Decision No. 106/2006/QD-BNN dated November 27, 2006 the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development promulgating the instruction on management of village community forests

DECISION

PROMULGATING THE INSTRUCTION ON MANAGEMENT OF VILLAGE COMMUNITY FORESTS

THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Pursuant to the 2004 Law on Forest Protection and Development At the proposal of the director of the Forestry Department,

DECIDES:

Article 1.- To promulgate together with this Decision the Instruction on Management of Village Community Forests for experimental application to 40 communes selected for the implementation of Decision No. 1641/QD/BNN-HTQT of June 5, 2006, of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, approving the Project on "2006-2007 pilot community forestry program";

Communes not specified in Decision No. 1641/QD/BNN-HTQT but provided with financial assistance by other international projects may apply articles and provisions of this Instruction in organizing the management of community forests in their respective localities.

Article 2.- To assign the director of the Forestry Department to guide in detail the specialized methods and techniques in managing community forests according to his/her functions and assigned tasks.

Article 3This Decision takes effect 15 days after its publication in "CONG BAO."

Article 4.- The director of the Ministry's Office, the Forestry Department director, directors of provincial/municipal Services of Agriculture and Rural Development that implement the project on "2006-2007 pilot community forestry program" and other internationally funded projects, and heads of concerned units shall implement this Decision.

INSTRUCTION

ON MANAGEMENT OF VILLAGE COMMUNITY (Promulgated together with Decision No. 106/2006/QD-BNN of November 27, 2006, of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development)

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1Governing scope

This document guides the allocation of forests; the elaboration of forest management plans; rights and obligations of village communities (hereinafter referred to as communities for short); and responsibilities of concerned agencies and organizations in the course of management of village community forests (hereinafter referred to as community forests for short).

Article 2

1. The village communities in 40 communes of 10 provinces that experiment community forestry under Decision No. 1641/QD-BNN-HTQT of June 5, 2006, of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, approving the Project on "2006-2007 pilot community forestry program" funded by the Forestry Sector Trust Fund (called Decision No. 1641/QD-BNN for short).

2. Localities, agencies, organizations and individuals involved in the course of management of community forests defined in this Instruction.

Article 3

In this Instruction, the terms below are construed as follows:

1. Community forests means forests allocated by the State to village communities for stable and long-term use for forestry purposes.

2. Allocation of forests to village communities means the allocation by the State of the right to use forests to communities under administrative decisions of competent state bodies.

3. Management of community forests is a form of forest management whereby the village communities, in their capacity as forest owners, participate in activities of forest allocation, elaboration of forest management plans and organization of the implementation of those plans, performance of obligations and exercise of rights, supervision and assessment of forests allocated to communities by the State.

4. Community forest management board is an organization set up by a village community to coordinate the management of the village's forests.

5. Five-year forest management plan means a plan on forestry activities on the forest area allocated by the State to a village community, which is elaborated by that community and implemented within 5 years.

6. Annual forest management plan means a plan on a community's forestry activities in a year on the basis of the five-year forest management plan.

7. Forest resource assessment means activities of quantitatively and qualitatively assessing the current status of community forests with the participation of communities.

8. Forest protection and development convention of a community means a convention formulated by a village community for forest protection and development through the combination of the community's traditions and customary practice with the State's policies in the management of natural resources.

Chapter II

ALLOCATION OF FORESTS TO COMMUNITIES

Article 4Grounds and conditions for allocation of forests to communities

1. The allocation of forests to communities must be based on the following grounds:

2. Conditions on allocation of forests to communities.

a/ The village communities share the same customs, practices and have the traditional attachment to forests in production, life, culture and belief; have the capacity to manage forests; have the demand for forests and file applications for forest allocation.

- Forest areas currently managed by the concerned commune-level People's Committee and not yet allocated to organizations, households or individuals.

- Forest areas recovered from state-run forestry and agricultural farms after the review of forest areas in the course of reorganization and renewal of state-run agro-forestry farms.

