Creating an AddedValue Capital of Forest Based on the Local Knowledge of Tai in Tuong Duong (Nghe An, Vietnam)45263

Creating an Added-Value Capital of Forest Based on the Local Knowledge of Tai in Tuong Duong (Nghe An, Vietnam) Nguyen Hong Anh(1)* (1) Institute of Socio-Economic Geography and Development, Hanoi, Vietnam * Correspondence: comaygia@gmail.com Abstract: Tuong Duong district is located in the West Nghe An biosphere reserve, belonging to the world network of biosphere reserve and has the role of protecting the watershed of Lam river Among the ethnic groups here, the Tai ethnic group has densest population and holds the most important role of socio-cultural development Moving from Laos to Tuong Duong, the Tai settlements were built along streams and banks of the Lam River (Pao River in Tai’s language), hence they also named Tay Pao, or their name is known as Tay Hay (swidden Tai), because of the terrain conditions of Tuong Duong, instead of traditional wet rice cultivation, they also exploit forest for slash-and-burn cultivation Forests are not only give them food, clothes, house, etc., but also a spiritual support in traditional culture, forest is an environment that has creating rational indigenous ecological knowledge on exploiting nature and culture of Tai people But, in the contemporary context, forest resources have been exploited strongly, become exhausted, cultural space of communities was influenced, that requires measures to create added-value capital of forest By fieldwork method and approaches of human ecology and cultural ecology, this study deals with how Tai people in Tuong Duong have created the added-value capital of forest by their local knowledge through livelihoods The value capital of forest was increased that will as a basis for restoring their lost cultural space and maintaining their religious and spiritual practices Keywords: Forest; Tai people; indigenous knowledge; Tuong Duong, Vietnam Introduction Tuong Duong is a mountainous district of Nghe An, where is the confluence of the two rivers Nam Nom and Nam Mo, where begins Lam river (Tai people called Nam Pao), belongs the Ca river basin, where there are many streams, waterfalls, rapids and springs that make great landscapes, bring about potential for tourism with travel routes on river for exploration, commerce and recreation, but the climate is severely, called "Indochina oven", make travel difficult, dangerous Tuong Duong has the largest forest area of Nghe An province (180,592.1 accounting for 18.74% of the total forest area of Nghe An province), of which: 115,981.8 are natural forests, including special-use forest area (39,289.2 ha) and protection forests (76,692.6 ha) Located in Pu Mat National Park belonging to the World Biosphere Reserve of the Western Nghe An, the natural forest in Tuong Duong is listed as "special forest ecosystem" (semi-evergreen and deciduous dry forest) In thousands of hectares of thousand-year-old primitive, there is still a rich variety of species, from subtropical coniferous forests to mixed conifers - broadleaf and closed forests, according to the report of Pu Mat National Park Management Board, there are nearly 2,000 species of plants, belonging to 827 genera and 195 families, of which 42 species have been recorded in the Vietnam Red Book, 17 international species, including Aquilaria crassna, Diospyros mun, Parashorea, Hopea odorata, Shorea roxburghii, Chukrasia, Cloves, Magnolia, Hopea Pierrei Hance, and especially Lagerstroemiatomentsa Presl, Cunninghamia and Fokiena hodginsii (the current reserve is about 220,000 Cunninghamia and Fokiena Hodginsii) Non-timber forest products such as Bamboos, Lacca-Stick-lac, Calameae, and 200 kinds of valuable medicinal herbs such as Codonopsis, Amomum Xanthioides Wall, Smilax Glabra, Reynoutria Multiflora and 100 kinds of vegetables, forest fruit trees, etc There are 31 species of endangered medicinal plants that need to be preserved according to the Vietnam Red Book and 13 species of endangered, 15 alarming species (Eleutherococcus Trifoliatus, Rauwolfia, etc.) Lagerstroemiatomentsa Presl forest is a purely forest, covering an area of more than 53 ha, located along both sides of National Road 7A in Tam Dinh and Tam Quang communes, in the core area of Pu Mat National Park, most of which are Lagerstroemiatomentsa Presl with 30 - 40m high, big circumference According to Decision No 4639/QD-UBND approving the planning on conservation and sustainable development of special Lagerstroemiatomentsa Presl forest in Tuong Duong district toward year of 2020, the total of the planning erea for conservation and sustainable development of special Lagerstroemiatomentsa Presl forests is 1,335.82 Of which, the special core zone is 241.60 (including strict protection area of 53.85 and ecological restoration area of 187.75 ha); the buffer zone is 1,094.22 (of which: in Tam Dinh commune 707.66 ha, in Tam Quang commune 386.96 ha) In particular, among these species, there are species that are strictly prohibited and restricted to be exploited, such as Fibraurea but still being "eradicated" People said that in the past, these plants were easy to look for, so far they could not be found, such as paniculata tree (a medicinal plant that has the ability to shield, prevent erosion, landslides), and Cibotium barometz (hemostasis), Knema tonkinensis, Coix lacryma-jobi, Homalomena occulta, Amomum, Alocasia odora, Fibraurea, Smilax, mushroom of Erythrophleum fordii , even to Myrsinaceae Under the canopy of the forest is 241 animals kinds, belonging to 86 families, 28 orders, of