Sustainable forest management by local people in the buffer zone of ba vi national park

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF FORESTRY FOREST RESOURCES & ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT FACULTY STUDENT’S THESIS SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT BY LOCAL PEOPLE IN THE BUFFER ZONE OF BA VI

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF FORESTRY

FOREST RESOURCES & ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT FACULTY

STUDENT’S THESIS

SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT BY LOCAL PEOPLE

IN THE BUFFER ZONE OF BA VI NATIONAL PARK

Major: Natural Resources Management (AC) Code: D850101

Faculty: Forest Resources and Environmental Management

Student: Luong Ngoc Minh Student ID: 1453092229 Class: K59B-Natural resources management Course: 2014-2018

Advanced Education Program Supervisor: Associate Professor Dr Tran Thi Thu Ha Research location: Ba Vi National Park – Ha Noi

Hanoi, October 2018

CONTENTS

I Introduction 1

II Goals, Objectives and Research Subjects 4

1 Goal 4

2 Objectives 4

3 Research subjects 4

III Methods 5

3.1 Study area 5

3.2 Data collection 7

3.2.1 Document Inheritance 7

3.2.2 Interviewing local people in Yen Bai and Ba Vi commune 7

3.2.3 Interviewing officials of Ba Vi national park 8

3.2.4 Interviewing officials, forest rangers of Yen Bai and Ba Vi commune 8

3.2.5 Using PRA tools 8

3.3 Data analysis 9

3.3.1 Data accessing 9

3.3.2 SWOT analysis 10

IV Results 10

4.1 The description of the respondent 10

4.2 Impacts of local people on forest resources 11

4.2.1 Using forest land for agriculture 15

4.2.2 Forest products exploitation 16

4.2.3 Causes of the impacts 18

4.3 Sustainable forest management by local people 19

4.3.1 The awareness of local community about sustainable forest management 19 4.3.1.1 The awareness of local community about sustainable forest management based

4.3.1.2 The awareness of local community about sustainable forest management based

on occupation 21

4.3.2 The situation of sustainable forest management in Ba Vi National Park 22

4.3.2.1 Forms of managing forest sustainability in research areas 23

4.3.3 Factors affecting to the participation of local people in sustainable forest management 24

4.3.4 Reasons for not participating in forest managing 25

4.3.5 Reasons for participating in forest managing 28

4.3.6 Causes of factors affecting to the participation of local people in sustainable forest management 29

4.3.6.1 Limited awareness 29

4.3.6.2 Lack of efficient polices and environmental projects 30

4.3.7 Assessing the status of sustainable forest management by strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats 30

4.3.8 Raising awareness of people 32

V Conclusions and recommendations 33

5.1 Conclusions 33

5.2 Recommendations 34

References 36

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 3.1 Map of Ba Vi National Park and its location 7 Figure 4.1: Ratio of land use for agriculture at Ba Vi National Park 16

LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1.Descriptions of respondents 11 Table 4.2.Knowledge level about sustainable forest management according to gender 12 Table 4.3.Knowledge level about sustainable forest management according to age group 13 Table 4.4.Knowledge level about sustainable forest management according to occupation14 Table 4.5 Participation levels in exploiting forest products according to age group 17 Table 4.6 Forest exploitation products 18 Table 4.7 Assessing important level of sustainable forest management according to gender20 Table 4.8 Assessing important level of sustainable forest management according to

occupation 21 Table 4.9 Types of forest in Yen Bai and Ba Vi commune 22 Table 4.10 Forest areas classification according to objects management in Yen Bai and Ba

Vi commune in 2017 23 Table 4.11 Source of information for local people about sustainable forest management 25 Table 4.12 Reasons why local people don’t take part in sustainable forest management (law enforcement agency's opinions) 26 Table 4.13 Reasons why local people don’t take part in sustainable forest management (local people's opinions) 27 Table 4.14 Reasons why local people take part in sustainable forest management (law

enforcement agency's opinions) 28 Table 4.15 Reasons why local people take part in sustainable forest management (local people's opinions) 29 Table 4.16 SWOT analysis 30

