THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY DUONG THI NHUNG ASSESSING THE POTENTIAL IMPACT OF VOLUNTARY PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT (VPA) TO THE LIVELIHOOD OF LOCAL PEOPLE IN DONG XA COMMUNE, NA RI DISTRICT, BAC KAN PROVINCE BACHELOR THESIS Study Mode : Full-time Major : Environmental Science and Management Faculty : International Training and Development Center Batch : 2011 – 2015 Thai Nguyen, September 2015 Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forest Degree Program Bachelor of Environmental Science and Management Student name DUONG THI NHUNG Student ID DTN1153120010 A study to assess the potential impact of Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) to the livelihood of local Thesis Title people in Dong Xa commune, Na Ri district, Bac Kan province. Tran Thi Thu Ha Abstract: VPA / FLEGT are bilateral trade agreement signed by the EU with partner countries exporting wood and wood products. Accordingly, national partners committed only exports to the EU wood and wood products illegal. National partners establish an assurance system to verify the legality of timber and FLEGT licenses for wood and wood products will export to the EU.
For a mountainous commune like Dong Xa Commune, Na Ri District, the economic life of people is more difficult, low educational levels, infrastructure such as roads, schools, electricity from the national grid, and commune health stations, although the State has done investment interest, but it remains difficult. The application of regulations on forest and wood of the VPA will affect greatly to the life of people in here. So, the main objective of the study was to assess the impacts of VPA the livelihood of two groups of vulnerable communes in Dong Xa, which is : (1) small- scale woodworking households; (2) households having life dependent on the forest, forest plantations in forest area due to the commune People's Committee of Management but no legal papers, no forest land, or have very little forest land and forest. Using interviewing people in ten villages of Dong Xa commune, surveys, collect data on their income, the afforestation of households, analysis of interviewing data, secondary data of Dong Xa, Na Ri district, found that: The vulnerability that small-scale woodworking households encountered, such as: increased production costs ii from the price increase legal timber; increased transaction costs to achieve the legal requirements for business registration and operation of enterprises; and vulnerable because of changes in the market lead to changes in hiring (especially, the households hire labor in outside).
For households having life dependent on the forest, forest plantations in forest area due to the commune People's Committee of Management but no legal papers, no forest land, or have very little forest land and forest, they are minorities and has a long tradition of sticking with their forests and livelihood depend on forests. So, they are very vulnerable to changes in forestry regulations and access to forest resources (including wood and non-wood products). Their source of income will be reduced, due to difficulty selling timber to the outside with many regulations and procedures. Key words: VPA, FLEGT, livelihood, forest, EU, illegal logging, Number of pages: 56 Date of Submission: September 30th, 2015 Supervisor (Sign) iii ACKNOWLEDGEMET I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my research supervisor, Assoc.
Tran Thi Thu Ha, Director of Institute of Research and Development of Forestry, Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry, for supporting me all the way through this thesis. Her invaluable encouragement interesting viewpoints and constructive comments on this thesis have been highly appreciated. Therefore, I have completed the project on time. Further, I would like to sincerely thank the school administrator, ITC along with teachers, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Bac Kan province, Forestry Department in Bac Kan province, the relevant authorities of Na Ri and Dong Xa Commune People's Committee with the enthusiastic help, were enthusiastically supported and created favorable conditions, provided with full and correct data for me to finish my duties.
Finally, I would like to thank all my friends, my classmates, especially my family for their great support. During the internship, I tried very hard, but due to lack of experience and knowledge, my thesis has unavoidably flawed. I would like to receive the heartfelt comments of teachers and friends for my thesis were more complete. I sincerely thank you! Thai Nguyen, September 30th, 2015 The implementation Duong Thi Nhung iv TABLE OF CONTENT LIST OF FIGURES.
1 LIST OF TABLES. 2 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. Research question and hypotheses. The Voluntary Partnership Agreement.
Definition of voluntary partnership agreement. The Voluntary Partnership Agreement includes. Construction Voluntary Partnership Agreement. Definition of illegal wood.
Implementation the definition of legality of timber. Forest status in Vietnam. Fluctuations in Vietnam forests. The status and changes of forest in Bac Kan.
Data collection methods. Data processing methods. Current status of forest land allocation in Dong Xa Commune. Small-scale woodworking households.
The main characteristic of small-scale woodworking households. Some impacts of VPA to small-scale woodworking households. Households having life dependent on the forest and forest plantations in forest area due to the commune’s People's Committee of Management but no legal papers. The main characteristics of the study group.
The issues that research target group encountered and the impact of the VPA 46 PART V. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION. 54 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2. Organizational structure of FLEGT/VPA 4negotiation of Vietnam.
Forest coverage rate over the years of Bac Kan Province. Bac Kan province map - Na Ri location purple blue. 33 1 LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1: The variation in forest area Vietnam during 1943-2012 (million hectares). Structure of forest types.
The area of forest land according three forest types through the years 2011 – 2014. Afforestation area through the years 2011-2014. The percentage of forest cover over the years 2011-2014. The percentage of forest cover in the districts, towns.