- Forest areas recovered by the State from organizations, households and individuals under the provisions of Clause 1, Article 26 of the Law on Forest Protection and Development.

- Forest areas voluntarily returned to the State by households and individuals for allocation to village communities for management and use.

Article 5Forest blocks, quotas and duration of allocation of forests to communities

1. Communities are allocated the following forest blocks:

a/ Forest blocks which have been traditionally managed by communities for many years and have so far been efficiently managed and used by communities in conformity with the communes' forest protection and development plannings or orientations.

Forest blocks which have been allocated to communities under decisions of provincial- or district-level People's Committees.

c/ Headwater forest blocks for creation of water sources in direct service of daily life and production of communities; forest blocks associated with customs, cultural and historical traditions and beliefs of communities; forest blocks which supply forest products and serve other common interests of communities, which cannot be allocated to organizations or cannot be divided for allocation to households and individuals.

2. Quotas and duration of allocation of forests to communities:

- The location of the forest blocks to be allocated to communities (enclosed with plans).

- The current areas, boundaries, types, conditions and reserves of be-allocated forests.

- The management objectives and forest use plans of communities after they are allocated forests by the State.

- Steps of allocating forests to communities.

- The communities' commitment to manage the allocated forest areas.

- The community's application for forest allocation, clearly stating the position, boundaries, areas and current status of the forest blocks and the forest use purposes.

- The scheme on allocation of forests to communities; the plan on the allocation of forests to communities (enclosed with maps or plans).

b/ The commune-level People's Committees, after receiving the communities' dossiers of application for forest allocation, shall direct the forest allocation councils to review and examine the dossiers, then give certifications and transfer the dossiers to the district-level sections for agriculture and rural development (hereinafter referred to as the functional sections).

5. Appraising and deciding on the allocation of forests to communities:

- The commune-level People's Committees, the functional sections, the village chiefs, representatives of mass organizations in villages, 3 to 5 households representing the households in the villages and the working groups shall scrutinize the boundaries and current status of the forest blocks on the field and compare them with the maps to allocate forests to communities strictly within the forest blocks stated in the forest allocation decisions.

- The communities shall set the boundaries and implant boundary markers of the allocated forest blocks.

c/ Making records on forest allocation: A record on forest allocation between a commune-level People's Committee and a community shall be made immediately after the forest handover on the field and must contain signatures of the representative of the commune-level People's Committee, the village chief, the representatives of mass organizations in the village, 3 to 5 households representing the households in the village, the working group and the owners of the forests bordering on the forest block allocated to the community.

2. The recovery of community forests is carried out in the following cases:

c/ The communities use forests for improper purposes, let forests be destroyed due to subjective causes, deliberately decline to fulfill the obligations towards the State or seriously violate the law on forest protection and development;

Chapter III

ELABORATION OF PLANS FOR MANAGEMENT OF COMMUNITY FORESTS

Article 8

The elaboration of plans for community forest management must comply with the following principles:

1. Being in line with the planning on forest use purposes (special-use forests, protection forests or production forests) and with commune-level forest protection and development plannings; being suitable to the socio-economic conditions and environment of villages and the capacity of communities; satisfying to the utmost the people's needs for forest benefits.

2. Being

3. Ensuring the stable, long-term and sustainable use of forests.

Article 9Steps of elaborating a plan for community forest management

Plans for community forest management are elaborated according to the following steps:

1. Surveying and assessing forest resources.

2. Identifying the management and use purposes for each type of forest.

3. Assessing the needs for forest products.

4. Synthesizing and analyzing data (balancing supply and demand, analyzing the ability to protect, build and develop forests').

5. Making five-year and annual plans.

6. Adopting, submitting and approving the plans.

Article 10

1. Purposes and requirements

- To grasp forest resources and land resources for use as a basis for identifying interests and obligations of communities.

- To identify the use purpose for each forest plot and land plot.

- To identify measures of intervention (exploitation, protection, zoning off for regeneration, rearing and forestation) for each forest plot and land plot.

