HOW TO REDUCE MANGROVE FOREST EXTRACTION IN THE MEKONG RIVER DELTA OF VIETNAM? A COMMON POOL RESOURCE EXPERIMENT

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS, HO CHI MINH CITY VIET NAM – NETHERLANDS PROJECT FOR M.A PROGRAM IN DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS HOW TO REDUCE MANGROVE FOREST EXTRACTION IN THE MEKONG RIVER DELTA OF VIETNAM? A COMMON POOL RESOURCE EXPERIMENT o0o A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS By VU QUANG VINH Academic Supervisor: TRUONG DANG THUY HO CHI MINH CITY, DECEMBER 2015 Vu Quang Vinh Thesis VNP20 UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMIC INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL STUDIES HO CHI MINH CITY THE HAGUE VIET NAM THE NETHERLANDS VIETNAM – NETHERLANDS PROGRAMME FOR M.A IN DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS HOW TO REDUCE MANGROVE FOREST EXTRACTION IN THE MEKONG RIVER DELTA OF VIETNAM? A COMMON POOL RESOURCE EXPERIMENT A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS By VU QUANG VINH Academic Supervisor: TRUONG DANG THUY HO CHI MINH CITY, DECEMBER 2015 Vu Quang Vinh Thesis VNP20 DECLARATION “This is to certify that this thesis entitled “How to reduce mangrove forest extraction in the Mekong River Delta of Vietnam? A Common Pool Resource Experiment”, which is submitted by me in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Art in Development Economics to the Vietnam – The Netherlands Programme (VNP) The thesis constitutes only my original work and due supervision and acknowledgement have been made in the text to all materials used.” Vu Quang Vinh Vu Quang Vinh Thesis VNP20 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis would not have been able to finish without the support and guidance from many people Firstly, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Truong Dang Thuy for the continuous support of my thesis, for his generosity and dedication in sharing his wisdom guiding me to rethink and to deconstruct my thesis topic His excellent guidance helped me in all the time of research and writing of this thesis He spent a lot of time to support me about the reference materials as well as give me advices about what should to for my thesis Moreover, he took time to diligently review all my thesis drafts and help me correct errors and clear my thinking as well Moreover, the most wonderful thing is that he provided me an opportunity to join his team as intern, let me experience the research of mangrove forest in the field and gave access to the experimental data and research facilities Besides my supervisor, I would also like to thank all my friends here at VNP Together we have struggled through this whole treasured journey of learning and shared memorable moments I thank my fellows for their insightful comments and the stimulating discussions, they were always willing to help and give me best suggestions Then, I express my gratitude to VNP officers as well as VNP librarian for their support of comfort lab room and study materials and I want to say thanks to EEPSEA for funding the data collection Finally, I would like to thank my family for supporting me spiritually throughout writing this thesis and to my girl friend who always stood by me through the good times and difficult Vu Quang Vinh Thesis VNP20 ABBREVIATIONS ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations CICES The Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services CPR Common Pool Resource FAO Agriculture Organization of the United Nations GIZ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit ICZN Integrated Coastal Zone Management ICZN/CCCEP Integrated Coastal Zone Management/ Climate Change and Coastal Ecosystems in Mekong Delta Vietnam Program MARD Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development MONRE Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment OLS Ordinary Least Square PES Payments for Environmental Services UNCED The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development WCED World Council of Environmental and Development Vu Quang Vinh