Related to the author’s ambition, a new study is needed in at least one of the local communities inside Cat Tien national park to gain a rich picture of local people’s livelihoods and conservation activities. The future research should be focused on people’s perspective of the park, and especially emphatic the trade-offs between stakeholders of the park for ensuring the conservation objectives and people’s living conditions.
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9 APPENDICES
Appendix Box 1: Historical issues of Cat Tien national park.
(1) Before 1975, Cat Tien National Park was the revolutionary base of Vietnamese Military during the resistance period against France and America. After the War, Cat Tien was entrusted to Division 600 of Vietnamese Military for forest management;
(2) On 07 July 1978, the Prime Minister took decision No. 360/TTg on the establishment of a protected forest at Nam Cat Tien located in Tan Phu district, Dong Nai province.
Subsequently, an investment plan was prepared which proposed the upgrading of Nam Cat Tien to National Park Status;
(3) On 09 August 1986, the chairman of the council of Ministers took decision No.
194/CT on the establishment of nature conservation at Tay Cat Tien;
(4) In 1989, following the rediscovery of Javan Rhinoceros, an investment plan was prepared for the establishment of Cat Loc Rhinoceros Sanctuary. This investment plan was approved by Official Letter No. 686/CV of Lam Dong Provincial People’s Committee in 1992;
(5) On 13 January 1992, the chairman of the council of Ministers took decision No.
08/CT on the passage of that investment plan. And on that same day, a management board was established for the national park;
(6) On 05 December 1998, the prime ministry took decision No. 1090/TTg on
management responsibility of the park. The responsibility was transferred from the three provincial people’s committee (Dong Nai, Lam Dong, and Binh Phuoc) to Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD);
(7) On 10 November 2001, Cat Tien National Park was accepted as the 411th biosphere reserve in the world by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO);
(8) On 31 March 2003, decision No. 893/QD-BNN-KL of MARD approved a framework for the integrated boundary re-demarcation and resettlement action plan for Cat Tien National Park. According to the present management board, this plan has been implemented from 2005 up to the present time;
(9) Finaly, on 4 August 2005, Cat Tien National Park was ratified as 1499th Ramsar Site by International Ramsar Management Board.
Source: Cat Tien national park, 2005.
Appendix Box 2: Two types of violation in Cat Tien national park.
In general, apprehended violators are taken to the nearest forest guard station and are handled by two ways depending on the type of violation. The first type for small
violations, the violator(s) will be found. In particular, for a small violation where the fine is less than 2 million VND, the violator(s) is fined at the forest guard station where they have been taken and then released. For a small violation where the fine is greater than 2 million VND, the violator(s) is fined at the central forest guard station where they are found and then released. In both situations, the violation data is recorded at the central forest guard station and the information is passed to the forest protection department office and the police. The second type for serious violations, the violator(s) will be taken to court. In particular, the violator(s) is brought to the central forest guard station where they are processed and then handled over to the police. Then, the law unit of forest protection department is responsible for processing the information and preparing the case for court.
Source: Cat Tien national park, 2005.
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Appendix Box 3: The population of Village 4, Ta Lai commune, Tan Phu district, Dong Nai province
In village 4, the population is 1,467 persons in 330 households that includes 8 people groups: Kinh (85 households: 316 persons), Chau Ma (120 households: 579 persons), Stieng (107 households: 518 persons), Chau Ro (7 households: 24 persons), SRay (8 households: 28 persons), Kho (1 household: 7 persons); Khome (1 household: 2 persons) and Hoa (1 household: 2 persons). The total population between the three main groups:
[{Kinh; Stieng; Chau Ma}/{total population of village 4}] = [22%; 39%; 35%]
Source: Ta Lai commune people’s committee, 2005.
