Project News

Muong Phang Commune has been one of the two pilot sites for REDD+ implementation support under SUSFORM-NOW since early 2013. However, there have been several challenges in forest management. One of such is a/reforestation in special-use forest (SUF), which occupies around 70% of the forestland. This unusually high rate in Muong Phang Commune makes the commune special as compared to other communes in terms of its forest management, especially for it's a/reforestation (as trees planted in SUF cannot be cut in the future).

Slash and burn agriculture is widely practiced amongst local farmers, posing a threat to existing forests. With the high land use value and demand for such agriculture, the incentives for a/reforestation and regeneration should be in place to ensure that villagers would be motivated to participate in a/reforestation activities and obtain real economic, social and environmental gains in the future.

With all these issues in mind, SUSFORM-NOW organized a technical workshop on SUF a/reforestation on 15 January 2014 in order to understand current support policies for SUF a/reforestation and to explore possible solutions for present challenges. In terms of incentives for SUF a/reforestation, current support policies for forest protection and development, including those for SUF a/reforestation were presented by Sub-Department of Forestry. It was also agreed that subsequent meetings to circulate such policies in project sites would be held in following months at commune and village levels. To further encourage villagers to plant and manage their forests, Mr. Shunsuke Miya, SUSFORM-NOW expert in participatory forest management, proposed that thinning and selective cutting in the SUF area should be allowed together with the establishment of core zone (protection area) and buffer zone (semi-protection area) in SUF.

To provide incentives for forest management activities, the project has been supporting livelihood development activities such as mushroom production and fruit cultivation. Harvests of some timber and non-timber forest products should be allowed as SUF in MP is under cultural, historical, and environmental forests even though harvesting is subject to the agreement by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Lastly, payment for forest environmental services (PFES) should be paid in near future once the a/reforestation areas become forests.

Tree planting in SUF (MP Commune)

Special use forest (Phang 3 village)