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Forest Resource Use and Poverty Alleviation for Forest-dependent Communities in the Northern Rural Upland Areas of Vietnam

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Le Thu Hoa

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 Viet Nam is a tropical country with the total area is about 33 million hectares, of which 57.6% is classified as forest land. Forest resources are spread across upland areas. This paper examines the relationship between poverty alleviation and the forest sector, the ways that forest resources contributes to poverty alleviation in Northern rural upland areas of Vietnam. Calculation and regression done with the employment of secondary and primary data show that, there is a mechanical correlation between poverty, fragile soils, accessibility or loss of forest resources that is largely due to association of uplands with high poverty incidence. For the natural resource dependent poor, particularly in mountainous regions, access to and management of forest resources is a major determinant of livelihood security. On the other hand, with commitment to vigorously and sustainably develop forestry, there is the potential for forests to play a significant role in economic development, job creation, income generation and overall poverty alleviation in rural upland areas. Findings from the study allow to draw implications for forest and livelihood enhancing development interventions, which emphasize the roles of the Government of Viet Nam and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD). Among the implications, it is importtant that the Government and MARD to adopt a country-wide policy and program on community forest management which should become one of the prime means for forest protection and provision of alternative livelihoods for forest-dependent communities. 

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poverty, poverty alleviation, forest resources, forest - dependents, Northern upland/ moutainous areas, Vietnam.