Vietnam has made rapid progress in establishing a network of conservation areas since the country’s first national park was founded at Cuc Phuong in 1962. By 1990, Vietnam possessed 89 protected areas covering 1.1 million hectares or 3 percent of the country. These included nine national parks, 49 nature reserves. and 31 historical and scenic sites, representing varied ecosystems (FN 1). But, population pressures and corresponding resource dependencies on many of the protected areas are considerable. Finding ways to balance local forest product needs with nature conservation objectives presents immense challenges. While resettlement schemes have been attempted in Cuc Phuong, Ba Vi, and other protected areas, there is a growing recognition among Vietnamese planners that simply moving resident people outside park boundaries may not lessen their dependence on those reserves.
In Vietnam and other countries, relocated forest dwellers often continue to reenter parks and sanctuaries because of their traditional reliance on the forest as a source of subsistence and cash income. For example, resettled Dzao communities neighboring Ba Vi National Park continue to collect fuelwood, fodder, lumber, and other building and handicraft materials, medicines, wild foods, resins, and dyes despite policies that closed off their access to park resources in 1991. It is becoming evident that forest-dependent communities need to be included in management if there is to be effective regulation of local use practices. This case study reviews the experiences of a Dzao community that was resettled from Ba Vi’s interior to Yen Son Commune, outside of the Park’s boundaries, and explores how the Dzao and other buffer zone communities could he involved in its management.
The Ba Vi mountain complex, with a total of 7,400 hectares, became Vietnam’s eighth national park in 1992. The Park is located approximately 50 kilometers to the northwest of Hanoi, bordering the Da River. It stands out distinctively as one of the few mountainous areas in the vast, low-lying Red River Delta, rising sharply to an elevation of 1,300 meters and towering above the agricultural plains (see Figure 10). It is surrounded by seven villages with a population of 60,000, one-third of whom are estimated to be economically dependent on the forest resources. The Muong are the original inhabitants of the area, followed by the Kinh and the Dzao, who migrated to the area around the 1920’s. The Dzao settled on the forested slopes of Ba Vi Mountain at an elevation of 600 meters where they practiced shifting cultivation. In 1963, they were moved to the base of the mountain on the Park’s periphery.
Ba Vi was selected as a national park for a variety of reasons, including its functioning as a refugia, one of the last remaining sanctuaries for flora and fauna that has disappeared as the expanding Red River Delta population cleared surrounding forests. The park also acts as a critical watershed for the surrounding agricultural communities, supplying seven reservoirs and hundreds of small wells that deliver water for agricultural and domestic needs. Ba Vi Mountain has spiritual significance for many Vietnamese. The legend of Son Tinh and Thuy Tinh tells of the battle between the Spirits of the Waters and the Spirits of the Mountain. with the three peaks of Ba Vi complex symbolizing key figures in the story. Two small temples located at the peaks’ summits are frequently visited by domestic tourists.
In 1886, French botanist Balansa identified 5,000 species of flora around Ba Vi mountain, demonstrating the rich biodiversity of the area. Over 350 species of wild and cultivated flora have been identified as being of particular use to humankind. A number of species of rare and valuable plants can still be found including the Bach Xanh (Calocedrus macrolepis) and Lat Hoa (Chukrasia tabularis). Over 100 years later, however, the overall number of species present in the park is estimated to have fallen to 2,000.
This sharp decrease in species diversity is a reflection of declining forest cover on Ba Vi Mountain which has receded upwards from 80 meters elevation to 800 meters over the past 60 to 70 years due to a combination of industrial felling and swidden farming. While much species loss has occurred in the Park, much of the same flora and fauna is completely absent in the surrounding area outside of park boundaries, reflecting the critical importance of conserving the remaining biodiversity within the Park (FN 2).
