Project News

Project for Sustainable Forest Management in the Northwest Watershed Area (SUSFORM-NOW) has supported the tree planting in several villages in Dien Bien Dong District, Dien Bien District, and Dien Bien Phu City in June and July 2012 as a part of its efforts to increase of forest cover in the northwest watershed area of the country.

As a part of its forest management activities, based on the forest management plans (FMPs) prepared by the villagers, the Project has supported the seedlings of Acacia mangium while the participating villagers identified the land and provided their labor.

	Village	Target Site	Number of Seedlings	Delivery Date
1	Phieng Ban	Phieng Ban (Thanh An Commune)	85,869	18 June 10 July
2	Na Nghe	Ta Leng (Ta Leng Commune)	33,382	21 June 10 July
3	Ke Nenh	- ditto -	58,089	28 June 10 July
4	Phieng Bua	- ditto -	13,902	10 July
5	Na Phat A	Na Phat A (Na Son Commune)	1,497	10 July
	Total		192,739

In addition to the above, SUSFORM-NOW has provided 100 seedlings of Canarium sp. to the villagers at Na Phat A based on their request. The project estimated that around 83 ha of lands were reforested/afforested through these efforts.

The villagers unloading the seedlings from the truck at the time of delivery.

Villagers taking the delivered seedlings immediately to their lands for planting.

The delivered seedlings were received by the villagers waiting at the collection points in each village and immediately brought to their lands for planting on the delivery day. To streamline the tree planting process, the villagers were requested to prepare the planting holes in advance based on the specifications mentioned in the afforestation/reforestation training provided by the Project earlier.

Afforestation/reforestation training organized in advance in April 2012.

Counterpart staff instructing villagers on tree planting on the seedling delivery day.

The Project hopes that the planted trees in these villages will not only enhance the watershed function and provide better environmental protection, but also better the livelihoods of the local population in a long-run through the harvest and/or sales of timbers. Acacia mangium, a fast growing species, will grow enough for furniture material only in 10 years and is thus expected to generate income for the participating households.

Terrains like this hill are expected to be reforested gradually under the Project.