which, there are 24 mammals, 25 reptiles, 137 birds, 15 species of amphibians and there are still precious animals: tigers, clouded leopards, Indochinese serow, Petauristini, Trachypithecus, Hylobatidae, and Helarctos malayanus (recorded in the Vietnam Red Book), along with many valuable birds such as Phasianidae, pheasants, etc In addition, according to the District People's Committee's report in 2018, total of production forests area is 63,928.6 (accounting for 22.73% of the total natural land fund), of which, forested forest land in the district accounts for about 63.99 %, with 60% of forest coverage, non-forest land is 681.98 (accounting for 0.24% of the total natural land fund) (NAGSO, 2018) Tuong Duong is home of ethnic groups Tai, Kh’mu, Tay Poong, Tho, O Du, H’mong, to approximately 467 thousand people, in which Tai ethnic has densest population (about 324 thousand) and resides in the large area of the Western Nghe An and "plays a very important role to change the mountain area Nghe An in history as well as today, and Tai culture has always played an important role in regional cultural exchanges” (Nguyen, 1999) The Tai people in Tuong Duong Nghe An were by a group from northwestern Tai people, who were moving in along the road through Laos, settling along the banks of the Lam river (Nam Pao) so they were also called Tai Lai Pao (Tay Pao), therefore, the local knowledge of the Tai people in Tuong Duong based on Tai culture in Vieetnam, also contains many similarities with the Lao’s culture, and also has the unique characteristics of the Tay Pao people, who living along the Lam River In the treasure of Tai proverbs, the phrase "Xa people live by fire, Tai people live by water", when moved to Tuong Duong, Tai people bring with themselves wet rice civilization, but due to the topography and natural conditions, high mountains, so they just cultivated wetland fields in combination with shifting cultivation to survive, even there are villages that cultivate the upland fields, so they are also called Tay Hay (swidden Tai) just like calling people Kh’mu also (Vi, 2017) There are 18 administrative units including 17 communes and town, part of Tuong Duong is located in the areas of two national parks of Pu Mat and Pu Huong, and this research was conducted in three communes of Tam Dinh, Tam Quang and Tam Hop, because people here have long been accustomed to cultivating paddy fields and exploiting forest products for food, clothing, shelter and travel, now in the context of conversion to reforestation The rich system of local knowledge in the traditional culture of Tai’s people on the forest exploitation and use is now gradually changing because of the transformation in production, from agriculture to forestry and new knowledge about afforestation is updating and becoming "recognition" of the people Under the government's policy, community-based management and afforestation is meaning that the use of local knowledge of the community and the empowerment of management for the community in protecting and creating added-value of forests is long-term goals to increase income, improve household living standards, protect biodiversity and environmental landscapes, and at the same time, restore lost cultural spaces and ethnic cultures Methodology The research used fieldwork method (including PRA, in-depth interviews, group discussions, expert) to collect field materials, build practical databases to this article The data was collected from the Department of Culture and Information of Nghe An, Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Department of Agriculture, Management Board of World Biosphere Reserve in Western Nghe An, and the Division of Culture, Agriculture, Environment, Forestry, National Park, local people in three communes Tam Quang, Tam Dinh and Tam Hop and voice of the people will be the insiders voice that expressing their awareness of forest resources, how they create forest livelihoods and why they it, aims to (i) identify the role of protecting forests and living spaces of Tai communities in Tuong Duong through the local knowledge system in traditional culture; (ii) The role of the Tai community in restoring the living space and creating added-value of forest through local knowledge in the contemporary context At the same time, the comparative method in the research clarifies the change of local knowledge of the Tai people and the cause of the change Results 3.1 Forests in the life and local knowledge on forests in Tai's traditional culture The forest in Tai's language is Pa, the Tai has a saying: The are trees have fur (meaning old tree), such as bearded old people, the immense green forest, the headwaters forest, worship forest, sacred forest The important role of forests in life, not only confirmed by science, but in folklore, the tangible and intangible values of forests, have been recognized by the Tai's community since ancient times Tai people said "when human live, forests will nourish, when human died, forest will entomb", or "rice in the soil, food in the forest", meaning the forest provides food, clothes, house, medicines, energy and making the fresh living space, creating a beautiful landscape for Muong village, "there are forests, trees, and fruits Birds, bees and butterflies will come If nothing, all butterflies and birds will leave” So they always teach their children to protect the forest today, tomorrow and forever Else, forests is a spiritual support for the community The forest in the mind of the Tai people is like the heart of the community, that expressing in the conventions, customary