Local communities impacts on mangrove forest change in xuan thuy national park, nam dinh province

z VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF FORESTRY FOREST RESOURCES & ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT FACULTY STUDENT THESIS LOCAL COMMUNITIES IMPACTS ON MANGROVE FOREST CHANGE IN XUAN THUY NATIONAL PARK, NAM DINH PROVINCE Major: Advanced Curriculum in Natural Resources Management Code: D850101 Faculty: Forest Resources & Environmental Management Student: Pham Thi Thuy Van Student ID: 1553 090 802 Class: K60 Natural Resources Management Course: 2014 - 2019 Advanced Education Program Developed in Collaboration with Colorado State University, USA Supervisor: Assoc Prof Bui The Doi Ha Noi, 2019 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEGEMENT ABSTRACTS INTRODUCTION CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Mangrove forest 1.1.1 Definition of mangroves 1.1.2 Geographic distribution, mangrove area 1.1.3 Characteristics of mangroves forests 1.1.4 Role of mangroves 1.2 Local community impacts on mangrove forest change 1.3 Research on local community impacts on mangrove forest change 1.3.1 In the world 1.3.2 In Viet Nam CHAPTER 2: OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY 2.1 Study Objectives and Scope 2.1.1 Study objectives: 2.1.2 Study scope: 2.2 METHODOLOGY 2.2.1 Study site selection 2.2.2 Collecting data 10 2.2.3 Data analysis 11 CHAPTER STUDY SITE CHARACTERISTICS 13 3.1 Xuan Thuy National Park (XTNP) 13 3.1.1 Geographical locations: 13 3.1.2 Topography and hydrology 14 3.1.3 Climate 15 3.1.4 Soil Characteristics 15 3.1.5 Natural resources 15 3.2 Giao An Commune 17 3.3 Giao Thien commune 18 CHAPTER RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 19 4.1 Current status of mangrove forests in XTNP 19 4.1.1 Basic characteristics of mangrove forests 19 4.1.2 Mangrove forest change in XTNP 20 4.2 Status of management and conservation mangrove forest 22 4.2.1 Management apparatus 22 4.2.2 Mangroves management 23 4.3 Impacts of local communities on mangrove forest change in XTNP 24 4.3.1 The description of interviewees 24 4.3.3 Causes of the impacts 30 4.4 Factors influencing the participation of local people in sustainable mangrove forests management 32 4.4.1 Reasons for NOT participating in forest managing 33 4.4.2 Reasons for participating in forest managing 34 4.4.3 Factors influencing the participation of local people in sustainable mangrove forests management 36 4.5 Assessing the status of sustainable mangrove forests management in Giao An and Giao Thien communes 36 4.6.2 Solutions belong to local community 38 CHAPPTER CONCLUSION AND LIMITATION OF STUDY 40 5.1 Conclusion 40 5.2.Limitation of the study 40 REFERENCES APENDIX TABLE OF TABLES Table 1: SWOT model 12 Table 2: Summary socio-economic of Giao An and Giao Thien communes 18 Table 3: Description of interviewees 24 Table 4: Knowledge level about sustainable mangrove forests management according to gender 25 Table 5: Knowledge level about sustainable mangrove forests management according to age group 26 Table 6: Knowledge level about sustainable mangrove forests management according to occupation 27 Table 7: Production and value of aquaculture and fisheries in the core zone of Xuan Thuy National Park 28 Table 8: Exploitation mangroves resources in core zone of Giao An and Giao Thien commune 2018 28 Table 9: Participation levels in exploiting forest resources according to age group 29 Table 10: Average income per household (VND) 30 Table 11: Area of forests and alluvia plains in Xuan Thuy National Park (ha) 31 Table 12: The location of shrimp exploitation 31 Table 13: Sources of information for local people about sustainable mangrove forests management 32 Table 14: Reasons why local people don’t take part in sustainable mangrove forests management (Law enforcement opinions) 33 Table 15: Reasons why local people don’t take part in sustainable mangrove forests management (local people’s opinions) 34 Table 16: Reasons why local people take part in sustainable mangrove forests management (Law enforcement opinions) 34 Table 17: Reasons why local people take part in sustainable mangrove forests management (local people’s opinion) 35 Table 18: SWOT analysis 36 TABLE OF FIGURES Figure 1: Map of Xuan Thuy Nation Park (Source: Google map and author) 13 Figure 2: Change of ecosystem of wetland in Xuan Thuy national park during time 1986, 1995, 2007 2013 (Sources: Xuan Thuy National Park) 21 Figure 3: Management apparatus in Xuan Thuy Nation Park 22 Figure 4: Management apparatus in communes 23 ACKNOWLEGEMENT I would like to express the deepest appreciation and gratitude to all officials at Viet Nam National University of Forestry, they have contributed in different ways to my research I sincerely thank the Board of Directors of Xuan Thuy National Park, People’s Committee of Giao An and Giao Thien communes has supported and created the favorable