Contribution of Forestry to Poverty Alleviation - APFNet

Impacts of FLA policies
According to Pham (2008), there is no research conducted on the impact of the FLA program on poverty
reduction, but there are research projects and reviews of the forestry sector by independent experts,
research institutes, international projects, and management agencies at all levels. Those research projects
were carried out on a small scale, focusing on one location, usually by one organization (Ibid.).
FLA as a sound policy (MARD 2009) promoted and brought about changes in forest protection and
management. As a result, forests are better managed, and forest users’ responsibilities and benefits from
forest protection and management are brought together. Thus, favorable conditions were created for
forest protectors so that they would feel confident to manage the forests and invest in forest development
on the forest lands allocated. And in a number of places, post-FLA policies accompanied FLA that
encouraged the local people to participate in forest plantations, contributing to the establishment of
regions supplying raw materials (Pham 2008).
Forest management and protection received great attention from the government, relevant ministries,
and departments as well as from the local government (Nguyen 2008). Priority policies and support
programs were developed for those who are dependent on forests and ethnic minority groups who live
near or around forests. As such, the living standards of local people were improved and their awareness
of the importance of forest also increased (To 2008; Vuong 2008; Nguyen 2008). In addition, FLA
helped State forest enterprises achieve their goals on the use of labor, capital mobilization, and the use
of technology by their cadres and workers, thus improving the efficiency of State forest enterprises,
creating employment, and increasing income for workers (To 2008). More specifically, until 2010, the
Five Million Hectare Restoration Project created almost 4.7 million jobs, of which 490,000 were for the
poor, primarily those living in mountainous areas. The project helped them increase their income and
stabilize their livelihoods through contracts for forest protection and tending industrial and fruit trees.
Vuong (2008) provided insights into the FLA program from an anthropological point of view. According
to him, FLA created small and medium farms in mountainous areas where ethnic minority people
reside. The farm size varied from a few to several dozen hectares. These farm owners mainly engaged
in cultivation, animal husbandry, and forest tree plantations. Such a model helped owners diversify
income sources to reduce revenue losses. In contrast, farms with trees and animals with a high market
value engaged in production and trade. There are still only a small number of farms in mountainous
areas because profits from forests are low, except in the area that provides raw materials for the Bai
Bang paper pulp industry (Vuong 2002).
FLA contributed to changes from shifting cultivation to fixed cultivation and permanent settlement.
Since FLA was established, ethnic groups were provided with knowledge of new techniques in wet rice
cultivation. Vuong also emphasized that FLA contributed to the change in the proportion of harvested
forests and replanted or rehabilitated forests. This was considered a revolution in agriculture in the
uplands of Viet Nam. It changed the components of the traditional ethnic community, making practices
more diverse and providing them with opportunities to integrate with other groups of people. At the
same time, FLA helped locals improve their cultivation and trade techniques.
FLA’s contributions to gender equity were equally important. Prior to and even during the initial period
of FLA’s establishment, only the name of the household head, the majority of whom were men, was noted
on the land use rights certificate (Red Book) (Le 2004; Vuong 2008). Women did not receive individual
rights to the land, and the land use rights were mainly given to men. Women were disadvantaged by
the lack of policy recognition of women’s rights to ownership over resources, such as land (Tran and
Le 1997; Ha 1997). When FLA started, both husband and wife were supposed to sign the Red Book
together and contributed greatly to gender equity in rural Viet Nam where men were always respected
and women were disregarded due to the persistence of patriarchal values.
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