The management of Ba Vi Mountain has changed significantly over the last hundred years. In the early 20th century, forest land on the lowland plains surrounding Ba Vi Mountain was cleared for agriculture, settlements, and logging operations. During the French colonial period, Ba Vi was used as a hill station. At the height of its popularity as a retreat, up to 200 villas were situated at or above 400 meters elevation. The French also conducted logging operations around the mountain between 50 and 400 meters. From the 1960’s through the 1970’s, Ba Vi was under the management of forestry agencies, state enterprises, cooperatives, and vocational schools. Some of these organizations were engaged in timber exploitation, including the Productive Forest Enterprise that felled 30,000 trees for telephone and power poles, and other timber-based industries (FN 3).
By the late 1970’s, however, Vietnam began to initiate a series of management changes which reflected a growing awareness of the importance of protecting the Park. In June 1977, the Ba Vi Forest Reserve was established to protect the natural ecology of 2,140 hectares located above 400 meters. After July 1986, management responsibility was transferred to the Ba Vi Forest Reserve Management Board under the Forest Department of Hanoi City and the boundaries were extended to the 100-meter contour level. Management goals were characterized by strict protection and reforestation. In February 1991, Ba Vi was designated as the Ba Vi National Forbidden Forest, under the management of the People’s Committee of Hanoi City. In January 1992, under the Council of Ministers Decision number 407/CT, the name of the area was changed to Ba Vi National Park and management responsibility was transferred to the Ministry of Forestry.
In 1989, the Ministry of Forestry identified four management goals for Ba Vi National Park (FN 4). These objectives reflected the recommendations of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) category 2 National Park Guidelines for areas managed mainly for ecosystem conservation and tourism. They included:
It is important to note that meeting the needs of local communities was not included in the Park’s formal management goals. Recognizing the dependencies of these communities, park administrators have implemented a range of agroforestry projects in the neighboring buffer area. However, community leaders are not engaged in park planning procedures or in park administration.
Jurisdictional authority for the management of the Ba Vi National Park is the responsibility of its director. In 1992, the park employed 468 staff, 360 of which were male and 108 female. No members from the ethnic groups surrounding the park were involved in the administration. Within and around the park are four forest control stations, each responsible for managing a defined area. Each station is managed by a forest supervisor who is responsible for two forest engineers, five technically trained staff in forestry, and three other staff. The principal responsibilities of the staff working from the control stations are reforestation and maintenance of reforested areas; general guard duties; public education; and scientific study aimed at maintaining genetic diversity. Rehabilitation work is undertaken by contract labor. On average, salaries are VND80,000 per month (US$7,50) compared to the national average of VND110,000 per month (US $10).
Illegal removal of plant, animal, and mineral species from the park appears to be of primary concern to the national park authorities as well as to NGOs involved in Ba Vi’s conservation. Collecting firewood for sale, gathering plants, and hunting and trapping animals increases during seasonal periods of food shortages. Park officials are also concerned over forest fires that escape local swidden plots destroying the reforestation area seedlings. Iron, gold, and copper deposits have been found within the park, and until 1992, legal mining was undertaken in the Northeast corner of the park. There are reports that this form of exploitation continues today.
As a result of these pressures, the South and Southeastern sides of the mountain, in particular, are heavily degraded. Only 50 percent forest cover remains, with the most valuable timber species having been removed. Animal species diversity. for example, has declined sharply from a total of 44 mammal and 114 bird species in 1962, to a total of 12 mammal species and 76 bird species in 1992 (FN 5). Plant diversity reveals similar trends. Despite heavy clearing of vegetation, however, erosion does not appear to be a major concern at present, primarily due to the rapid invasion of Imperata cylindrica and other grasses that occurs after burning or clearing of the natural forest.
Ba Vi is currently divided into three management zones: the Strictly Protected Zone, the Particular Use Zone and the Buffer Zone (see Figure 11). Briefly, these are defined as:
Management priorities focus heavily on biodiversity surveys, the rehabilitation of degraded land with exotic and native species, as well as strict law enforcement. Although indirectly involved in reforestation projects, surrounding communities have not been included in the design or implementation of the management plan.
