Interaction between local people and natural forest resources in dai dinh commune tam dao district vinh phuc province

MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF FORESTRY *** STUDENT THESIS INTERACTION BETWEEN LOCAL PEOPLE AND NATURAL FOREST RESOURCES IN DAI DINH COMMUNE, TAM DAO DISTRICT, VINH PHUC PROVINCE Major: Natural Resources Management Code: D850101 Faculty: Forest Resources and Environmental Management Student: Nguyen Minh Chau Student ID: 1453091265 Class: K59A Natural Resources Management Course: 2014 - 2018 Advanced Education Program Developed in collaboration with Colorado State University, USA Supervisor: Asso.,Prof., Dr Do Anh Tuan Hanoi, 2018 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First of all, I would like to express the profound gratitude to Assoc Prof Do Anh Tuan, my advisor, for his academic guidance, advice, and encouragement throughout the study Many thanks are also given to: Leaders and staffs of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in Vinh Phuc province as well as People's Committee of Dai Dinh commune for their supports and dedicated help in during I conduct this thesis and in the field Lastly, I would like to thanks my family: my mother always support to me and my friends who helped me in my research i TABLE OF CONTENDS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i TABLE OF CONTENDS ii LIST OF TABLES iv LIST OF FIGURES v CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Buffer zone management 2.2 Buffer zone and livelihood development in Vietnam CHAPTER III STUDY SITE AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC FEATURES 3.1 Study Site 3.2 Natural features 11 3.2.1 Topographical conditions 11 3.2.2 Land 11 3.2.3 Climate and hydrology 12 3.3 Socio-economic features 13 CHAPTER IV GOAL, OBJECTIVES AND METHODS 16 4.1 Goal 16 4.2 Objectives 16 4.3 Methodology 16 4.3.1 Secondary data collection 16 4.3.2 Household interviews 16 4.3.3 Key information interview 17 4.3.4 Analysis data method 18 CHAPTER V RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 19 ii 5.1 Characteristics of the natural forest resources in Dai Dinh commune 19 5.1.1 The area and distribution of natural forest resources 19 5.1.2 Forest land status in Dai Dinh commune, Tam Dao district, Vinh Phuc province 20 5.1.3: Area of forest and forest land by administrative unit in Dai Dinh commune, Tam Dao district, Vinh Phuc province 21 5.1.4 Plant species composition 23 5.1.5 Forest cover 24 5.2 Socio-economic characteristics of the sampled households in Dai Dinh commne 25 5.2.1 Population, ethnic composition, education and occupation 25 5.2.2 Economic conditions of sample households 27 5.3 Forest resources and forest land uses of local people and their dependency on forest resources 28 5.3.1 Forest resources and forest land use activities of local communities 28 5.3.2 Dependency of Local people on the Forest Resources 33 5.4 Recommendations for natural forest resources management in Dai Dinh commune35 5.4.1 Integrated agroforestry model 35 5.4.2 Creating sustainable livelihood for local people 36 CHAPTER VI CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 38 6.1 Conclusions 38 6.2 Recommendations 38 REFERENCES Appendix iii LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Classification of land by elevation and slope of Dai Dinh commune 11 Table 2: Land use in Dai Dinh commune 12 Table 3: Population and labor in Dai Dinh Commune 14 Table 1: Sample size of Selected Sample Households 17 Table 1: The area of forest in Dai Dinh commune 19 Table 2: The forest land status in Dai Dinh commune 21 Table 3: Area of forest land types by the administrative unit in Dai Dinh commune 22 Table 4: List of composition of vascular plants of Tam Dao national park in Dai Dinh commune 23 Table 5: List of thirteen families has the largest number of Tam Dao National Park in Dai Dinh commune 24 Table 6: Distribution of population aged years and above by level of literacy and sex 26 Table 7: Percentage distribution of population aged 18 years and above by main jobs of sample households 27 Table 8: Welfare ranking of sample household in Dai Dinh 28 Table 9: List of the medicinal plants in sample households 30 Table 10: Sample household income from collecting medicinal plants 31 Table 11: Forest resources use activities in Dai Dinh commune 32 Table 12: Average total income and average income from natural forest resources of group household per month in Dai Dinh commune 33 Table 13: Household income from forest resources use in period of 2013 – 2018 34 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Map of study area 10 Figure 1: Distribution of natural forest resources in Dai Dinh commune 20 Figure 2: Type of forest by origin 22 Figure 3: Type of forest by purpose of using forest 22 Figure 4: Forest cover at Dai Dinh commune in 2005 - 2017 25 Figure 5: The results of welfare ranking of sample household in Dai Dinh 28 Figure 6: The results of sample household income from collecting medicinal plants in Dai Dinh commune 31 Figure 7: Frequency of visit of