Thesis VNP20 ABSTRACT Using data from series of experiment in six selected provinces in Southwestern Vietnam in March and April 2015, this thesis aims to analyze the impact of mangrove forest policies and programs on people behavior towards exploring mangrove forest Common pool resource experiment is applied to examine the behavior of people in making decision To control for heterogeneity of individuals, I utilize the past behavior proposed by Frey and Meier (2004) There is robust evidence that people will quickly change their behavior if their profitability is varied, however, the local authorities must control the unexpected influence in using financial reward In addition, it suggested that government should combine many measures to get more successful in inducing people to protect mangrove forest Keywords: Mangrove forest, Common pool resource, Game theory, Experiment Vu Quang Vinh Thesis VNP20 TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Problem statement 1.2 Research question 1.3 Scope OF STUDY 1.4 Methodology and data 1.5 The structure of the study Chapter 2: Literature review 2.1 Mangrove’s ecological services 2.2 Mangrove forest and market failures 2.3 Literature review on the common pool resources experiments 2.4 Main hypotheses 15 Chapter 3: Methodology and data 19 3.1 Methodology 19 3.2.1 Sampling strategy 19 3.2.2 The interview 19 The structure of questionnaire 19 Procedures of interviewing 21 3.2.3 The experiment 21 Experimental design 21 Payoffs 23 Additional information 25 Procedures of conducting CPR game 25 3.2 Data 26 Chapter 4: Empirical results 29 4.1 Mangrove forest in vietnam 29 4.1.1 The current situation of mangrove forests in the Mekong River Delta 29 4.1.2 The situation of mangroves management in the Mekong River Delta 31 4.1.3 The current situation of other common pool resources in Vietnam 33 Fishing 33 Water 34 Forest 34 4.2 Non-parametric analysis 35 4.2.1 Descriptive statistics 35 4.2.2 Treatment 1: information 39 Vu Quang Vinh 4.2.3 4.3 Thesis VNP20 Treatment and treatment 3: social comparison and profitability 39 Regression results 43 4.4 Discussion 49 4.4.1 Hypotheses 49 4.4.2 Other discussions and limitations 51 Chapter 5: Conclusions and policy implications 53 5.1 Conclusions 53 5.2 Policy implications 53 References 55 Appendix 60 Vu Quang Vinh Thesis VNP20 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4-1: Chart of change in mangroves area of Vietnam from 1943 to 2013 29 Figure 4-2: ASEAN mangrove forest distribution map (NASA/USGS) 30 Figure 4-3: Chart of change in mangroves area of the South Vietnam from 1943 to 2008 31 Figure 4-4: The average extraction in 20 rounds 36 Figure 4-5: The average extraction with treatments distinction 37 Figure 4-6: Frequencies of extraction area in two stages by treatment groups 38 Figure 4-7: The average extraction in 20 rounds with treatment of information 39 Figure 4-8: The average extraction in 20 rounds with treatment of social comparison 40 Figure 4-9: The average extraction in 20 rounds with treatment of profitability 41 Figure 4-10: The average payoff and average extraction across social comparison treatment over 20 rounds 52 Vu Quang Vinh Thesis VNP20 LIST OF TABLES Table 2-1: Comparison between ecological wetland and ecological mangrove functions Table 3-1: Description of some variables 27 Table 4-1: Summary about forest-holders and forest types 33 Table 4-2: The changes in forest area from 1945 to 2002 (unit: 1,000,000 hectares) 35 Table 4-3: The average extraction through treatments 38 Table 4-4: Summary of main characteristics 42 Table 4-5: Regressions for individual extracted area 43 Table 4-6: Regressions with three treatments 46 Table 4-7: The average payoff across treatments and stages (units: VND) 48 LIST OF APPENDIX Appendix 1: Introduction to game rules 60 Appendix 2: The payoff table 64 Appendix 3: Information sheet 69 Appendix 4: Consent form 72 Appendix 5: Questionnaire table 73 Appendix 6: Three types of mangrove forest and their main functions 117 Appendix 7: The situation of mangroves in some provinces in