Prior to 1988, all land was controlled by the State in the form of State-run cooperatives in which the State held formal responsibility for determining all land use and management. Under the new laws, forest land is being transferred to groups and individuals through a system of leases. This is occurring in Ba Vi in both the Particular Use Zone and the Buffer Zone, although less so in the former. On land designated as forest land, lessees are required to grow tree species specified by the Park management, although intercropping and harvesting of understory growth is permitted until the canopy cover closes. Lessees may harvest between 80 and 90 percent of the trees once they have reached maturity.
Also, under the new Land Law, each farming household is eligible to receive a portion of leased land based on several criteria, including past employment in defunct state enterprises and traditional ownership. These criteria often result in the exclusion of some of the poorest households who are newer migrants to the area or resettled families. Due to land shortages, most families only receive between 0.05 to 0.1 hectares, an amount some villagers report to be inadequate in meeting even modest subsistence needs. Five former state farms in the Buffer Zone are also now under the control of park authorities. Workers from the dissolved state companies receive individual allocations of 0.33 ha of land to farm for their own profit, as well as 1-2 hectares of plantation land. Agricultural support provided by 17 cooperatives in the past has lapsed since 1993 as the cooperatives have been dissolved. Poorer families are unable to farm efficiently due to lack of capital for such agricultural inputs as fertilizer, seed, and pesticides.
The establishment of exotic tree plantations has eroded the native ecology of the Buffer Zone, while contributing little to the economic needs of resident communities. Inappropriate species selection and a reliance on monoculture plantations in the Buffer Zone are likely to reduce the environmental stability and ecological integrity of the area. Market prices for Eucalyptus and Acacia have been poor, with little opportunity for use in local industry. Residents have expressed concern that the plantation tree species by the park and forestry agencies, especially Eucalyptus when planted in agroforestry systems, appear to be reducing soil fertility, lowering the water table, and encouraging new agricultural pest species. Farmers are also dismayed by the limited nonwood forest products generated by Eucalyptus and Acacia.
In Yen Son Commune, where the Dzao were resettled, each family has been provided with small plots of forest lands 0.5 to 4 kilometers from the village where Acacia and Eucalyptus are planted. Approximately 40 hectares of Acacia trees were planted from 100 to 200 meters elevation, with an additional 300 hectares of Eucalyptus planted from 200 to 400 meters in 1986. Mr. Duong Tai, the Yen Son’s village headman since 1984, noted in an interview with the research team, "I hate Eucalyptus, it has no value for us. The paper mills are too far away for it to have any value. After 7 to 10 years it will be felled and then the land will be barren again." Indeed, the undergrowth and build-up of forest humus appears poor in the Eucalyptus areas.
Mr. Tai, and many other villagers, are interested in planting long term, indigenous tree species that have high value and can generate multiple products, especially Cannarium album and Dracontomilum duppereanum. Both trees begin fruiting after 8 years, and Mr. Tai reports that there is a good market for these products in China. He also noted that many other non-timber forest products could be planted in the forest, depending on site conditions. Mr. Tai said that seeds of indigenous species have a short period of viability for germination (1-2 weeks). and that this makes it difficult for government agencies to handle the planting material quickly enough to ensure a high rate of survival. He notes, however, that by working with neighboring Dzao communities, seeds could be quickly brought into the area and established in Ba Vi’s Buffer and Particular Use zones.
Mr. Tai feels that the Eucalyptus and Acacias should be gradually phased out by cutting contour belts through the plantations and replanting with local species on a 10-meter spacing. The Dzao’s intimate knowledge of Ba Vi’s environment and growing conditions favorably position them to effectively assess viable strategies for reforestation, while the economic needs provide them with powerful incentives to succeed in reestablishing forest cover. The Dzao appear to share the Park’s own management goals of reintroducing indigenous species. Unfortunately, Park administration currently does not permit communities to participate in management planning activities.
