Community-based protection promotes forest conservation

A community-based forest protection team patrols in primary forest in Song Kon commune of Quang Nam province's Dong Giang district. The patrols are part of an effective protection of forest in Quang Nam and Thua Thien Hue provinces. (Photo courtesy of A Siu)

Quang Nam (VNS/VNA) - Community-based forest protection has helped improve the management and conservation of large areas of natural forest as it promotes the role and responsibility of local people on 7,833ha in Quang Nam and Thua Thien Hue provinces.

An initial assessment from the report ‘Strengthening Civil Society to accelerate conservation efforts in Central Annamites, which was funded by the Swedish International Development Co-operation (SIDA) and jointly implemented by WWF-Vietnam and NGO GreenViet, unveiled that 545ha degraded forest area in Thua Thien Hue had been restored during the first phase of the project in 2018-23.

The project, worth 1.73 million SEK (Swedish Krona) or 1.67 million, also helped improve the income of communities in Dong Giang district, while expanding the forest for the grey-shanked douc langurs (Pygathrix cinerea) – a critically endangered primate species – in Tam My Tay commune in Quang Nam province.

“Community-based forest management is seen as a positive solution in the conservation and protection of the primary forest. We recognised that the forest needed the involvement of the local people to be well protected, and limit illegal violations,” said Nguyen Dinh Phuoc, from WWF-Vietnam’s Thua Thien Hue office.

“For example, a 545ha area of degraded forest in A Luoi and Nam Dong districts had been increased to medium forest standard (with timber reserves from 100 to 200 cubic metres per hectare) in the five-year period of the project,” he said.

“The initial outcomes of the project persuaded the provincial people’s committee of Quang Nam to continue community-based forest management at seven communities in Dong Giang and Nui Thanh districts,” he shared.

He added the project also offered a livelihood for 1,480 households living near primary forest by boosting forest farms and sustainable forest product exploitation.

A 3-ha pilot farm of black saffron (Curcuma zedoaria) and a 50-ha rattan farm was developed by the Co Tu ethnic group in the villages of But Tua, Bh Lo Ben, A Roch and A Lieng in A Tinh and Song Kon communes in Quang Nam province.

Briu Tu, 35, in Bh Lo Ben village, said 49 households, who joined the community-based forest protection teams, have benefitted from the farm black saffron project.

“We established agriculture co-operatives with members from forest protection teams. Saffron farming helps members earn an extra income,” Tu said.

“The pilot saffron farm created revenue of 225 million VND (9,900 USD) from the processed root after seven months. We have been building the One-Commune-One-Product (OCOP) brand to serve community-based tourism,” he said.

Ploong Ninh, 39, a member of a forest protection team, said his team was assigned to patrol four jungle areas in a 2,200-ha forest in A Roch village with well-equipped devices for easy reporting.

“Almost all residents in the village stopped illegal logging or hunting in the jungle since the project began in 2018. It’s because strange poachers can be easily found by us or warned by villagers,” he said. “Patrol teams were trained with global tracking tools and skills from WWF-Vietnam and GreenViet to improve jungle management.”

A Rat Chung from the Song Kon forest management board said black saffron and rattan farms had been an adaptive option for local people to reduce over-exploitation in the jungle (with logging and wildlife hunting by traps).

Hoang Quoc Huy, deputy director of GreenViet, a local NGO on biodiversity research, said 70% of the community joined forest patrols with a fee of 400,000 VND per hectare.

“Patrol team members often earned 300,000 VND (12 USD) per day from non-timber products such as the bamboo sprout, bee honey, jungle herbs and snails during jungle trips,” Huy said.

He said the number of violations in the jungle has reduced by 30% per year as livelihood options were offered during the five-year project period.

Huy said community-based forest management was highly appreciated by the local ethnic Co Tu group living near the forest.

“Being in the jungle is a habit and lifestyle for generations of Co Tu people, and they respect the forest as the village's God. Local people have been benefiting from forest products and jungle farms as well as payments from regular jungle patrols,” he explained. “They (local people) will have more chances for funds from NGOs such as WWF-Vietnam through livelihood changes and management in forest conservation projects.”

In expanding conservation for 69 grey-shanked douc langurs in Nui Thanh district, Quang Nam province has allocated a 60ha forest and a logging farm into protected areas in 2020-30.

WWF-Vietnam plans to expand community-based forest protection to a wider area in Quang Trị and Quang Nam in the second phase of the project, according to Phuoc.

The five-year project in Thua Thien Hue and Quang Nam was seen as a positive sample for effective forest management by improving the livelihood of jungle-based communities, he concluded./.