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I would like to send my sincere thanks and deep gratitude to the teachers of Viet Nam National University of Forestry, especially Associate Professor Dr Tran Thi Thu Ha for guiding me complete this graduation thesis With the knowledge acquired during the learning process is not only the foundation for the research process but also the precious jewelry to enter the life firmly and confidently

I sincerely thank the Board of Directors of Ba Vi National Park, People's Committee

of Yen Bai and Ba Vi Commune has allowed and created favorable conditions for me to finish the graduation thesis here

In the end, I wish you all the best in your career, your health and your success

Student

Luong Ngoc Minh

ABSTRACTS

An overview of sustainable forest management, the relationship between local people and law enforcement in protecting and enhancing the value of forest resources in Ba Vi National Park Learning about livelihood of local communities and how they affect to the forest’s reserve, listing and analyzing the management activities and their impact on local communities Moreover, improving the soft skills of researchers like: communication, observation, document inheritance, creating questionnaire table, interviewing local people

& law enforcers and giving recommendations to raise awareness of local people in Ba Vi National Park

I INTRODUCTION

Forests are one of the most valuable resources that bring a number of benefits to people, especially those who live inside it The forest ecosystem is highly complex, and influenced by numerous external factors Similarly, different forest types in different regions of the world require different sustainable management strategies However, uncontrolled activities of local community have been considered as the main reason of forest degradation and forest lost Supports for the local people to live and work are so limited and tends to make changes to local people’s livelihood due to the changes in accommodation, cultivation habit and to the change in forest products can normally harvest

With the development of science, technology and socio-economic development, forest management has shifted from managing timber business to multi-faceted business management of forest resources, sustainable forest management is based on strict, comprehensive criteria and criteria in economic, social and environmental fields Sustainable forest management requires forest managers to make detailed forest management plans, the main objective of sustainable forest management is to "manage the sustainable forest stands to achieve the set management objectives, ensure continuous production of forest products and services., but not significantly reduce the future value and productivity of the forest and does not cause undesirable effects on the natural and social environment

To find helpful solution to deal with those issues, sustainable forest management always the best choice because it requires the participation of local communities and law enforcement offices Sustainable forest management means the environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable management of forests for present

and future generations [1] Forest ecosystems are complex and influenced by many external factors so, different forest types in different regions of the world require different sustainability management strategies

Most of the previous researches show the same results that the poor in many communes and villages living in remote areas and near the forest are running out of forest resources and the nature is seriously harmed More than 1.6 billion people around the world depend on forest resources for their livelihoods – not just for food but also for fuel , for livestock grazing areas and for medicine (Arthur E and Pol D.G.,2000) [2] 1.2 billion people use trees on farms to generate food and cash moreover, many countries in the developing world draw on fuel wood to meet as much as 90% of energy requirements (FAO, 2015) [3] , so local communities play important part in sustainable forest management in the world

Viet Nam has been involved in sustainable forest management since 1998, some case studies such as Dao Cong Khanh (2014) [4] and Nguyen Ngoc Lung, Ngo Dinh Tho [5] show that the forest area have FM certification and the product chain certificated is not much; However, with the support from the Government, Ministry of agriculture and rural development and other line ministries, local authorities, the voluntary enthusiasm of the forest owners, the process of sustainable forest management has been improved Significant progress has been made, especially in the areas where timber is grown and harvested and exported

It is believed that the higher populations living in buffer zone, the greater impact they have on natural forest resources because they are adjacent in boundary and directly benefit from forest In spite of the numerous functions of forest management strategies, forest ecosystems in general and forest resources particular are gradually degrading in quality

under threat as a result of the growing population and expanding consumption of forest resources (FAO, 2007) [6]