The village headman of Yen Son enjoys a pipe of tobaco during a meeting break. The headman reports government agroforestry projects have assisted Dzao resettlement families to establish tree crops, but he feels the community could play a greater role in park management. (photo: Poffenberger)
The Dzao, a distinct ethnic group comprising roughly 4 million worldwide, migrated out of southern China into Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand nearly 300 years ago. Based on ethnolinguistic differences, the Dzao people are classified into at least seven different subgroups. Numbering nearly 500,000 in Vietnam in 1989, the Dzao are engaged in shifting cultivation as their main source of livelihood. Living primarily in the northern highlands, many Dzao migrated into other areas of Vietnam as a result of increased competition over diminishing resources.
The Dzao of Yen Son Village are thought to have migrated from Tam Dao Mountain in Vinh Phu Province in the early 1920’s. The Dzao Son Dau, sometimes referred to as the Dzao Quan Chet ("Dzao of the narrow pants") are the subgroup which initially settled at an elevation of approximately 600 meters on the slopes of Ba Vi Mountain. According to the village leader, some Dzao Son Dau continue to live in the mountainous areas in Vinh Phu at Tam Dao, and also in Thanh Hoa, Lang Son, and Hoa Binh provinces. In 1938, the French established a Dzao commune with a population of about 100 people. In 1959, the government gave the Dzao Community, which then numbered 600, 20 hectares of land between the 80- and 150-meter contours. However, the Dzao and the Muong continued to practice shifting cultivation and forest burning at higher altitudes.
Since 1963, government programs have systematically resettled the Dzao to areas below 100 meters by allocating them small plots of land for fixed cultivation purposes. In the late 1980’s, 175 square meters of padi land was allocated to each person in Yen Son Village, or less than 0.1 hectare per family. Several community members suggested that 0.4 hectare were necessary to meet the needs of one family (on average 6 people). Unfamiliar with fixed agriculture, and lacking the necessary capital for agricultural inputs, as well as having insufficient land acreage to accommodate growing populations, the Dzao have been compelled to continue collecting resources from the Park’s restricted areas. While controls were placed on shifting cultivation and other plant collection from the Park in 1977, the communities still make extensive use of the forest products including wood for fuel and lumber, as well as fruit, seeds, and medicinal and decorative plants.
Legal collect ion is permitted on a limited basis up to the 400-meter contour mark; however, illegal collection of medicinal plants appears to occur at all levels. Dzao people possess a significant economic interest in the maintenance of the upper watershed to protect local hydrological systems to meet their domestic and agricultural needs for water. In addition, the forest is the primary source of medicinal herbs which is the basis for the household economy of many families in Yen Son.
The Dzao community of Yen Son specializes in the collection, processing and prescribing of traditional medicines based almost entirely on forest-derived vegetation. Over 200 species of herbs, shrubs, and trees are estimated to be used by traditional medical practitioners. Nearly 80 percent of Yen Son’s 137 households are engaged in traditional medicinal activities which provides up to two-thirds of the cash income of participating families. Some practitioners earn up to VND3-5 million (US$270-$450) annually from their practice.
Historically, medicinal plants have been an integral part of both the Dzao health care system and their economy. Dzao women continue to actively collect, process, and administer traditional medicine not only to their own group, but also to neighbors. Sedentarization programs and the closure of much of the Park to plant collection has done little to deter their practice. In fact, with the liberalization of the economy and the increased access to the market through improved road and communication networks, the Dzao community surrounding Ba Vi have expanded their ethnomedical practice. In addition, rising health care costs may be increasing demand for traditional medicines due to the decline in subsidized health care. Concerns from national and international conservation organizations and agencies, and local communities, are rising in response to the increased scarcity of many rare plant species. Yet, it is clear that there are conflicts between conservation goals and local needs. Dzao collectors, healers. and community leaders identified alternative management systems that could bring these interest groups together.