laws and traditional cultural values that are worshiped and revered like ancestors From a scientific perspective, the law of forest protection and development specifies and stipulates forest classification according to functions (i) Special-use forests, protection forests and watershed forests in order to conserve biodiversity, protect the ecological environment and (ii) production forests to ensure income for people in order to reduce poverty and proceed to get rich In folklore, the community also has strict regulations on (i) non-encroaching areas, such as sacred forests, all activities of slahh and burn are completely banned, in fact, no one dared to violate, because of fear of punishment from nature and condemnation from community; (ii) the area where everybody are available to exploit, cultivate, graze, to get forest products, etc So, there is a similarity in "planning and territorial organization" between science and folk knowledge, thus , that the community's natural cultural space is preserved, ecological environment is balanced In traditional culture, the Tai said "where are the bitter bamboo shoots growing, Tai land goes there" The horizontal layer is community's living space that here includes accommodation, play, cultivation, exploitation of natural products, sacred places, all of it is arranged in an order that is by the community, which is drawn from life experiences: Houses in the villages and Mueang often are concentrated, followed same side, built along streams and rivers, wet-rice fields in front of villages, and hills, mountains and upland paddy field behind “Our Tai's village has got stilt houses that stands hillside There are stream, where everybody have shower together every afternoon In the morning mother goes to work in the fields, And in the afternoon father goes to work in the upland field " (Tai’s folk songs) On the vertical layer, the Tai's living space is a vast cosmic world consisting of three storeys: in the highest is heaven (Mueang Pha); In the middle is the soil storey, Tai people use different names to call Mueang Lum (Mueang people) / Mueang Din (Mueang land) / Mueang Pieng ; In the ground is Mueang Booc Dai (the Mueang of the tiny ones) In particular, Mueang Pha and Booc Dai are unreal worlds The real world is Mueang Lum only, this is a world of people and animals, but at the same time is the abode of spirits and demons also That is also the reason why in the organization of living space of Tai people, the community has prescribed forbidden mountains, forbidden forests, sacred forests, ghost forests… Humans are not only under the influence and control of Mueang Pha, but also by many other supernatural powers, such as spirits and demons that accompany the people of Mueang Lum The land and the forest belong to the gods, the ancestors left behind, the common space of the community, to be exploited and used in accordance with the regulations of the Mueang, and the community respects that right of possession and inheritance but if not used, it will be returned to the community and will be divided back to other people in the family or community, not to trade, exchange or give to the Mueang The living space of the community going into folk songs and folk songs is a picture of a harmonious culture and vivid natural environment with lots of colors “High mountains stand on the ground Small mountains and hill side by side Mountain winding, and stack up high and higher Mist wrapped around the rocky mountain Green tall tree roots stick to roots Do not know how many animals in the mountains moved to How many bird species and rats come to reunite? (Tai’s folk songs) According to Mr Vi Van Mieng, before year of 1991, the forest was still abundant, arounding the village, everything was taken from the forest easily, the forest was very close to the village, so every time when the New Year nearly, the older people often go to listen to the "voice" of the forest If the echoes of the forest are like play folk drum, so the rain will be favorable in the year, good harvest If the echoes of the forest are like the crying of children, then that year will lose crops, people will be sick and the village will suffer, etc Mr Luong Tien Phuong, now 90 years old, was a very good hunter when he was young, he made different kinds of traps to trap birds and animals, he often told his children about biological properties like cries, habits, feeding preferences, breeding season, time and migration places of about more 50 species on the ground, 15 species in the air, 70 species of birds, 20 species of fish, 25 species of insects, etc He also taught his children how to make traps, set traps to catch birds and animals, or taboo animals that were never caught because they were the ancestors of some Tai families In the village, besides him, only a few elderly people have such knowledge, but young people cannot know Tai's idioms have the saying: "Eating sticky rice, Drinking tube wine, Wearing "xin xua", Living in stilts home" Images of traditional stilt houses are described as "houses have attics, floors on pillars" or "build stilt houses, wood is costly, build mud houses, rope is costly" Mr Lo Van Kha, who is famous for building traditional stilt houses When he was young, he often helped families in the village build houses, he could distinguish between 30 types of wood, where trees can often grow He said that to make pillars, it is necessary to have big and straight precious woods, hard and strong core, not being eaten by weevil, diameter is only 40 cm; To make walls, it is necessary to have