Appendix Box 4: The solution for improving people’s livelihood
From the group discussion, respondents raise the main problems of their livelihood of which solutions were also generated by themselves. The following discussion has been drawn out:
For the Chau Ma people, the following four problems have been identified: (1) lacking capital for agricultural production and school cost; (2) low education; (3) lack knowledge on the proper application of technology for cultivation; and (4) cultivated land area inside Cat Tien national park. The four identified solutions are as follows: (1) Establish the group for borrowing money where the group leader must be a trusted person in the village. The members of the group should be diligent and hardworking people who cultivate land and labour. The interest and time for repayment would depend on a particular productive model which would suit the needs of the people. The group agreed to select Mr. K’Yeu as group leader and Mr. K’Srong as supervising person; (2) motivating the children to go to school and recruit teachers who can speak the indigenous language;
(3) Opening cultivation technology training courses. However, on the fourth problem, no solution has been arrived at as it is policy-related issues. They suggested to continue cultivating the rice area inside the park or relied on the help of the local government to find an alternative land area.
For Stieng people, the problems identified are as follows: (1) Lack of capital for cow production and cashew cultivation; (2) Lack of running water; (3) Lack of cultivated technology. The solutions generated are that (1) local government/banks give loans for the people; (2) local government provide money for water wells; (3) technical training courses should be organized more often with extended training time than the usual at the same time coinciding during cultivation period so they could easily apply knowledge
immediately rather than forget it;
For the Kinh people one interesting point is the respondent’s ability to express in detail their suggestions for reducing problems. Their suggestions closely relate to the problems identified. They wished that the local government would discuss with them the proposal to invest a 2 km road, 1.6 km electric wire, and 5 water wells in Phuoc Sang zone of the village 4. For other problems such as on cultivation aspect people realized that those were out of their control (e.g. infertile soil, lack of water). Regarding agricultural technology, they said that local government should keep the training course as it was in the past.
In summary the problems, suggestions and solutions which were identified by the people are closely related to their living condition. The problems basically reflect their current difficulties while the suggested solutions vary between indigenous people and Kinh people.
The indigenous people look more for the help of the government while the Kinh people want to contribute their share to reduce the problems.
Source: PRA exercise Tran Duc Luan, 2006
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Appendix Box 5: Timeline for the contract of forest protection in village 4.
Discussion with key informants in the village revealed the activities that followed with the contract signing:
o In 1997, there were three households who entered into the contract for forest protection of which an area of 300 ha was entrusted with a subsidy of 50 thousand VND per ha per year. Households worked by individual forms;
o In 2000, the individual arrangement continued however the management board signed a new contract with a new six Chau Ma and Stieng households. These households got 300 ha to protect. The first three households who signed a contract in 1997 continue to work on their obligation in which a 50 thousand VND per ha per year is subsidized;
o In 2003, there was a change from individual management arrangement to group management. The management board of the park gave 600 ha to 29 Chau Ma and Stieng households for forest protection in which a subsidy of 50 thousand VND per ha per year is covered.
Source: In-depth interviews with the key informants of village 4, Tran Duc Luan, 2006
Appendix Table 1.Multiple Comparisons – Using LSD function (Test for the mean difference of variables)
Variable (I) Ethnic (J) Ethnic Mean Difference (I-J) Sig.
Kinh Stieng -1.16(*) .001
Kinh Chau Ma -1.48(*) .000
1. Household size (persons)
Stieng Chau Ma -.32 .358
Kinh Stieng 110.41(*) .000
Kinh Chau Ma 91.19(*) .001
2. Income per capita per month (000
VND)
Stieng Chau Ma -19.22 .468
Kinh Stieng 1105 .672
Kinh Chau Ma -2727 .297
3. Cultivated land area (m2)
Stieng Chau Ma -3832 .143
Kinh Stieng -2.24(*) .000
Kinh Chau Ma -2.32(*) .000
4. Number of categories of forest products (before 2000)
Stieng Chau Ma -.08 .760
Kinh Stieng -1.72(*) .000
Kinh Chau Ma -2.16(*) .000
4. Number of categories of forest products (2005)
Stieng Chau Ma -.44 .112
Source: Household survey, Tran Duc Luan, 2006
* The mean difference is significant at the .05 level; Total sample zise is 150
Note: The means of household size are different between Stieng people and Kinh people;
Chau Ma people and Kinh people because of sig. = 0.001 < 0.05 level. However, the means of household size are not different between Stieng group and Chau Ma group because of sig. = 0.358 > 0.05 level (Similarly to explain other variables in this table).
