Working Landscape Viet Nam

The Srepok River Basin is located in the Central Highlands of Viet Nam, that comprise five provinces and represent a distinct agro-ecological region of the country. The basin measures about 1.53 million hectares, with some 2.14 million people living in the area. It is home to 12 native ethnic groups as well as migrants, who mainly come from Viet Nam’s Central and Northern provinces. The region has the largest remaining natural forests of Viet Nam. The forest cover of Srepok River Basin is about 45%. The Government of Viet Nam manages and preserves the forest through state agencies such as forest management boards, national parks, and forest enterprises (currently known as forest companies). Though local people involved in protecting the forest, mainly through annual contracts with the state forest agencies, they receive little benefit for their efforts. The river basin has a wide variety of land-use types, including agricultural production, forestry plantations, animal husbandry, protected areas, and residential areas. Besides crops such as cotton, maize, tea, pepper and coffee are an important source of income for people living in the landscape. However, coffee also has its negative effects because it uses a lot of water and is partially grown in areas that are unsuitable (e.g. slopes). Many coffee plantations are monocultures that have been established on encroached forestland, and the expansion of coffee continues to be a driver of deforestation in the landscape. The current annual rate of deforestation is about 34,000 hectares, and natural forest areas continue to decline. Climate change is expected to increase the water needs of coffee and other crops, while the decrease in forest cover may result in reduced water availability. This will put local livelihoods and forest at risk in the river basin. Another challenge in the landscape is that the decisions about the use of land and forest resources, are made by different government agencies, who do not interact. Therefore, there is no integrated planning at the landscape level. Moreover, there is very little participation from other stakeholders, in particular communities, in these decision-making processes. In addition, the benefits of protecting and restoring the forest are not clear and not accessible for communities in the landscape. The value of forest is seen as low, compared to the cultivation of cash crops, thus discouraging local people to protect forest. Also, the ecosystem services provided by the forest are not valued by stakeholders in the landscape. Tropenbos Viet Nam envisions a landscape where forests are protected and restored, so they can provide essential ecosystem services, while these services are valued by the landscape actors. Communities in the landscape are able to participate in forest restoration and management, and obtain benefits from these forest resources, for example through agroforestry, and the sustainable extraction of timber and non-timber forest products, or timber. In addition, coffee farms will apply climate smart practices to increase their resilience to climate shocks, and coffee agroforestry is used to restore ecosystem functions in essential areas. Especially, all stakeholders work together to develop, implement and monitor landscape restoration plans.