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All-embracing human activities have transformed one-third to one-half of the Earth’s land surface. There is a strong correlation of human well-being with ecosystem function, including poverty alleviation programs as well as enhancements of the health sector. To assess and evaluate the progress and outcome of initiatives stringent periodic observation is necessary. The presented approach combines the strengths of remote sensing and GIS analysis with social research applications. The Bach Ma National Park as an area under investigation was designated as protected area in 1991 and extended in 2008. The national park is uninhabited, but in the surrounding buffer zones approximately 62000 to 79000 people live in rural areas and in mostly impoverished conditions. The comprehensive nature conservation efforts of the Vietnamese Government during the last two decades has led to growing forest coverage of both plantation and natural forests. Nevertheless, the decreasing biodiversity and ongoing illegal logging and hunting activities in the national park are seen as major threats to conservation initiatives in the future. The remote sensing component consists of an analysis of a time series of Landsat images with seven steps ranging from 1973 to 2010. The resulting land cover analysis had 13 different classes. The accuracy assessment revealed an overall accuracy ranging from 84 to 90%. The basis for the second monitoring component was the Landsat images. A total of 25 different landscape metrics on the landscape, class, and patch level were calculated by FRAGSTATS. The third monitoring component is itself divided into two parts. This part consists of a qualitative social research study with 26 expert interviews. The second part consists of 61 standardized questionnaires and an evaluation by SPSS. The assessment reveals a more or less stable forest cover, but with a considerable degradation process during the last four decades. Urban areas outside of the national park have increased in size considerably. For dense and medium forest patches an increasing fragmentation and isolation of patches was observed. Patches of natural forests and habitats of thousands of species have declined dramatically, a trend that is related to a decreasing core area characterised by its undisturbed conditions. The Landsat images and landscape metrics reveal the major differences between the national park and surrounding areas. Despite extensive alterations near the border, remaining forest patches in the national park are still bigger and less fragmented. Nevertheless, the third monitoring component revealed undiscovered changes in the forest beyond the possibilities of used images and metrics. It includes illegal logging and hunting activities. Non-timber forest products are similar to faunistic species collected for both the subsistence of the local residents and associated markets as important sources of income. Based on this bisection, local residents as well as certain strangers are responsible for the activities in the forest. The plan of national park management is to intensify existing monitoring and patrolling in the forest to limit the exploitation and impact in relevant zones. Furthermore, the importance of a network of protected areas has attracted increasing attention. The assessment of the questionnaires reveals that deforestation and also reforestation were the key aspects of historical land cover change. Additionally, for the local residents the conversion of forests into arable land as income alternative is of major importance. Capacity development is not only one priority of the Bach Ma management but also of the international community for all of Vietnam. The tourism industry, one of the most promising opportunities of recent years, stands to support both national park management as well as the local residents. For local residents the extraction of non-timber forest products is an essential portion of the income. The current pilot policy 126/QD-TTg in the extension zone of the national park and research on an appropriate sharing mechanism is of the utmost importance. The established and presented monitoring components are cost-effective and can be used to regularly assess the land cover change of a protected area. They can be implemented together or individually into existing monitoring schemes. A smart combination of pre-existing datasets is necessary to overcome the inconsequential amount of money for monitoring procedures. Supplemented by socio-economic monitoring and the demands as well as impacts of human activity need to be integrated. These extensive requirements for prospective monitoring are only feasible with comprehensive and reliable collaborations.
The research aims at assessing the impacts of the Benefit Sharing Mechanism (BSM) pilot policy on the socioeconomic factors and natural-resource management in the co-management area between the Bach Ma National Park and the Thuong Nhat community. This is a new approach in Special-Use Forests (SUFs) management in Vietnam, which is needed to assess the scaling up of a national policy on co-management of SUFs in the future. A case study was undertaken in the Bach Ma National Park, which was one of the two national parks chosen to pilot the BSM policy under the Prime Minister’s Decision No 126 (Government-126 2012). In this study, both qualitative and quantitative data was collected on BSM implementation schemes; their impacts on local natural-resource use; local awareness of rights, benefits, and responsibilities when participating in the BSM; and local perspectives on the BSM’s achievements, failures, and future potential. Analysis revealed that the local community strongly supported the BSM implementation in the Bach Ma NP, displaying a high level of demand for the measures and significant involvement. Furthermore, thanks to the local people’s participation in the BSM implementation, their household incomes increased and their awareness and practices of NTFP sustainable use and forest protection in the co-management area improved”. The BSM implementation also exposed three main areas of weakness. These included poor compliance with the sustainable-harvest regulations, the apparent over-complexity of the the harvest-application procedures, and the users’ low contributions to the village fund after the NTFP harvest. The current research revealed that, although the local awareness and compliance with the BSM procedures increased annually after BSM implementation, the level of self-management and compliance was still quite low and needed to be improved. Furthermore, some conflicts have arisen between NTFPs users from village to village in Thuong Nhat and between local traders and NTFP collectors. Besides, the research identified two major negative practices: overexploitation of NTFPs and taking advantage of the NTFPs harvest to cut trees or trap animals. This dissertation presents various possibilities for improvement of the BSM implementation through (i) raising local people’s awareness; (ii) simplifying BSM procedures; (iii) clarifying incentives and tasks of BSM actors to enhance co-patrolling and monitoring activities; and (iv) creating good incentives either based on the livelihood program for those who actively comply with the BSM regulations or direct payments to those who join forest-protection activities. Finally, the research scrutinized certain challenges to future duplication of the BSM in other SUFs in Vietnam. To expand the BSM approach to other SUFs, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development needs to develop a guideline for BSM implementation to encourage the relevant stakeholders’ involvement. The guideline for national BSM implementation should take account of the differences between local contexts, as well as create the necessary, flexible regulations to be applicable in practice. Therefore, based on the guideline, additional steps are necessary for the development of appropriate specific measures in the course of the BSM implementation at the provincial and local levels.