From the 4th to the 30th of May, community forest management households in Thuong Lo commune, Nam Dong district, Thua Thien Hue province have checked status of 7 allocated forest areas. This activity has been consulted by the Centre for Rural Development in Central Vietnam (CRD), University of Agriculture and Forestry, Hue University and received technical support from Nam Dong district Forest Protection Department.

Forest management group in cooperation with the Forest Protection Department and CRD is checking the forest status under SIDA’s support.

Groups of community forest management households in Thuong Lo commune and other participants were well-prepared for the forest check, so it was convenient for them to mark the boundaries of forest areas with paint. Additionally, groups measured the number of trees and identified species names of timber trees and non-timber forest products for each 500m2 plot of different forest status.

Mr. Phan Van Hung, a CRD staff shared: “The activity takes place when the 5-year community forest management plan (2015-2019) of seven communities has expired. Through this activity, groups of community forest management households have improved their capacity for forest patrol and supervision and found out solutions to deal with obstacles in developing a sustainable forest management plan in accordance with the Circular No. 28/2018/TT-BNNPTNT of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on sustainable forest management”.

Forest management group in cooperation with the Forest Protection Department and CRD is checking the forest status under SIDA’s support.

After that, the Forest Protection Department of Nam Dong district will summarize and analyze data which will serve as a base for CRD staff to consult the household groups on developing suitable sustainable forest management plan for each group. This is also a premise to organize consultation meetings among groups of community forest management households to develop and finalize sustainable forest management plan in the period 2021-2025.

This activity is within the framework of the project “Strengthening CSOs and CBOs to Accelerate Conservation Efforts in the Central Annamites” funded by Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). The project is coordinated by the World Wide Fund For Nature Vietnam and co-implemented by the Center for Rural Development in Central Vietnam and Thua Thien Hue Forest Owners Sustainable Development Association.

Phan Văn Hùng

Center for Rural Development in Central Vietnam