durable, light, able to decorative carvings, bamboo to make floors, calameae to tie up, and cogongrass to make roofs and some specialized plants to make furniture Tai people always teach their children not to exploit big trees “Do not cut big trees, its Mr Xan's pillars71” Therefore, when shifting cultivation, with big trees they just prune branches to get light Everyday things that always bring by Tai women when working in this field are basket and knives, when they go to work in the upland fields, they look for fruits and vegetables to make food Ms Vi Thi Hang identified 15 types of tubers, fruits, seeds or stalks for food, 67 kinds of forest trees to make vegetables in daily meals with cooking methods such as steaming in wooden hips, sausage (mannequin, salad), sour salt In particular, bamboo shoots (fresh or sour salt) is always the main food used daily She also can distinguish nearly 10 types of bamboo shoots with different bitter, sweet, acrid taste; mushrooms (more than 10 types), banana flower, rattan bud, firewood and bitter flower, etc Tai people think that sour bamboo shoots when used as "spices" for processing meat and insects will eliminate some toxins in meat and insects, fight digestive disorders and food poisoning, reduce the fat of meat, increase the deliciousness of the dish Cooking soup or boild some wild vegetables that have unforgettable bitterness is also a medicine to cure malaria, intestinal diarrhea or women often cook after giving birth to creating milk In particular, Tai people not use fish sauce, they combine salt with forest spices to make “Cheo”, creating a unique cuisine that the author calls "Cheo culture” Traditional Tai women make drink wine for daily use and during holidays with enamel making from 22 different species of 18 genera and 14 families, with using root, bark, stem, fruit, leaves or whole tree The research team has collected 39 folk remedies treating 15 different groups of diseases such as diseases of the intestines, respiratory, digestive, fever, sprains, infections, osteoarthritis, for pregnant women Ms Vi Thi Phieng frequently goes to the forest to collect leaves in her remedies, she uses 231 species belonging to 192 genera 88 plant families, accounting for 5.97% of the total number of medicinal plants in the country, including 72 species of herbaceous plants, 64 species of woody plants, shrubs of 55 species, vines with 40 species In particular, leaves, stems and roots are most used At least use medicinal plants to have only species According to statistics, Tai people can create red, yellow, indigo, brown, and black to dye fabrics from 30 species of 22 plant families, of which types use leaf foliage, species uses stem bark, species use roots, tubers, species use pods, species use seed pods, species use trunks, combined with ants to create specific colors and keep color stability 71 God, who governs Tai’s villages A group of elderly people said that before year of 1991, all forest products were available, every time they went to the upland fields, people took advantage of vegetables, fruits, or trapped small animals to make food But Tai always take just enough to use, because if taken redundant will have to leave, because no one buys, anyone goes to earn it for themselves When they are unable to go to the forest in the rainy season, they can take more than vegetables, make dried meat to eat gradually Along with that, in the community often tell about taboos when going to the forest such as never encroaching on forbidden forest areas, the whereabouts of the forest Gods (owner pa), mountain deities (owner pu ), the God of rivers and streams (owner huoi), the land deities (owner din) that are the natural deities, ingrained in the Tai's spiritual realms Do not go into the murky dense forests, more vines, more vines forest as many ghosts, where people die when going to the forest, places where people are buried, etc Under the gods are ghosts residing in sacred forests: water ghosts, animal ghosts, tree ghosts, in which tree ghosts are the scariest, so there are a some of stories often told to children and grandchildren about a few species of tree such as Dipterocarpus (associated with legend of dragon), banyan tree, microcarpa tree, etc The Witch said that they had to make worships to many people who's soul lost when going to the forest or go to the field, because unknowingly people had committed taboos or ghosts making fun of, or having stories about the harm of trap a baby animal, or a pregnant animal, animal of raising child, so that the offspring can never indiscriminately exploit the forest To avoid risks, if any individual violates the taboo, the teachings of the elderly, will be punished The Tai believe that there is a soul / spirit in each every life, that is the shadow existing in the body, and everything in this world like hills, rivers, grasses, flowers, birds and animals all have a soul / spirit, of which people have the most trouble 30 souls in the front, 50 souls in the back, small souls wipe each other on the flanks (Vi, 2017), or it is in each human organize: 30 souls reside in the body, another 900 souls reside on the head (Vi, 2017), of which there is the Lord of souls that resides on the top of the head In shifting cultivation, the Tai people never clear the forest on the top of the hill but have to protect like the "Lord of souls" of the hill, to make residence for the souls and forest on the top of hill becomes a place of worship for shifting cultivation cycle According to scientists, "the method of not slash and burn forest on the top of hill has the