Ba Vi National Park was established in 1991 under the Decision No 17-CT of January 16, 1991 of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Vietnam with a total area

of 108.15 km² This park is distributed in 5 districts including Ba Vi , Thach That , Quoc Oai (belong to Ha Noi City) and Ky Son , Luong Son (belong to Hoa Binh Province) It’s about 60 km far from Hanoi center following the national road No 21A and 87A It has high biodiversity value with large number of plant and wild animal species, provide forest services such as ecotourism and recreation, sites for scientific and educational purposes: 1,200 plant species, of which 21 species were listed in Viet Nam’s Red Data book (2007) [7] The buffer zone of this national park includes 16 communes, in which 7 of them are mountainous communes: Minh Quang , Khanh Thuong, Tan Linh , Ba Trai, Ba Vi , Yen Bai and Van Hoa communes (belong to Ba Vi district), with the total area of 14,144 ha and the population of 46,547 people However, natural forest and resources within national park area is facing many threats because living standard of ethnic people here is still low, they mostly rely on forest resources such as fuel wood, NTFPs, hunting wild animals for food, etc Moreover, the awareness of forest resources management is quite low and the participation of local people in management programs have met many difficulties because

of scattered settlements

Therefore, the protection and maintenance of the rehabilitation and development of

Ba Vi National Park, but still ensuring the harmony with local economic and development activities, is being considered as a challenge with conservation activities here It is therefore necessary to have assessments to identify socio-economic development issues that have a positive impact on the natural resources as well as to address gaps in conservation management, recognizing the importance of ecosystems, the urgency of

strengthening more effective activities for conservation activities in Ba Vi National Park, I

chose the topic “Sustainable forest management by local people in Ba Vi National Park”

The result of this thesis is to bring out the economic development issues of local communities for conservation activities in Ba Vi National Park, to find out the shortcomings in management, conservation and development Based on that assessment to put forward a PR plan to raise awareness of local people in Ba Vi National Park

II Goals, Objectives and Research Subjects

1 Goal

Assessing the relationship between local livelihoods and forest protection activities

to build a PR program with the purpose of promoting the forest protection sustainably for people in Ba Vi National Park

2 Objectives

- To assess the current situation of forest management in Ba Vi national park

- To evaluate effects of local people in buffer zone to forest resources in Ba Vi national park

- To determine factors that influence on efficiency and effectiveness of sustainable forest management by local people in Ba Vi National Park

- Relate the livelihoods of local people to their attendance in sustainable forest management

- Suggesting solutions to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of community forest management in Ba Vi National Park

3 Research subjects

Livelihood attitudes and activities of communities in the core zone and nature preservation of Ba Vi National Park (with the combination of forest protection for law enforcement agencies)

III METHODS

3.1 Study area

The study areas must be representative for the whole area and respond to these criteria:

- Inside the buffer zone of Ba Vi National Park

- More than 2 ethnic groups living inside those areas

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

Based on published documents and law enforcement’s agencies interviewing (Local officials and forest rangers), the ethnic group is an important factor that affects production system like economy , livelihood condition and the way people affect forest resources Therefore, 2 communes: Ba Vi and Yen Bai commune were selected for a detail study in

Ba Vi National Park

According to Yen Bai Vice chairman of the commune committee (2015) [8], this area is a mountainous commune, low terrain from south west to north east, between the hills and the lowland fields and terraces, this terrain is favorable for the development of fruit trees, perennial trees while Ba Vi commune located in the North of Ba Vi national park with low hill and mountains alternate with fields and small shallow streams

According to the data recorded from Ba Vi hydrometeorology station, the average temperature in both area is 23.4 °C, the coldest month is January (16.5 °C) and the hottest

month is July (28.7 °C) The average precipitation is 2,587 mm The difficulties of weather

are the dry west wind from May to July and white frost in winter

In Yen Bai commune, the number of household are 1874 with 7486 people and

ethnic groups occupy 49% of local population while Kinh people occupy 51% Total area

of land is about 3541.86 hectares Agriculture cultivation, cattle breeding and service are

three main sources of income in this commune However, agriculture production is still the

largest source of income here, so it leads to one truth that people depend much on forest

resources

In Ba Vi commune, Dao ethnic people occupy 97.3 % of total population while

Kinh people occupy only 2.7% This commune has the highest number of Dao people

compared with other 6 communes in buffer zone of the national park Average land is

estimated about 977 m2 per capita Agriculture cultivation and cattle breeding are two

main sources of income in this commune There are about 50-60% total household have

traditional medicine job Other jobs are farming, breeding and bee-keeping so, their life

depends on forest resources

Figure 3.1 Map of Ba Vi National Park and its location

(Source: Ba Vi National Park, 2017)

