Lively forests of Laos and Vietnam
Trip Start
Oct 11, 2007
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8
9
Trip End
Dec 16, 2011
Somewhere in, Vietnam
Thursday, January 26, 2012
People and Forests in Laos and Vietnam: a field study tour with students from the University of Melbourne and the Australian National University - an appreciation
Not having been a student for a while I was fascinated by the use of role play for teaching this course. At the final session in Da Nang, Vietnam, we split into different groups yet again to pantomime something of what we had learned in the last two weeks. Different combinations of students and instructors focusing on one after another of the five main themes—governance, community, environment, international organizations and NGOs, and industry—had been swapping between 5 small buses throughout the trip. This was the third role play exercise, another had been in the village of Nong in Laos when groups representing each theme had presented their views on a proposal for a large-scale tree plantation to a mock board of executives of an international company who were to fund the project; yet another (with dress up!) al fresco in a dry dipterocarp forest when representative groups argued the merits of a big hydro-electricity scheme on a subsidiary of the Mekong River. In the final exercise groups were not restricted to any one theme but were free to play out their main impressions overall. The high-spirited, predominantly young students chose to do this with humour, so that everyone was entertained while it was clear that some serious lessons had been learned. Finally, everyone got the chance to reflect individually on what they had learned of the interaction of people and forests in the two countries visited by drawing on butchers' paper then explaining what they had drawn.
What is the purpose of this field trip, Forests in the Asia Pacific Region, now in its fourth iteration? The Melbourne University website states:
At the completion of this subject (FRST90030, which counts towards the National Forestry Masters Program) students will have an advanced understanding of
- the forest ecosystems of the Asia Pacific region and their role in human development
- forest management and governance systems for different parts of this region
- current issues and future trends in forest policy and management in the Asia Pacific Region
The main route taken was: Vientiane – Nam Ka Ding – Thaket – Savannakhet – Sepon – Lao Bao (border crossing point into Vietnam) – Khe San – Hue – Da Nang, with numerous side excursions, including a short walk along the Ho Chi Minh Trail where it crossed in Laos.
That forests are important in the lives of local communities can easily be guessed when it is known that some 27 million people live rural lifestyle either alongside or in the forests in these two countries alone. At certain seasons, when it is too dry for rice and other crops, forests provide basic necessities such as animal and plant food and medicines as well as providing fuel and building materials. Activities which remove or degrade these forests are certain to make life harder for local populations. Two forms of degradation still evident more than thirty years after they were delivered are the massively reduced forest crown cover first caused by defoliant sprays used by USA armed forces and perpetuated by opportunistic farming by villagers, and the dangerous presence of unexploded ordnance -- hundreds of thousands of bombs and shells -- from the time of the communist push to re-unify Vietnam. Logging, both legal and illegal, inundation of forest and farmland by an increasing number of dams being built or planned for hydro-electricity schemes, and resumption of land for tree plantations (including oil palm and rubber), all are of concern to communities dependent on forests for basic necessities of life. Governments recognize this and are attempting to balance the need for national development with protecting environments and allowing villagers their customary rights. With a vast market nearby in China and the rest of the world also hungry for timber, the pressure on remaining high quality forests in emerging countries like Laos and Vietnam is great.
Vietnam has responded with a program of planting fast growing species such as eucalypts and acacias on already degraded land which is seeing the total forested area in the country increase towards a target of 42 percent of its total land area by 2020. The booming furniture manufacturing industry has adapted rapidly to using this plantation grown wood and it is being used on short rotation for pulp and paper feedstock. One land system never previously under forest are sands on a strip up to 10 km wide bordering the long coastline of Vietnam where Melaleuca, Casuarina and Acacia species are being successfully established.
Laos meanwhile has adopted a more cautious approach to plantations, preferring their approval and management be handled at regional and local administrative levels, while having a national strategy to try to at least maintain current levels of forest at around 40 percent of total land area by encouraging regenerating and planting of degraded forest land at the same time as offering incentives such as PES and REDD to discourage forest clearing.
While essentially these countries must find their own way to best both protect and employ their substantial forest resources for social benefit, there are watchful international organizations ready to assist with money and expertise when called upon. Encouraging implementation of the REDD scheme (Reducing Emissions from Degradation and Deforestation), PES (Payment for Environmental Services), and enhancing FLEGT (Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade) are cases in point.
All formal presentations made during the tour are on the Melbourne University website, together with reading lists. Access to these is restricted to enrolled students but Rod Keenan's informative blog <http://rodkeenan.tumblr.com/> is available to all. What I learned of forestry practice and the crucial importance of forests to communities in this part of the world has changed my notion of forestry forever!