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Appendix Table 2. Multiple Comparisons of households that belong to group of above poverty line
Variables (I) Ethnic (J) Ethnic Mean Difference (I-J) Sig.
Kinh Chau Ma -2.77973(*) .000
Kinh Stieng -1.98158(*) .000
Before 2000
Stieng Chau Ma -.79815(*) .032
Kinh Chau Ma -2.10624(*) .000
Kinh Stieng -1.32105(*) .001
In 2005
Stieng Chau Ma -.78519(*) .048
Source: Household survey, Tran Duc Luan, 2006
* The mean difference is significant at the .05 level.
Note: The means of number of forest product categories in 2005 are different between Chau Ma and Kinh; between Stieng and Kinh because of sig. = 0.001 < 0.05 level.
Similarly, the means of number of forest product categories in 2005 are different between Stieng group and Chau Ma group because of sig. = 0.048 < 0.05 level.
Appendix Table 3. Multiple Comparisons of households that belong to group of under poverty line
Variables (I) Ethnic (J) Ethnic Mean Difference (I-J) Sig.
Kinh Chau Ma -1.63768(*) .001
Kinh Stieng -2.23333(*) .000
Before 2000
Stieng Chau Ma .59565 .112
Kinh Chau Ma -2.14130(*) .000
Kinh Stieng -1.88333(*) .000
In 2005
Stieng Chau Ma -.25797 .518
Source: Household survey, Tran Duc Luan, 2006
* The mean difference is significant at the .05 level.
Note: The means of number of forest product categories in 2005 are different between Chau Ma and Kinh; between Stieng and Kinh because of sig. = 0.001 < 0.05 level.
However, the means of number of forest product categories in 2005 are not different between Stieng group and Chau Ma group because of sig. = 0.518 > 0.05 level.
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Appendix Table 4. SWOT analysis on Ta Lai commune and Village 4
Items TaLai Commune Village 4
Strengths
The majority of the people follow the annual plan of Ta Lai commune’s peoples’ committee on agricultural cultivation transformation
Democratic regulations from the people’s groups, villages to the commune are being carried out. Thus, people collaborate with the local government on socio-economic development plan
Leaders and officers in villages and commune are enthusiastic with their duties.
Labor force is plenty
People begin to be familiar and applied technology for cow, rice, cashew, and fruit production.
The traditional culture of minority people is really valuable for researchers. And, indigenous knowledge is useful for conservation management in Cat Tien national park.
Weakness
Limited budget for action plan of commune.
The co-operation between the commune and the other offices (the police, the forest guards and Cat Tien national park) has a constraint of remote location and traffic in particular patrolling and handle the violations.
Traffic is stills difficult on rainy season. Electricity is not yet to serve for local people. Lack of running water on dry season.
Most people rely on others help. They are looking for the support of government or projects
Village 4 People’s education level is lower than the other villages in commune and the requirement of technology training course.
Opportunities
Be invested on infrastructure, for example road and community house and school. by government People are supported on capital, seed, breeding animals and technology from programs-projects.
Government has been built a cultural house, chain bridge, and preserved traditional culture of people.
Program 135, 137 and other projects develop infrastructure for village
Threats
Output and input prices are unstable.
Unusual weather (drought)
People in the temporary households and outsiders come to village to trade forest products. They abet local people to enter the park in order to hunt and fish.
Poor people often enter the park to collect forest products for their life.
Source: Group discussion with leaders of Ta Lai commune and Village 4 (Brainstorming), Tran Duc Luan, 2006