SFG2974 REV MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT MANANGEMENT BOARD FOR FORESTRY PROJECTS Vietnam Forest Sector Modernization and Coastal Resilience Enhancement Project PROCESS FRAMEWORK (PF) Final Hanoi, March 2017 Table of Contents I. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 1 1.1. Project Objectives ......................................................................................................................... 1 1.2. World Bank Operational Policy .................................................................................................. 1 1.3. Policy Application and Implementation ..................................................................................... 1 1.4. Project Components ..................................................................................................................... 2 1.5. Detailed Area of the Project Interventions................................................................................. 3 1.6. Beneficiaries of the Project .......................................................................................................... 4 II. PROCESS FRAMEWORK AND VIETNAM LEGAL FRAMWORK .................................. 5 2.1. Objectives of Process Framework (PF) ...................................................................................... 5 2.2. Vietnam Legal Framework and Policy ....................................................................................... 6 III. PROJECT IMPACTS .................................................................................................................. 8 IV. IDENTIFICATION AND ELIGIBILITY OF DISPLACED PERSONS ................................ 9 4.1. Defining Displaced Persons ......................................................................................................... 9 4.2. Eligibility ..................................................................................................................................... 10 4.3. Establishing Criteria for Eligibility .......................................................................................... 10 4.4. Considerations for Vulnerable Groups .................................................................................... 11 4.5. Project Activities Phases ............................................................................................................ 11 V. LIVELIHOODS RESTORATION AND DEVELOPMENT ................................................. 12 5.1. Community Mobilization and Engagement ............................................................................. 12 5.2. Building Community Awareness ............................................................................................... 13 5.3. Development of Village Development Plan (VDP) and Co-management Plan (COP) ......... 13 5.4. Other Alternative Livelihoods ................................................................................................... 14 5.5. Implementation of VDP and the COP ...................................................................................... 15 5.6. Budgeting of VDP and the Co-Management Plan ................................................................... 15 VI. IMPLEMENTATION ARRANGEMENT ............................................................................... 16 6.1. Central level ................................................................................................................................ 18 6.2. Provincial level ............................................................................................................................ 18 VII. PUBLIC CONSULTATIONS AND GRIEVANCE REDRESS (GRM) ................................ 18 7.1. Public Consultation and Participation ..................................................................................... 18 7.2. Grievance Redress Mechanism ................................................................................................. 23 VIII. BUDGET SOURCES AND COST ............................................................................................ 24 IX. MONITORING AND EVALUATION ..................................................................................... 24 i Abbreviation and Acronyms AP/AH Affected Persons/Households CEM Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs CPC Commune People's Committee CWU Commune Women's Union DARD Department of Agriculture and Rural Development DMS Depth Measuring System DOLISA Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs DONRE Department of Natural Resources and Environment DPC District People's Committee DRC District Compensation Resettlement Committee EM Ethnic Minorities EMDP Ethnic Minorities Development Plans GOV Government of Vietnam HH Households IOL Investigation of inventory Losses IRP Income Recovery Program LAR Land Acquisition and Resettlement LURC Land Use Rights Certificates MARD Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development MOF Ministry of Finance MOLISA Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs MONRE Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment PCU Project Coordination Unit PFMB Protection Forest Management Boards PPC Provincial People's Committee PPMU Provincial Project Management Unit PRA Participatory Rural Appraisal ii RP Compensation and Resettlement Plan RPF Resettlement Policy Framework SAH Seriously Affected Households TOR Terms of Reference USD U.S. Dollar VND Vietnam Dong WB World Bank iii I. INTRODUCTION 1.1. Project Objectives 1. The project development objective is to improve coastal forest management in the project provinces. The PDO presents the expected contribution during the project lifetime towards the Government of Vietnam’s higher objective to enhance coastal resilience to climate change (especially storms and flooding). Coastal forests in Vietnam, as per the definition in Decree No.119/2016/ND-CP are special use forests (SUFs), protection forests, land planned for planting protection forests and special-use forests in the coastal areas and islands. Coastal forests under the Project only include protection forests. 