effect of maintaining the fields bellow Forest on the top of hill likes as "a hat" to cover the rain and sun, and keeping the forests at the environmental important point" Thus in traditional culture, thanks to beliefs, spirituality, and customary law, with the technical indigenous knowledge of upland cultivation, forests are protected After 1991, the forest was severely damaged, the main cause was (i) the policy of mechanical migration to develop new economic zones, the population was increase in this place, people have to slash and burn forests to food cultivation, and (ii) the forest management is changed, forest land is managed by teams and forestry farms Communities, who live in long time ago here, are separated from the forest-their natural living space, therefore, the forest has not been managed (Table 3) by communities, indigenous knowledge, ethnic culture was changed, and the social structure of swidden farming communities has become loose, etc This is period of "sacred less" for all beliefs of the community in the management and exploitation of forests Since 2000, Vietnam implemented the international convention for the protection of biodiversity, a much national parks, natural reserves have been established to conserve biodiversity Communities were participated to manage forest by indigenous knowledge and customary law Forest and land were managed by communities, at the same time, it is the transition from agro-ecosystem (shifting cultivation) to agroforestry model, with the aim of ensuring food security and restoring forest ecosystems and biodiversity Forests have got eco-cultural values in traditional culture, now have economic values (poverty reduction) and ecological environment values (erosion control, landslides, floods are limited) in contemporary context 3.2 Rehabilitation increases the forest capital base on the local knowledge of Tai people In the past twenty years, after the decision of government to convert shifting cultivation land to afforestation in order to (i) reduce poverty, (ii) to ensure production materials for the society, and (iii) to restore the lost ecosystem, and afforestation is become a new livelihood model for the communities In traditional culture, Tai people used to only slash and burn forests for cultivation, now is afforestation The transfetaion makes changes in perception of communities, aims to: (i) Create added values of forest resources - one of the scientific bases for the rationality in exploiting and using forest resources; (ii) Create a new ecological succession in a positive way As a result, new knowledge is formed and integrated with traditional knowledge enriching local knowledge, and an opportunity to restore and preserve the values of ethnic culture Since 2000, Tuong Duong was begin to implementing a forestry livelihood project (afforestation to replace shifting cultivation) Mr Luong Van Minh has participated in afforestation since the first days of implementing the project, his family has hectares granted for planting Acacia hybrid Acacia hybrid is a material plant that has been experimentally deployed in the communes belonging buffer zone of National Park According to Mr Luong Van Minh, Acacia hybrid will raise suitable in two months July and August, because then the weather in Tuong Duong is cooler To plant trees, people dig holes for 30 x 30 x 30 cm, each hole x m apart, planting density from 1100 trees to 1660 trees / ha, after preparing seedlings, we choose rainy days, shady or light sun, in moist pits with fertilizer NPK lining, and plant trees so the plants will take root quickly Plants need careful care 2-3 times per year in the first three years on the occasion of October - November, with the weeding, fertilizing, pruning After years of testing, the Acacia hybrid was harvested When harvesting, the family chose to exploit only trees with a diameter of 20 cm Incomes each household is from 10 million to 30 million, incomes of his family is the highest Also according to him, acacia planting techniques and knowledge and the sale of products were supported by the Government During the planting process, in addition to the agricultural extension training program, he learned through television channels broadcast in ethnic minority languages, and also found information on the internet for himself, etc In the years 2009-2010, the acacia faced difficulties in price so many households were encouraged to change the hybrid acacia with Melia azedarach and Dendrocalamus barbatus In fact, the current price of hybrid acacia in Tuong Duong is only over VND 400,000 / m3, while the price of Melia azedarach is 4-5 times higher and the output is easy to consume, cost Melia azedarach is quite low In 2012, the Melia azedarach and Chukrasia tabularis were planted, when households were being allocated forests under the decision of 327, up to 300/900 households participated in afforestation, now has planted more than 300 of Melia azedarach and about 200 of Chukrasia tabularis instead of hybrid acacia Mr Kha Van Ngan's family with some households that involved in planting Chukrasia tabularis effectively shared the techniques of planting: "planting 1,600 trees / ha" (Luong Thi My), "the best time to plant Chukrasia tabularis is at the beginning of March, cool spring season "(Kha Van Ngan)," tillage is the most important step, times per year, cut grass regularly, protect the first years from destroying of cattle and buffaloes”(Luong Tien Phuong),“ If taken care of after years, they will be harvested for the first time, in to years next, they can be exploited again for the