From September 25th to 28th 2015, the Centre for Sustainable Rural Development organized a trip to investigate community-based forest management in the Long Lan village of the Luang Prabang province. The 11 person trip included the leaders of the Peoples' Committee of Phu Luong district, Thai Nguyen province; the Forest Protection Unit; the Agriculture Department; the Agricultural Extension Station; the Radio and Television Station; and the leaders of people's committees from three project communes. This activity was part of the project "Improving Rural Livelihood and Sustainable Forest Management through Participatory Land Use and Management (PLUM) and Value Chain Approaches – Phase II" in Phu Tho and Thai Nguyen. It was implemented by SRD and sponsored by Manos Unidas.
The purpose of the trip was to encourage The People's Committee of the Phu Luong district and three project communes to faster implement the acacia harvesting decisions and plans, which were published by the People's Committee of Thai Nguyen district in middle of 2014, in the forest protection and reforestation areas as well as in the three communes.
The participants of the trip
In the Luang Prabang province, the delegations from the Phu Luong district were warmly welcomed by leaders of the Agriculture and Forestry departments and representatives of the Forestry and Agriculture division. In addition, they were introduced to local ideas about forest planning, protection and development processes. The delegates were impressed by the forest planning, classification and management in the Luang Prabang province. There, residents have planned forests into three types: precaution, protection, and production forests. In these forests, local people are only allocated a certain area (normally less than 5 ha) to carry out productive activities and do not have right to purchase, exchange or transfer their assigned forest area. All residents have a responsibility to protect the remaining forests. Both the government and people have been monitoring and managing this forest area very well. The delegations were also impressed by how areas for breeding in the Luang Prabang province were planned.
The participants working with the leaders of the Agriculture and Forestry departments
The following day in Luang Prabang, the delegations had a field trip to the Long Lan village, and were even more impressed by the forest planning, management and enrichment processes there. Though the Long Lan village has only 76 households with a few more than 500 inhabitants, they have collaborated and created a very good brand of organic and eco-products such as fruits and vegetables; beans; and some medicinal plants such as cardamom, white stork tree, and so on. These products have a higher, more stable output than those of similar products in other provinces. The breeding area is planned far away from people's homes and locals coordinate the supervision and care of livestock in these areas. Forest management and protection methods in the Long Lan village include both the old customary laws and new government regulations.
Visiting some households in Long Lan village
Finally, the People's Committee of the Phu Luong district and the three project communes planned to discuss the application of some of the best practices they encountered, especially: consolidating working groups (or cooperatives), conducting reviews to prepare forest land for cultivation, breeding, and using their land more efficiently to grow and protect forests. Moreover, the addition of a number of customary laws at the three project communes of the Phu Luong district will also be discussed and included in the forest protection and management convention which was created in late 2014.
The representatives of Long Lan village sharing with the participants
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Centre for Sustainable Rural Development (SRD)
No.31, Alley 19 Kim Dong Street, Hoang Mai District, Ha Noi
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