Protecting existing natural forest areas in Vietnam is a big task that requires much effort from forestry and other relevant organizations. Although there are many policies and institutions for this purpose, natural forests have been destroyed rapidly. It is clear that the efforts of the state management bodies are not enough. In addition to the state policies and programs, it is important that local people should participate in and contribute to natural forest protection. Community-based management of natural forests is proven to be an appropriate solution. It ensures sharing benefits derived from forests in a fair and sustainable way. It aims to attract the participation of community in protecting existing natural forest areas in Vietnam. Additionally community-based management of natural forests is consistent with sustainable forest management trends. It contributes to reducing negative impacts of climate change which is a matter of concerns of the State and the international community.
The question here is how to promote effectively rights and obligations of people in forest management and protection. To answer it, the approach based on people’s rights in forest management is very necessary. However, in order to promote the process of “Community-based forest management in Viet Nam from the approach based on people’s rights”, it is necessary to improve capacity of people and related stakeholders regarding rights and obligations, as well as develop further researches and studies to provide concrete results used for policy improvement concerning this issue.
Rosa Luxemburg (RLS) is a German Political Foundation, working in 16 countries over the world. Its overall objective in Vietnam is to assist the country’s transformation from a central planning economy to a market one with socialism characteristics. Currently, RLS Vietnam is working on several themes, including environment. In response to the above-mentioned situation, RLS sponsored C&E – a young local innovative NGO having working experience in the field and the central Vietnam – to carry out the project “Community-based forest management capacity building from the approach based on people’s rights” in central Vietnam, Thua Thien Hue and Quang Nam are the two typical provinces. Both provinces have rich forest resources in its respective mountainous districts, which require a suitable model balancing the environmental protection and indigenous communities’ interests.