Mrs. Thu Dzong is a collector and processor of medicinal plants. She and many of the other villagers gather over 200 species of plants in the forest. Income from medicinals is considerable, generating from VND2-3 million (US$180-$280) each year per household. This contrasts with an estimated VND1 million (US$90) in cash income the average Yen Son family generates annually from other sources. While medicinal plant collection is very important to the local economy and in treating illness, some species are becoming difficult to find. With collection above 400 meters illegal, villagers are coming into conflict with guards.
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Dzao farmer of Yen Son, with only 1/20th of a hectare of rice land, management their crops intensively but remain heavily dependent on Ba Vi's forest to supplant their income. (photo: Poffenberger) |
Carefully processed tubers, roots, barks, and other forest products dry in the sun for use as ingredients in traditional medicinal remedies. (photo: Poffenberger) |
Mrs. Lan (at far right), a Dzao herbal healer, stands with other women herlers from Yen Son Traditional healing practices are orally transmitted from one generation of women to the next. (photo: Poffenberger)
Medicinal plants are collected largely from within Ba Vi National Park, but increasingly collectors have traveled farther distances due to increased scarcity. Some plants are grown in home gardens largely for home consumption. Collectors have highly specific knowledge of both plant species and ecological habitats. Medicinal plants are often found in specific ecozones such as in dry rocky areas, along streams, or only in old swiddens, in addition to different elevational gradients (top of the mountain, midlevel, flat land). Dzao ethno land use classification reflects such elevational and microclimate categories.
Women collect medicinals grown in the garden and those that can be collected in day trips to the forest. Men are primarily involved in more extensive trips of greater distance where collection may last for several days and up to one month, but usually for 2 to 3 days. They frequently travel alone. Generally, gathering trips focus on 4 to 5 species. While most collection is done in the Ba Vi area some trips take gatherers to the Hoa Binh and other areas. To collect quzon, an important medicinal tuber, Mr. Tu travels to Hoa Binh for 3 days. On his last trip, he collected 23 kilograms. He has also crossed the Red River to collect in Vinh Phu Province’s nature reserve area. While 200 species are collected, 26 species are considered key ingredients for the preparation of most medicines.
Different parts of plants are utilized including fruits, flowers, bark, roots, leaves, and stems. The Dzao say they specialize in the use of shade-tolerant climbers, using both the tubers as well as the upper flowers and leaves. Often, they will climb trees in order to collect flowers and fruits without disturbing the plant, allowing sustainable harvesting. Flowers are collected in March and April, bark August to November, and tubers July to August. Leaves are collected throughout the year. The price the collectors can fetch per kilo ranges fromVND20,000 (US$1.90) for the average herb to VND40,000 (US$3.60) for certain rare and important species.
Women are largely responsible for processing herbs, preparing prescriptions, and traveling to treat clients. Most forest products are chopped and dried in the sun on circular bamboo trays. Each older women has recipes to treat a wide range of illnesses. Most recipes involve 10 to 20 dried ingredients which are boiled as an infusion or soaked in alcohol. Older women pass this knowledge on to younger women family members. There are six women elders who are medicinal specialists in Yen Son village, but many younger married women are also involved in medicine processing and prescriptions.
Medicinal preparations fall into two broad categories: preventative health-enhancing tonics and disease treatments. Tonics are used to improve intelligence, memory, blood, strength, and fertility. Medicines are used to treat rheumatism, bone pain, back pain, intestinal disease, snake bite, broken bones, skin infections, kidney disease, tuberculosis, and pre-and postpartum needs, including reducing bleeding.
Ba Vi villagers report that they do not generally trade any of their medicinals in bulk, but rather sell them in markets to retail buyers or use them in preparing treatments. Women family members go on house visits or establish clinics in markets. Mrs. Trieu Thi Lan, a 44-year-old traditional medicine doctor who was chosen by the district to represent them at a traditional medicine festival in Hanoi, is the most prominent healer in Yen Son Commune. Having learned the trade from her mother and grandmother, she said most Dzao people in the village are knowledgeable regarding medicinal plants. Her family has lived in the area for 20 years, and previously lived near the top of Ba Vi Mountain. Mrs. Lan, together with seven or eight other elder Dzao women, are the keepers of the community’s pharmaceutical wisdom.