Mekong Delta region in 2012 118 Appendix 8: Global mangrove forest distribution map (NASA/USGS) 118 Appendix 9: The correlation matrix 119 Vu Quang Vinh TRAWL NETS Months (start-end) Target species (C) Number of days/trip Number of trips/month Number of people going in a trip In which: people fishing directly Quantity of gear (see Question 91) used per trip (including those of vessel owner and crew members) Average Total (including those of catch vessel owner and crew (kg/trip) members) Yours Thesis VNP20 Northeast monsoon Rest of the year : _ : _ : _ : _ : _ : _ Average price (1,000 $/kg) COSTS Fuel (1,000 $/trip) Food (1,000 $/trip) Ice (1,000 $/trip) Others (1,000 $/trip) Question 92: How are the crew members paid? Check all apply □ sharing the catch □ paying in cash □ allowing for extra fishing tools in vessels Question 93: If cash, how much? _ 000$/day Question 94: If sharing the catch, how many percent is for □ vessel owner % □ crew members _ % Number of crew members get this share: _ members Question 95: If allowing extra gears in vessels, how many gears are for crew members per trip? tools Question 96: How many crew member is that number of gears for? _ members Question 97: Given the average catch per trip, how much you pay for fish segregation per trip?  Your part only: _000 VND Question 98: How many man-day you spend for fixing fishing tools per month? man-day Including tools you own only Question 99: Of which, how many man-day are hired labor? Question 100: How much you pay for one man-day? _ VND/man-day 105 Vu Quang Vinh Thesis VNP20 SURROUNDING NETS (LƯỚI VÂY) Question 101: What vessels you fish with this gear? List all Vessel IDs from Question 46 that applies: _, , , _, Question 102: Where are you fishing with this fishing gear? Check all applies □ Within the community/village □ Outside the community/village Question 103: How far you fish from the shore? nautical miles Question 104: How many pieces of this tool you go fishing with, including yours and and those of other crew members and vessel owners? # Size Mesh Quantity Value (mắt lưới) Total (# ($1000) Floatline Leadline Height Of (mm) (m) (m) (m) of which, pieces) yours Surrounding net Image courtesy of www.fish.gov.au 106 Vu Quang Vinh SURROUNDING NET Months (start-end) Target species (C) Number of days/trip Number of trips/month Number of people going in a trip In which: people fishing directly Quantity of gear (see Question 104) used per trip (including those of vessel owner and crew members) Average Total (including those of catch vessel owner and crew (kg/trip) members) Yours Thesis VNP20 Northeast monsoon Rest of the year : _ : _ : _ : _ : _ : _ Average price (1,000 $/kg) COSTS Fuel (1,000 $/trip) Food (1,000 $/trip) Ice (1,000 $/trip) Others (1,000 $/trip) Question 105: How are the crew members paid? Check all apply □ sharing the catch □ paying in cash □ allowing for extra fishing tools in vessels Question 106: If cash, how much? _ 000$/day Question 107: If sharing the catch, how many percent is for □ vessel owner % □ crew members _ % Number of crew members get this share: _ members Question 108: If allowing extra gears in vessels, how many gears are for crew members per trip? tools Question 109: How many crew member is that number of gears for? _ members Question 110: Given the average catch per trip, how much you pay for fish segregation per trip?  Your part only: _000 VND Question 111: How many man-day you spend for fixing fishing tools per month? man-day Including tools you own only Question 112: Of which, how many man-day are hired labor? Question 113: How much you pay for one man-day? _ VND/man-day 107 Vu Quang Vinh Thesis VNP20 SET NETS (LƯỚI ĐĂNG) Question 114: What vessels you fish with this gear? List all Vessel IDs from Question 46 that applies: _, , , _, Question 115: Where are you fishing with this fishing gear? Check all applies □ Within the community/village □ Outside the community/village Question 116: How far you fish from the shore? nautical miles Question 117: How many pieces of this tool you go fishing with, including yours