FOREST RESOURCES MANAGEMENT AND IDEVELOPTIENT IN VIETNAM

Transcription

1 Page 1 of 6 FOREST RESOURCES MANAGEMENT AND IDEVELOPTIENT IN VIETNAM Prof. Dr Nguyen Ngoc Lung Department for Forestry Development Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development 2 Ngoc Ha, Hanoi, Vietnam 1. FOREST RESOURCES Vietnam has an area of 33,123 km 2 with about 77 million of population. The two climatic zones have a major influence on the formation and development of the forest cover, one to the north of 16 N has a hot season from May to October and a cool season for the rest of the year; and the other to the south of 16 N has no winter but a dry season lasting from November to April. This has significant impact on the forests in the country. Initially, Vietnam was richly endowed with quality forest, covering virtually the whole of the country. Forest inventory showed that in 1943 the forest cover of Vietnam was 14,3 million ha, or 43 % of the country land territory, while in 1995 it was only 9.3 million ha. Main forest types in Vietnam are shown in Table 1. Table 1: Classification of forests Forest types Area (ha) Closed broad-leaved tropical evergreen and semi-deciduous 5,648,600 Closed broad-leaved deciduous lowland and sub-alpine tropical 935,000 Closed tropical conifer and conifer &broad-leaved mixture 155,100 Closed tropical bamboo and bamboo-broad-leafed mixture 1,464,800 Mangrove in saline swamps 34,700 Melaleuca on sulfate soils 13,600 Total natural forest 8,251,800 Plantation 1,051,000 Total forest cover 9,302,000 The wide range of geographical and climate conditions of the country has resulted in a very rich flora and fauna, with an estimated 12,000 plant species, of which 7,000 are higher plants, 622 fungi and 824 alga-, There are 1,186 species endemic to Vietnam and a further 823 endemic to Indo-china. The fauna of Vietnam is also one of the richest in the world with 273 mammals, 826 birds, 180 reptiles, 82 amphibians. about 2,600 fish, and thousands of species of crustaceans and invertebrates, Today, though the total area classified as forest land is mio ha, the forest cover makes up only 9.3 million ha, or 28 % of the country land territory, including 8.25 mio ha natural forest and 1.05 mio ha plantation, while the barren degraded land has reached 9.78 mio ha. The current annual forest loss is still as high as 60,000-70,000 ha. High forest cover remains mainly in the north of Central Vietnam, Southeast Region, and Tay Nguyen Highland. Of the total 9.3 mio ha of forests, there are 4.93 mio ha of production forests, 3.48 mio ha of protection forests and 0.9 mio ha of special-used forests. Among the 4.93 million ha of production forest only 9% are classified as high productive ( total volume above 150 m 3 /ha ), 33% are medium ( m 3 /ha ), and the rest 58% are poor (below 80 m 3 /ha ). 2. CAUSES AND IMPACTS OF FOREST LOSS AND DEGRADATION 2.1 Causes

2 Page 2 of 6 Due to the slash-and-burn practices, chemical spraying during the recent Vietnam war, illegal and uncontrolled harvesting, the nomadic farming habit, and forest fires the total forest areas have dropped very rapidly (Table 2). For the last 50 years over 5 million ha of natural forest have been lost. It was estimated that during the Vietnam war more than 2 million ha of natural forests were totally destroyed by bombing and chemical spraying. Besides forest loss a substantial part of the forest becomes degraded annually. Current annual loss rate is estimated at about from 60,000 to 70,000 ha, while degraded, barren land has grown to about 10 million ha. Changes in the national forest estate are shown in Table 2. Table 2: Changes in the national forest estate (x 1000 ha) Forest cover Natural Plantation Total Impacts Forest loss and degradation has caused serious economic, social and environmental consequences such as increasingly reducing forest product supply, more frequent and destructive flooding and draughts, decreasing agricultural productivity because of land degradation, acute shortage of water supply etc. The Government policy of reducing timber logging from natural forests and banning of saw log export to protect the remaining forests has resulted in an acute shortage of timber supply, an increasing need for timber import that requires a substantial amount of foreign currency. This can be seen through the following figures: Logging from natural forest: : 2.400,000 m 3 per year : 1,500,000 m : 523,000 m : 450,000 m (planned): 370,000 m 3 Since 2000 to 2010 (planned): 300,000 m 3 Timber import 1997: 252,000 m : 345,000 m 3 Also because of limitation of timber logging licenses more than 300 state forestry enterprises had to halt their logging operation, leading to unemployment of thousands of forest workers in the forestry sector and the timber processing industries. Together with deforestation the habitats for the wildlife also become greatly degraded or lost and this is the main reason for depletion of biological diversity, genetic resources and extinction of many valuable animal species. 356 plant species and 331 animal species have been listed in the Vietnam Red Books as endangered or threaten of extinction. The Vietnamese Government has announced the strict ban of harvesting of 13 plant species and 36 animal species. According to the recent investigation about 70 mammal species, 85 bird species and 37 reptile species are facing extinction 3. FOREST POLICIES To prevent deforestation and degradation of forests, Vietnam State has promulgated a series of policies related to

