The site
Natural- physical conditions
Bac Kan province is located at the centre of the VietBac region at about 21o 48’N to 22o 44’ N, 105o 26’E to 106o 15’E, about 170 km to the north of Hanoi and about 200 km south of the border with China. The topography of Bac Kan province is complex with many valleys, hill and rocky mountains with average slope of 26°.
Located in monsoon tropical of North-East Vietnam region, the province has two main seasons, cold in the winter and hot wet in the summer. The annual average temperature is about 22.5 °C. The lowest temperature is recorded in February at about 15°C and the highest temperature in June at about 28°C. Because of complex topography, the variation in microclimate is large. Annual rainfall is in the range of 1,400 - 1,900 mm, highest in July and lowest in February. The main rainy season is from March to September, provides 75-80% of total annual rainfall. Average humidity is in the range of 85%.
Bac Kan province has thousands of streams and rivers of different sizes, but the basin with the five rivers Cau, Day, Nang, Bac Giang and Na Ri, is particularly suitable for mapping ES buyers and sellers as well as specific cause-effect relationships linked to the services continuing. In each watershed, environment services and goods can be defined, and the relationship between upstream and downstream land users can be mapped in order to define ES providers and ES beneficiaries. This creates good conditions for negotiation and awareness raising, which are important for creating voluntary involvement and clear forms of conditionality.
With forest cover at 55, 1%, the province appears rich in forest resources. The rich natural forest is only about 9%, while poor forest and restoring forest (pioneer tree species) occupy more than 50%. About 20% of the total forest land is bamboo. About 124,000 ha of forest land lacks tree cover and can be a target of a forestation and reforestation programs. Forests in Bac Kan are home to 110 families and 336 species of bird, reptile, amphibian and mammals, of which 64 species are listed in the Vietnamese Red Book. The flora is rich with 148 families, 537 genera and 826 species, of which 52 species are in the Vietnamese Red Book.
The main crops are paddy, corn, soybean, tobacco, ground nut, and sugarcane and fruit trees. Rice yield is lower than the average yield of other province in Vietnam, at about 4, 5 ton/ha/season; corn yields are about 3.9 ton/ha/season, also below-average. The low yields are attributed to low investment and poor seed resources.
Socio-economic conditions
The province has a population of 306,000 people, living in an area of 4861 km2. It has seven districts, one town, and 122 communes. Most residents are poor (the poverty rate is 34 per cent, above the national average of 20 per cent in 2004) and belong to ethnic minorities (Tay, Dao, Mong, and Nung). Agriculture and forestry are the main source of income for 85 per cent of the population. GDP growth in 2007 was 13.1 per cent and the average annual income per capita was US$309 (VND 4.95 million). Per capita income was about 1.35 million dong per capita (100 USD) in 1997 and increased to 4, 95 million dong per capita (about 300 USD) in 2007. This is still low compared to the average income per capita of Vietnam at about 830 USD in 2007.
The issue
The total forest land in the project area is 164,850 ha, compared with only 19,057.8 ha of agricultural land. This shows the high potential for forest resources to play a role in improving local livelihoods. The limited agricultural land (0.8 ha per average five-person household), and unexploited forest resources could be the main reasons for the high level of household poverty in the targeted districts, Pac Nam, Ba Be and Na Ri (52 per cent, 56 per cent and 37 per cent respectively).
The potential for and constraints on PES in Bac Kan province were assessed according to how the project area conditions and opportunities could meet the most important PES requirements. These requirements include identification of ES buyers and sellers; the possibility of sustaining financing for ES; voluntarily, conditionality, duration and contract forms; agreements referring to specific cause-effect relationships linked to the continuation of the services; and, the form and level of payment.
Dominated by forestry and agroforestry upland terraces with Ba Be Lake, the Bac Kan provincial landscape provides all four environmental services: watershed function, carbon sequestration, landscape beauty and biodiversity conservation. On the basis of lessons learned from PES cases in Vietnam, it appears that the most successful PES schemes relevant to Bac Kan might be watershed function and carbon sequestration. The assessment of potential and constraints for PES in Bac Kan was therefore focused on these two kinds of ES.
The reward
The project’s direct beneficiaries are the upland poor. These collectively number about 11,300 households or 36 per cent of the total households in the three districts and 51 per cent of the poor households in the whole Bac Kan province. The indirect project beneficiaries are all 23,400 households in the project area with additional spillover benefits to households in other Bac Kan districts through better policy and investment implementation (Bac Kan Appraisal draft report).
The project’s proposed goal is to achieve sustainable and equitable poverty reduction and improved livelihoods among the rural poor in Bac Kan. The project’s purpose is to establish a framework for sustainable and profitable agroforestry development in Bac Kan province, targeting rural poor households.
The project contains three components, including:
Component 1. Sustainable and Equitable Forest Land Management: Component 1 addresses forest land use planning and allocation, to promote the sustainable utilization of production and protection forest land as well as ensure poor households and women accrue income and benefits from forestry resources.
Component 2. Generating Income Opportunities for the Rural Poor: Component 2 promotes improved services and technologies provided through pluralistic, pro-poor, demand-driven transfer mechanisms. Under Component 2, public-private partnerships and community managed investment funds would enhance pro-poor agro-forestry investment.
Component 3. Innovative Environmental Opportunities: Under Component 3, forage-based conservation, sustainable land use management, bio-energy development and other innovative options will be assessed and promoted. Options for Payment for Ecosystem/Environment Services (PES) are to be assessed and tested through pilot projects including Integrated Watershed Management, A/R-CDM, CDM (energy) and conservation funds for soil and water resource management. Pro-poor ecotourism will also be promoted.
Site Partners
A partnership, established during this scoping survey and project formulation, will work closely to support Bac Kan during the planning and implementation of PES–related activities. The consortium contains:
- ICRAF Vietnam under the umbrella of the RUPES II project provides technical assistance in developing the PES mechanism as well as coordinating the PES piloting in Bac Kan.
The following partners are committed to work under ICRAF/RUPES II coordination for Bac Kan:
1. Xuan Mai University, Forest Science Institute of Vietnam (FSIV) which is committed to providing technical assistance on CDM and PDD development.
2. Thai Nguyen University (TNU), Hue University of Agriculture and Forestry (HUAF) and Ha Noi Agricultural University (HAU) have extensive experience in participatory methods, rural development and GIS. It is ready to provide Training of Trainers on community involvement for PES, as well as technical assistance for GIS analysis.
Contact:
Minh Ha Hoang
Email: m.h.hoang@cgiar.org