The people: Challenges in Quang Nam
Sustenance or revenue? Different perspectives on natural resources
In an effort to stop the practice of rotating agriculture, which is not only environmentally unsound, but is seen as an impediment to introducing more modern methods of agriculture, the government implemented a policy of settling ethnic minorities in permanent communities.
This move, which provides legal rights to communities to access land and ensures the persistence of traditional access and use rules, represents a huge investment in infrastructure and a significant allocation of funds. In the case of Quang Nam, efforts for this policy amount to 25 per cent of the province's budget.Some problems persist however. For example, hunger is a regular occurrence, and was cited as the prime concern of villagers in the Central Annamites in a recent study commissioned by the WWF Greater Mekong Programme.
The pressure on natural resources is exacerbated by people with a different approach to using the forests. The Kinh, who are not indigenous to the Central Annamites and whose lifestyle is fundamentally different from the ways of other ethnic groups, do not rely directly on the forest for sustenance. As a result, they tend to consider natural resources as a source of revenue.
Timber is scarce. Wild animals fewer. And forest products dwindle
Many are traders who are capitalizing on the exploitation of the forests, selling wildlife and forest products in the market instead of using them for their own consumption. But this has become a less viable option as more and more forest cover is lost and tonnes of soil are washed away every year by the monsoon rains.
Lean times, diminishing returns
Timber for houses has become scarce and people must now travel far to collect firewood, while wild animals and other forest products on which people have depended, especially in lean times, have dwindled.
Still, access to what forest remains after decades of war, which left the land denuded and poisoned by defoliants sprayed by the U.S., is now severely restricted by logging bans and the establishment of parks and nature reserves.
