On February 21, the Center for Rural Development in Central Vietnam (CRD), University of Agriculture and Forestry, Hue University chaired a meeting on forest protection and management planning in 2020 at a community house in Mu Nam village, Thuong Lo commune, Nam Dong district (Thua Thien Hue province).

The meeting is under the framework of the project Strengthening the role of communities and civil society organizations in conservation in Central Truong Son (referred to as the SIDA project)

Twenty-three members of forest management communities and household groups participated in the meeting to discuss and develop 11 forest protection and management plans in 2020 according to the guidance of Decision No. 62/2019/QD-UBND dated July 07, 2019 of Thua Thien Hue Provincial People’s Committee on promulgating the regulation on community forest management in the locality.

At the meeting, the CRD advisory team presented forest protection patrol planning forms and gave direct instructions under the “hands-on” approach to develop the planning appropriate to their abilities and actual local conditions. After planning, the groups presented and completed the planning according to the feedbacks of the consulting group and other members.

With the guidance from the project, the community groups have established their own forest protection and management plans in 2020 to be the basis for the project to continue monitoring the patrols of 11 forest management communities and household groups.

Mr. Tran Huu Tam (the CRD staff), a project consultant said that this was an annual activity carried out by forest management communities and household groups in Thuong Lo commune. However, it is difficult for communities to implement this activity, especially after the decision No. 62/2019/QD-UBND on promulgating the regulation on community forest management with the forest protection and management planning forms including more detailed contents. Therefore, the SIDA Project has continued to support the capacity building of forest management communities and household groups. Since then, the communities and household groups developed their own complete plans to disseminate to their members to implement the proposed plan.

The project is coordinated by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) with the co-implementation of the Center for Rural Development in Central Vietnam (CRD), University of Agriculture and Forestry, Hue University and Thua Thien Hue Forest Owners Sustainable Development Association (FOSDA – TTH) with funding from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Organization (SIDA).

Bao Hoa