3.2 Data collection

3.2.1 Document Inheritance

Surveys were conducted in Ba Vi National Park at People’s committees offices of 2 communes and management offices of Ba Vi national park This information is used for selecting data in natural and socio-economic conditions of the study areas The material’s data will help me in analyzing the data about forest location, type and resources using since local people depends on forest resources and their point in sustainable forest management

Some important materials are collected such as buffer zone research reports, buffer zone & National Park development meetings, local participation in forest protection meetings, some buffer zone laws and policies, etc

3.2.2 Interviewing local people in Yen Bai and Ba Vi commune

A random sample of 100 households in Ba Vi and Yen Bai commune are selected in the survey Questionnaires are prepared (Appendix 02) before the field trip , the main questions will focus on living area, gender, age, source of income , education level , occupation, relationship between them and forest, their point and attitude in sustainable forest management

3.2.3 Interviewing officials of Ba Vi national park

Based on questionnaires in Appendix 01, the study conducted an interview of 4

officials at the park, the main questions focus on the change of forest use in buffer zone by communes in the past and recent years, corporation between Ba Vi National park and local communities in buffer zone in supporting the participation of local people in protecting and managing the forest in the past, now and in the future

3.2.4 Interviewing officials, forest rangers of Yen Bai and Ba Vi commune

A questionnaire was used to interview 5 officials from each commune including: Chairman, vice-chairman of the commune, and 3 forest rangers These interviewing aims

to find out information about forest resources protection and management of law enforcement agencies, policies and situation of sustainable forest management of local people and the way powerful officials support for their protection and management here Moreover, these interviews will have the cross-checked on the information collected from

Ba Vi national park and local community

3.2.5 Using PRA tools

Participatory Appraisal of Rural (PAR) 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 solution The role of the outsider is that of a catalyst, a facilitator of processes within a community which is prepared to alter their situation

In this study, PRA tools are used to interview commune members, households and leaders

Interviewing village managers is the first step when arriving to each village The purpose of this is to find some information about the socio-economic, population, livelihood, main jobs, land and forest resources used This provides information on the ways local people effects on forest resources and the awareness of people about sustainable forest management

Another purpose on this stop is to learn about some organization activities (woman association, Communist Youth Union, Old People association…) in the community because these organizations have impact on the participation of local people on forest management

- Quoting the code by the marginal character

- Sort citations into encrypted groups (topics)

- Explain the patterns in quotation marks

- Describe these patterns

Information about research areas like policies and law will be summarized and noted

By studying the available conditions of 2 buffer communes and Ba Vi national park, the comments and ideas from local community and communes which are suitable for local development will be given

3.3.2 SWOT analysis

Use SWOT tools to address the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of community-based forest management in Ba Vi National Park and then propose ways to reduce vulnerabilities and threats Use the table below to analyze:

4.1 The description of the respondent

114 respondents (65 random households) of participated in the interview including local people and staffs They were chosen randomly to answer the prepared questionnaire The details of the respondents are shown in the table below:

Table 4.1.Descriptions of respondents

(Source: Results collected by author’s field trip, 2018)

4.2 Impacts of local people on forest resources

Most people in the buffer zone of the national park depend their life on the forest resources, they often don’t realize the important of forest protection, 2 tables below show

the differences in knowledge about using forest resources between 2 genders and age group:

Table 4.2.Knowledge level about sustainable forest management according to gender

so they have to depend on collecting forest resources to earn money and have no experience about sustainable forest management while women have the support in accessing the information about sustainable forest management from social organizations like Woman’s union and Commune’s Youth Group

Table 4.3.Knowledge level about sustainable forest management according to age

group

Table 4.4.Knowledge level about sustainable forest management according to

occupation

with only 1 people (3.22%) have well knowledge,10 people (32.25%) have weak knowledge and 13 of them don’t know anything about sustainable forest management while they are living in the buffer zone of Ba Vi National Park These group have weak knowledge about sustainable forest management because their business have to depend on the resources in the buffer zone of the forest , so they don’t care much about consequences

of overexploitation as well as protecting the forest resources

According to the annual report of Forest ranger station of Ba Vi National Park (2017) [9], local communities in recent years still significantly effects on forest resources