Mrs. Lan, Dzao Herbal HealerPrior to government market liberalization in the 1980's, Mrs. Lan used to market her herbal medicines by foot. Carrying the necessary herbs for her patients on her back, she typically would set out for two weeks, selling her healing prescriptions to people in the neighboring communes and districts. With the recent improvements in transportation she is able to travel farther and can carry more herbs and meet more patients than ever before. On average, she takes 40 to 50 kilograms of medicine on each trip. Normally, Mrs. Lan makes approximately 20 two-week-long trips per year, often traveling as far as Hanoi, Hai Phong, Thanh Hoa, Thai Binh and Ha Bac. On her most recent trip, she visited five villages during a one-week journey, staying overnight at her patients' homes. For each individual ailment, Mrs. Lan and the other herlers prepare a special package of medicine comprising over 20 different species of plants. This special mixture is consumed either as an alcohol infusion or as a brewed tea. Know locally as tampuang, a packaged prescription can sell for VND5,000 (USS0.45) in the market, but are typically brough to the home by healers like Mrs. Lan, where she can make a proper diagnosis and adjust the prescription as required. To reduce the volume of medicinal plant material taken on each trip, and to minimize postharvest loss due to mold or bug infestation, Mrs. Lan development an innovative herbal processing technique. Most herbbal medicine recipes involve a standard selection of herbs that serve as a "base," into which special herbs are added to treat specific diseases. In recent years, Mrs. Lan has been preparing the base set of herbs prior to her trip by boiling them in water until they become a thick, dark sticky paste which is them cooled and rolled into a firm tube. During her home visits she carefully cuts segments off the tube, adding additional herbs as needed. Mrs. Lan treats a range of illnesses including dysentery, nervousness, allergies, cough, inflammation, postpartum ailments, kidney diseases, cancer, rheumatism, diabetes, paralysis, and heart disease. Some of Mrs. Lan's patients who were still sick after going to hospital have found her medicine more effective and less expensive. Mrs. Lan's treatments will not exceed VND100,000 (US$9). Some of the plants Mrs. Lan collects are easily accessible, however others are found deep within the strict protection zone of the Park. Access to these plants at different elevations is vital to Mrs. Lan and other herbalists. She and her colleagues are highly motivated to ensure that their sources protected and sustainably managed. |
Traditional medicine remains an important part of the health sector in Vietnam. In Son Tay town, Yen Son’s district center, there are 30 traditional doctors with heavy patient loads, receiving support and encouragement from the District People’s Committee. In Ba Vi, there is concern about the growing scarcity of small medicinal products. Climber species, dependent on large mother trees for support, are becoming scarcer as the forest has receded. During our interview with Yen Son’s village headman, he said, "We want to have close cooperation with the Park to improve the availability of medical plants in the forest, not just for protection, but regeneration." The community is interested in discussing the establishment of enrichment planting areas within the Park land. They suggest that it be divided into the three main areas where different species are found: 1) stony sites above 1,200 meters; 2) dense old growth forests at 800-1,200 meters; and 3) scrub and young secondary forests at 400-800 meters. A small working group comprised of village researcher specialists, FIPI staff, and Park staff could be formed to guide this activity.
Dzao villagers expressed interest in establishing medicinal plant collection and cultivation zones within the Park, representing all ecological microclimates suitable for the growth of species important to the community. The Park administration has already set up several experimental plots, and local NGOs have entered into a dialogue with community members to explore cultivating rare and endangered species. Experimental medicinal plant cultivation plots in the forest and in home gardens could be expanded further where successful. Collaborating with other ongoing efforts, like that of the Association for Research and Environmental Aid which supports Dzao ethnomedicine, a community-based medicinal plant growth and harvest-monitoring system could be formed to document trials and manage exploitation. Yen Son villagers want to legalize the collection of medicinal plants, while establishing a collaborative system to monitor and control use to avoid unsustainable harvest practices. There are also opportunities to improve postharvest technology of medicinal plants to avoid loss due to mold and pests, and to provide extension and training programs on drying methods and energy-efficient processing technologies.
