STUDY TOUR ON SUSTAINABLE NATURAL FOREST MANAGEMENT AND PROTECTION BASED ON THE PEOPLE’S RIGHTS IN TT-HUE & QUANG NAM
On 25 July 2013, 35 members of the environmentally friendly forest use club of Xa Nghin I village and relevant representatives had participated in the study tour in Rcung village, Bhalêê commune, and Bh’Lừa village, Lăng commune, Tay Giang district.
With their tradition, Co Tu people are so hospitable. During the fieldtrip and its activities like exchanging, sharing and learning experience, the Solidarity and Cultivation Club in Rcung village well prepared for activities, send their members to participate in the fieldtrip as well as prepared a report on their club’s activities. In the study tour, all participants experienced the first step in cow-breeding model, contribution and expenditure, communication for forest resource conservation, forming the regulation of forest protection based on the pilot model of the Solidarity and Cultivation Club in Rcung village, Bhalee commune. Most of the participants have good evaluation on the quality of the study tour, the operation of the pilot club as well as get more experiences in planning their club’s activities during the coming time.
The Solidarity and Cultivation Club Rcung has 28 members, including 16 male and 12 female. Most of them come from poor households (17 of them are poor household, 08 are relative poor and 02 are out of poverty). The club members hold meetings to form the club’s regulation on club operation such as participating in regular meeting on the 28th of each month, each member has to contribute 11,000 VND/month for the club, members have to show their willingness and openness when participating in every club’s activity or when sharing and exchanging information with each other in their production of crops and livestock.
Initially, the club was trained on cultivation techniques and sustainable livestock. After being trained the basic knowledge about the sustainable use, club members was divided into different groups based on their interests such as group of breeding cow, group of breeding pig, and group of breeding chicken, duck, and fish.
To enlist the assistance and investment, the club have to hold meetings to make the Club’s President formulate the club’s plan for the coming time, write funding proposals, and to assess what the club has had: tree to make the cow shed, land for making shed, labor and things that club has not had, for example: calves, materials to make cow shed including corrugated iron, B40 wire fence, cement to make flour. This requires the club’s board of managers in general and club’s president in particular to be very positive, identify specific goals to plan club activities. This is new to the club, they are not allowed to expect or rely on the assistance but have to actively and positively implement to gain investment and support for the club. The club’s operation plan has already supported the Group of breeding cattle: 08 hybrid cows /08 household, Group of breeding pig: 10 Mong Cai pigs or local pigs/10 household, Group of breeding chicken, duck, fish: 10 households.
The club was not supported 100%, they have to contribute reciprocally to together implement, with the rate of 8:2 (project’s contribution is 8 and the club`s contribution is 2). On one hand, for the big investment, the contribution of the club will face many difficulties because of the majority number of poor and relative poor households so that they cannot contribute at the same rate. On the other hand, this shows the responsibility of the club members in the investment of development and production. Therefore, to make the club work well, apart from the investment and support of donor, the local government will be considered as the third target to help people overcome the difficulties of funding to invest and implement.
For example, the cattle-breeding group contributes wood to make cattle shed, sand to make the floor, the area for each cage is 07 m2 and labor cost to make shed. The assistance includes: calves, corrugated iron, B40 net and cement for households to build cattle shed and breed cattle according to the proposed plan. So far, the process of building cattle sheds is reaching its completion and will be completed, considered and supported with cattle to breed and develop the cow herd by August 2013.
After launching the assistance of breeding hybrid cattle, all club members will evaluate, give the preliminary results of initial implementation to learn from experience in implementing activities for raising pigs, chickens, ducks and fish in the approved plan
To the formulation of Rules of forest protection, forest conservation, currently the club has just been in the process of formulating the rules not implementing. The way of communication: When the club needs to discuss a specific issue, the club’s president will notify the club’s secretary and then the secretary will notify all members of the club, in the form of direct communication or directly contact them to attend the discussion via mobile/phone.
The study tour on the model of the solidarity and cultivation club in Rcung, Bhalee commune, and the model of planting purple Ba Kích in Bh’lừa village, Lăng commune, Tay Giang district has helped the members mostly Cơ Tu ethnic people learn from practical experience in the sustainable livelihoods model, communication in forest resource conservation, building regulations of forest protection as well as organizing the implementation, monitor, evaluation the club’s activities and in establishing cooperation, sharing, helping each other in the club and community.
On 07/28/2013, 20 members of the community forest management Board of Khe Tran village and relevant representatives participated in the fieldtrip in Phu Mau village, Huong Phu commune, Nam Dong district. Through discussions and visit, the members of CFM Board in Khe Tran learned a lot of things and would apply in the CFM in Khe Tran village, Phong My commune on the model “Sustainable natural forest management, protection and development based on the people’s rights”.
(1) The request for transfer of bare land in the community forest for building forest enrichment model as planting Điền Trúc bamboo, Acacia is the thing that the Khe Tran Board of CFM favorite most. Therefore, the next time the board of CFM Khe Tran will discuss to write an applications for the authorities to convert bare land in their community forest and poor natural forest land to production land to develop forest enrichment models with high economic efficiency for the whole community, in order to create funds for the management and protection of allocated forest areas become better, no forest fire, thoroughly prevent activities of forest exploitation and forest animals illegally.
(2) The organization and implementation of projects of Phu Mau’s club are transparency and obvious therefore these activities has attracted the active participation of the club members, the activities are organized, have a clear plan and are regularly monitored and evaluated; the Khe Trăn board of CFM also is and will continue to apply this form locally to ensure fairness, transparency and attract the enthusiastic participation of all members in the board of CFM.
(3) Motto of the club is to switch from waiting to looking for to get the support and assistance of agencies, departments, and programs and projects that are worth learning. In the coming time, the Khe Tran board of CFM will be more active in the transaction, ask for support from the authorities, the program … to get support for technical training, skills and policies to improve the capacity of people in the skills of teamwork, planning, the implementation of silvicultural measures, cultivation, livestock to manage, protect and development of forest capital given by the State effectively, and also support seed, seedlings for economic development.
(4) The club has applied their local knowledge in combination with the application of scientific and technical progress properly, scientifically and effectively into the models of forest enrichment as rattan planting, bamboo’s shoot, Lồ ô, Acacia. It is a good thing to learn to manage, care for and extract product from the models better and bring high economic efficiency.
Results of two fieldtrips have helped club members in Xa Nghin I village and the board of CFM in Khe Tran learn experience of raising awareness, capacity and the practice of using the rights and responsibility in protecting and enriching forest capital as well as the livelihood patterns, environmentally friendly production, managing and recovering natural forest. At the same time, the members have also learned from practical experience on how to set up the cooperation, assistance, sharing in the community, how to implement, monitor and evaluate the community and the board of CFM’s activities. Besides, during the fieldtrips the members of both parties have also shared, exchanged and learned different experiences of each other in capacity building for effective access to some public services, extension services as well as accelerate procedures related to forest land allocation.