sample households to harvest the forest products 33 Figure 8: Percentage of average total income and average income from natural forest resources of group household per month in Dai Dinh commune 34 Figure 9: Percentage of household income from forest resources use in period of 2013 – 2018 35 v CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION It has long been a matter of preserving biodiversity, the quality of ecosystems and the landscapes, rich fauna and flora of many national parks degraded by the pressure of the people living outside Therefore, national parks have been of interest More importantly, the construction of a buffer zone, creating an additional protection belt for the national park to exclude outside influences has been set in many countries around the world, including Vietnam In Vietnam, many national parks and protected areas have been built, but most of them are often intermingled with residential areas and under heavy pressure from the outside The buffer zone is designed to address these constraints, to improve the living standard of local communities such as creating more jobs so that they can relieve pressure on conservation and education, encourage them to actively participate in conservation Tam Dao National park is a protected area zone of Vietnam, located in the Tam Dao mountain range, a large mountain range over 80 km long, 10 - 15 km wide, along with the direction of Northwest - Southeast The national park spreads over provinces of Vinh Phuc, Thai Nguyen and Tuyen Quang, about 75 km north to Hanoi Tam Dao National Park has an area of 34,995 ha, geographic coordinates 21 ° 21' - 21 ° 42 ' North latitude, 105 ° 23' - 105 ° 44' East longitude The national park has currently 26,163 of forest, which is mainly natural forest, covering over 70% of the total area Tam Dao National park has 1,282 plant species belonging to 660 genera of 179 vascular plant families, including sub-tropical species There are 42 endemic species and 64 rare species Moreover, the national park also has 163 animal species belonging to 158 families of 39 orders There are 239 species of birds, 64 species of mammal with valuable specie, 39 endemic species Natural resources in Tam Dao National Park play a vital role in ensuring ecosystem balance and biodiversity conservation In addition, natural resources are main materials for economic development Local people depend on forests, cultivating and exploiting natural resources to sustain and develop the economy Tam Dao National Park is considered to be highly diverse However, due to pressure of population, management is still difficult Hunting and cutting plants are main reasons causing the loss of species in the National park In addition, the development of tourism has ruined the natural beauty and environmental degradation of Tam Dao National park To solve this problem, the buffer zone was created That helps review interaction of Tam Dao National Park development to the creation of sustainable livelihoods for the people living in the buffer zone which is of importance, in terms of total the results are not only to assess the role but also to draw lessons in creating sustainable livelihoods for the people This will provide more effective management approaches of Tam Dao National Park and buffer zones in the future In Tam Dao district, Vinh Phuc province, there are seven communes belonging to buffer zone (Tam Dao town and communes including Dao Tru, Dai Dinh, Tam Quan, Ho Son, Hop Chau and Minh Quang) Dai Dinh is a mountainous commune located in the buffer zone of Tam Dao district Due to the geographical conditions of the hills and mountains, the livelihoods of people in Dai Dinh commune depend mainly on forests and forest land which can provide people with food, medicinal plants, firewood, water and livestock grazing areas and so on Determining the relationship between local people and natural forest resources is important, therefore, I chose the topic about: “INTERACTION BETWEEN LOCAL PEOPLE AND NATURAL FOREST RESOURCES IN DAI DINH COMMUNE, TAM DAO DISTRICT, VINH PHUC PROVINCE” with the purpose of evaluating the interaction of people with the buffer zone and proposing recommendations for sustainable forest management and livelihood development of local people CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Buffer zone management Buffer zones are created to enhance the protection of a specific conservation area, often peripheral to it According to IUCN (1999) “Buffer zones are clearly demarcated, forested or non-forested areas that are outside the boundary of the nature reserve and managed to enhance the conservation of the nature reserve and buffer zone, and it bring many benefits to people living around the nature reserve " Within the buffer zones, resources used may be legally or customarily restricted, often to a lesser degree than in the adjacent protected area so as to form a transition zone A buffer zone can also be designated as a protected area and be assigned an IUCN Management Categories depending on the conservation objectives