and and those of other crew members and vessel owners? # Wing size Mesh Quantity Value (mắt lưới) ($1000) Height Length Material Total (# Of (m) (m) (Net (N) (if wing made of which, or Others of net) (mm) pieces) yours (O)) Set net Wing Image courtesy of www.fish.gov.au 108 Vu Quang Vinh SET NET Months (start-end) Target species (C) Number of days/trip Number of trips/month Number of people going in a trip In which: people fishing directly Quantity of gear (see Question 117) used per trip (including those of vessel owner and crew members) Average Total (including those of catch vessel owner and crew (kg/trip) members) Yours Thesis VNP20 Northeast monsoon Rest of the year : _ : _ : _ : _ : _ : _ Average price (1,000 $/kg) COSTS Fuel (1,000 $/trip) Food (1,000 $/trip) Ice (1,000 $/trip) Others (1,000 $/trip) Question 118: How are the crew members paid? Check all apply □ sharing the catch □ paying in cash □ allowing for extra fishing tools in vessels Question 119: If cash, how much? _ 000$/day Question 120: If sharing the catch, how many percent is for □ vessel owner % □ crew members _ % Number of crew members get this share: _ members Question 121: If allowing extra gears in vessels, how many gears are for crew members per trip? tools Question 122: How many crew member is that number of gears for? _ members Question 123: Given the average catch per trip, how much you pay for fish segregation per trip?  Your part only: _000 VND Question 124: How many man-day you spend for fixing fishing tools per month? man-day Including tools you own only Question 125: Of which, how many man-day are hired labor? Question 126: How much you pay for one man-day? _ VND/man-day 109 Vu Quang Vinh Thesis VNP20 HOOK &TRAP (RẬP) Question 127: What vessels you fish with this gear? List all Vessel IDs from Question 46 that applies: _, , , _, Question 128: Where are you fishing with this fishing gear? Check all applies □ Within the community/village □ Outside the community/village Question 129: How far you fish from the shore? nautical miles Question 130: How many pieces of this tool you go fishing with, including yours and and those of other crew members and vessel owners? # Trap size Mesh Quantity Value ($1000) (mắt Width Length Height Total (# of Of which, lưới) (cm) (cm) (cm) pieces) yours (mm) (a) (b) Image courtesy of baoanhdatmui.vn and baoquangngai.vn 110 Vu Quang Vinh HOOK & TRAP Months (start-end) Target species (C) Number of days/trip Number of trips/month Number of people going in a trip In which: people fishing directly Quantity of gear (see Question 130) used per trip (including those of vessel owner and crew members) Average Total (including those of catch vessel owner and crew (kg/trip) members) Yours Thesis VNP20 Northeast monsoon Rest of the year : _ : _ : _ : _ : _ : _ Average price (1,000 $/kg) COSTS Fuel (1,000 $/trip) Food (1,000 $/trip) Ice (1,000 $/trip) Others (1,000 $/trip) Question 131: How are the crew members paid? Check all apply □ sharing the catch □ paying in cash □ allowing for extra fishing tools in vessels Question 132: If cash, how much? _ 000$/day Question 133: If sharing the catch, how many percent is for □ vessel owner % □ crew members _ % Number of crew members get this share: _ members Question 134: If allowing extra gears in vessels, how many gears are for crew members per trip? tools Question 135: How many crew member is that number of gears for? _ members Question 136: Given the average catch per trip, how much you pay for fish segregation per trip?  