3 Page 3 of 6 management, protection and development of forest resources in the country. 3.1 Law on Forest protection and development (1991) This law includes 4 main parts: forest management, forest protection, forest development, and forest exploitation and utilization. Based on the objectives, the forests are classified into 3 main categories: Protection forest: mainly for water resource protection, soil protection, erosion control, disaster prevention, climate harmonization, environment and ecology protection. Special-used forest: Mainly for nature conservation, national ecological system establishment, genetic conservation, research and experiment, landscape and historical zone protection. Production forest: Mainly for production of timber and non-timber products, special forest products together with environment and ecology protection. This law and the regulations have outlined the management method to each type of forests and formulated the basic rules for forest management. 3.2 Land law (1993) This law stipulated basic principles for land tenure and use rights, management regulations and an institutional framework for its enforcement. Government Decision N. 245 (1998) endorsed forest areas management responsibilities to provincial and district authorities. 3.3 Limitation of logging To protect the remaining natural forests and to restore degraded forests the Vietnamese Government adopted the policy of 'temporarily closing natural forest' for years for promoting natural regeneration and enrichment planting. As a consequence, hundreds of forestry enterprises had to stop their logging operation and to be involved in forest protection and reforestation programmes. Those enterprises that are still allowed to harvest timber have to strictly follow regulation of logging to ensure sustainable forest management. 3.4 Banning of log and sawn timber export This policy was promulgated in 1992 to prevent over-logging and illegal cutting, especially of endangered timber species. To compensate for the timber deficiency resulted from this policy the Government allowed the processing industries to import timber. 3.5 Strengthening plantation forestry Together with the objective of forest protection reforestation was one of the highest priorities in the forestry policy. The planned objective is to increase the forest cover from to-day 28% to 43 % by the year of 2010 to ensure forest products supply for development and to improve the watershed capacity of the country. Many country-scale afforestation programmes are being carried out, particularly the Programme 327 and the 5-million ha Reforestation Project (as mentioned below). 3.6 Promotion of community forestry To mobilize people to participate in forest protection and reforestation the Vietnamese Government adopted a series of policies of promoting community forestry such as the policy of forest land allocation with the land use rights up to 50 years, land use tax reduction and exemption, low interest rate loan and credit for investment in plantation establishment, technical support, etc. Forests are also contracted to people for protection and management. The policies were actually successful, hundreds of thousands of households were allocated with forest land to plant trees and agricultural crops, large areas of barren land have been re-greened, living standards and environment in the mountainous areas have been significantly improved. 4. MAJOR FORESTRY PROGRAMMES 4.1 Forest protection and conservation Bio-diversity conservation of forest resources is the key issue in sustainable forestry development. When the whole

4 Page 4 of 6 world pays more and more attention to the existence of natural tropical forests, the long-term development of forestry is the main target and the most important of forestry. Long-term production development is also the best way to conserve the forest ecological system and develop the economy. Realized well the important role of the forests in the country development process, the Vietnam Government has issued a lot of solutions to protect the forest resources and its bio-diversity. This is shown clearly in the National nature conservation strategy of Vietnam (1984), the Tropical forestry master action plan (1991), the National plan for sustainable environment development (1991), the Law on forestry protection and development (1991) and the Law on environment protection (1993). Since 1986, the government had promulgated the Decision to set up 9 national parks, 49 Natural conservation zones, 29 historical, cultural and environment vestiges zones with totally 1,169,000 ha (about 3.3% of the total country area). There is also a plan up to 2000 to increase the area of national parks and protected areas to 2 mio ha. All the national parks and nature conservation areas are classified as Special-use forests and strictly controlled for protection. The state gives considerable funds for management and develops such kind of forests. The national nature conservation strategy has the main objectives: sustainable management and utilization of forests, strengthening the forest planting to release the pressure on natural forests, conservation of good forest ecological systems in national gardens and nature conservation zones, strengthening the training staff for conservation, high up the knowledge of people on the role of bio- diversity and the harm of deforestation, encouraging people to participate in forest protection and conservation, developing the international cooperation in research on fauna and flora systems to implement the conservation projects. Vietnam also has announced, the list of 331 endangered animal species and 356 endangered plant species in the Vietnam Red Books. Vietnam has signed the CITES and RAMSAR Conventions relating to trade of endangered species and management of wed land ecosystems. 4.2 Afforestation Though the plantations in Vietnam share only a small part of timber production, but the potential of plantations in meeting timber demand for industry and energy is significant. Vietnam regards this as a very important solution to release the pressure on natural forests and create timber sources for daily demand. In addition, only plantations can solve the problem of the 10 mio ha of barren land, which are creating more and more socioeconomic and environmental threats for development. The species for planting are mostly indigenous species such as pine, Chukrasia tabularis, Cunninghamia lanceolata, Peltophorum tonkinensis, Michelia, Hopea, Dipterocarpus, Allospendis mangifera, Casia siamea, Tarrietia javanica, Aleurites fordii, Cinnamomum cassia, etc., and the exotic species as Tectona grandis, Acacia mangium, A. auriculiformis, Casuarina equisetifolia, Eucalyptus spp, Khaya senegalensis, Today, every year there is 180, ,000 ha of industrial plantations established and mio scattered trees planted. In the period the total area of plantations is 3.77 mio ha (Table 3). In 1993, the government adopted the programme 327 with the plan for the period to restore the greenness on 5 mio ha of barren land, of which 1 mio ha of agricultural crops (rice, sweet potato, bean... ) and commercial trees ( coffee, tea, rubber, fruit trees, etc), 1.3 mio ha timber plantations, 0.7 mio ha restoration of degraded forests, 1.5 mio ha protection forests, and 0.5 mio ha of special-use forests. Table 3: Plantation area in period (Unit: ha) , ,120 52,758 66,180 94, , , , , ,609 84,503 93, , , , ,000 In the earlier reforestation programs, the planting techniques were mostly extensive with very low investment, poor species/provenance-site matching and genetically low quality seed sources, and this usually resulted in poor growth, high occurence of diseases and low percentage (about 50%) of successful establishment. Recently improvements have been made in silvicultural techniques in terms of species-site matching, site preparation, improved seed sources and better protection, resulting in a significantly improved establishment rate (70%). In the period the Programme 327 planted 640,000 ha of timber plantations 160,000 ha of commercial crops and fruit trees, naturally regenerated 700,000 ha of degraded forests, contracted 1.6 mio ha of natural forests for protection, created job for I mio farmer households, mainly the poor. Since 1998 the programme 327 has been replaced by the 5 mio ha afforestation programme, which has to be conducted in the period with the main targets as follows:

5 Page 5 of 6 Establishing and restoring 2 mio ha of protection forests and 3 mio ha of production forests to high up the forest cover to 43% by the end of the period, to ensure the environment protection and improvement requirement. Ensuring the forest products supply for development (estimated to be 15 mio m 3 of timber and 20 mio ster of fuelwood per year) and reducing the pressure on natural forests Achieving the poverty alleviation, hunger eradication and development in the rural mountainous areas, creating employment for 2 mio people, increasing the income of people living in forest areas. To achieve the successful implementation of this programme, the following approaches are being applied: Encourage household and community forestry. The state will complete the plan of forest land allocation and contract-based forest protection by the end of 2000 year. The Government budget will fully cover the costs for establishing protection and special-use forests, provide favourable credit for establishing production forests Enact benefit-sharing policies and incentives to encourage people in implementation of the programme Strengthen the capacity through training and extension activities Adopt favourable land use right taxation and procedures to encourage joint- ventures and companies to invest for establishing industrial plantation, especially in remote mountainous areas. Provide technical support and conduct technology transfer with the state- owned forest enterprises as key supporters in providing seed and seedlings, silviculture technique and marketing. 4.3 Sustainable forest management Sustainable forest management (SFM) is a powerful tool for sustainable forestry development to achieve the economic, environmental and social objectives of the forestry sector. Several national workshops have been organised and relevant documents have been distributed to raise awareness of SFM and forest certification (FC). The National Working Group on SFM and FC is preparing National Criteria and Indicators (C&I) for SFM, based on the Principles and Criteria (P&C) of the Forest Stewardship Council. Vietnam also actively participates in the development of Regional C&I for ASEAN. Vietnam is planned to achieve SFM of all national forests by the year Several forest management units have been selected to be improved as demonstration areas of SFM and FO. 5. Potential for Regional Cooperation The Me Kong Basin countries have very similar natural conditions such as climate, soil, biological resources, cultivation methods, shifting cultivation, pressure of population growth. So there is a great potential for bilateral and multilateral cooperation between our countries. There are a lot of experiences and lessons to exchange between one other to avoid duplication and identified mistakes. I would like to recommend the following aspects of cooperation to be discussed in this important Symposium: Information exchange: Create good conditions for information exchange, especially in forest management, silviculture technique, tree improvement, species selection, biodiversity conservation, marketing. Research: Set up and conduct together research programmes, for example in tree improvement of Tectona grandis, Pinus kesiya, Pterocarpus pedatus, in provenance trials. These research programmes can be sponsored and coordinated by governments and the international organizations like FAO, FORSPA, DANIDA, SIDA, GITZ, CIDA, AIDAS, and the Programme of Forest Management in Mekong Watershed Area. Establishment of common cross-border protected areas of high biodiversity value, including in situ and ex situ conservation of endangered species of mutual interest. Exchange of consultants and students: The countries create good conditions for expert meetings to exchange experiences, to conduct surveys, deliver lectures on the maters related to forestry, train students and provide postgraduate education Exchange of genetically improved seeds and planting materials of concerned species. Joint venture cooperation in establishment of industrial plantations and forest products processing industries, especially on non-timber products, rattan, medicinal plants.

6 Page 6 of 6 Control of cross-border timber trade, prevent harvesting of endangered species, prevent illegal cutting and environment pollution. Above are our recommendations for cooperation in forestry and, related areas. We hope that after this Symposium there will be closer cooperation in our region for a sustainable and successful forestry development of each country as well as of the whole region.