In 2017, there were 6 illegal activities:

2 cases of illegal logging

1 case of break laws of timber exploitation

2 cases of break general regulation of forest protection

1 case of forest fire

4.2.1 Using forest land for agriculture

After analyzing the questionnaire, 30/65 households are using forest land for agriculture activities, the others don’t use their land for these purposes Total forest land used area is 32,460 m2 Land is mainly used to grow cassava, corn and tobacco, medical plants and fruit trees

Figure 4.1: Ratio of land use for agriculture at Ba Vi National Park

Local people investigated during the research confessed that they are using more fertilizer year by year, in 2010 the quantity of fertilizing is about 50 kg/1000 m2, but now the quantity increases to 90-150kg and this action made the soul arid and exhausted, too much chemical entering soil without any solution to improve the soil resulting in nutrient leaks and soil exhaustion

4.2.2 Forest products exploitation

Exploiting forest product in the buffer zone of Ba Vi national park is illegal, but a large number of local people here have to depend their life on selling forest product, 50/65 interviewed households said that that usually go to the forest and get forest products such

as medical plants, honeybees, timber, vegetation, etc

3405,8 2921,4

4544,4 19.476

2122,4

Land use purpose for agriculture activities at

Ba Vi National Park

Tobacco Fruit Cassava Corn Other agriculture products

Table 4.5 Participation levels in exploiting forest products according to age group

High participation

3 times/week Less than 3

times/week

No participation

in this group have family to take care of , so they will find many way (even illegal) to increase their family’s life standard

In Ba Vi commune, Dao ethnic people occupy more than 90% of the population and medical plants are the most exploited products here, Dao people have traditional ways

to distinguish useful medical plants and normal plants, they also know how to process

those plants into traditional medicines, the revenue from selling medical plants is estimated about 30-40 VND millions/year – average amount: >20 kg/year/household Beside medical plants, timber, honeybee and forest vegetation are special local products that are always welcomed in family as well as markets

Table 4.6 Forest exploitation products

household

Ratio in total

65 households (%)

4.2.3 Causes of the impacts

Economic is the main cause that leads to the impacts of local people on forest resources

Economy causes: in the modern world, there are 3 main basic demands for our life:

food, money and fuel wood, so to meet the demands, people here have to depend on forest

- Food: We need food every day to maintain our life, especially rice In the buffer zone of Ba Vi national park, land for agriculture is quite low, so the rice production is limited and can’t meet the demand of people here According to vice – chairman of Yen Bai commune Nguyen Quoc Huy, the ability to supply rice only meets 40% rice demand of the community, during my local interviewing, there are only 12 households grow rice at Ba

VI commune but they can’t provide enough even for themselves, people here don’t grown rive because of dry soil and lack of water Therefore, food demand of local people in buffer zone depends on other sources

- Money: If we want something we can’t produce, we need money to buy them, but

if the legal income can’t meet all the demand , we need to find a way which is the most effective and nearest to increase the income and local commune in the buffer zone of Ba Vi national park increase their income by selling forest product, with average income of 23 million VND/ year/people[10] from legal sources, they can’t meet all the demand for daily life, so they sell forest products like honey bee , medical plants to earn more money

- Fuel: It is used in daily life for cooking and warming, in the city, we use the energy come from provider legally with good price, but in Ba Vi national park’s buffer zone, they’re living in the center of forest , wood are surrounded and they are totally free while the other fuel such as gas is “not worth spending their income on” , so it leads to forest wood exploiting here Wood demand is about 9.23 kg/month/household Therefore, in a year, more than 110 kg of firewood are exploited to meet their demand

4.3 Sustainable forest management by local people

4.3.1 The awareness of local community about sustainable forest management

The awareness of local people at Ba VI National Park about sustainable forest management has so many differences in gender and occupation