second time, and in the next years, they will be harvested for the third time ”(Kha Van Ngan) The average incomes of planting 100 million VND / (Luong Thi Mi) for the first time, after deducting expenses for seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and other amounts, households have reduced poverty thanks to the Chukrasia tabularis (Luong Tien Phuong) The planting and care techniques that his family was received from the agroforestry project, along with the dissemination of knowledge in ethnic languages on TV, in addition, he also bought books from Forestry about the biological properties of Chukrasia tabularisl, how to plant and care of the tree for an effective harvest The Dendrocalamus barbatus (bamboo) tree is an easy-to-grow species that can be used to plant along streams, and banks of rivers, and can be to harvest bamboo shoots for food and bamboo trees to build houses, furniture, material of paper industry and preventing and preventing riverbank erosion when floods come, at the same time, bringing significant income for households Currently, Tuong Duong district has over 2,000 hectares of Dendrocalamus barbatus (bamboo) Mr Kha Van Toan said: Dendrocalamus barbatus (bamboo) is a tree suitable for wet lands, such as along streams, planting techniques are simple Take out one-year-old stems, then cut it and plant directly or nursery for months for shoots and plant with density of 250 roots / 1ha About after 4-5 years, Dendrocalamus barbatus (bamboo) will harvest Dendrocalamus barbatus (bamboo) are harvested in each -2 weeks, both bamboo shoots and trees, the trees with the diameter is as bigger, the price as possible In Tam Dinh commune, where were many villages that suffered from landslides during the rainy season, his family experimentally planted 500 roots of Dendrocalamus barbatus (bamboo), resulting in land erosion mitigation, he shared this experience with households In the village, the people have planting Dendrocalamus barbatus (bamboo) on hills They observed that, when the tree is put on a high hill, although does not grow as well as in wet place, bamboo shoots are not as good as planted along the stream, but the stem is stronger, and it is important to keep the soil and prevent erosion, slides soil Calamus tetradactylus Hance is a kind of natural product In Tuong Duong, it used to grow a lot, Calamus tetradactylus Hance is used in construction, construction of houses, furniture, and daily-life appliances Under the situation of fully exhausted Calamus tetradactylus Hance, since 2010, the project of planting Calamus tetradactylus Hance has been implemented in Tuong Duong with about 50 hectares and participating of 400 households Project 30a supports 50% of seed prices, and the Institute of Rural Industry Research and Development provides technical assistance Mr Cao Van Son said that the Calamus tetradactylus Hance is a very easy tree to plant, without care When the tree grows, Calamus tetradactylus Hance need to fasten up the forest trunk to grow, after years, the harvest will be each 1-2 times per year, and Calamus tetradactylus Hance still for harvest during 20-30 years Calamus tetradactylus Hance can be planted as a fence to enclose cattle raising areas, can be planted in home gardens, and planted at areas where soil is poor “The time for planting Calamus tetradactylus Hance is in April and May, since the time of harvesting Calamus tetradactylus Hance, we not have to go for harvest Calamus tetradactylus Hance in natural forest for sale From harvesting Calamus tetradactylus Hance per year incomes at least VND 5,000,000 / 3,000 roots, enough money to children's study” (Vi Thi Thom) The project has built and transferred a nursery of Calamus tetradactylus Hance in Yen Hoa commune with the scale of nearly 2,000 m2, the production capacity of more than 180,000 roots in 18 months Currently, people is able implement all stage of nursery process such soaking, nursery proactively, and provided enough seeds for the locality Households are reduced costs when buying trees from other places Mr Lo Van Kha made some home appliances for himself (baskets, chairs, rice trays, etc.) and helped restore the traditional craft of the people here, using the labor force of all family members, and promoting restore and develop the traditional handicraft of the commune”(Cao Thi Than) In addition to mass planting of above, people have started planting perennial native varieties such as Chukrasia tabularis, pterocarpum, Melia azedarach, Syzygium aromaticum, etc Traditional knowledge on natural trees, such as biological characteristics, the concentrated development location of tree species , the growing season, as well as the harvesting methods, help local people to easily accessible from nurseries, planting techniques, planting times, tending techniques, harvesting and processing, etc Now, the forest area is growing, increasing the forest coverage in Tuong Duong According to the report of Tuong Duong District Department of Agriculture, so far Tuong Duong has over 4,500 hectares of mixed forests, of which acacia hybrid area occupies less than 200 hectares, Dendrocalamus barbatus (bamboo) on 1,500 hectares, and Melia azedarach is more 2,500 hectares, with regeneration of Chukrasia tabularis, Khaya senegalensis, Lagerstroemiatomentsa Presl Mr Ho Viet Son, Chairman of Tam Quang Commune People's Committee, said that the biggest breakthrough of afforestation that it has changed perceptions, habits, customs farming practices on shifting cultivation of people People are voluntarily converting to afforestation