2. In the PDO, improved management of coastal forests entails more than simply managing existing stands of coastal forests. It reflects the need to have in place the necessary policy measures to support effective spatial planning of where coastal forests are situated, arrangements for effectively managing the resource base, protection, planting and enrichment planting of coastal forests. It will also require incentivize local households, communities, enterprises, and government to maintain and protect the resource base. Providing these incentives will require unlocking opportunities for linking protection of coastal forests with livelihood benefits and economic development. 1.2. World Bank Operational Policy 3. Given that restriction of access to resources in legally designated parks and protected areas can result in severe social and economic challenges for local communities, the OP 4.12 provides safeguard guidance for restrictation resources access “in legally designated parks and protected areas.â€? Conservation schemes and spatial planing may not always acquire land involuntarily, but enforcement protection could limit access to resources in the protected areas and directly affects livelihoods and incomes. These types of impacts fall into OP 4.12 because the restrictions on resource supportee by the project affect the livelihoods and well-being of the people. In these circumtances, the process framework (PF) is the instrument that defines the mitigation and compensation meausres, and promotes a participatory approach to conservation activities in legally designated parks and protected areas. Encouraging community participation promotes community support for sub-projects alternatives defined. 1.3. Policy Application and Implementation 4. The OP 4.12 covers adverse impacts on livelihoods that result from Bank assisted investment projects and caused by: (a) the involuntary taking of land resulting in (i) relocation or loss of shelter; (ii) [loss] of assets or access to assets; or (iii) loss of income sources or means of livelihoods, etc.; or (b) the involuntary restriction of access to legally designated parks or protected areas. 5. It is not practical to presume that all livelihood impacts of proposed restrictions can be predefined. The nature of the restrictions and the specific interventions needed to restore people’s livelihoods also cannot necessarily be known fully in advance. As such a process framework is required by OP 4.12 with a view to establishing a participatory process to be applied in formulating and implementing restrictions on resource use. The PF describes the participatory process by which communities and the project’s authorities or other relevant agencies/organizations will jointly recommend resource-use restrictions and decide on measures to mitigate any significant adverse impacts of these restrictions. A restoration and mitigation plan of action, which describes specific measures to assist people adversely affected by the proposed restrictions, is part of the framework. 1 1.4. Project Components 6. The project consists of 04 components, which are: Component 1: Enabling Effective Coastal Forest Management 7. This component will support the development and implementation of scalable procedures and tools to improve coastal forest management. The activities associated with this component will build the technical knowhow and make investments needed to modernize the approaches used to address the three key constraints - overlapping spatial plans, lack of adequate supply of quality seedlings and long-term financing for managing coastal protection forests. 8. This component has the following three subcomponents: ï‚· Subcomponent 1.1 on modernizing coastal forest planning. This subcomponent will complement the activities financed by the Climate Change and Green Growth Development Policy Finance, and support consultancies to deliver key inputs for improving planning. ï‚· Subcomponent 1.2 on expanding quality seedling production. This subcomponent will finance physical works, goods and equipment and technical consultancies for expanding production of quality seedlings. ï‚· Subcomponent 1.3 on broadening payments for forest ecosystem services to coastal forests. Component 2: Coastal Forest Development and Rehabilitation 9. The objective of this component is to improve management of existing coastal protection forests and expand the area of coastal protection forests in participating provinces. In each province, sites for planting, protecting and enriching coastal forests were identified based criteria that reflect local government commitment, ecological feasibility, land ownership and potential to contribute to resilience. Using the criteria, the investments are spread across 257 communes in 47 districts. In some target areas, this includes planting and managing mangroves forests along estuaries. In other areas, there will be planting and management of sandy soil forests on bluffs, terraces, dunes, and hills near the coast where the coastal communities are exposed to wind. The MARD targets for this component are: ï‚· 50,000 ha of coastal forests protected ï‚· 10,000 ha of coastal forests rehabilitated ï‚· 5,000 ha of mangroves planted ï‚· 4,000 ha of sandy soil forest planted 10. This component has two subcomponents. The first is on planting and protection target coastal forests. This subcomponent will finance works, goods and equipment, labor and consultancies needed to protect existing stands of coastal forests, and plant and tend new and degraded stands of coastal forests. It also finances the activities associated with community based forest management. The second subcomponent is on augmenting the survival and effectiveness of coastal protection forests. This subcomponent invests in physical works and supporting structures, equipment and tools, that can augment the survival and effectiveness of coastal protection forests. This subcomponent will also finance investments that assist with strengthening the monitoring and management of planting and protection activities. It will also support minor improvements of existing physical structures that complement coastal forests in protecting coastal communities. Component 3: Generating Sustainable Benefits from Coastal Forests 2 11. Motivating local support for the protection of coastal forests beyond the lifetime of the project will require interventions that boost the economic benefits from coastal forests to a range of stakeholders - communities, local households, small enterprises, the communes and districts. In the Mekong Delta region, households and small enterprises have generated revenue from coastal forests through integrated aquaculture practices. Efforts to restore coastal forests in the Mekong Delta have also generated jobs and boosted sources of revenue local government helping justify the investments to the Provincial People’s Committee. There also have been projects piloting payments for forest ecosystem services (PFES) from the aquaculture and tourism sector (two sectors that can contribute to PFES funds). 