PaperpresentedattheCommunityForestryManagementWorkshopinBacKan(20‐21April2010) Page1

LessonsLearnedfromtheParticipatoryForestLandAllocationProcess
fundedbyAusAIDinQuangNgai

PhamDinhPhong
DeputyHead,LandManagementDivision
DoNRE,QuangNgai


Background
Forestry, as one of the important natural  resources of Quang Ngai Province, has contributed
significantly in the economic development of the Province. Though efforts has beenmade for
bettermanagementofforestresourcesbothatstateandindividuallevelsinthepast,however,
therewereambiguityintheforestboundaryandforestownershipsresultingtolackofeffective
forestmanagement.About343,436Ha.oflandisclassifiedasforestlandoutof515,266Ha.of
naturallandareainQuangNgaiProvince.

AusAID funded RUDEP (2002‐2007) assisted the Participatory Forest Land Allocation Process
(PFLAP) to allocate the forest land to individuals and enterprises. Later, it is followed by
Institutional Support Program (ISP)withthe purposetoenhance the qualityand effectiveness
of P135 II implementation in six upland districts  of the Province and supported the woodlot
ownerstoenhancetheircapacityandproductivity.

The objectives of PFLAP are to implement social contribution  policy of the forestry sector to
secure the forest land ownership to use it sustainably, to create employment to improve the
livelihoods of upland people resulting to enhance their incomes and to increase the
participation of relevant stakeholders in the forest management by allocating forest land,
especiallythepoorethnicminoritypeople.

This paper describes, in brief, the forest land allocation process with its strengths and

provincial,districtandcommunelevel;
• introducehouseholdstoforestlandtypes,regulationsontheiruseandopportunitiesfor
householdstouseandmanagetheirland;
• ensure that the households understand the objectives, principles, and significance of
landuseplanningandlandallocationactivitiesandthattheycanidentifytheirrolesand
dutiesinlanduseplanningandlandallocationprocess;
• introduce households to concepts, signs, colours, and the ways to identify boundaries
andplacenamesonthecurrentthreeforest‐typemapsandexercisestoidentifycurrent
landusepractices.

Subsequentlysecondmeetingwasfollowedtodiscussandproposeaforestlanduseplan.The
meetingwasconductedwiththeapplicationofPRAmethodologytodiscusslanduseplanning,
and land use and management plans. Forest land use criteria, such as the areas planned for
protection, production, cultivation, or afforestation were introduced to the households using
the topographical map (1/5,000 scale). Discussions also i ncluded the future forest land use
strategies.The District Working Group  (DWG)thenworked with households to identifyfuture
land use activities for various forest land types. Forest land use status as well as the ways to
improveland usepractices of local  people wasdiscussed andagreed byall participantsat the
meeting.

Draftoftheforestlanduseplanningwaspreparedasfollows.
• The DWG in coordination with the consultants entered the information in the future
land
useplanningandboundariesintothe1/10,000scaletopographicalmap.Thismap
included land use planning details and proposed land allocation plans agreed by
participantsatthevillagemeeting.
• The forest land area and planned area of different land types for each village were
calculatedandenteredintoaninventorysheet.Communelanduseplanningmapswere
anaggregationofvillageplanningmapsanddata.
• On the basis of these maps, the DWG assisted the Commune People’s Committees

• TrainingstoprovideguidanceonapprovalworktotheCLAC;
• Preparationforthevillagemeetingandconsolidationoftheproposals;
• Villagemeetings;
• CLACmeetings;
• DistrictSteeringCommittee(SC)meetingsand
• TrainingsontheuseofViLissoftware.

ByJune 2009,totalareameasuredforthepreparationofcadastralmapswas122,647Ha.with

theissuanceof117,616LOCs.

CommunityEffortsinForestManagement
With the ownership of forest land, the individual households are contributing to establish
plantation forest  especially with Acacia species. Though there are individual efforts in the
plantation establishments, they are also involved in the Activity Groups to enhance  the
productivity
andmarketdevelopment.ISPhassupportedwiththetechnicaltrainingtowoodlot
ownersandimprovementintheforestmanagementtooptimizetheproductivity.