However, the planting model of single kind is not yet an effective model to help restore ecosystems, afforestation is a method to simulate the development of nature, natural forests are mixed species (biodiversity) with multistorey In ancient silviculture, people also planted by method of mixed multi-layer In shifting cultivation, the Tai also used the method of intercropping with the multi-layer model (traditional knowledge) The multi- layer afforestation has brought about special intangible values in the role of watershed protection (concentrated forests with mixed and multi-storey structure), protecting the ecological environment From a single-species forest model people is transferring to a multistorey mixed forest model Popular model of multistorey mixed species are being implemented here (i) Melia azedarach-Chukrasia tabularis-Dendrocalamus barbatus (bamboo); (ii) medicinal plants intercropping the canopy of Lagerstroemiatomentsa Preslforest Mrs Lo Thi Nguyet's family was assigned 6.3 hectares to afforestation, and the family decided to plant multistorey mixed on the basis of intercropping Melia azedarachChukrasia tabularis Dendrocalamus barbatus (bamboo) and Calamus tetradactylus Hance are planted around to keep the land and prevent erosion She shared her experience, if planting acacia, it needs 1600 stems / ha, but for mixed forest planting her family planted just only need 950 / of which 600 roots of Melia azedarach and 350 roots of Chukrasia tabularis / ha, and alternating Calamus tetradactylus Hance into the poor soil for ultimizing the land, moving Dendrocalamus barbatus (bamboo) up hills to replace acacia After 3-4 years, Dendrocalamus barbatus (bamboo) and Calamus tetradactylus Hance will harvest, each every 3-4 weeks for Dendrocalamus barbatus (bamboo), twice a year for Calamus tetradactylus Hance After 5-8 years is Melia azedarach, after 8-10 years is Chukrasia tabularis However, in order to succeed, the forest grows well, the family have to plant in the spring crop, because if the community takes advantage of the time to plant the forest at the end of the beginning of winter, the tree will grow poorly, even killed by hoarfrost If in the previously, the Tai people used to exploit and use forest products, now they know how to plant forests They have realizing that afforestation not only brings economic benefits for the family but also contributes to preventing erosion, landslides and limiting flash floods In 2013, Tuong Duong planted forests exceeding its assigned targets Due to fragmented and small soil condition, which is not enough 0.5 or more for designing concentrated forestation as prescribed, the district has directed the commune to proposal people to plant scattered trees of small trees In order to encourage people to plant forests, in addition to the support of the province, in five districts, over billion VND has been budgeted to support 70% of the price of oval seed for farmers The effect from reforestation is very clear Many farmer households have come out of poverty from forests, there are hundreds of households earning a minimum income of VND 30-40 million / year from forestry In 2014, Tuong Duong deployed to plant 1,500 of forest, but according to the way people register their own areas, choose the right plant variety to proactively output for the product (this is a new feature in the program afforestation) Based on the aggregated registration data of the communes, most of the people choose Melia azedarach-Chukrasia tabularis-Dendrocalamus barbatus (bamboo) As Nga My commune registers to plant an area of 171 ha, mainly Melia azedarach-Chukrasia tabularis, Yen Hoa 186 of Melia azedarach-Chukrasia tabularis, Tam Quang 314 (Melia azedarach-Chukrasia tabularisDendrocalamus barbatus (bamboo) At the same time, to restore and conserve forest of Lagerstroemiatomentsa Presl and medicinal plants under the Lagerstroemiatomentsa Presl Since 2015, people have actively shifted from shifting cultivation to afforestation and actively invested in afforestation, they have shared that afforestation is less difficult than shifting cultivation, but their income is many times higher (Table 4) Since the government allocated land for people to plant, manage and right of forest protection is also given to the community to directly guard rare forests belongs Pu Huong and Pu Mat protected areas Communities develop pledges and regulations on forest protection In regarding plantation forest area, people still intercrop food crops, vegetables in newly planted forest areas or on exploited forest areas in time of regeneration to ensure food security In addition to intercropping, people rotate the forest plantation, to ensure that when exploiting, there is no clear cutting and no price decrease of forest products Regarding the forest area allocated to the community for management, many villages have restored the sacred space, used as a place of worship of the gods, and the sacred forest areas will never be violated by the community Table Statistics and classification of land and forests in Tuong Duong (ha) Types of soil and forest Of which Area Rate (%) of Protective Special-use Natural area forest Agricultural land 11,014.00 3.92 Jungle land 180,592.10 64.24 Natural forest 115,981.60 Production forests 63,928.60 22.74 Land without forest 681.90 0.24 Natural area 281,129.73 39,289.10 76,692.50 41.26 (Source: NAGSO, 2018) Table Average household land use area by commune Agricultural area Forestry area (m ) (ha) 168 4.739 4.4 Yên Hòa 137 4.093 4.5 Nga My 124 4.679 2.3 Tam Quang 156 2.938 3.0 Tam Đình 142 3.280 3.6 Tam