underground water from streams easily polluted which has considered a serious problem

5.1.2 Socio-economic characteristics

 Population and labor structure

- Population structure

With large natural area is approximately 12373.5 ha, CP commune has a modest population 3196 residents on total 916 households The population of CP commune is approximately 26 persons/ km2 [20]

Figure 4: Population structure of CP commune 2009 and 2017

Unit: persons

Source: CP commune, 2017 The bar charts compare total population and ethnic group structure of CP commune The total population increase by 321 persons of both ethnic groups Kinh and Muong respectively Muong ethnic group is 90% with 2587 persons (2009), Kinh ethnic is 10% with

289 persons respectively However, Muong ethnic resident reduce 86% with 2735 persons (2017) and Kinh ethnic is 14% with 461 persons in total population respectively After 8 years from 2009 to 2017, the average population increase was more than 40 persons each year It meant to be about 1.1% per year It is the pretty number for commune‟s population growth, because of overpopulation or having a superb low rate of population growth probably lead to

be negative consequences such as lack of labor, population aging or more severe poverty seriously

Population structure comparion between 2009 and 2017

Cuc Phuong Commune, for example, consisted of less than 500 persons in 1962, but by 1995 its population had grown to 1500 persons and still had 2.3% growth rate To produce adequate food for the growing population, the swidden farming was intensified [18] Those numbers prove that growth population in CP commune was decreasing and has become stable

Figure 5: Gender comparison of CP commune between 2009 and 2017

Unit: persons

Source: CP commune, 2017 The bar charts compare the number of male and female in CP commune between 2009 and

2017

In fact, the number of male and female in the commune is increasing In 2009, the data for female was accounted for 49.2% with 1415 persons and 48.15% with 1539 persons in

2017 According to the population data of CP commune, the number of male was increasing

190 persons from 1460 persons with 50.8% in 2009 to 165 persons with 51.85% in 2017 respectively

Both of male and female rates were increasing by growth population However, in

2009 was 1.6% between male and female and after 8 years were 3.7% between them Those numbers prove that having more male children than female one who was born and may gender will be a big problem in the future of CP commune

In fact, the both of genders in working age were increasing It is 12% of total 1300 persons in 2009, and 1456 persons in 2017 respectively Female in working age was 704 in

2009 persons and 796 in 2017 Male was 596 in 2009 and 660 persons in 2017

In general, female is the main of labor in CP commune who accounting for 54.6% of total

Gender in labor structure comparison between 2009 and 2017

to reach 14.850 billion VND in 2017

Figure 6: Total estimation value in breeding of CP commune in 2017

Unit: million VND

Source: CP commune, 2017 The bar charts compare total of estimated value in livestock farming of CP commune

in 2017

Following the data, the highest estimated value of deer is approximately 6 billion VND and lowest value estimated 231 million VND from hedgehog The second is cow with total 2.7 billion and next one is pig, poultry with 1.5 billion VND Caused by having low unit prices, goat, buffalo honey although it has a big yields but all of them has a lower estimated value is 1.3; 1 billion and 624 million VND respectively

The livestock farming estimated value of CP commune in

2017

Following the interview data, the product from deer is mostly deer antler which was considered a natural medicine from forest land It was considered profitable with cost an arm and a leg about 2 million VND per 100 gram Though having a killing price, but the demand

of deer antler was strongly high Deer is considered a potential of livestock farming as sugar cane of cultivation in CP commune Because a part of CP commune located in CPNP, the farmer could buy deer babies from the national park It is just about 7-15 million VND per individual After the first year, each individual could give 0.7 kg antler for 14 million VND respectively That archived 2 aims which were conservation and improving incomes for local people Moreover, deer has higher and efficient of economic value for farmers Taking care deer is easier than cow and buffalo, less diseases [22]

For all of these data, the livestock farming in CP commune has a big number of incomes for local people It probably helps local people improve their life quality from weakness of natural conditions and social