Rangers and villagers patrol to protect forest

The project “Nature Conservation and Sustainable Management of Natural Resources in the Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park” is cooperation between the German Government and the Vietnamese Government under a Financial Agreement and Loans signed on December 28th,2007. It is funded through the German development bank (KFW); the project owner is the People’s Committee of Quang Binh Province.

The project region encompasses the Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park area with an area of 123,326 hectares and a buffer zone with an area of 220,055 hectares, accounting for 43% of the whole province. There are 65,000 people living in 13 communes of the buffer zone.

The project aims to reduce the pressure on natural resources of the Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park; enhance local livelihoods and make a close cohesion between nature conservation and socio-economic development in Phong Nha - Ke Bang Region.

In August 2015, the Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park has been recognised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for the second time with two new criteria: (1) To be outstanding examples representing ecological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial ecosystems and (2) Ownership of the most significant natural habitats for the conservation of biodiversity. At the same time, the World Heritage Committee highly appreciated the Government of Vietnam to expand the national park from 85,754 hectares to 123.326 hectares. These remarkable results are the great efforts of authorities at all levels and functional departments in Quang Binh province in the past time, including a great contribution of the Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park Region Project.

In addition, the project has also built the strategic management plan for the 2013-2025 period; the operational management plan for the 2013-2020 period to submit to the Quang Binh Provincial People's Committee for approval.

One of the most important results achieved by the project was the sustainable management of natural resources in the buffer zone. In the past eight years, the project has supported localities, communities and people in buffer zone for afforestation and regeneration with an area of over 3,520 hectares. The local authorities have allocated land and granted the certificates of land use rights (Red Book) and opened deposit accounts for the project-participated households and individuals who have carried afforestation and regeneration as the project required. Afforestation, forest care and regeneration reached the technical requirements.

Xuan Trach commune, Bo Trach district is one of the best localities in implementing afforestation of the project. By the end of 2016, more than 220 local households has participated in the afforestation and livelihood models of the PN – KB National Park Region Project with a total area of over 410 hectares, opened a bank account for the project-participated households with a total money of 2.6 billion dong. The allocation of land and forests for the local people for the care, management and protection is an effective solution to keep the forests, increase forest cover as well as reduce sustainable poverty for local people.

Besides, the project has also allocated forests to local commnity to manage. From 2012 to 2016, the localities have allocated 8,277 hectares of forest land (reached 103 percent of the plan) to 34 village communities. The localities have carried out land allocation, issued certificates of land use rights and opened deposit accounts for the local communities as the project required.

The capacity training for the communities has been implemented according to the regulations. The project has organized to sign coordination regulations on forest protection between the Forest Management Board, communities, commune-level authorities, the local forest rangers and the border posts. Under the coordination regulations, it has created favorable conditions for the forest management and protection of the National Park. Many households and local communities have well implemented forest management and protection; the awareness of the local people and communities on forest protection has been improved. The money from deposit accounts have been withdrawn and spent effectively according to the plan and the purpose of the project.

One of the important issues that the project achieved was the support of functional departments for reinforcing law enforcement. Specifically, the project has supported Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park and Quang Binh Forest Protection Department for enhancing capacity; building a handbook on forest protection patrols and a general operational regulations on law enforcement; completing basic professional training courses for cadres andforest rangers; providing a financial support for the tour to Laos, aiming to exchange forest protection and management of the Spatial Monitoring And Reporting Tool (SMART) systerm; opening training courses on investigation of forest protection and management; building handbooks of forest patrol for the rangers; working out the plan for propaganda and prevention from the illegal trafficking and wildlife consumption; investigating and surveying the status of using gasoline engine in the buffer zone. Besides, the project has set up a system to collect information for monitoring biodiversity changes; assisted Forest Protection Department in using SMART software to improve the effectiveness of protection and conservation at two pilot areas, including the Protection Forest Management Boards of Minh Hoa and Dong Chau; opening training courses and building capacity for the related staffs at all levels on using GPS, Mapinfor, GIS and SMART solfware, biodiversity; serminars as well as domestic and foreign study tours to share information and learn experiences have been implemented and completed on schedule.

Through the propaganda and mobilization, the project has helped the local people raise their awareness of forest protection and biodiversity conservation while effective implementation of guiding, checking and monitoring the households contracted forests and forest land, contributing to enhancing the responsibility of forest owners.

Phong Nha Ke Bang region project has also coordinated with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the local authorities to support the biodiversity-friendly livehood models for nearly 1,000 poor families in the buffer zone, especially focus on women and ethnic minority people who depend on forests. The biodiversity-friendly livehood models include: Integrated Agro-Forestry Model, chicken raising and bee raising for honey production, mushroom growing and souvenir products made from bamboo and rattan

Besides, the project has also assisted Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park in strengthening transboundary cooperation with the Hin Nam No National Protected Area (Laos). However, during eight years of implementing the project, the project has still faced a lot of difficulties. At the ethnic minority villages where local people are illitarate, the implementation of project, such as: setting up forest assignment files, working out the plan for forest management, building regulations on forest protection and management; implementing the procedures relating to account opening and money withdrawing… has remained many difficulties. In many far-flung and remote areas where had no telephone to contact, that was a great obstacle in the project implementation. In some communes, the process of land allocation and the issue of certificate of land use rights have still been limited.

It can be affirmed that Phong Nha - Ke Bang region project has played a great role in the sustainable conservation and management; reducing pressure on the natural resources of the PN-KB National Park and supporting the subtainable development of livelihoods for people in bufer zone through linking conservation of the core area with the development of economy in the buffer zones. After closing the project, the local authorities and relevant departments should continue making all efforts to implement appropriate solutions to preserve the natural resources of Phong Nha Ke Bang and promote sustainable development for future.

By Nhu Y
(Source: Quang Binh Portal)