Data consolidation: Planning of forest land in the district in 2010- 2013. Current status of forestland allocation in Dong Xa Commune. Interviewing information of small-scale woodworking households. Production method, income of small-scale woodworking households.
The procedure of the production process wood and wood products. Interviewing information of households having life dependent on the forest. The income of households having life dependent on the forest and forest plantations in forest area.45 2 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Abbreviations The meaning CPC Commune people’s committee CSOs Civil society organizations DPC District people’s committee EU The European Union EUTR 995 EU Timber Regulation FLEGT Forest law enforcement, Government and Trade IFAD International foundation agriculture development LD Legality definition MARD Ministry of Agriculture and rural development SRD Sustainable rural development TLAS Timber legality assurance system TWG Team working group The Vietnamese Non-government organization’s network on VNGO-FLEGT forest law enforcement, government and trade VNTLAS Vietnam Timber legality assurance system VPA Voluntary partnership agreement 3 PART I. Rationale The topography of the country in majority area of hills, but mainly low hills and mountainous terrains accounts for three quarters of the territory.
The terrain with elevations below 1000m up 85% of the area is mainly distributed in the North and West territory, on the 2000m high terrain only accounts for 1%. The area of forest land in our country in 2005 was 14.43 million hectares, accounting for 43.6% of the natural land. With varied terrain, tropical climate has changed from North to South, it has created a diversity of natural ecosystems and the abundance of the species. These ecosystems include many forest types such as many broad-leaved evergreen forests, semi-deciduous forest, deciduous forest, limestone forest, mixed forest of coniferous and broadleaved, coniferous forest, bamboo forest, mangroves, mangrove forests, and freshwater wetland forest.
However, in recent years due to overexploitation of human, natural disasters and forest fires, resources of Vietnam were severely reduced in both quantity and quality of forests. From 11/2010, Vietnam and the European Union (EU) have announced negotiations Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) on strengthening forest law enforcement, governance of forests and forest products trade (FLEGT). Currently, both sides are in the final stages of the negotiation process. Research project:“Assessing the potential impact of Voluntary partnership agreement (VPA) to the livelihood of local people in Dong Xa commune, Na Ri district, Bac Kan province” to provide a portion of the results and put forecasting situations of two groups of vulnerable: small-scale woodworking households and households having life dependent on the forest, forest plantations in forest area due to the commune People's 4 Committee of Management but no legal papers can be affected on how the VPA agreement is signed.
Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs), and the processes through which they are developed, have considerable potential to bring about pro-poor policy reforms and can result in the empowerment of the more vulnerable community groups. With the implementation of the VPA, the timber production and processing industry has to adapt to changing market demands and export regulations, and an action plan to ensure timber legality is required by Vietnam. This action plan has to focus on raising awareness, amending ad reviewing legislation, encouraging enterprise to import certified timber, developing and implementing a timber legality assurance system, and strengthening international cooperation with export countries such as Laos and Cambodia and with markets in EU countries. Dong Xa Commune, Na Ri district is a mountainous commune, located in the northeast province of Bac Kan.
The economic life of people is more difficult, low educational levels, infrastructure such as roads, schools, electricity from the national grid, and commune health stations, although the State has done investment interest remains difficult. To learn about the issues in the framework of a thesis, the consent of International Training and Development Center, under the guidance of teacher Assoc. Tran Thi Thu Ha, I conducted research topic: “Assessing the potential impact of Voluntary partnership agreement (VPA) to the livelihood of local people in Dong Xa commune, Na Ri district, Bac Kan province”. Research objectives +) General objectives This study aims to assess and investigate the situation prediction about the effect of VPA on the livelihood of people, these groups are vulnerable: small-scale woodworking households, and households having life dependent on the forest, forest plantations in forest area due to the commune People's Committee of Management but no legal papers in Dong Xa Commune, Na Ri district, Bac Kan province.
+) Specific objectives - Survey the understanding / awareness of the people / communities on the legality of timber and timber products. - Analysis forestry law enforcement and its impact on benefits and obligations of the people / communities. - Synthesis of aspirations / suggestions of the people related to ensuring the legality of timber and timber products associated with improved livelihood. Then, find the negatives that people can be affected when VPA was signed.
Research question and hypotheses What are the current states of management of the exploitation and protection of forests in the Na Ri district, Bac Kan province? What are the characteristics of the livelihood of households? What are the effects of VPA to the livelihood of local people? 1. The limitations The restrictions during the research process include distance, the mountain roads are craggy, the local people were not cooperating in the interview process, lack of means of transportation, and lack of practical experience. Research significance +) The significance of the study and scientific research: - Applying the knowledge gained from school into reality; - Improving practical skill; - Accumulation work experience after graduation; - Advanced knowledge of study and get to reference materials to achieve the effect. +) Reality significance: Review of the management, protection, status logging and forest product use in Dong Xa Commune sector.
Making predictions about the situation of the VPA impact on the livelihood of people in the commune, namely two groups of subjects were identified as vulnerable: Small-scale woodworking households, and households having life dependent on the forest, forest plantations in forest area due to the commune People's Committee of Management but no legal papers.