condition for me to finish the survey Especially, thank Mrs Tran Thi Hong Hanh who gave me the possibility to work on this thesis at Xuan Thuy National Park, Giao Thuy district, Nam Dinh province First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor, Asso Prof Dr Bui The Doi for his guidance throughout the various stages of the thesis I am grateful to his help and encouraging me during doing graduate thesis With the knowledge acquired during the learning process is not only the foundation for the research process but also the precious jewelry to enter the life firmly and confidently In the end, I wish you all the best in your career, your health and your success Hanoi, September 2019 Pham Thi Thuy Van ABSTRACTS An overview of sustainable forest management, the relationship between local people and law enforcement in protecting and enhancing the value of forest resources in Xuan Thuy National Park Learning about livelihood of local committee and how they affect to the forest’s reserve, listing and analyzing the management activities and their impact on local communities Moreover, improving the soft skills of researches like: communication, observation, document inheritance, creating questionnaire table, interviewing local people & law enforcement and giving recommendation to raise awareness of local people in the buffer zone, especially communes Giao An and Giao Thien in Xuan Thuy National Park, Nam Dinh province INTRODUCTION Mangroves are found along sheltered coastlines in the tropics and subtropics where they fulfil important functions in terms of providing wood and non-wood forest products, coastal protection, conservation of biological diversity and provision of habitat, spawning grounds and nutrients for a variety of fish and shellfish (FAO, 2005) Mangroves play a major role in environmental and socio-economic issues Mangroves are considered as a center of tropical marine biology, one of the world’s most biodiversity and genetic ecosystems About 90% of marine organisms live in mangroves, and 80% of the world’s fisheries depend on mangroves (S Sandilyan, 2012) However, the mangrove ecosystem is vulnerable to human impacts and climate change There have been several report that mangroves in the world were severely degraded (FAO, 2007) In an effort to protect this particularly valuable ecosystem, scientists have been researching in a variety of aspects in order to exploit, converse and develop these resources in a scientific and effective way Vietnam, with more than 3,000 km of coastline, has a rich mangrove forest system stretching from north to south Mangroves not only act as a major role in ensuring the livelihoods of the coastal residential but also play an extremely important role in ensuring environmentalism, reducing nature’s impacts and overcoming the phenomena of rising sea level, saline intrusion, etc Xuan Thuy National Park, which belongs to the Northern mangrove system in Viet Nam, is located in the southeast of Giao Thuy district, Nam Dinh province, at the Ba Lat estuary of the Red River According to previously published documents, the total area of the park is approximately 7,100 hectares, including 3,100 hectares of land and roughly 4,000 hectares of mangrove forest Xuan Thuy National Park is the 50th Ramsar Site of the World, the first of Southeast Asian and the only of Vietnam from 1989 to 2005 Xuan Thuy National Park is a wetland area that not only protects mangrove ecosystem, but also supports migratory water bird, including some species in the Red List of Threatened Species In accordance with the report of Xuan Thuy National Park, it is preserving the precious ecological values, such as thousands of hectares of mangroves, rich aquatic resources In recent years, local community activities in the biodiversity such as fishing, using mangroves land to build shrimp ponds Besides, the establishment of the national park has changed the life of local people living in the buffer zone Because of the above reasons, to contribute to researches related to the mangrove system I decided to conduct thesis titled “Local community impacts on mangrove forest change in Xuan Thuy National Park, Nam Dinh province” CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Mangrove forest 1.1.1 Definition of mangroves ‘Mangrove is type of tall plant (trees, shrubs, herbs or ferns) which dominate in semi tropical coastal tide, subtropical, showing a distinct level of tolerance to anaerobic conditions and high salinity, and blume can live in marine dispersal condition (P Saenger, 2002) 1.1.2 Geographic distribution, mangrove area a Mangrove area and distribution in the world Mangrove is distributed mainly in the equatorial and tropical area of two hemispheres (between latitudes 23oN and 23oS), at coastline, island chains, warm Gulf Stream spreading offset from the abundant mangrove to cooler areas Mangrove in the world is distributed in 124 countries and