Hợp 211 5.786 6.3 Hữu Khuông 200 14.584 2.0 Nhôn Mai 172 7.896 3.0 Mai Sơn 180 6.438 3.5 TT Commune housing area (m2) Yên Na 2 Source: Report of District Department of Agriculture (2018) processed by research goup Table Statistics on forests in Tuong Duong from 2001 to present (ha) TT Item 2001-2005 2006-2010 2011-2015 2016-2018 Area of planted forest (ha / year) 10.2 11.7 15.5 25.5 Deforested forest area (ha / year) 24.5 14.2 9.2 8.8 Burning forest area (ha / year) 42.4 59.2 43.7 62.8 Proportion of land maintained and 14.3 9.7 10.2 8.7 234.9 158.3 167.6 165.2 protected by bio-diversity In which: Nature reserve area (ha) (Source: Environment statistics 2001-2015, district statistical yearbook, provincial statistical yearbook, report to Pu Mat Nature Reserve, Tay Nghe An Biosphere Reserve 2018) Table Average income per household in 2018 by income source (million VND) Exploiting TT Commune Agriculture Forestry Livestock forest products Other source Tam Quang 5.5 60 4.5 25 Tam Đình 6.9 63 4.5 6.5 16.6 Tam Hợp 62 4.4 6.3 12.7 (Source: Data of fieldwork in 2018) Conclusions and discussion In the fact that natural reserves are still being encroached as they are now, the measures to close forests and protect strictly to prevent deforestation are just a situation that lacks its optimal because the following reasons: Forest closure is still unavoidable due to illegal logging, by isolating forests from community responsibilities, affecting forest culture and community livelihoods; The movement of natural ecosystems needs human influence to: create new adaptations to the impact of social systems, stimulate the growth of ecosystems; In addition, the lack of management cohesion between localities and biodiversity conservation units is the cause of the unrestrained illegal forest exploitation, which is sporadically spontaneous The conversion of poor forest ecosystems to plantations is a sign of lax management "Forest management based on communities" is understood to: 1) regard the community as the legal entity for the exploitation and use of natural resources, 2) associate the responsibility of the people with the national assets, 3) Using community knowledge in forest protection, management and development, especially when local knowledge about forests is increasingly lost by deforestation means the loss of the most natural cultural space, and forest loss As a watershed area, there will be many environmental consequences Preserving and promoting local knowledge is only feasible when applied in practice Creating livelihoods from forests is a sustainable measure to maintain the ecosystem, reduce poverty from forests, create an experience system (new knowledge of the community) based on combining economic benefits and traditional knowledge, associated with natural space At the same time, increasing the value of forests, one of the principles of rational exploitation and use of resources Through forest livelihoods, knowledge of intercropping in traditional culture is preserved by being applied to actual production Many households take advantage of intercropping rice or vegetables in the early years when the forest is not closed or the model of forest regeneration intercropping with medicinal herbs under the forest canopy Thus, on the scientific basis, the traditional intercropping method has very high scientific value because of the similarity with the scientific basis of the rationality in increasing the value of forest resources This is like a fertile land for traditional knowledge "intercropping" to be preserved and promoted After a period of reforestation, the experience and knowledge of afforestation, new forest exploitation has been formed and added to the local knowledge treasure of the people here It is a deeper understanding of crop behavior, acquiring new techniques to suit the new situation - developing forest economy (eco-economy) The conversion of forest livelihoods will not make the knowledge of wetland and shifting cultivation fading, but will also enrich the knowledge of forests, because forest livelihoods have helped the community regain it The forest culture space for the community "swidden", the spiritual beliefs and the customary laws about the forest not change, thus deepening the forest culture of the Tai people Method of "Rotation and retirement crops" also need to be understood with a new connotation that can be applied and promoted in the modern context, which will create a new ecological development succession, can make recommendations on land policy issues References NAGSO (Nghe An Genenral Statistical Office) (2019) Statistical Yearbook Nghe An 2018 Publishing House, Statistics, Hanoi 571 pages Quan, V.M (Editor) (2010) Tai proverbs explain Dan Tri Publishing House Hanoi pp 96-102 Quan, V.M (Editor) (2010) The folk song of Tai Nghe An (episode 1) Vietnam National University Publishing House Hanoi pp 48-56 Vi, V.A (2017) Tai people in Western Nghe An The Gioi Publishing House, Hanoi pp 105-107  ... settling along the banks of the Lam river (Nam Pao) so they were also called Tai Lai Pao (Tay Pao), therefore, the local knowledge of the Tai people in Tuong Duong based on Tai culture in Vieetnam,... context of conversion to reforestation The rich system of local knowledge in the traditional culture of Tai? ??s people on the forest exploitation and use is now gradually changing because of the. .. community -based management and afforestation is meaning that the use of local knowledge of the community and the empowerment of management for the community in protecting and creating added-value of forests