This report has explored the feasibility of comanagement in the Ba Vi Mountains, one of Vietnam’s leading National Parks. When designated as the eighth National Park in 1992, the natural forests of Ba Vi were already depleted by earlier commercial logging and swidden farming. While timber extraction has been halted, these endangered ecosystems are under mounting informal pressure from an expanding rural population of 12,000 households residing in adjacent villages. As in many nations, forestry agency staff working in Ba Vi have encountered problems protecting the Park from local use. Illegal tree felling, hunting, plant gathering, and swidden farming remain common occurrences.
In 1990, a Buffer Zone strategy was created to better meet local economic needs and engage neighboring communities in forest conservation activities. While some agroforestry projects have effectively supported the introduction of valuable tree crops, forest land allocation to households has proceeded slowly. Parcels have been small and have not always reached the low-income households most in need of land resources. Poverty remains a problem with many families facing food shortages for three to six months of each year. Collection of forest resources, both plant and animal, as well as grazing and illegal mining, continues to increase tension between the Park authorities and the local people.
Currently, there are no members of the Yen Son Commune working for the Park. While agroforestry (VAC) projects were designed to generate income and produce for resident villages within the Park’s periphery, no institutional initiatives have been taken to establish collaborative management mechanisms that facilitate communication among stakeholders and allow joint management decisions to be made. Sometimes there are training courses for the local people in agricultural and forestry extension, but for the most part, their needs are not addressed in the existing management plan.
In Asia and Africa there is mounting evidence suggesting that forest conservation strategies cannot be separated from the needs and reliance of local peoples on the forest resource base. The experience of Ba Vi indicates that to achieve both the National Park objectives of conservation of flora and fauna and protection of a crucial watershed area, as well as meeting local economic and health needs, an alternative plan based on comanagement may be required. A series of informal comanagement meetings could lead to the development of formal institutional mechanisms designed to facilitate greater community participation in the management of Park resources combined with a series of practical strategies geared to addressing specific resource problems.
An initial comanagement team comprising villagers, park officials, and local NGO representation could focus on four main areas:
In conclusion, Ba Vi National Park presents a valuable opportunity to preserve a unique natural ecosystem, rehabilitate degraded natural forests, and conserve ethnobotanical knowledge while responding to the economic needs of land-poor communities. To achieve these multiple goals, a management framework may need to be developed that brings Buffer Zone communities into the Park’s planning process. Establishing ethnomedicine as an important theme in Ba Vi National Park would give this sanctuary a unique identity among the country’s and the world’s protected areas. In addition, co-management would support the Dzao's subsistence livelihood, as well as their important role in providing health care services in the region. Ba Vi administrators will need to work closely, not only with Dzao, but with Kinh and Muong community leaders to meet both national conservation goals and local needs.
1. SRV State Committee for Sciences et al., Vietnam National Plan for Environment and Sustainable Development: 1991-2000. Framework for Action (Hanoi: UNDP Project VIE/89/021, August 1991), p. 82.
2. Associate for Research and Environmental Aid Ltd., Ba Vi National Park Management Plan (Hanoi, 1993), p. 15.
3. Associate for Research and Environmental Aid Ltd., Ba Vi National Park Management Plan (Hanoi, 1993), p. 15.
4. Ministry of Forestry, Socialist Republic of Vietnam, "Economic and Technical Feasibility of Ba Vi National Park" (Hanoi, unpublished report, 1989).
5. D.K. Nguyen, "Evaluation of Materials in Ba Vi National Forest Region and Some Plans for Protection, Exploitation, and Development" (Hanoi, unpublished report, 1990).