The technique of surrounding a protected area with other protected and non-protected areas allows for the creation of a gradient of protection around the core site Buffer zones are therefore an important part of conservation strategies for a wide variety of sites of biodiversity importance, in particular, for World Heritage sites and Man and the Biosphere Reserves Furthermore, buffer zones have been suggested as a particularly suitable practice for climate change mitigation, as they may facilitate the shifting of populations from reserves to adjacent lands according to the climatic needs of species The term "buffer zone" gained international prominence through UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programmer in 1971 UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Reserves were often designed in concentric zones, with a central core area surrounded by a buffer zone and then by a transition zone Several buffer zone definitions have been proposed emphasizing either conservation or both conservation and development objectives One of the most commonly cited definitions of buffer zones is: “an area peripheral to a national park or equivalent reserve, where restrictions are placed upon resource use or special development measures are undertaken to enhance the conservation values of the area” A variety of spatial patterns and arrangements for buffer zones exist, all following the principles, but applied under completely different conditions (ecological, political, economic, and so on) Hence, a wide diversity can be observed in the criteria for their creation and management There are five aspects commonly considered in their creation - Size: determined based on factors such as the objectives for creation of buffer zone, availability of land, traditional land use systems, threats and opportunities - Ecology: buffer zones vary depending on their focus on the landscape, habitat and/or species conservation, each of which demands a different approach for their creation - Economy: this involves appraisals such as cost-benefit analysis, time frame and discount rate, to assess economic viability of establishing a buffer zone - Legislation: several international treaties and conventions (e.g Convention on Biological Diversity, World Heritage Convention) and national level guidelines for protected areas (e.g Nepal) recommend creation of buffer zones - Social and institutional: creation of buffer zones also involves consideration of issues such as traditional rights of local communities, type of development activities to minimize negative impacts of conservation, local organizations to manage buffer zones and land tenure There are various approaches in buffer zone management depending on the type and objectives of the conservation area for which they are created For instance, activities in the buffer zones around some protected areas or World Heritage sites are recommended to be regulated so as to protect the core zone In UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Reserves, socioeconomic development of local communities plays a crucial role A buffer zone can also be managed as an area for research to develop approaches for sustainable use of resources, for ecosystem restoration, education and training, as well as carefully designed tourism and recreation activities The degree of legal protection to buffer zone varies significantly In most of cases where the buffer zones are outside the protected area, they fall under the Mạng lưới trung tâm ni trồng thuỷ sản châu Á Thái Bình Dương (NACA), Phương pháp đánh giá nơng thơn phân tích sinh kế bền vững - Khái niệm ứng dụng, Hà Nội, 2006 10 Phạm Nhật cộng sự, 2003: Sổ tay hướng dẫn điều tra giám sát đa dạng sinh học Nxb Giao thông vận tải, 315-331 11 Trung Tâm Phát Triển Nông Thôn Miền Trung, nghiên cứu ảnh hưởng quản lý tài nguyên rừng đất đến sinh kế người dân miền núi tỉnh Thừa Thiên Huế, Huế, 2005 12 Văn phòng Tổ chức hợp tác kỹ thuật Đức (GTZ) Việt Nam, Báo cáo Điều tra kinh tế hộ gia đình nơng thơn vùng đệm VQG Tam Đảo, Hà Nội, 2005 13 Trần Công Khánh, Trần Văn Ơn Cây thuốc vườn quốc gia Tam Đảo, NXB Hồng Đức 14 Trần Đức Viên, Nguyễn Vinh Quang, Mai Văn Thành (2005), Phân cấp quản lý tài nguyên rừng sinh kế người dân, Nxb Nông nghiệp, Hà Nội 15 Nguyễn Anh Đức, Phạm Thị Hồng, Nguyễn Quang Huy (2015) Sổ tay nhận dạng loài thực vật thường gặp Vườn Quốc gia Tam Đảo (Sách dùng cho học sinh THPT) 16 Võ Quý (1998), Về vấn đề quản lý vùng đệm việt nam - kinh nghiệm bước đầu 17 Tài Liệu tham khảo Chi cục Kiểm Lâm tỉnh Vĩnh Phúc; Sở Tài nguyên Môi trường tỉnh Vĩnh Phúc; Sở Nông nghiệp Phát triển Nông thôn tỉnh Vĩnh Phúc 18 Webside Ban quản lý Vườn Quốc gia Tam Đảo APPENDIX Appendix1 Definition of a Protected Area The definition of a protected area adopted by IUCN is: An area of land and/or sea especially dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity, and of natural and associated cultural resources, and managed through legal or other effective means Although all protected areas meet the general purposes contained in