3.3.1. Positive Causes of a Decline in Deforestation Rates
Of all the changes that the LULCC maps showed, it was changes in forest cover that the officials were quick to focus on and choose to discuss further. Since the 2010s, provincial governments have been allocating forestry payments to districts, which then allocate these payments to communes. Communes then give payments to village households (interviews, 2023). Payment amounts are determined by the area, the quality of the forest, and the number of households in a village. In turn, villagers are tasked with protecting the forest by creating schedules for forest patrols and organizing penalties for violators (e.g., someone felling timber without permission). Payments range between about VND 4–12 million (~USD 165–495) per household, per year. While forestry officials viewed such payments for forest environmental services (PFESs) as the one forest policy that had the greatest direct impact on local villagers/farmers, some officials acknowledged the limitations of these PFES schemes. One sub-district-level official in Phong Thổ stated that the compensation provided in the communes they were in charge of—VND 5–6 million (~USD 206–248) per household annually—was probably insufficient to change behaviors regarding forest use (interview, 2023). Nevertheless, an official working in a sub-district office in Bát Xát declared that the implementation of PFESs had significantly enhanced local awareness, reducing forest encroachment and exploitation (interview, 2023).
In addition to monetary compensation, the officials also identified the allocation of land use rights as a policy measure that was key to reductions in deforestation rates, especially due to an increase in sedentarization and an associated decline in shifting cultivation. Once policies enabled the allocation of land use rights to individuals in 1993, deforestation allegedly lessened [
37]. As one sub-district-level official in Phong Thổ District explained, “The changes in land use were mainly due to people’s shifting cultivation and deforestation in the past. However, since the 1990s, people have received allocated land for agricultural purposes, and their shifting cultivation practices have decreased” (interview, 2023).
Two specific policies, one from 2012 and the other from 2017, were also seen as key to the declining deforestation rates. Officials from both districts explained that, in 2012, Decision 7/2012/qd-Ttg allowed households to be granted certain forest use rights and a forest land use certificate in return for protecting a forest area. This allowed them to become the “owners” of the land, and households started to protect “their forests” (all land in Vietnam is officially owned by the state, so these are long-term use rights; interviews, 2023 [
38]). After receiving a certificate, individuals who violated forest protection regulations faced stiff penalties. The officials argued that, historically, when forests were collectively owned, they were left unprotected and subject to widespread exploitation. However, with the allocation of individual household ”ownership”, the practice of “destroying forests” had declined (interviews, 2023).
Similarly, nearly every official we spoke with, across both districts, also attributed a decline in deforestation rates to the enforcement of Directive No. 13-CT/TW in 2017. This directive mandates that the conversion of “natural forests” requires approval from either the National Congress or the Prime Minister, imposing substantial constraints on any actor—be it a state entity, corporation, or individual—seeking to repurpose existing natural forests for alternative uses. In the event of approval, those accountable for such conversions must undertake afforestation efforts or remit funds to the government for afforestation projects. Notably, the officials indicated that a considerable number of corporations (e.g., mining, hydroelectric dams, and large cold-water fisheries) opt for the latter option (interviews, 2023).
Specific areas of the maps where conversions to open- or closed-canopy forest cover were apparent were often pointed to by officials and attributed to Program 327, “Regreening the Barren Hills Program”, implemented in 1993. As the name suggests, state efforts to afforest areas ensued. Program 327 defined three different forest classifications, which were to be managed by forest management boards, who then contracted individuals to afforest plots and protect existing forests (interviews, 2023 [
39,
40]). Further empowering individual land users, Program 327 aimed to give authority to local organizations to allocate responsibilities to individuals to plant, protect, and regenerate forests. In 1997, Program 661 (“The Five Million Hectare Reforestation Program”) began encouraging farmers to plant trees not only on “barren hills”, but also on other “inefficient” parcels of land, predominantly lower-elevation fields that rotated corn, cassava, and banana trees. Farmers were encouraged to plant
mỡ (Magnolia conifera),
keo (acacia), and
quế (Chinese cassia, or “bastard cinnamon’; see [
41] for a disambiguation of “Vietnamese cinnamon”), among other trees. One sub-district official noted that “Cinnamon is the most valuable timber tree in this area. People have gradually changed bare soil and unused land to cinnamon because of government programs” (interview, 2023).
While cinnamon was touted as a very lucrative crop, a few officials also recognized the difficulties local farmers faced in investing in such plantations. As one district official explained:
Previously, the low price of timber discouraged people from investing in tree cultivation. In upland districts, agriculture and forest products are crucial for the local communities’ livelihoods. Establishing cultivated forests in these areas requires an investment of approximately VND 8–10 million [~USD 330–410] per hectare, with income only realized after a 10-year period (interview, 2023).
