XI WORLD FORESTRY
CONGRESS
Antalya, Turkey, 13 to 22
October 1997
  VOLUME 7I.GUEST SPEAKERS'ADDRESSESVIETNAM'S FORESTRY ON THE THRESHOLD OF THE XXI CENTURY
By Mr.Nguyen Van Dang1 1. A Brief Introduction to Vietnam Vietnam covers over 33 million hectares and stretches for about 1,600 kilometres in the north-south direction. Two thirds of the country territory are mountainous with a large portion of steep slopes. The population is over 70.5 million (1995), 87 % of which are ethnic Vietnamese and the remainder belongs to 53 minority groups. It is estimated that there are about 94 million inhabitants, a large portion of which belongs to ethnic minorities, live in or in the immediate neighbourhood of forests and depend on forests and forest land for maintaining livelihood. At an estimated GNP per capita of US$ 210 per year, Vietnam is a poor country with relatively high rate of literacy of the population and a rather well developed education and health service. The process of economic liberalisation, widely known as doi moi, was initiated in 1985. The key element of this reform is the transition from centrally-directed to the market-oriented economy. It produces great changes in all sectors of the economy including forestry. 2. Forests and Forest Lands About 19 million hectares of the land area of Vietnam, corresponding to some 58% of the country, are classified as forest land. Half of that area, 9.3 million hectares or 98~o of the total land area, still bears forests while the remainder is bare land. The total volume of standing stemwood in these forests is around 595 million M3, indicating an average 56 M3 per hectare. Seen in another perspective, there is an area of forest corresponding to 1.500 M2 with 10 M3 of wood for each Vietnamese. In addition, forests also contain large amounts of bamboo and other non-wood products. The recent discovery of 3 new mammal species, namely Pseudorix nghetinhensis (ox or saola), Megamuntiacus vuquangensis (giant muntijac) and Caninmuntiacus .:1truongsonensis, has made headlines in the world's press. It demonstrates that Vietnam's forests, as a hot spot of the global biodiversity, are home to many rare and precious species. Forest land in Vietnam is presently classified into 3 categories: special-use forests (protected area), protection forests and production forests In each of these categories, forests actually cover only a part of the area, as illustrated in the table below (million hectare): Forest classes With forest cover Without forest cover Total Special-use forest 0.7 0 ~0 9 Protection forest ~ 4 3.3 5.7 Production forest 6.2 6.9 10.4 Total: 9.3 9.7 19.0 The forest cover mainly consists of mixed natural stands of varying density and value Plantation covers about 1 million hectares, mainly of pines, eucalyptus, acacias, casuarina and a large range of native species. 3. Deforestation: causes and effects Vietnam has lost about 5 million hectares of forest during the last 5 decades. Despite reforestation efforts, net deforestation in Vietnam is still estimated to be occurring at the rate of over l00,000 hectares annually. Root causes behind deforestation are rural poverty indicated by the fact that income per capita in many highland areas is below 100 US$/year. Another cause of deforestation is found in insufficient arable land with the overall population density of 200 persons/km2while cultivated land available per person is only 0.01 hectare. The scarcity of farming land has led to agricultural encroachment from lowland onto the hills and shifting cultivation practices. In addition, limited institutional capacity, lack of legal framework and clearly defined holdership of forests also contributes to the deterioration of forest resources. The major effects of deforestation have been found in soil erosion and reduced water conservation capacity, accelerated fuelwood shortage. Severe deterioration of natural resources leads to intensified flash floods in mountain areas and typhoon along the coastal lines as well as declined or stagnated standards of living in rural communities, forcing people to relocate to other areas, particularly to central highlands. 4. Forest Sector Development Targets towards the Year 2000 The Government policy priorities and development objectives in the forestry sector have been translated into ambitious targets for the proper management of around 19 million hectares of forest land in Vietnam to the end of the century. The final goal is to increase the existing 9.3 million hectares of forest cover (98% of the total land area) to 13.9 million hectares (40% of the total land area) by the year 2000. Forest sector targets to the year 2000 includes: Establishing of 6 million hectares of Protection Forests to conserve soilwater plants and animals. Designating 3 million hectares as Special-Use Forests to preserve biodiversity enhance research and promote ecotourism. Developing 9.6 million hectares as Production Forests primarily for commercial exploitation comprising 4.6 million hectares of forested land (existing natural forests) and 5 million hectares of new forests on degraded or barren forest land, of which 2 million hectares is to be rehabilitated by fostering natural regeneration, 2 million hectares by reforestation and 1million hectares by agro-forestry. Involving 1 million small households (2 million labourers) in agro-forestry practice with permanent integrated land-use. Accelerating scattered tree planting in home gardens and local environs by small holders and local communities. 