About TBI Viet Nam
Due to the unsustainable and inappropriate use and management of forest resources over the past decades, the forests in Viet Nam have been increasingly declining in both quality and quantity. The forest cover in Viet Nam declined from 14.3 million ha, 43% of the country, to 9.18 million ha in 1990, 27.2% of the total area. Since the early 1990s Vietnam has undergone a forest transition: its forest cover has increased up to more than 40%. Presently, most of the forested lands, especially natural forests, are managed by state organizations. The area of forests and forested lands allocated to local people for management purpose is still limited; as a result the mobilization of local people’s involvement in forest management and protection has not produced satisfactory results.
Since late 1990s, the government of Viet Nam has formulated a series of forestry related policies based on land devolution and decentralization of governance structures. Of particular importance in the process of forest land allocation (FLA) is the fostering of sustainable livelihood opportunities for those living in forested lands.
The Tropenbos International Viet Nam programme (TBI Viet Nam) has initiated several interrelated projects to assess the efficiency of this FLA policy, especially the impact of local community-based management of forest resources on poverty alleviation and environmental integrity.
TBI Viet Nam began in 2001, and the first phase of our activities consisted mainly of capacity building of forest actors and organizations to better carry out research activities and policy development.
The objective of the forest sector of Viet Nam over the period 2006-2020 is: “Sustainable establishment, management, protection, development and utilization of 16.24 million ha of planned forest lands; increasing the area of forested land to 42.6% in 2010 and 47% in 2020 ; ensuring the wider participation of economic sectors and social organizations into forest development; improving the livelihood for people in mountainous areas and playing a vital role in national security and defense”.
Based on the real status of the forest sector as well as the landscape-based forest development strategy for the North Central region, TBI Viet Nam develops and carries out research projects through national and international collaboration to create sound and adequate knowledge. In addition, short-term and long-term training courses are organized for improving the capacity of staff working in the forest sector, at the same time contributing to an improved institutional environment for research, education and training activities. Information and knowledge obtained from research are shared with forest managers and decision makers in the forest sector to improve practice and policy.
Partners
At the national level, TBI Viet Nam works in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Forest Science Institute of Viet Nam, Forest Inventory and Planning Institute, Viet Nam Forest University, and Hue University of Agriculture and Forestry. At the international level, TBI Viet Nam’s key partners include Utrecht University, Queensland University, and Wageningen University and Research Center.
Location
North Central Eco-Agricultural Region (from Thanh Hoa to Thua Thien Hue) province serves as the main research area of the programme.
