Lasting livelihood change among forest dwellers and park officers in Viet Nam

Walking through a patch of forest a few years ago, Le Van Dinh smelled a fresh scent of burnt wood and grass. As he drew closer, he saw smoke rising from ashes. What happened, he wondered, “I want to help communities increase their income and get out of poverty. But what went wrong?”

The fire had started as a result of villagers using smoke to chase wild bees out of their hives so honey could be collected. Dinh, the Director of HCCD, a non-governmental organization in Ha Tinh Province aimed at reducing poverty and promoting community development, understood that villagers were aiming to increase their honey harvest, without understanding that the practice was unsustainable.

The sight of the burnt forest motivated Dinh to find new ways of working. He realized that villagers’ livelihoods should not only be about generating income and profit but also about how to sustainably use the resources available to them.

Yet he knew that the villagers would continue to be more concerned about the volume of harvest and getting higher incomes from honey hunting rather than protecting their resource base in a way that would Lasting livelihood change among forest dwellers and park officers in Viet Nam sustain their livelihood. Even though he had been working with the villagers to shift to domesticated bee raising, they clearly were going back to the forest and the wild bees. According to villager reports, he knew they were also cutting down trees illegally.

Dinh continued to hand out information on sustainable beekeeping and organize community seminars. But he never felt confident of what he was trying to explain and realized that he could not change villagers’ practices if he himself was not confident of what he was trying to explain.

In 2012, he was invited to join a RECOFTC training. He agreed, thinking it would improve his knowledge and better equip him and others at HCCD to advise villagers on sustainable forest management. He went through several trainings, learning about climate change and effective training approaches, and then returned to the communities in which he had been struggling to change long-held practices. He began reaching out to the Youth Unions, teachers of primary and secondary schools, members of the women’s union and the farmers’ union.

“Keeping honeybees in a sustainable way would not only help improve your income but also protect the forest and enhance the diversity of trees in the forest,” he explained in one training. “But our bees are now mostly domesticated. They don’t live in the forest anymore,” a villager replied.

“Even when you domesticate your bees within your lands, the bees still need to get nectar and pollen from the forest. If the forest is healthy and protected, there will be various kinds of trees and plants, creating more food for the bees. If the bees have more diverse sources of food, “Keeping honeybees in a sustainable way would not only help improve your income but also protect the forest and enhance the diversity of trees in the forest.” like nectar from flowers and leaves, the quality of the honey will be extremely good, which in turn will satisfy your customers. You can also sell your honey at a higher price.”

The participants listened and began taking an interest.

Dinh continued, “If our forest is degraded or destroyed, there won’t be enough food from the forest for the bees, which can result in decreased honey production. If this happens, we would need to supply the bees with sugar to keep them healthy. On one hand, this is very costly. On the other hand, the quality of the honey would decrease, which isn’t good for increasing our customers. Consequently, the selling price of our honey would also decrease.” He concluded, “If we protect our forest, we will not only benefit from beekeeping but will also be able to utilize many kinds of non-timber forest products for income generation.”

He never mentioned climate change, however, or how it relates to sustainable forest management and livelihoods because he did not yet have a firm grasp of the concepts. From 2013-15 he participated in further RECOFTC trainings on community forestry, REDD+, conflict management and livelihood and market development.

By then Dinh’s confidence had grown and he felt ready for his next training for Vu Quang National Park (VQNP) forest protection officers. But his first attempt was met with skepticism. No one from the national park office attended his training, with the excuse that they were all busy. Knowing the critical role of forest protection officers in the process of integrating local people in forest management, Dinh didn’t want to give up easily. So he decided to change his strategy and focus on two officers from the VNQP communication unit, who he eventually convinced to take part in his training on REDD+.

Following the training, Ms. Trân Thị Thùy Dương, a communication officer from VNQP said, “I had no idea of what REDD+ is and had only basic understanding of climate change. But now, I gained a clearer understanding of people, forests and climate change. I am impressed with your training methods.”

She then recommended to the VQNP director that all forest protection officers should take part in the same training. Not long after, 30 mostly young forest officers who work closely with the communities around the park showed up for Dinh’s training.

Over the years, Dinh’s trainings have helped to gradually transform a community – supporting local communities in developing sustainable livelihoods, and equipping forest protection officers with critical information on climate change, REDD+, and participatory approaches to more effectively work with villagers.

Three members of the women’s and farmer’s unions that he trained have now taken their new knowledge forward through sharing with their neighbors and villages. His confidence and new-found knowledge and skills have helped Mr. Dinh to be elected as a member of Viet Nam’s REDD+ network, UNREDD communication group and the government’s disaster reduction program. Ultimately, his work has placed local communities in a better position to sustain forests in Viet Nam.