**2.2 Set development**

204 Sustainable Forest Management – Case Studies

measure the sustainability of current forest management regimes (Karjala et al., 2004;

The national Vietnamese set, based on Forest Stewardship Council standards, has not been finalized and accepted yet because of the lack of local consultation (anonymous personal communication). The mostly used sets, based on expert consultations, give results which often differ from local needs (Pokharel and Larsen, 2007; Purnomo et al., 2005; Adam and Kneeshaw, 2008; Sherry et al., 2005). By experience the ecological elements demonstrated the highest similarity among C&I frameworks (Purnomo et al., 2005; Sherry et al., 2005; Adam and Kneeshaw, 2008). It has still to be tested how far local perceptions differ from institutional ecological C&I sets in the case of Dinh Hoa, and how far they differ among different local communities depending on different forest management types. Accordingly an ecological C&I template that is appropriate to Dinh Hoa District for SFM assessment was set

1. Comparing local perceptions of SFM with those from institutional top-down approaches (comparing the sets from local communities with the sets resulting from

2. comparing local perceptions between forest use type categories (comparing the sets from communities which hold high proportions of special use, protection and

Dinh Hoa is a district of the Thai Nguyen province in Northern Vietnam where forest land represents 68,7 % of the total area in 2005, with 33,0 % of it being classified as planted forest (Data provided by the Agriculture and Rural Development Department of Dinh Hoa). The high forest cover, combined with a high population density (189 habitants / km²) results in

All Vietnamese forest use types are represented in the district: special use forest (8 728 ha, 24 % of the forest area), protection forest (7050 ha, 20 % of the forest area) and production

Following the law on forest protection and development of December 3rd 2004 (The President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Tran Duc Luong, 2004) and by declaration of the department of policy and rural development (FAO and RECOFTC, 2000), the objectives

**Special-use forest** is predominantly related to the conservation of nature, scientific research and protection of landscapes and historical / cultural relics. Management boards directly manage these forests. Contracts are made on long-term basis with households for ecological restoration, afforestation and protection. Households are entitled to collect dead wood for

**Protection forest** mainly fulfils protection purposes as to protect water sources and land, to prevent erosion and desertification, restrict natural calamities and regulate the local climate. Management boards make contracts with households, communities, individuals or organizations to protect and regenerate forestland. Contracted stakeholders possess some

**Production forest** is managed mainly for the production and trading of timber and non-

timber forest products. It includes natural and planted production forests.

national, province and district level workshops); and

forest (20 009 ha, 56 % of the forest area) (The Prime Minister, 2008).

of the forest use types / categories are defined as followed:

Sherry et al., 2005; Ritchie et al., 2000).

up, by:

production forests).

**2. Material and methods** 

high pressure on the forest resources.

**2.1 Study site** 

self consumption.

restricted utilization rights.

Criteria and Indicator sets were built up through three workshops with forest management experts (top-down method where a generic set was modified using multi-criteria decision making) and group discussions with 12 local villages (bottom-up method where sets were elaborated from local visions) (Fig. 1), resulting in 6 criteria and 27 indicator (see Tab. 3a and 3b). These sets were then compared and compiled to a final set for all forest use types of the Dinh Hoa District, and the differences between the sets were analyzed.

Fig. 1. Conceptual Framework of Dinh Hoa forests. The figure displays the connections of the forest concerned stakeholders to each other and towards the forest. The Bottom-up approach was implemented in twelve villages from five communes, meaning four villages from two different communes per forest use type. The Top-down approach was implemented through three workshops at national, provincial and district level. 1 and 1', 2 and 2', etc.: two villages belonging to the same commune.

Setting Up Locally Appropriate Ecological Criteria and Indicators to

Criterion 1.2: Largest area of forest use type (%)

**Special use forest** 

Criterion 1.1: Dominance in forest use type (%)

**Protection forest**

**Production forest**

**2.3 Analyzing methods 2.3.1 Final set elaboration** 

were chosen.

Evaluate Sustainable Forest Management in Dinh Hoa District (Northern Vietnam) 207

**Criterion 1.1 Commune Village** 

Commune (ha)

Commune (ha)

Phu Dinh (88 %), 1 755,8 ha Dong Keu (100 ha)

Criterion 2.1: Forests allocated to private households only

Criterion 2.1: Forests allocated to private households only

Diem Mac (76 %), 7 61 ha Binh Nguyen 2 (57 ha)

Quy Ky (80 %), 4 173,5 ha Dong Hau (590 ha)

Lam Vi (34 %), 1 052,4 ha Na Tat (269,9 ha)

Lam Vi (53 %), 1 620,5 ha Lang Co (106,6 ha)

Phu Tien (99 %), 910,2 ha Xom 2 (95 ha)

Fig. 2. Decisional framework for village selection. For each forest use type, two communes with territorial dominance of the concerned type (in % of the commune's forest area and ha)

A consolidated list of indicators was generated with all proposed elements from all the workshops and PRA sessions. This list was used as a basis for comparison, so that the presence of an element in both consolidated and stakeholder list was coded as "1" whereas

The final C&I set should have both expert and local population acceptance, and be applicable to all forest use types. Regarding the single forest use type, only elements accepted by more than 50 % of the workshops and villages were accepted. The same

the absence of element analogy was coded as "0" (Tab. 1).

Dong Giang (44 ha)

Criterion 2.2: Households only (... etc.)

Criterion 2.2: Households only own ... forest type

Criterion 2.3: Villages with the largest ... forest type area

> Village (ha)

Village (ha)

Ban Bac 4 (10 ha)

Khuoi Tat (502 ha)

Ban Cau (102,5 ha)

Ca Do (51,4 ha)

Xom 5 (95 ha)