Your part only: _000 VND Question 137: How many man-day you spend for fixing fishing tools per month? man-day Including tools you own only Question 138: Of which, how many man-day are hired labor? Question 139: How much you pay for one man-day? _ VND/man-day 111 Vu Quang Vinh Thesis VNP20 HOOK AND LINE (CÂU) Question 140: What vessels you fish with this gear? List all Vessel IDs from Question 46 that applies: _, , , _, Question 141: Where are you fishing with this fishing gear? Check all applies □ Within the community/village □ Outside the community/village Question 142: How far you fish from the shore? nautical miles Question 143: How many pieces of this tool you go fishing with, including yours and and those of other crew members and vessel owners? # Size Lure Quantity Value (mồi câu) ($1000) Length Width Total (# Of (mm) (m) of which, pieces) yours Image courtesy of www.fish.gov.au 112 Vu Quang Vinh HOOK AND LINE Months (start-end) Target species (C) Number of days/trip Number of trips/month Number of people going in a trip In which: people fishing directly Quantity of gear (see Question 143) used per trip (including those of vessel owner and crew members) Average Total (including those of catch vessel owner and crew (kg/trip) members) Yours Thesis VNP20 Northeast monsoon Rest of the year : _ : _ : _ : _ : _ : _ Average price (1,000 $/kg) COSTS Fuel (1,000 $/trip) Food (1,000 $/trip) Ice (1,000 $/trip) Others (1,000 $/trip) Question 144: How are the crew members paid? Check all apply □ sharing the catch □ paying in cash □ allowing for extra fishing tools in vessels Question 145: If cash, how much? _ 000$/day Question 146: If sharing the catch, how many percent is for □ vessel owner % □ crew members _ % Number of crew members get this share: _ members Question 147: If allowing extra gears in vessels, how many gears are for crew members per trip? tools Question 148: How many crew member is that number of gears for? _ members Question 149: Given the average catch per trip, how much you pay for fish segregation per trip?  Your part only: _000 VND Question 150: How many man-day you spend for fixing fishing tools per month? man-day Including tools you own only Question 151: Of which, how many man-day are hired labor? Question 152: How much you pay for one man-day? _ VND/man-day 113 Vu Quang Vinh Thesis VNP20 SCOOP NET (TE) Question 153: What vessels you fish with this gear? List all Vessel IDs from Question 46 that applies: _, , , _, Question 154: Where are you fishing with this fishing gear? Check all applies □ Within the community/village □ Outside the community/village Question 155: How far you fish from the shore? nautical miles Question 156: How many pieces of this tool you go fishing with, including yours and and those of other crew members and vessel owners? # Size Mesh Quantity Value (mắt ($1000) Width Wing Man-pushed? Total (# Of lưới) (m) length (m) (Y/N) of which, (mm) pieces) yours Man-pushed scoop net Image courtesy of Motor-pushed scoop net 114 Vu Quang Vinh SCOOP NET Months (start-end) Target species (C) Number of days/trip Number of trips/month Number of people going in a trip In which: people fishing directly Quantity of gear (see Question 156) used per trip (including those of vessel owner and crew members) Average Total (including those of catch vessel owner and crew (kg/trip) members) Yours Thesis VNP20 Northeast monsoon Rest of the year : _ : _ : _ : _ : _ : _ Average price (1,000 $/kg) COSTS Fuel (1,000 $/trip) Food (1,000 $/trip) Ice (1,000 $/trip) Others (1,000 $/trip) Question 157: How are the crew members paid? Check all apply □ sharing the catch □ paying in cash □ allowing for extra fishing tools in vessels Question 158: If cash, how much? _ 000$/day Question 159: If sharing the catch, how many percent is for □ vessel owner % □ crew members _ % Number of crew members get this share: _ members Question 160: If allowing extra gears in vessels, how many gears are for crew members per trip? tools Question 161: How many crew member is that number of gears for? _ members Question 162: Given the average catch per trip, how much you pay for fish segregation per trip?  