Background

Ethnic minorities in Vietnam face ongoing constraints obtaining access to agricultural and forest land, which affects livelihoods and results in high poverty rates for many in these communities. The nationalisation of land prior to the 1990s, coupled with in-migration and development pressures, excluded many ethnic minority communities from their traditional lands. Since 2014, the government has directed that ethnic minorities who lack productive land should be prioritised to receive reallocated land from state-owned forest and agricultural enterprises (SFAEs).

However, the reallocation process has no clear pathways for participation by ethnic minority people and does not take customary lands into account. In addition, the restructuring process has been slow, with strong competing interests and limited outcomes.

Objectives

The project aims to promote and protect access to land and forest rights (including rights to use and manage land according to Vietnamese law) for ethnic minorities by restoring their rights over their customary lands during land reallocation processes.

To strengthen ethnic minorities’ access to, and their right to use and manage, customary forest and agricultural lands, two specific outcomes are established:

Customary forest and agricultural lands in Kon Tum and Lao Cai provinces are relocated from SFAEs to ethnic minority communities within specific timelines

Local ethnic minority communities will have improved capacity to dialogue with authority and monitor land-related plans, they will continue following up the plans’ implementation to make them into reality. Effectively, local ethnic minority communities in the three provinces will secure increased controls over customary land and forest.

Achieving this outcome requires the deliver of the two following outputs:

  • Ethnic minority communities in Dak Nong, Gia Lai and Lao Cai provinces are empowered to claim their rights over customary lands.
  • Three pilots of returning customary lands from SFAEs to ethnic minority communities in Dak Nong, Gia Lai and Lao Cai provinces are successfully implemented.

National policy on allocating customary lands from SFAEs to ethnic minority communities is issued with concrete implementation mechanisms.

Policy recommendations and advocate the NAEC are developed to issue an instruction on implementing the Resolution 112.

By that, the national legal framework on returning customary lands to ethnic minority communities will be enhanced and the process of land return will be speeded up nationwide, contributing to restoring the rights of ethnic minority communities over their traditional land and improving their livelihood.

Achieving this outcome requires the deliver of the two following outputs:

  • A gender inclusive procedure for identifying and reallocating customary lands from SFAEs to ethnic minority communities is developed and advocated to provincial policy makers.
  • National policy makers are influenced to enhance legal framework on returning customary lands to local ethnic minority communities.

Location

Kon Tum and Lao Cai provinces

Key results

  • 02 approved plans for land and forest allocation for ethnic minority communities in two provinces of Lao Cai and Kon Tum;
  • 01 guideline for the process of land allocation and forest allocation based on gender equality, participation, and consensus of the community;
  • 15,000 ethnic minority people (in which 50% are women) in 2 provinces having access to and improving their knowledge on land and forest management and use;
  • 04 community forest management groups in 4 districts established and operated effectively;
  • 1,500 hectares of forests and forest land allocated to the community;
  • At least 4 land use right certificates assigned to 4 communities in 4 districts;
  • 02 policy recommendations at the provincial level on land allocation and forest allocation from the land of agricultural and forestry companies;
  • 50 officials of state agencies from central to local levels participating in project activities;
  • 1,2 million ethnic minority people in the three target provinces gaining benefits from provincial authorities’ improved plans to return customary land rights from SFAEs to ethnic minorities.