Project title: “Sustainable Community–based forest development and management in some high-poverty areas in Bac Kan” Project duration: 3 years (Mar 2007-Mar 2010) with 6 months extension Implementing organizations: –Bac Kan Department of Forest Protection –Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry (TUAF) –CSIRO - Australia  Project areas: Van Minh and Lang San communes, Na Ri District, Bac Kan  Pilot villages: Khuoi Lieng, Na Muc, Tudooc and Ban Sang  Technical partners: Provincial level: Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Department of Forest Protection, Center of Agriculture and Forestry Extension, District level: Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Agriculture and Forestry Extension Station, Kim Hy Nature Reserve

Project goals and objectives Project Objective: Strengthening capacity for ethnic minority communities in Van Minh and Lang San communes in Kim Hy nature reserve, Na Ri district of Bac Kan province to forest land and forest management. Project expected outputs: Output 1. Community forest lands officially allocated to local communities Output 2. Developed the Community Forest Management Plan at target villages Output 3. Implementation of Community Forest Management Plan

1.Ensuring equal access to common forest by forest-dependent households 2.Building capacities of forest user groups to effectively represent themselves 3.Strengthen extension services to enable them to be responsive to the needs of the forest- dependent people 4.Providing skills to communities to enable them to develop and manage their allocated forest resources 5.Raising awareness of forest policy issues and good forest governance; 6.Promoting sustainable forest resources use to reduce food shortages by strengthening agro-forestry, sustainable timber and non-timber forest production; 7.Promoting active involvement of women Implementing approaches

Output 1. Community forest lands have been allocated officially to local communities # Villages CF Lands allocated (ha) % CF land allocated 1Bản Sảng To Dooc Nà Mực Khuổi Liềng

Output 2. Developed CFM Plan at target villages Part 1: Regulations of CFM 1.Rights and responsibilities of members in community to CFM 2.Mobilizing resources for forest protection and development 3.Harvest and sale of forest products both timber and NTFP 4.Grazing in CF lands 5.Solutions to prevent the outsiders to cultivate, lodge, hunt, sell and transport timbers 6.Collaboration among members in community 7.Penalty and complement 8.Benefit sharing

Part 2: Operation Plan of CFM in 5 years Plantation, Species, Area, Where, Finance, Labor, Seedlings, Nursery Maintenance and protection Harvest plan Technical resources Other agro-forestry activities Output 2. Developed CFM Plan at target villages

Output 3: Implementation of CFM Plans Involvement of community members in CFM Plan implementation: 93.2% households Capacity building: 7 training courses for 484 participants, 3 study tours Village based nursery: 240,000 seedlings Develop agro-forestry models: 4 models: 12.5 ha Establishment and operation of community forest development fund: 4 groups, principle fund: 52mill, fund growth: 26.2 mill Plantation : 96 ha

Table 1. Impacts and changes due to the implementation of CFM IndicatorsRate of local people agreed (%) Nà MựcKhuổi Liềng To Dooc Bản sảng Decreased illegal lodging Improved CF Increased household income Improved equality in community Enhanced solidarity in community Retained more water Protected environment

Sustainability  Community forests of 4 target villages are well conserved and developed;  Results of the project have been adopted by other projects:  IFAD Bac Kan (3PAD project), CEFM (CARE international)  More than 400 people from other project visited project sites  Village nursery gardens have been replicated in 10 new villages in and outside target communes.  Project documents produced: 2 video clips, and 7 extension materials.  Lesson learnt and experiences sharing workshops were organized: 4 workshops for more than 300 participants from different districts and provinces

Lessons leant  Conflicts of border of CF can be addressed through participatory approach  Need strong collaboration between villages, communes and district technical agencies (FPD and DORNE)  Need financial supports for field work  Necessary to modify MARD CFM Guidelines in Decision 106/2006/QĐ-BNN dated 27/11/2006 for more feasible and practical to local conditions  District FPD and commune extension workers are main technical resources for CFM Plan development.  Capacity building for local people on rights to access CF lands is considered most important activity in CFM implementation  Controlling free grazing of buffaloes is crucial for the success of agro- forestry models and new plantations  Clearly defining the CF border can avoid conflicts between villages in exploitation of CF products

Common difficulties and challenges 1.Community is not recognized as a legal body to access to various public services such as credit, extension, or trading forest products. 2.Lack of policy to regulate the benefits for community from CFM, especially on timber harvest and trading forest products 3.Some government protocols on forest management is not aplicable to ethnic minorities in CFM Planning. 4.CFM Plan is not officially accepted or recognized by local authorities as forest protection enterprise of community 5.Local community who has CF lands is always located in remote and disadvantage area. They need the supports on technology, capital, and management capacity building.