Project description

Title: Management of Tam Dao National Park and Buffer Zones
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Socialist Republic of Viet Nam
Lead executing agency: Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), People’s Committees from three provinces (PPC)
Overall term: 2003 to 2009

Context

The Tam Dao National Park is situated 70 kilometres north of Hanoi on the fringe of the Red River delta. It rises steeply from densely populated lowlands to a height of 1,529 metres above sea level. The area is rich in biodiversity and is home to species found in other ecosystems in the region, ranging from the rainforests of South-East Asia to the alpine forests of the eastern Himalaya.

Over 190,000 people, belonging to six different ethnic groups, live in the immediate surroundings of the national park. As well as using the national park for grazing, they also hunt wild animals, gather firewood, bamboo, and edible and medicinal plants and collect water for drinking and irrigation. There is a lack of instruments for balancing the competing demands of local usage and government-supported efforts to develop agriculture, industry and tourism, and a lack of strategies for the sustainable protection and management of the natural resources.

Objective

The management of the Tam Dao national park is improved. Nature protection and the conservation of biodiversity is guaranteed. The livelihoods of the population living in the buffer zones are improved.

Approach

This is a cooperative project between GTZ and DED.

Balancing interests. Sustainable resource-use measures are planned and implemented on the basis of the jointly identified priorities for action in the interests of the local population and nature protection.

At local level, resource-use and management plans are drawn up and put into practice. At institutional level, the planning results are incorporated into the national park’s management plans, into socio-economic five-year plans for the districts and provinces, as well as into training concepts for the forest administration.The nature-protection and income-growth objectives are linked through the support provided to agricultural farming systems as well as through the sustainable production and marketing of medicinal plants and other forest products outside the national park. Furthermore, the project is introducing simple equipment and technology for reducing the use of fossil fuels (wood conserving stoves, biogas and tea dryers).

Managing forest and protected areas. The project promotes concepts for active nature protection and the regeneration and preservation of valuable species and habitats. The basic and further training courses provided are enabling staff in the national park administration, park rangers and forest protection officers in the district to plan and implement these activities independently. A training concept and national curricula for national park officers are being developed. Moves are currently underfoot to develop a tourism programme. A forest school with a national park information centre has been designed and set up.

Results achieved so far

Balancing interests. More than 80 village-based resource-use plans have been introduced in all provinces. The local authorities and the people living in the buffer zones are using these planning methods. All stakeholders now have a better understanding and greater awareness of the environmental and resource-conservation issues. The first methodically rigorous studies confirm that the project activities are helping reduce poverty.

Managing forest and protected areas. Models for forest rehabilitation, including the re-introduction of indigenous trees, have been tested and are in demand by other donor projects. Consideration is currently being given to the reform of the national park administration within the framework of a pilot initiative supported by the project.