regions Mangrove accounts for approximately 1% of the world’s forest area and appear in about 75% of the tropical coasts of the world (P Saenger, 2002) b Mangrove area and distribution in Vietnam According to Phan Nguyen Hong et al (1999), mangroves in Vietnam are divided into four zones and 12 sub-zones: Zone I: Northeast Coast, from Ngoc headland to Do Son headland; Zone II: Northern Delta Coast, from Do Son headland to Lac Truong headland; Zone III: Central Coast, from Lach Truong headland to Vung Tau headland, Zone IV: South Coast, from Vung Tau headland to Nai headland, Ha Tien 1.1.3 Characteristics of mangroves forests According to Dr Nguyen Vinh Xuan Tien (2008), Mangroves have some characteristics as follows: - Live in tropical, subtropical, equatorial - Coastal and brackish areas, catchment estuary to the sea, inland valley swamps - Have the effect of tidal ebb - Areas with no big waves 4.4.3 Factors influencing the participation of local people in sustainable mangrove forests management a Limited awareness Local people in buffer zone are unware of the importance of mangrove forests protection They only agree to grow forest trees with high price instead of thinking about the deep impacts on forest Moreover, they take care much more about revenue or benefits they can get immediately which from exploiting and selling mangroves products They ignore the exhausted of environment even when it is overexploited b Lack of efficient policies and environment projects In the buffer zone of XTNP, there are many projects from State and Private investors to develop local community However, most of the project are for tourism developing and they don’t meet the potential demand of community Moreover, many people don’t know about state policies and the propaganda task doesn’t perform well, that leads people to uncontrolled exploiting without concerning and thinking about protecting In the other hand, there are also plans effectiveness but funding for this is not enough to maintain for local people can develop their ideal 4.5 Assessing the status of sustainable mangrove forests management in Giao An and Giao Thien communes According to the results above, I summarize the strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats to assess the status of sustainable mangrove forests management in Giao An and Giao Thien commune Detail are shown in table below: Table 18: SWOT analysis Strengths - Knowledge of local people about the Weakness - Population increase, pressure about importance of sustainable mangrove income in main labor in each forests management is improving household 36 - Labor to protect mangroves is - Weak infrastructure abundant if conservation base on - Lack of funding, investment community - There are some conflicts between - Community and solidarity is high local people and law enforcement - State and authorities enforce about how forest protection and effective policies development - Staffs in national park have high experiment and knowledge - Biodiversity Opportunities - Encourage people to join sustainable Threats - Hard to change local people passive mangrove forests management - Easier to sharing informing about mind and behavior - Not good for long term projects farming and harvesting aquatic or about forest protection because man taking care of mangroves and is the main labor in protecting forest conservation it - Lack of combination between staff, - Provide examples of sustainable mangrove forests managers close to local authorities and local people - Local people don’t want to spend local people so that they have time and money about protection opportunity to access sustainable forest if they don’t receive benefits mangrove forests management which they needs (Sources: Field survey of author, 2019) 4.6 Some solutions to better management and protect mangrove forest and to reduce negative impacts of human activities 4.6.1 Solutions belong to managers According to data collected about management apparatus in XTNP, we need some more forest rangers who have high knowledge, passion and active to control any situation can happen 37 - Co-operate with People’s Committee in commune as well as others commune in buffer zone encourage local people plating mangroves, farming more than exploiting aquatic, transit economy effectiveness - Combination with authorities in communes in upgrade infrastructures as clean water, road,… - Support built concentrated production areas, specialized production areas to improve production, quality to create livelihood sustainable, high living standard - Train more people who have specific knowledge about protection and conservation mangroves in local community - Provide seed tree or seedling tree suit for local people to expand mangroves area 4.6.2 Solutions belong to local community * Population: Authorities are applying family planning to decrease density as well as control birth of rate If number of people increase, the