Overview

Tuyen Hoa district in Vietnam’s Quang Binh province, located in the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot, boasts exceptional natural and cultural wealth. The region’s evergreen tropical forests are home to unique fauna and flora. This includes the Endangered (IUCN) and CITES Appendix II listed Hatinh langur (Trachypithecus hatinhensis), and threatened tree species such as the Critically Endangered ebony Diospyros mun and the Endangered legume Pterocarpus macrocarpus. Illegal cutting of valuable timbers, wildlife hunting, in particular of the Hatinh langur, agricultural expansion, and indiscriminate collection of non-timber forest products, are key drivers of biodiversity loss. Quang Binh province therefore has approved the establishment of over 500 hectares of Special-use forest (SUF) in Tuyen Hoa. The SUF presents important biodiversity
conservation opportunities but also challenges for livelihood security of some 2,770 households, half of whom are poor and dependent on wild forest resources, farming and raising livestock in the SUF area. The establishment of SUF directly impacts their livelihoods as legal restrictions apply to agricultural activities and collection of forest products.

Therefore, through this project, we aim to:

• Strengthen livelihood security of the Kinh and other local ethnic groups through sustainable
  agroforestry models.
• Develop practical SUF co-management models that involve and recognise the voluntary
  community groups as a key mechanism to protect native forest resources.
• Enhance technical capacity on ecological restoration and sustainable agroforestry to reduce the
  lack of knowledge and practical knowhow among local communities about the links between
  langur conservation and the restoration needs of the wider habitat.
• Promote policy recommendations on best-practice models for SUF community co-management,
  sustainable agroforestry and forest ecological restoration with local, provincial and national
  authorities for policy dialogue and integration in ongoing and future policy frameworks and
  strategies for sustainable forest co-management.

Outputs

1. The socio-economic status, income sources and market situation of households in Tuyen
   Hoa district are assessed and market-based agroforestry practices are established​
2. The SUF community co-management plan is jointly developed and implemented with
   community members and local authorities ​
3. Knowledge of and capacities and capabilities of local communities in Tuyen Hoa district in
   forest restoration, sustainable and income generating agroforestry, small-scale farm
   businesses, and prevention of zoonotic diseases from close animal-human interaction, are
   increased ​
4. Best-practice of development and implementation of community-based management of
   SUF, including forest ecological restoration and sustainable agroforestry models, is
   promoted for integration in national and sub-national policies by the end of the project
   (2025)​

Partners

Supported by the UK government’s Darwin Initiative, this project is implemented in partnership with
Center for Highland Natural Resource Governance Research (CEGORN), Viet Nam, ICRAF (World
Agroforestry), Viet Nam and Langur Conservation Voluntary Group (VCG)​. This 3-year-project started
in June 2022 and expected to run till March 2025.