5. Tropical Forestry Action Programme and post-UNCED Forestry Development in Vietnam With the assistance of UNDP/FAO and a large number of foreign donors, a Forestry Sector Review or the formulation of the TFAP was carried out in Vietnam between 1989 and 1991. This exercise has enhanced the further development of Vietnam Forestry in the following directions: Toward sustainability in the Forestry SectorFaster allocation of forest land to farmers local people are seen as the driving force in forestry development Formulation of locally centred and geologically focused programmes and projects under the National Reforestation Programme 327 (an amount of 40 million US$ from the state budget is annually spent on reforestation). Forestry becoming ¿integrated with a multi-sectoral approach especially in following the merging/?g of three previously ¿independent ministries namely Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry Ministry of Forestry and Ministry of Water Resources into the Ministry/y of Agriculture and Rural Development. 6. The Government's Proposal on Closing Natural Forests to Exploitation This Proposal represents a package of comprehensive socio-economic and technical solutions towards closing up natural forests while accelerating, reforestation of open land and, as a result, ensuring short-term and long-term environmental and social security. It testifies the commitment of the Government and people of Vietnam to respond to the Agenda XXI adopted at UNCED 1999. The immediate objectives of the Project are: Consolidating protection function of forests through stricter protection of the existing 9.3 million hectares of forests , establishment of ~ million hectares of near forests by means of natural regeneration and new plantation and thus increase forest coverage to 43%.The major activities to achieve the objectives are: Radical and permanent ban on forest products collection from protected areas restriction of timber and non-wood forest products harvesting carried out in crucial watersheds within 30 years. Prohibition of commercial logging in all natural forests remained in highland and midland of the north of the Northern Vietnam South-east of the South Mekong Delta and Red River Delta. Restricted logging is allowed in the forests that are not attributed to special-use sites very crucial and crucial watersheds ¿n the Central Highland Central Coastal Area. From the year 2000 the logging volume will be cut down to 300, 000 M3/year. The logging sites cut volumes and cutting rates are subject to approval by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.7. Strengthening the Coordination of International Assistance to Vietnams Forestry Vietnam's TFAP has got an encouraging response from the international community. Of great significance for forestry development in Vietnam is the assistance provided to the sector by UNDP, FAO, WFP, WB, ADB, WWF, EU, etc. as well as bilateral donors including Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, Finland, etc.Under the auspices of the Swedish-supported Project Renovation of Strategies for Forestry Development, an International Support Group with representatives of the key Vietnamese agencies responsible for the use of forest resource in the country as well as of the major international and national organisations interested in supporting the sector has become operational. The Core International Support Group, with relatively few members, drawn from the ISG Plenary, has been formed to prepare agenda for ISG Plenary. Within the scope of the Consultative Group, a number of technical groups have also been set up, namely: TWGI: Land Allocation, Land Use Planning, and Social Forestry TWG2: Development of Extension System + Rural Financial System TWG3: Flow of Fund in Loan Projects and Disbursement Issues . Organisational and Institutional Capacity Development TWG4: Data Base on International Cooperation Projects in the field of Agriculture and Integrated Rural Development. These groups provide forums for sharing knowledge, exchange of information, and cooperation between projects and institutions related to the broad sector of agriculture as well as to forestry in particular. 8. Conclusion In recent years, along with the radical economic reform, Vietnam's Forestry has gained significant progress following the direction of social forestry development with the local people as the driving force. In line with the open-door policy, the Government of Vietnam is looking forward to receiving the cooperation and assistance from the international community to preserve and develop the forest resource of Vietnam, a part of the world's tropical forest heritage.
1 Vice-Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development. The Socialist Republic of Vietnam
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