2. Principles for survey and assessment

- Being simple, easy to understand and at low cost so that communities can conduct by themselves with the support of forestry officials.

- Being accurate enough for elaboration of plans for community forest management and adequate for communities to be able to manage forests.

- If a community forest block has been surveyed and assessed upon its allocation, re-survey and re-assessment are not required and the documents of such survey can be used for elaboration of the management plan.

- If a community forest block has not been surveyed and assessed upon its allocation, when elaborating a management plan, the survey and assessment of that forest block must be carried out with the following contents: survey and measurement of every forest plot on the field with regard to forests subject to non-exploitation and exploitation.

Article 11

1. Forests which must be protected and not opened for logging, including:

1. Needs to be identified include:

2. Methods of identification: To comply with the regulations in Appendix I to this Instruction.

Article 13Data synthesis and analysis

1. Synthesizing data from sample blocs of measurement forms, converting the indicators of calculation into units of hectare for each plot, and recording statistical figures on a general table.

2. Determining forest plots and total areas requiring forestation.

3. Determining forest plots and total areas which can be zoned off for rearing into forests.

4. Determining forest plots and total forest areas to be reared.

5. Balancing the needs for timber and forest products with forest capacity.

6. Determining the use purposes and specific measures of intervention for each forest plot.

Article 14

1. Elaborating plans for forestation, forest rehabilitation and forest protection

The plans on forestation, forest rehabilitation (zoning off for rearing, forest rearing for enrichment, improvement of impoverished forests) and forest protection should clearly state the positions (of forest plots); total areas requiring measures of intervention, areas to be intervened annually and major technical measures to be applied.

2. Elaborating plans for exploitation of timber from natural forests

- Method 1: To identify forests to be exploited; the maximum annual exploitable volume, the exploitation cycles and frequency.

- Method 2: To apply the structure of numbers of trees according to diameter class.

3. Elaborating plans for bamboo exploitation

a/ Technical norms: To determine the exploitation cycles, exploitation frequency, the age of trees to be exploited, exploitable volume and the exploitation time in a year.

4. Elaborating plans for exploitation of timber from plantation forests: To identify the location (plot), area and exploitable volume, including thinning exploitation and principal exploitation.

5. Elaborating plans for full exploitation and full use of timber, exploitation of non-timber forest products: To identify the exploitation location, area and exploitable volume according to product types.

6. Other production plans

7. Phasing of forest management plans

8. Identifying resources and measures to mobilize resources for implementation of plans for community forest management, clarifying measures for maximum mobilization of resources within the community.

Article 15

1. Approving five-year plans for community forest management

a/ Forest management plans shall be elaborated by communities, approved by commune-level People's Committees and reported to district-level People's Committees for implementation monitoring and assistance.

b/ Particularly for plans on exploitation of timber from natural forests: Commune-level People's Committees shall sum up the timber exploitation plans of communities in their respective communes and submit them to district-level People's Committees for approval.

2. Approving annual community forest management plans

Based on the approved five-year forest management plans, communities shall elaborate annual forest management plans and submit them to commune-level People's Committees for approval.

3. The exploitation of timber from natural forests for commercial purposes must comply with the provisions of Decision No. 40/2005/QD-BNN of July 7, 2005, of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, promulgating the Regulation on exploitation of timber and other forest products.

Chapter IV

FORMULATION OF CONVENTIONS ON COMMUNITY FOREST PROTECTION AND DEVELOPMENT

Article 16

Article 17

c/ Regulations on forest protection and mobilization of internal resources of communities for tending, rearing and developing forest blocks allocated by the State to communities for management (important forest blocks for protection of water sources, historical, landscape and religious forest blocks of communities).

Article 18Formulation of forest protection and development conventions

1. Step 1: Preparatory work

a/ The local forest ranger official may suggest and discuss with village chiefs, village patriarchs and representatives of mass organizations in the village to determine and select main contents of protection and development of the village's forests.

