1. Community Forest Management (CFM)
Sharing workshop on
Community Forest Management (CFM)
Hanoi, 19th April 2007

2. Summary of the presentation
Issues in forest management and CFM
General information on CFM
CFM activities implemented by ETSP
Problems and challenges faced by ETSP
Possible solutions

3. Issues in forest management and CFM
Forest land allocation mainly allocated to households, follow-up activities after the process was not paid much attention
Forests have been degraded both quality and quantity
Households hardly have management activities since forests allocated
Mainly exploiting oriented activities by households
CFM as a trend and a solution to manage forests sustainably?

4. Overview on CFM – General information
CFM as a sustainable model of forest management
Local people act as main role in all activities
Make CFM plan
Design forest protection and development regulations
Implement the plans and regulations
Local people as main beneficiaries
Extensionists (technical staff) supports local community in making and designing CFM plan and regulations

5. Overview on CFM – General information
Advantages:
Việt Nam has a long tradition of Community Forestry - Community Forest Management and Community Based Forest management (CFM and CBFM)‏
Legal framework available for CFM – one article in the Forest Protection and Development Law
has rights to be allocated land and forest for management
Receive benefits from forest management
Some projects and organizations are conducting CFM: RDDL, SFDP, ADB, ETSP
CFM documents and experiences also available

6. Overview on CFM – CFM implementation
Central level – one CFM NWG established
Support MARD on CFM in terms of consultancy and technical issues
Compile CFM guidelines for the whole Vietnam (the guidelines has been approved for implementation)‏
One CFM program funded by TFF and being implemented by Forest Department/MARD
This CFM program for 40 communes in 10 provinces (Yên Bái, Sơn La, Đăk Nông, Huế, Quảng Trị…)‏

7. CFM activities implemented by ETSP
ETSP wants forests to be managed sustainably and local people receive benefits
CFM introduction in 2005
ToT training on CFM for staff of the three province partners (Hoa Binh, Hue and Dac Nong)‏
CFM training opened for provincial partners
Compile a set of CFM documents

8. CFM documents Other documents ToT training documents
Documents for facilitators
Other documents

9. CFM activities implemented by ETSP (cont.)‏
Support CFM NWG in compilation of CFM guidelines
Open CFM sharing workshops at district, provincial and central levels to interested partners
Supports partners in making CFM plans and regulations in the fields and implementation
So far, 1 ToT training and 3 CFM training has been done for district, provincial and commune staff of the partner provinces
Support 10 communities in making CFM plans and implementation

10. Problems and challenges faced by ETSP
Pre-condition for CFM as forests and lands be allocated to communities – ownership of land and forests
Most of land and forests were allocated to individual households
Households were granted red books
Forest allocated to communities are mainly poor and degraded forests – community hardly receive short-term benefits
Policy on benefit sharing is lack, unclear and hard to be applied in reality
Administrative procedure is complicated, hindering the CFM process

11. Solutions applied by ETSP
Village meetings organized with participation of all households in communities
Have consensus among villagers toward CFM
Minutes of discussion made with authority’s signatures
Reallocated forests and land to communities
Benefit sharing mechanism is being conducted in Dac Nong
Benefit sharing is clearly set up
Technical and administrative procedures are outlined

12. Possible solutions
PPC and MARD should support and make decisions toward CFM implementation
New policies for CFM should be focus on benefit sharing, forest ownership of community
Piloting activities in the frame of CFM that generate incomes for households and communities
Other better solutions ?

13. Thank you for your attention!

14. Information on villages for field trip
Two options: Hoa Binh and Dac Nong
Mo Village in Kim Boi district, Hoa Binh
Me Ra and Bu Dung in Tuy Duc district, Dac Nong
Which village should be selected for the field trip?

15. Information about two villages
Me Ra and Bu Dung:
Very far from Hanoi
Sensitive area of security
Hard for foreigners to access
Good forest condition
Good CFM model
CFM benefit sharing is being implemented
Mo villages:
40 km far way from Hoa Binh township
Sensitive areas of security
Easy to access
Hard to access to forests
Medium forest condition
Not many activities done