Your part only: _000 VND Question 163: How many man-day you spend for fixing fishing tools per month? man-day Including tools you own only Question 164: Of which, how many man-day are hired labor? Question 165: How much you pay for one man-day? _ VND/man-day 115 Vu Quang Vinh Thesis VNP20 OTHER GEARS Question 166: What vessels you fish with this gear? List all Vessel IDs from Question 46 that applies: _, , , _, Question 167: Where are you fishing with this fishing gear? Check all applies □ Within the community/village □ Outside the community/village Question 168: How far you fish from the shore? nautical miles Question 169: How many pieces of this tool you go fishing with, including yours and and those of other crew members and vessel owners? # Size Quantity Value ($1000) Total (# Of of which, pieces) yours OTHER GEAR Months (start-end) Target species (C) Number of days/trip Number of trips/month Number of people going in a trip In which: people fishing directly Quantity of gear (see Question 169) used per trip (including those of vessel owner and crew members) Average Total (including those of catch vessel owner and crew (kg/trip) members) Yours Northeast monsoon Rest of the year : _ : _ : _ : _ : _ : _ Average price (1,000 $/kg) COSTS Fuel (1,000 $/trip) Food (1,000 $/trip) Ice (1,000 $/trip) Others (1,000 $/trip) 116 Vu Quang Vinh Thesis VNP20 Question 170: How are the crew members paid? Check all apply □ sharing the catch □ paying in cash □ allowing for extra fishing tools in vessels Question 171: If cash, how much? _ 000$/day Question 172: If sharing the catch, how many percent is for □ vessel owner % □ crew members _ % Number of crew members get this share: _ members Question 173: If allowing extra gears in vessels, how many gears are for crew members per trip? tools Question 174: How many crew member is that number of gears for? _ members Question 175: Given the average catch per trip, how much you pay for fish segregation per trip?  Your part only: _000 VND Question 176: How many man-day you spend for fixing fishing tools per month? man-day Including tools you own only Question 177: Of which, how many man-day are hired labor? Question 178: How much you pay for one man-day? _ VND/man-day Appendix 6: Three types of mangrove forest and their main functions Main forest functions Protection forest Special use forest Production forest Notes Watershed, sandy forest, and sea wave forest in coastal areas Coastal and wetland protection (from flood, storm…) Beside the main functions of each mangroves type, the mangrove forest is also the “green lungs” of the Earth: they synthesis about 1.5-ton carbon/ha/year (as estimated) in the National parks, natural atmosphere Therefore, conservation areas, deforestation and historical and cultural parks, degradation mangroves are environmental protection the reasons that raise the site, biosphere reserves climate changes Products made from wood and other commercial marine products Source: collected from several sources 117 Vu Quang Vinh Thesis VNP20 Appendix 7: The situation of mangroves in some provinces in Mekong Delta region in 2012 No Provinces Natural forest (ha) Planted forest (ha) Total (ha) Long An 65 65 Tien Giang 1,358 1,358 Ben Tre 502 3,700 4,202 Tra Vinh 821 3,479 4,300 Soc Trang 1,759 4,885 6,644 Bac Lieu 1,599 1,014 2,613 Ca Mau 8,009 44,914 52,923 Kien Giang 805 3,042 3,847 Total 13,497 62,456 75,952 Percentage 18% 82% 100% Source: the survey in 2012 of GIZ Kien Giang Team (2012), ICZM/CCCEP Appendix 8: Global mangrove forest distribution map (NASA/USGS) 118 Vu Quang Vinh Thesis VNP20 Appendix 9: The correlation matrix extract extract_p aextract_p wextract_p info_2c info_2d info_2e info_4 aware_c mgrove mgrove _project _join farming aquaculture extract 1.000 extract_p 0.671 1.000 aextract_p 0.273 0.401 1.000 wextract_p 0.078 0.110 0.955 1.000 info_2c -0.123 -0.115 -0.063 -0.031 1.000 info_2d 0.049 0.051 -0.007 -0.024 -0.107 1.000 info_2e 0.060 0.051 0.047 0.035 -0.166 0.249 1.000 info_4 -0.066 -0.069 -0.078 -0.062 0.064 -0.014 -0.237 1.000 aware_c -0.028 -0.033 0.020 0.033 -0.231 0.005 -0.016 -0.086 1.000 mgrove_project 0.060 0.061 0.070 0.056 -0.015 0.079 0.170 -0.111 -0.066 1.000 mgrove_join 0.074 0.080 0.008 -0.017 0.134 -0.007 0.044 -0.072 -0.109 0.213 1.000 farming -0.086 -0.081 -0.149 -0.136 -0.032 0.046 -0.081 0.252 0.058 -0.040 0.080 1.000 aquaculture 0.021 0.020 0.066 0.065 0.170 -0.151 0.172 -0.319 -0.073 0.049 0.298 -0.321 1.000 fishing -0.016 -0.017 0.061 0.071 -0.129 0.154 -0.167 0.077 0.111 -0.058 -0.268 -0.343 -0.550 fishing 1.000 119