2. Step 2: Formulation of the convention

c/ Upon the appearance of disputes over, or violations of regulations on, forest protection and development within a community which have been provided for in its convention, the community shall repeatedly call the attention of the involved parties and settle them in the spirit of conciliation within the community; if, due to their severity, the acts of violation are subject to administrative sanction or penal liability examination as provided for by law, the village chief shall make records thereon and report them to the commune-level People's Committee and, at the same time, notify the local forest ranger thereof for handling.

b/ Under the Prime Minister's Decision No. 304/2005/QD-TTg of November 23, 2005, applicable to hamlet communities of ethnic minority people in the Central Highlands provinces, to be supported with forest tree varieties for forestation.

c/ Under such forestry programs or projects as the forestation project financed by the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany; the project on forestry blocks and management of headwater forests in Thanh Hoa, Quang Tri, Phu Yen and Gia Lai; the project under Decision No. 1641/QD-BNN and other programs and projects on forestry, communities are provided with money and supplies according to regulations of those programs or projects.

4. Upon forest recovery by the State, to be compensated for labor fruits and investment results for forest protection and development according to the provisions of the Law on Forest Protection and Development and other relevant provisions of law.

Article 20Obligations of communities

1. To formulate plans on forest management, formulate conventions on forest protection and development according to Articles 13, 14 and 20 of this Instruction and organize the implementation of those plans and conventions.

2. To use forests for proper purposes stated in the forest allocation decisions, to periodically report on developments of forest resources and activities related to the forest blocks under the guidance of commune-level People's Committees.

3. To formulate and implement plans on management, use and sharing of forest products within communities.

4. To fulfill financial and other obligations as provided for by law.

5. To return forests when the State issues decisions to recover the forests.

6. Not to divide forests to community members; not to exchange, assign, donate, lease, mortgage, use as guarantee or contribute business capital with the value of the rights to use the allocated forests.

7. Other obligations as specified by forestry programs or projects (Appendix IV).

8. Village chiefs, inspection teams and people in villages shall themselves supervise and evaluate the implementation of forest management plans; annually make reports on evaluation of the implementation results and matters to be settled in the subsequent year.

Article 21

1. Principles:

2. Supplies and money provided by the State, forestry programs or projects as supports for communities and forest products exploited from community forests are managed and used as follows:

3. The regulations mentioned in Clause 2 of this Article shall be agreed upon in village meetings and recorded in the communities' conventions or plans on sharing of benefits from forests.

Chapter VI

ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMUNITY FOREST PROTECTION AND DEVELOPMENT FUNDS

Article 22

2. Tasks of a community forest management board

4. Village chiefs or village patriarchs shall act as heads of community forest management boards. They shall administer and inspect forestry activities in their respective villages as provided for in the Regulation on community forest protection and development.

Article 28

1. Depending on their specific conditions, communities may set up full-time silviculture groups or silviculture hobby teams (for forest protection, planting, exploitation').

2. Establishment of forestry inspection teams, which have the following two tasks:

Article 29

1. Supervision of plan implementation, including:

b/ The management of forest protection (fighting tree felling, forest fires, forest burning for milpa farming, forest fire prevention and fighting, forest pest prevention and control);

2. Supervision of the observance of forest protection and development conventions (violations, handling of violations and sharing of benefits').

3. Supervision of forest protection and development funds: Sources of revenue and expenditure, use efficiency of the funds (investment in forest protection, building and development; supports for production, production services, credit').

Article 30

1. The evaluation of community forest management is based on:

2. Depending on their capability and specific conditions, communities shall select suitable evaluation criteria (Appendix IV).

Chapter VIII

ORGANIZATION OF IMPLEMENTATION

Article 31Responsibilities of provincial-level People's Committees

1. To promulgate mechanisms, policies and guiding documents relating to community-forest management, covering forest allocation, elaboration of forest management plans, benefit sharing mechanisms, regulations on formulation of forest protection and development conventions.

