Conflicts in Vietnam’s Forest Areas: Implications for FLEGT and REDD+
Publisher: Forest Trends
Author(s): Thomas Sikor and Phuc Xuan To
Date: 2014
Topics: Assessment, Land, Renewable Resources
Countries: Vietnam
Conflicts over land are rampant in Vietnam. Some erupt into physical violence and catch the attention of the media, while others linger without attracting wider attention. Land conflicts are the subject of more than 70% of the written complaints received by Vietnamese government offices in recent years. Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) acknowledges these conflicts in the uplands, but presents widely varying estimates (likely underestimates) of the extent of disputed land, from a mere 7,684 hectares (ha) to as much as 150,000 ha. The Vietnamese National Assembly acknowledged in late 2012 that “conflicts occur in many locations but are not adequately attended and resolved.”
Most land conflicts in the uplands date back to the 1950s, when State Forest Enterprises (SFEs, later restructured into Forest Companies, or FCs) were given formal control of large areas of land in remote areas without prior land uses being adequately considered. The situation was exacerbated by a lack of productive land and increasing pressures from the in-migration of lowlanders. The desires of FCs and the timber industry now conflict with villagers’ need to cultivate land for subsistence and income.