Interviews with these officials (and those previously undertaken with farmers [
31]) revealed that farmers who had the financial means to invest in forestry, either privately or with government assistance, were often households that were already more wealthy, with larger land parcels (beyond what was needed for subsistence cultivation), land use rights, and surplus labor for weeding tree plantations, a point we return to in our discussion.
Each of the positive factors contributing to a decline in deforestation rates, as mentioned above, did not yield important distinctions in the responses from officials based on the district and, hence, province in which they were employed. The only distinct cause, observed in Bát Xát District, for a reduction in deforestation rates was attributed to the establishment of the Bát Xát Nature Reserve. This was inaugurated in 2017 and financially supported by KfW, a German development bank (interviews, 2023, [
42,
43]). Spanning five communes, the nature reserve covers 18,637 hectares, constituting nearly a fifth of Bát Xát District. Within the core area of the reserve, stringent regulations prohibit the collection of timber or non-timber forest products, with the exception of black cardamom. Yet, following the Reserve’s establishment, concerns arose among ethnic minority farmers regarding the potential prohibition of black cardamom cultivation in the future. Indeed, in discussions with officials in Lào Cai Province, it was disclosed that there are plans to phase out black cardamom as a viable livelihood strategy in the Reserve by the year 2030.
What we noted, which local officials consistently omitted from their discussions regarding forest conservation, were the independent measures that ethnic minority farmers have taken to conserve forests. The officials never mentioned the traditional environmental protection practices of ethnic minorities in the two districts, such as ethnic minority farmers’ widespread understanding and acknowledgment of the need to protect watershed areas, wildlife, non-timber forest products, and timber stocks [
39,
44]. Despite disrupting decades—even generations—of forest conservation by local communities in some communes, most officials argued that monetary compensation for forest protection, through payments for forest environmental services (PFESs), was appropriate. Yet, Mien, Hmong, and Hani farmers in these districts have voiced their frustrations to us regarding forest restriction laws, including those pertaining to the Bát Xát Nature Reserve [
31].
3.3.2. Negative Reasons Deforestation Continues
Forestry officials at all jurisdictional levels in both provinces identified agricultural expansion—specifically for cereal crops (rice and maize, as well as limited buckwheat and wheat in Bát Xát), medicinal plants, and grazing land (mostly for water buffalo, cows, or horses)—as primary drivers of deforestation, along with timber and firewood collection. This expansion was partly attributed to population growth. For example, Phong Thổ District had a population of 66,372 at the time of the 2009 census and 79,645 at the time of the 2019 census, a rate of increase of approximately 18.15%. Meanwhile, Bát Xát District had a population of 70,015 at the time of the 2009 census and 82,733 at the time of the 2019 census, a rate of increase of approximately 18.16%, remarkably similar to Phong Thổ District [
27,
45].
The officials predominantly attributed the conversion of closed- or open-canopy forests to bare soil, especially during the period from 1990 to 2010, to expanding swidden cultivation. A sub-district forestry official in Phong Thổ District noted that “People moved to live in other places too often, and farmers didn’t focus on just one field. Secondly, there were no fire restrictions. People just burnt areas to clear new fields and took fresh grass for animals, which caused a lot of deforestation” (interview, 2023). Nonetheless, a sub-district official from Bát Xát District offered a more sympathetic view on why local farmers had cleared forests in the past:
From 1990–2010, the economy wasn’t open, there were no border gates [at which to cross to China], and people couldn’t find work as laborers. So, farmers went to the forest to cultivate and produce crops like cassava, sweet potato, and rice. To grow rice, they needed to clear the forest and burn it. Later, when there were more opportunities for cultivating wet rice, people gradually stopped cultivating hill rice (interview, 2023).
Beyond staple crops, another sub-district official in Bát Xát District argued that deforestation was due to ethnic minority farmers cultivating medicinal crops for cash income: “From 2000 to 2010, people still violated the rules, cutting down the forest to plant black cardamom, đương quy [Angelica sinensis], and xuyên khung [Ligusticum striatum]. It related to economic pressure; they couldn’t find wage work and were forced to go to the forest” (interview, 2023).
The officials also recognized infrastructure as a cause of land use change. A sub-district official in Phong Thổ District specified: “Because of the New Countryside Program [
Nông Thôn Mới], now everyone has concrete roads that lead to their commune. Some villages have small concrete paths for motorbikes” (interview, 2023). The officials added that the New Countryside Program supported the construction of new government buildings, schools, and commune community centers and provided limited construction materials or cash for “modernizing” roofs, kitchens, and toilets (official interviews, 2023 [
46,
47]). Dependent upon road infrastructure for maintenance and construction, hydroelectric dams were also seen as an important infrastructural change in these two districts. One Bát Xát District-level official recounted that “The presence of several hydroelectric dams has already impacted forested regions. The people living in highland communes rely on natural forest products for their livelihoods. Therefore, any reduction in natural forest areas could have a significant impact on their ability to sustain themselves” (interview, 2023).