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.