Across seven provinces in Viet Nam, 47 community forestry groups are putting formalized community forest plans into action to strengthen patrol and protection.

In seven provinces across Viet Nam – Lao Cai, Son La, Hoa Binh, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Quang Tri and Quang Nam – 47 community forestry groups are implementing sustainable forest management plans developed between October 2023 and September 2024.  

Tailored to each locality through participatory processes, these plans focus on patrol and protection. They were applied with support from RECOFTC’s Sustainable Forest Management project, through which we facilitated community meetings and discussions to strengthen existing village-level patrolling mechanisms and establish new ones. 

To ensure formalization of procedures, we created scheduling and recordkeeping templates and helped draft institutional documents. We also introduced and built communities’ capacity to use the GeoPfes application, a software designed for mobile devices to support monitoring and evaluation for forest patrolling in areas that receive payments for forest environmental services.

A newly formulated community forestry network now  links forest user groups, forestry policy makers, forest research institutes, the private sector and the Vietnam Forest Owners Association. As a platform for experience sharing and policy engagement, this network has broadened participation, increasing involvement from women, youth and other marginalized groups.  

At the community level, there is improved cooperation with local forest rangers. “Now, when we report something, the rangers come right away. We’re working together,” say patrol team members from Mong Vang, a village in Ta Xua commune, Bac Yen district, Son La province. Team members also say that they have built a system that is entirely theirs. “With continued support, we can further strengthen our ability to manage our forests ourselves.”