Achievements
Overall,the LOCs have been delivered in all the area of forest land currently used by local
peoplewiththecompletionofcadastralmapsofforest
landinsixuplanddistricts.
PaperpresentedattheCommunityForestryManagementWorkshopinBacKan(20‐21April2010) Page4


This was due to the timely instructions of the political system from province, districts and
communesandskilledstaffofDepartmentofNaturalResourcesandEnvironmentandrelevant
agenciesincludingconsultantagencies.ItshouldbenotedthatRUDEPandISPhassignificantly
contributedintermsoffinancialandtechnicalsupports.

developedforthecomingyears.
• This Process not only shows the elaborate and logical nature of work but  also brings
practicalbenefitstouplandpeople.TheyarenowprovidedwiththeLOCsand
havethe
rightswiththeirland.

DifficultiesandShortcomings
• The transfer from Protection Forest into Production Forest afterthe approval ofthree
forest‐type classification was slow due to the lack of guidelines from  the central
government.Itwasnotuntil2008thatMARDprovidedguidelinesonthis.Asaresult,it
PaperpresentedattheCommunityForestryManagementWorkshopinBacKan(20‐21April2010) Page5

has been impossible to allocate land and issue the LOCs for some area of land
transferredfromProtectionForestintoProductionForest.
• TheDNREDandtheLandRegistrationOfficesintheuplanddistrictsarelackofstaff.In
addition, these staff are overloaded with work volume and their contribution to this
workwasthereforeverylimited.
• Some local authorities did not concentrate efforts on this work.What they did wasto
assign the work to the professional staff and consultant agencies without any
instructions. Consequently, the issues emerged during the implementation were not
addressedinatimelymanner.
• Theeffective coordinationbetweenthe consultantagencies, the CPCs,and theDNRED
ofsomedistrictswassometimeslackingandnotregular,whichcausedthecheckingand
appraisalofdocumentsinaccurate.
• Due to scattered settlement of the local people, it was difficult to conduct meetings
since people had to travel too far. In some villages, meetings had to be held several
timesandsomemeetingshadtobeheldatnightsothatpeoplecouldfullyparticipate.

LessonsLearned
ThroughtheimplementationofPFLAPinQuangNgai,thefollowinglessonshavebeendrawnby

Forestlandallocationhascontributedtoguaranteethelandrightsofindividualhouseholds
especiallythepooruplandpeople,bothmaleandfemale,oftheprovince.Theymade
significantcontributiontoenhancetheproductivityoftheforestoncetheyreceiveland
ownership.ThePFLAPhasnotonlysupportedthepoorhouseholdsbutitalsocontributedto
capacitybuildingoftheimplementingagenciesbothinpolicydevelopmentandtechnicalfield.
Astheallocatedforestisscattered,theindividualforestownersneedtomanagetheforestina
communityapproachwithmarketdevelopmenttomaximizetheproductivityandincome.
PaperpresentedattheCommunityForestryManagementWorkshopinBacKan(20‐21April2010) Page7



Appendix1:SevenStepsofPFLAP
No Step Contents
Step1 Administrativepreparation
+ Formation of the provincial and district Steering
Committees; (In practice, SC was not formed at the
provincial level. PPC assigned DONRE to take the
leadintheimplementation)
+Formation(orrestructuring)oftheCommuneLand
AdvisoryCommittees;
+ Formation of the provincial and district Working
Groups.
Step2 Technical preparation and
collection of information,
documentsandmaps
+ Technical Training for the district Working Group
andtheCommuneLandAdvisoryCouncil;
+Preparationofmaps;
+ Collection, review and evaluation of related
documentsandmaps;

+Approvalofthecommuneforestlanduseplanning
andforestlandallocationplans.
PaperpresentedattheCommunityForestryManagementWorkshopinBacKan(20‐21April2010) Page8

Step5

Mapping and identification of
land boundaries in the field,
and preparation of cadastral
maps
+ Surveying, mapping, identification of boundaries,
and locations of forest land lots in the field (field
exercises);
+ Development of cadastral maps of forest Land‐
Scale1/5,000(indoorexercises);
+Reviewandinspectionof
theoutputs;
+Submissionofmaps
Step6 Preparation of LOCs
documents, appraisal of land
allocation documents and
issuance of Forest Land Use
OwnershipCertificates
+RegistrationofLOCs
+ Preparation of documents for land ownership
certificates;
+Appraisalandapprovalofthedocumentsforforest
land allocation and forest land‐use ownership
certificates.
Step7