this definition, in practice the precise purposes for which protected areas are managed differ greatly The following are the main purposes of management:  Scientific research  Wilderness protection  Preservation of species and genetic diversity  Maintenance of environmental services  Protection of specific natural and cultural features  Tourism and recreation  Education  Sustainable use of resources from natural ecosystems  Maintenance of cultural and traditional attributes IUCN Protected Areas Management Categories IUCN has defined a series of protected area management categories based on management objective Definitions of these categories, and examples of each, are provided in Guidelines for Protected Area Management Categories (IUCN, 1994) The six categories are: CATEGORY Ia: Strict Nature Reserve: protected area managed mainly for science Definition: Area of land and/or sea possessing some outstanding or representative ecosystems, geological or physiological features and/or species, available primarily for scientific research and/or environmental monitoring CATEGORY Ib : Wilderness Area: protected area managed mainly for wilderness protection Definition: Large area of unmodified or slightly modified land, and/or sea, retaining its natural character and influence, without permanent or significant habitation, which is protected and managed so as to preserve its natural condition CATEGORY II : National Park: protected area managed mainly for ecosystem protection and recreation Definition: Natural area of land and/or sea, designated to (a) protect the ecological integrity of one or more ecosystems for present and future generations, (b) exclude exploitation or occupation inimical to the purposes of designation of the area and (c) provide a foundation for spiritual, scientific, educational, recreational and visitor opportunities, all of which must be environmentally and culturally compatible CATEGORY III : Natural Monument: protected area managed mainly for conservation of specific natural features Definition: Area containing one, or more, specific natural or natural/cultural feature which is of outstanding or unique value because of its inherent rarity, representative or aesthetic qualities or cultural significance CATEGORY IV : Habitat/Species Management Area: protected area managed mainly for conservation through management intervention Definition: Area of land and/or sea subject to active intervention for management purposes so as to ensure the maintenance of habitats and/or to meet the requirements of specific species CATEGORY V : Protected Landscape/Seascape: protected area managed mainly for landscape/seascape conservation and recreation Definition: Area of land, with coast and sea as appropriate, where the interaction of people and nature over time has produced an area of distinct character with significant aesthetic, ecological and/or cultural value, and often with high biological diversity Safeguarding the integrity of this traditional interaction is vital to the protection, maintenance and evolution of such an area CATEGORY VI : Managed Resource Protected Area: protected area managed mainly for the sustainable use of natural ecosystems Definition: Area containing predominantly unmodified natural systems, managed to ensure long term protection and maintenance of biological diversity, while providing at the same time a sustainable flow of natural products and services to meet community needs Where the site does not meet the internationally recognized definition of a protected area, application of a management category is not appropriate This is indicated as category unassigned (UA) in WCMC protected area lists Forest Categories in Vietnam Forests in Vietnam were divided into categories according to the Law on Forest protection and Development (2004) Production Forest: Production forests are used mainly for wood, non-wood products and forest animals in associated with environment protection Protection Forest: Protection forest are mainly designed to water and soil control, land erosion checking –up, natural calamities mitigation, climate regulation and environment protection in general The system of protection forests is grouped into: watershed management forests, wind and sand blowing prevention forests, sea-wave control and seashore encroachment forests and the environmental conservation forests Special-use forest: Special-use forests are set aside for conserving nature and the national forest ecosystems and the forest fauna and flora genetic resources, undertaking research works, maintaining historic-cultural relics, beauty spots and for recreation and tourism Special-use forests are divided into groups, namely: National Parks, Nature Reserves and Historic- cultural and Environment Sites Appendix Household Welfare Ranking Samples are evaluated, ranking to create groups (well-off household, medium house hold and poor household) In this study, the welfare of households of selected hamlets as follows: No Criteria Groups well-off household medium house hold - Big house with - Small