Epsilon Open Archive

Abstract

Responses to inefficiency of the state control over forests, has led to the enactment of a forest devolution policy to facilitate participation of local people in forest management. This thesis examines the processes of the making of forest devolution policy and its interpretation in practice through a study in Thua Thien Hue, North Central Coast of Vietnam. It analyzes the roles and power of the actors in implementing forest devolution. This thesis explores the influence of forest devolution on the distribution of the endowments, entitlements and thus on the livelihoods of different socio-economic groups. Through exploring the effects of the change in forest property rights, the research aims to contribute to the debates on the contributions and limitations of forest devolution to rural poverty alleviation as well as forest management practices. The study applies both quantitative and qualitative approaches based on a household survey, focus group discussions and in-depth interviews. The theoretical underpinnings for the research draws from policy analysis perspectives, the extended environmental entitlement approach and property rights analysis. The findings indicate that the process of making and implementing forest devolution in Vietnam is in the hand of state bodies with limited participation of beneficiaries. The forest devolution policy was enacted with expectations of increasing the rate of economic growth, reducing poverty as well as forest rehabilitation. The new institutional arrangement for forest management have brought different endowments and entitlements to the different social groups as a result of muddle in both policy papers and the interpretations of the external actors in implementation of the devolution policy. The study suggests that in order to understand the influences of a policy, we need to explore a whole process and the dynamics of the policy over time. The study raises questions about the contribution of forest devolution to improving livelihoods of the rural poor, women and forest management status as well. This thesis suggests that in order to improve the contribution of forest devolution to rural poverty reduction and forest rehabilitation, it needs to expand the rights to the beneficiaries and requires development of a clear mechanism to ensure participation of people in making and implementing policy.