pressure about income high That leads overexploiting forest resources, lack of jobs… To well solution, government, especially Woman Union provide more information to each household about positive and negative of policy * Transit economy house-style: This is best way to develop economy, increase income for local people in buffer zone and reduce exploiting illegal - Husbandry is good development trending to earn more money Because, cultivation which is still main livelihood in these communes is convenient condition to develop breeding - Local communities need to educate knowledge about sustainable mangrove forest management - Local people should invest more money to enhance advance technical to have high quantity and quality of production farming and diminish negative effect to environment * Encourage development of by-trade 38 Encourage development of by-trade is useful solution to increase income for household in buffer zone like: planting flower, handmade, handicraft, bamboo… * Support funding Funding is importance problem for household Government need support more money to help poor households have livelihood sustainable If they that, negative effect by local communities on mangrove forest will reduce hardly 39 CHAPPTER CONCLUSION AND LIMITATION OF STUDY 5.1 Conclusion The research results shown that: - Study site is conducted from two commune Giao An and Giao Thien in Giao Thuy district shows that a long coastal is favorable for develop economy base on mangrove forest and activities related to wetland Local community impact both negative and positive effect on mangroves This survey focus on negative impacts - Knowledge and participation about sustainable mangrove forest management in the commune is quite high However, economic is the main cause leads to negative effects - Livelihood of local people in communes in buffer zone of XTNP still depend on forest resources Income of local communities is from cultivation, aquatic farming (catching/ harvesting and farming), industry (salt making), husbandry, services and tourism However, to increase income, household in these find to expand shrimping pond, over-exploiting mangrove forest resources - The solution and government policy should, therefore, focus on resolving the relationship between the conservation and protection of mangroves and improving livelihood of local people Management solution have been proposed to solve this issue from the case study in there It includes increasing enforcement and punishments for environmental infractions, increasing management authority to Commune People’s Committees, applying comanagement of natural resources and mangroves, developing environmentally friendly cultivation technique and enhance advance technique to have high quantity and quality products 5.2.Limitation of the study Because of time limitation, the wide area of buffer zone in national park, I chose commune (Giao An and Giao Thien) which represent characteristics of 40 others This research just investigated impacts of local communities on mangrove forest Because life become more modern, increasing population and pressure about economy, local people have had activities cause negative effect for study site However, there are no effectiveness policies to solve problem Project need more time and money to upgrade this situation 41 REFERENCES Nguyen Duc Thang et al (2014) “Correlation Between the Variation of Mangrove Forest Area and Local Community Livelihood in Xuan Thuy National Park, Vietnam”, Scientific research at Vietnam National University of Forestry Nguyen Viet Chung (2014), “Nghiên cứu đặc điểm cấu trúc tái sinh tự nhiên số quần xã thực vật rừng ngập mặn Vườn Quốc Gia Xuân Thủy, tỉnh Nam Định” Master thesis at Vietnam National University of Forestry Tran Ngoc, Diep (2010), “Nghiên cứu vai trò hệ sinh thái rừng ngập mặn tới phát triển kinh tế người dân huyện Giao Thủy tỉnh Nam Định” Master thesis at Vietnam National University of Forestry Pham Binh Quyenm Ngo Van Mac (2007), “Nghiên cứu, áp dụng phương pháp lượng giá kinh tế hệ sinh thái rừng ngập mặn phục vụ quản lý bền vững vườn quốc gia Xuân Thủy tỉnh Nam Định” Master thesis at Vietnam National University of Forestry Ngo Thi Minh Chau (2015), ‘’Nghiên cứu trạng đề xuất giải pháp phát triển rừng ngập mặn huyện Nghĩa Hưng, tỉnh Nam Định’’ Student thesis at Vietnam National University of Forestry Tran Thi Nhu Quynh (2017), “Nghiên Cứu Đánh Giá Thực Trạng Bảo Tồn Và Phát Triển Hệ Sinh Thái Rừng Ngập Mặn Ở Các Xã Vùng Đệm Vƣờn Quốc Gia Xuân Thủy’’ Phan Thi Thanh Huong (2018), “Research on Mangrove Vegetation Which have Biological Activities in Xuan Thuy National Park and Propose Sustainable Usage’’ Summary of Biological Doctoral Thesis, Graduate University of Science and Technology Vu Duc, Huy (2016), “Characteristics of mangrove forest communities in Xuan Thuy national park - Nam Dinh” Student thesis at Vietnam National University of Forestry Trinh