house with - Small house with tiled/iron/concrete roof thatch/tiled roof thatch roof - Some family goods - No valuable family vehicles (car, motorbike) - or no buffaloes goods - 2-3 buffaloes - Production tool - No buffaloes Assets of family - Television, private - Production tool Land resources poor household - No production tools - Large paddy land & - Small area for crop - Small or even no crop land and paddy rice land for crop and paddy rice Income sources: - Crop & livestock - Mainly from crops - Mainly from crop - Non-farm income such - Very little from non- - No non-farm as pension, commercial farm source income activities…etc Shortage moth - Food self-sufficient - From 3-5 months - At least months Cultivation - Good cultivation - Lack of cultivation - Lack of cultivation experiences experience experience - Have to children - Many children - Too many children Appendix Households survey questionnaire Households survey questionnaire Household number: ………………… Date of interview: …………………… Name of household head: ………… Name of interviewer: ………………… Name of hamlet: …………………… Name of commune ………………… A, Social-economic survey of study area Name of interviewee: ……………Sex: ……Male/ Female Ethnicity: ………………………………………………… Total number of family numbers: ………… persons Details on family member (including interviewee) by age, sex, job, education ……………………………………………………………………………… B, Income sources from natural forest resources last year 1) What is your income last year? 2) Income from forest resources Source Income (VND) Agriculture Industry Forestry Services Other sources Total Percentage income from natural forest resources in total income: ………………… 3) Land area your family are using and managing: ………………………… Land types: ……………………………………………………………… Land type Total area (ha) Residential Crop land Natural forest land Artificial forest Total 4) How you use your land? a For crops b For breeding c Other purposes 5) If you use land for crop: a Which crop? How many seasons/ years? b Which fertilizer/ herbicide/ pesticide are used? 6) If you use land for breeding? a Which animal? How many? b For what? Using or selling? 7) What you with your waste from these activities? 8) Do you and your family usually bring and leave any things that is difficult to decompose (e.g.: nylon, plastic bags, boxes…) into natural forest area? Yes/No If yes, how and for what you that? 9) From 2003 to now: Do you see any changes in fertilizer and water source? Yes/No? If yes, how does it change? C, Natural forest sources that your family usually uses: 10) Which places/ regions you usually go and which resources you get when you go to forest? 11) Which species you get for firewood and from where you get wood? 12) The wood demand (kg) in month? 13) Please give some materials that can be used replace for wood ………………………………………………………………………… 14) How much is used wood per month? …………… 15) Which typical species you get for food products? Get it every day/month/year or others? …………… 16) Which is used for people, which is used for breeding? 17) Other products from forest: …………… D, Exploitation of natural forest resources 18) Give some examples of valuable produce from natural forest resources in Dai Dinh commune that you know? 19) Have you seen any of these produce which are our being used by people? Yes/No If yes, where? 20) a Your neighbors b Your own family c In the market Do you usually go to natural forest areas to exploit produce? Yes/No…… If yes, which produce? What are they used for? 21) Which tools are used to exploit? 22) Whom you go exploit with? 23) Which season/ time you exploit? 24) Total weight you get each time of exploitation? E, Using natural forest resources 25) Does your family use these entire products or sell them? Questionnaire for official’s interview Do local people impact on natural forest resources of Tam Dao National Park? How all the impacts affect to forest? What acts does Tam Dao National Park carry out to protect and manage natural forest resources ? Does Tam Dao National Park usually talk to local people about natural forest resources protection recommendations? What plants/animals they often get from natural forest? Which region is the most affected? Some causes of these impacts? Does Tam Dao national park coordinate with them in protecting natural forest? By what? What solutions you need to reduce these impact? Appendix Some picture in field trip Pinus massoniana Erythrophleum fordii Interview local people Interview rangers Collecting data ... forest land 5.1.3: Area of forest and forest land by administrative unit in Dai Dinh commune, Tam Dao district, Vinh Phuc province Dai Dinh commune is mainly forest land divided into different using... of Natural Resources and Environment of Vinh Phuc province, 2017) 19 Figure 1: Distribution of natural forest resources in Dai Dinh commune 5.1.2 Forest land status in Dai Dinh commune, Tam Dao. .. natural forest resources in Dai Dinh commune 19 5.1.1 The area and distribution of natural forest resources 19 5.1.2 Forest land status in Dai Dinh commune, Tam Dao district, Vinh Phuc