Role of FLA in Restructuring the Forest Sector

Though FLA has been carried out for more than a decade, a systematic assessment of FLA impacts on forest resources and the livelihoods of forest-dependent communities has never been made. Tropenbos International Vietnam has prepared the report “Forest Land Allocation in the Context of Forestry Sector Restructuring: Opportunities for Forestry Development and Uplands Livelihood Improvement”.

The report shows that forest land allocated to households promote efficient land use in protected areas while land allocation to forest companies fails to generate positive outcomes. Common problems are excessive land clearance for collection of land leasing fees, land conflicts between forest companies and local people, and local people lacking sufficient agro-forestry land to meet livelihood needs. Preference for the land use rights of state-forest enterprises or forest companies has negatively influenced forest land stocks for households and individuals. Almost 300,000 households lacking sufficient land – is the leading cause of high poverty rates in mountainous areas. Meanwhile, more than 2 million ha of forestland currently managed by local Commune’s People Committees, is under poor management.

It is recommended that proactive steps must be taken to decentralize natural resource use and management, and that decentralization should not be present in policy only but through direct on-the-ground mechanisms that reach civil beneficiaries and subsidize them in building new livelihoods.

Though FLA has been carried out for more than a decade, a systematic assessment of FLA impacts on forest resources and the livelihoods of forest-dependent communities has never been made. Tropenbos International Vietnam has prepared the report “Forest Land Allocation in the Context of Forestry Sector Restructuring: Opportunities for Forestry Development and Uplands Livelihood Improvement”.

The report shows that forest land allocated to households promote efficient land use in protected areas while land allocation to forest companies fails to generate positive outcomes. Common problems are excessive land clearance for collection of land leasing fees, land conflicts between forest companies and local people, and local people lacking sufficient agro-forestry land to meet livelihood needs. Preference for the land use rights of state-forest enterprises or forest companies has negatively influenced forest land stocks for households and individuals. Almost 300,000 households lacking sufficient land – is the leading cause of high poverty rates in mountainous areas. Meanwhile, more than 2 million ha of forestland currently managed by local Commune’s People Committees, is under poor management.

It is recommended that proactive steps must be taken to decentralize natural resource use and management, and that decentralization should not be present in policy only but through direct on-the-ground mechanisms that reach civil beneficiaries and subsidize them in building new livelihoods.

Since the 1990s, the Government of Viet Nam has been allocating land use rights over almost 9 million ha of state forest land to households, communities, and economic entities. In this way, the Government seeks to involve local people in protecting forests, developing plantations and improving living standards. To date, a comprehensive assessment of the effects of Forest Land Allocation (FLA) policies in Viet Nam has been lacking. This info brief reviews the impacts of FLA on (1) livelihoods, (2) forest cover and quality, and (3) the development of a land market. The review concludes that FLA has produced mixed effects for local livelihoods. FLA provides an opportunity for local people to increase their income through investment returns on the land allocated to them. However, these opportunities are unequally distributed, favouring people with strong financial and political capital and labour resources. In some places, the implementation of FLA has triggered the marginalisation of weaker groups and produced local land conflicts. FLA has contributed to the rapid expansion of forest plantations through smallholder investment in land obtained under FLA. This development comes at the cost of natural forest cover in some areas, while in other areas it has contributed to the regreening of degraded lands. The contribution of FLA to better forest quality is unclear. FLA provides for land transactions, and thus the establishment of a land market in the upland areas. On the one hand, land transactions provide opportunities for land concentration, to the advantage of economies of scale. On the other hand, land transactions may put marginalised groups at risk as they may lose access to the land and forest resources.