Thi Ngoc Mai, (2018) “Study on the impacts of local communities on nontimber forest product resources in Xuan Son commune, Tan Son district, Phu Tho province” Student thesis at Vietnam National University of Forestry 10 Nguyen Hoang, Duy (2018), “Estimate the economic value of Xuan Thuy national park, Nam Dinh province’’ Student thesis at Vietnam National University of Forestry 11 Tran Thi Thanh Hoa (2016), “The Environmental Accounting of Xuan Thuy National Park, Nam Dinh Province” Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science (Advanced program of Environmental Science) 12 The World Conservation Union (2008), “Integrated And Sustainable Use of Water Resources For Maintaining Ecosystems Of Xuan Thuy National Park’’ 13 Syaiful Eddy (2016), “Community-Based Mangrove Forests Conservation for Sustainable Fisheries” Student of Environmental Science Section of Doctorate Program APENDIX Questionnaires: a) Questionnaires for interviewing officials of Xuan Thuy National Park Name… Date: Age… Gender……… A Status *Status of mangrove forests ………………………………………………………………………………… *Management Management appatus ………………………………………………………………………………… Number of ranger…… For you, number of ranger is enough to control fulfil……… Reason…………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………… How often forest ranger check status of mangrove? A Seldom B times/week C times/ week How many forest rangers are there? ……………………………… Area belong to national park…… For you, local community effect to mangrove forest change: A Yes Causes of impacts? A Lack of money B Lack of land use C Lack of knowledge D Lack of information B No How many illegal exploiting and using happen for a year? ……………………………………………………………………… B Impacts How status of mangrove forest change when project about sustainable forest management? …………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………… The punishment is enough to reduce negative impacts on mangrove forest A Yes B No Your opinion…………………………………………………… The participation of local community about sustainable mangrove forests: A High B Depend on money they paid B Depend on interested D Others The status of sustainable mangrove forests management in your commune by strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats which National park have faced on? ……………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… Your recommendation …………………………………………………………………… b) Questionnaire for household’s interview Name: …………………………… Gender………… Age……… Address:…………………………… Household’s income: A Well B Medium C Poor D Very poor Main income from: Sources Value (VND) Cultivation Farming and harvesting aquatic Industry (making salt) Services Others Total Income is enough to raise your family? A Yes B No Your house use land for: …………… Lack of land use……………………………………… How often you exploit mangrove forest resource? A Seldom B times/ week C times/ weak D Usually Your purpose when you exploit? ……………………………………………………………………… For you, protection and managing mangrove forest belongs to: A Not my responsibility B Law enforcement C Waste time D Lack of money Investment which you want to receive from government? A Seeding & seedling B Infrastructure C Technique Which sources you get information about sustainable mangrove management? A Local government B Project staffs C Neighborhood D Media E Management board of national park F Others………… 10 The reason you take part in project or plan about sustainable mangrove management? A Responsibility about future B Increase income C Follow around D Propaganda effectiveness E Others……………… c) Questionnaire for staffs of People’s Committee Name: …………………………………………… Gender: …………………………………… Age: ……………………………………… General information about social economic in commune: - Population: …………………… Number of village: …………… Male: ……………… Female: ……………… Number of households: ………………… - Type of economy: A Farming and harvesting aquatic B Services C Industry (making salt) D Cultivation E Others……………… Management organization ……………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………… Infrastructure: ……………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………… Are local community hiding to protect mangrove forest? A Yes B No For you, opinion of local people about protection and managing mangrove forest belongs to: F Not my responsibility G Law enforcement E Waste time F Lack of money The reason you take part in project or plan about sustainable mangrove management? F Responsibility about future G Increase income H Follow around I Propaganda effectiveness J Others……………… Which did you to reduce negative impacts on mangrove forest change? ……………………………………… How often you do? A Seldom B times/ week C times/ week D Usually Do you co-operate with officials in Xuan Thuy National park? A Yes B No 10.Your recommendation ……………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………… Field survey pictures Picture: Xuan Thuy National Park administrative buildings Picture: Local activities