Bio-diversity

Chi Linh is one of the two only districts of Hai Duong province which has existing forests. Before 1970s, the areas had a large area of forest, which had very high biological value and were connected with forests in other provinces such as Quang Ninh and Bac Giang. However, due to deforestation and overexploitation of forest resources, the forest has been degraded in terms of area and biodiversity value. Thanks to the great efforts of the government and relevant agencies in the 1980s and 1990s, afforestation and reforestation programmes were given high priority and successful implemented, significantly increasing the area of the forest in the area. According to the recent survey by the Forestry Inventory and Planning Institute, the forest is now the habitat for many species which are listed and classified as rare and extinct in the Vietnam Red Book. Among the 2,500 hectares of existing forest in Chi Linh District, there are 1,200 hectares of naturally regenerated chestnut forest, which plays a very important role for upstream protection and for the economic development in the area. Most of the forests have been allocated to the community for protection. However, the forests are under the threat of agricultural encroachment of the community living in the area. Some areas of the forest have been converted into lichee orchards in recent years. Major causes of this problem is the lack of understanding of the community about economic and environmental values of the forest and especially the ineffective use and exploitation of chestnut forest resources. Income generation for the community from the forest is very limited. The community currently only collects nuts for sale. In order to protect the forest, the local Government has issued a local decree strictly applying administrative fine to the community who have violated the national law on forestry protection. One sustainable solution to address the issue is to encourage the involvement and participation of the community in forestry protection by raising their environmental awareness and transferring appropriate silviculture techniques for the sustainable use of the chestnut forest resources. The project will be carried out in Bac An and Hoang Hoa Tham Communes, Chi Linh District. The primary purpose of the project is to control the encroachment of agriculture development in the forest area in order to protect the existing forests and generating higher income from sustainable use and exploitation of chestnut forest resources for the community. Through undertaking the project activities, the project aims to raise environmental awareness of local stakeholders and community on the issues of forestry management and sustainable use of natural forest resources. The project develops the model which has the potential to be largely replicated in other provinces in Vietnam where there are the naturally regenerated chestnut forests, contributing to poverty alleviation for the communities living in adjacent to the forests. The project also contributes to improving the quality of the environment and the landscape in the project area where major provincial industrial parks and national historic relics are located.

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