From the 24th to 27th of February 2022, the Centre for Rural development in Central Vietnam in cooperation with the Department of Agriculture and Rural development of Kon Plong district implemented several activities to come to an agreement on the area of forest land allocation for communities in Dak Nen commune in 2022. These activities were within the framework of the project “Strengthening access to the management and use of land and forests by ethnic minorities” funded by European Union.
It was the first step in the process of allocation of forest land managed by the State agricultural and forest enterprises to ethnic minority communities in Dak Nen commune, Kon Plong district, Kon Tum province. Thereby, it has contributed to improving the role and responsibility of the communities in sustainable forest management, protection and development.
In order to come to an agreement on the area of forest land allocation, two activities was implemented. The first one was a meeting at commune level for 21 participants including 01 representative from the Department of Agriculture and Rural development of Kon Plong district, 3 representatives from the People’s Committee, 2 consultants and 15 people representing 8 communities of Dak Nen commune. The meeting aimed to agree on the location and area of the forest to be allocated and select communities to receive the forest. At the end of the meeting, two villages of Tu Ret and To Thon were selected to allocate more than 300 hectares of forest in sub-zone 372.
Photo 1: The meeting among communities in Dak Nen commune
Photo 2: The consultant presents the location and area of forest to be allocated
To assess the actual status of the forest, the project has worked with stakeholders including the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Communal People’s Committee, the consulting company and two communities of Tu Ret and Tu Thon villages to make a field trip to the forest areas to be allocated. Thereby, it can be seen that the selected forest area is very suitable for the communities to manage well because the forest areas are paid for forest environmental services; adjacent to the previously allocated forest area and not too far from the residential area.
Photo 3: The field trip in Dak Nen commune
The activity was within the framework of the project “Strengthening access to the management and use of land and forests by ethnic minorities” which is coordinated by The Consultative Institute for Socio-Economic Development of Rural and Mountainous Areas and co-implemented by the Centre for Rural development in Central Vietnam and Centre for Highland Natural Resource Governance Research in two provinces of Lao Cai and Kon Tum.
Other photos taken during the field trip
Photo 4: Using smartphone to identify the location of forest area on the map
Photo 5: Difficult terrain in the field trip
Viet Tien
Center for Rural Development in Central Vietnam