2. To direct district-level People's Committees and concerned agencies in their respective provinces to conduct forest allocation to communities and oversee the implementation of forest management plans by communities.

3. To direct the formulation of, or incorporation of community forest blocks into, forestry programs or projects.

Article 32

Article 33

3. To guide communities in setting up forest management boards; guide and monitor the sharing of forest products within communities according to the plans already approved by district-level People's Committees.

4. To organize the delivery of forests to communities; to urge communities to fulfill their financial obligations (if any); to manage and use money amounts paid by communities into the community budgets according to the provisions of the State Budget Law or paid into the communes' forest protection and development funds according to regulations.

5. To direct the commune forestry boards and commune forestry officials to guide and assist communities in forest management, protection and development.

6. To supervise and evaluate forest protection and development activities of communities.

7.

Article 34

1. To advise provincial-level People's Committees on promulgating documents on community forest management; to formulate forestry programs or projects which communities may participate in.

2. To direct district-level forestry agencies to coordinate with commune-level People's Committees in assigning forests to communities.

3. To direct forestry and agricultural extension centers and guide and support communities in building forestry, agricultural or agro-forestry production and management models.

4. To formulate criteria and targets for supervision and evaluation, and guide the evaluation of community forest management.

Article 35Responsibilities of Forest Ranger Sub-Departments

1. To coordinate with Forestry Sub-Departments in reporting to provincial/municipal Services of Agriculture and Rural Development in order to advise provincial-level People's Committees on forest allocation and promulgation of policies related to community forest management.

2. To direct Forest Ranger Divisions to coordinate with district-level functional sections and advise district-level People's Committees on guiding communities in formulating forest protection and development conventions; to guide, inspect and supervise the forest product exploitation by communities; to assign local forest ranger officials to conduct forest allocation to communities according to this Instruction.

Article 36Responsibilities of district-level Sections for Agriculture and Rural Development

1. To advise district-level People's Committees on materializing the community forest management contents: appraising forest allocation schemes, submitting them to district-level People's Committees for allocation of forests to communities; guiding communities in formulating and implementing forest management plans, forest product management, use and sharing schemes and forest protection and development conventions.

2. To direct and assign local forestry and forest ranger officials to

3. To supervise and evaluate forest-related activities of communities:

APPENDICES I TO IV

(Promulgated together with Decision No. 106/2006/QD-BNN of November 27, 2006, of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development)

APPENDIX I

METHODS OF DETERMINING TIMBER AND FOREST PRODUCT NEEDS

1. Determination of timber needs for house construction: In a village, to select three typical houses (big, medium and small houses), then technical cadres and local people count the number of pillars, beams, rafters, lathes, planks and the average volume of timber needed for each house.

2. Determination of breeding facilities: In a village, to select three households with large-, medium- or small-scale husbandry, then calculate the average timber volume for each breeding facility.

3. Determination of the number of dams in a village and the volume of timber needed for each dam.

4. Determination of firewood needs: In a village, to select three typical households (large, medium and small households) for assessment of the daily use of firewood by each household.

5. Discussion with local people about five-year and annual needs for timber for repair and construction of houses, breeding facilities, schools and health stations.

APPENDIX II

BENEFIT SHARING MECHANISM AND DISTRIBUTION OF FOREST PRODUCTS WITHIN COMMUNITIES

1. Benefit sharing mechanism

The benefit sharing mechanism is applied under the provisions of Clauses 1, 2 and 5 of Article 5 of the Prime Ministers Decision No. 304/2005/QD-TTg of November 23, 2005, on allocating forests and contracting forest protection to ethnic minority households, individual communities in villages and hamlets of the Central Highland provinces. Specifically:

1. To enjoy all products harvested from the allocated forest areas.

2. To be supported in forest tree varieties according to the process of planting production forests and supported in agricultural production under the States agricultural and forestry extension policies.

3. To be entitled to other preferential policies according to current regulations of the State.

2. Use and distribution of forest products and other benefits from forests

Depending on the supply capacity of forests, village or hamlet meetings shall provide a specific volume or number of forest products to be exploited by each household for use in a month, a harvest or a year (the number of bamboo trees, firewood bundles,

Timber for use in village or hamlet facilities or as support for commune facilities shall be decided by village or hamlet meetings in terms of timber volumes and timber categories.

Timber (or other forest products) exploited for commercial purposes: The village or hamlet communities shall themselves decide on customers and the selling prices of forest products. The proceeds from forest product sale, after the subtraction of costs (for exploitation, transportation, taxes, if any), are remitted into the community funds.

The volume of exploited timber must be based on the supply capacity of forests and needs of households. Timber covers timber for domestic use and house construction. For the exploitation of timber for house construction, depending on the management capacity of communities and economic capabilities of households, communities may themselves opt for one of the following forms of settlement:

First, to supply timber to households having needs for timber on the principle expressing their needs first shall be supplied first and in the following priority order: households hit by natural calamities, for house repair, for house construction due to separation of households.

Second, to sell timber to households in villages that have needs therefor; the volume, types and selling prices of timber are decided by communities themselves; the proceeds from timber sale are remitted into the community funds.

The village or hamlet meetings shall decide on the lists of households permitted to exploit timber in a year.

Forest products exploited for commercial purposes: If the volume of exploited forest products surpasses the needs of communities, the communities may sell the excessive volume and themselves decide on the buyers and selling prices of such forest products. The remainder of proceeds from forest product sale (after the subtraction of costs for management, exploitation, transportation, taxes (if any)) shall be remitted into the community funds for forest protection and development.

Products harvested from agro-fishery production, proceeds from tourist services..., after the subtraction of expenses, are remitted into the

The above regulations are agreed upon in village meetings and recorded in

APPENDIX III

COMMUNITY FOREST PROTECTION AND DEVELOPMENT FUNDS

When the draft fund management regulations are available, village meetings will be convened for comments, finalization and adoption for observance by the entire communities.

- Revenues from within the communities: voluntary contributions by community members; fees paid for exploitation of forest products in community forests; compensations for damage caused by violations of forest protection within villages; proceeds from sale of forest products exploited in community forests, credit interests, service charges, etc.

- Revenues from outside the communities: deductions from investments of state projects and international projects; supports from domestic and foreign organizations and individuals, etc.

- Expenditures on forest protection and development: payment of remunerations to persons directly engaged in forest protection, forest fire prevention and fighting, forest pest prevention and control, forestation, additional forestation, forest enrichment and fostering.

- Expenditures on supplies, services, credit in support of production, income raising and difficulty alleviation for poor households,

APPENDIX IV

COMMUNITY FOREST MANAGEMENT AND EVALUATION CRITERIA

1. Economic criteria, including:

a/ Areas of forests already planted, protected, zoned off for rearing, additionally planted; quality of forests; total investments (with capital of communities, other capital sources)

2. Criteria for evaluation of forest environment and environmental protection, including:

- The increase of forest areas, forest coverage over the previous year and previous periods.

- Areas of forests protected, not destroyed.

- Technically proper exploitation, non-reduction of forest quality.

- Forest quality increase (many species of valuable trees are regenerated, the average reserve/ha of forest increases...).

- The effect of maintenance of sources of water of streams, ponds and lakes.

- Forest garden areas, the number of scattered trees in villages.

- The areas of land affected by erosion or landslide.

- Additional plantings of trees, indigenous trees, multi-use trees.

- Areas and species of trees under agro-forestry production, helping protect land, diversify products and increase income.

3. Social criteria, including

- The number of workdays spent on forestry activities (increase or decrease over the previous periods and compared with other activities)

- The number of training courses, the number of people and women being trained in forest management, in agro-forestry farming techniques

- The observance of the forest protection and development convention, the number of violators and violations of the convention.

- Contributions to household incomes from forestry.

- The number of houses, schools, health stations, animal stables,

- Mitigation of difficulties in the supply of firewood and forest products for communities.