12. This component makes investments that augment the potential for generating private income, employment and public revenue from coastal protection forests. Adapting models that have worked in the Mekong Delta region and in the agriculture sector, this component supports: (i) partnerships for generating revenue from coastal protection forests (e.g., through extensive and certified aquaculture, and nature-based tourism) and (ii) upgrading of productive infrastructure (minor infrastructure) that would enable the local areas (communes) to support revenue generation from the investments. The support will be provided through investment packages that are grants. The grants will be provided following a competitive selection process which applies a transparent selection process that is specifically designed and established to result in the selection of commercially viable productive partnerships and business plans (in subcomponent 3.1) and of the most useful productive infrastructure (in subcomponent 3.2). Component 4: Project Management and Monitoring and Evaluation (WB: US$M; GoV: US$M) 13. This component will include the establishment of the organizational structure for project implementation; preparation of equipment, means and technical assistance. Activities would include refurbishing accommodations for the decentralized offices, vehicles, and a fully funded monitoring and evaluation system to track project progress and impacts, and provide feedback for project improvement throughout its tenure. The component would finance specialized training for MARD, provincial, district, and commune actors on themes such as co-management, integrated spatial planning, monitoring and evaluation and safeguards. This component will also finance recurrent costs such as the government staff and operating costs. 1.5. Detailed Area of the Project Interventions 14. This project will be implemented in 08 provinces: Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien Hue. The expected communes/districts with coastal forests and participating in the project are as follows: Province/City Results of evaluation 1. Quang Ninh 45 project communes with an area of 24,434 ha, of which: - 51.1% is managed by CPCs - 38.0% is managed by PFMBs - 10.9% is manged by households and other organisations 2. Hai Phong 12 project communes with an area of 4,993 ha, of which: - 99.0% is managed by CPCs 3 Province/City Results of evaluation - 1.0% is managed by households 3. Thanh Hoa 27 project communes with an area of 3,272 ha, of which: - 45.7% is managed by CPCs - 36.5% is managed by PFMBs - 17.8% is managed by households, communities and other organisations. 4. Nghe An 38 project communes with an area of 6,991 ha, of which: - 17.4% is managed by CPCs - 69.7% is managed by PFMBs - 12.8% is managed by households, communities and other organisations. 5. Ha Tinh 46 project communes with an area of 8,861 ha, of which: - 16.3% is managed by CPCs - 68.9% is manged by PFMBs - 14.8% is managed by households and communities 6. Quang Binh 32 project communes with an area of 4.236 ha totally managed by CPCs (100%) 7. Quang Tri 25 project communes with an area of 7,917 ha, of which: - 97.9% is managed by CPCs - 2.1% is managed by households, communities and other organisations 8. Thua Thien Hue 32 project communes with an area of 11,376 ha, of benwhich: - 23.0% is managed by CPCs - 64.4% is managed by PFMB - 12.6% is managed by communities, households and other organisations. Sources: Management Board for Forestry Projects and DARD, 2016 1.6. Beneficiaries of the Project 15. The project will focus on two kinds of beneficiaries: direct beneficiaries and indirect beneficiaries. (1) Direct beneficiaries include: local people, households and communities living in the targetted coastal forest area estimated as folows: ï‚· Number of villages, communes and households benefiting from the project: about 400 communities belonging to 257 communes (approximately 300,000 households); ï‚· Number of households benefiting from livelihood development activities 31,000 households; ï‚· Number of participants in training courses 39,514 people, out of which 20,380 households. Estimated number of workers required for forests planting, rehabilitation, and protection as follows: 4 ï‚· Number of man-days for new plantings: 2,876,720 (equivalent to 8,173 employees); ï‚· Number of man-days for forest rehabilitation: 1,652,758 (equivalent to 4,696 employees); ï‚· Number of man-days for forest protection: 506,220 ( or 1687 employees). Protection forest management boards (PFMBs), forestry companies, enterprises related to forestry supply services; authorities at provincial, district and commune levels; and departments related to forest resource management. Participants in training courses out of which 19,134 managers). (2) Indirect beneficiaries are the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and the Government of Vietnam through stronger forest policies promoting forest sector reform particularly focus on: sustainable forest management and the issuance of forest certificates; coastal area planning; forest productivity and forest quality through improved forestry seed stock; establishment of regional association centres; forest sector monitoring. II. PROCESS FRAMEWORK AND VIETNAM LEGAL FRAMWORK 2.1. Objectives of Process Framework (PF) 16. As part of the preparation of Vietnam Forest Sector Modernization and Coastal Resilience Enhancement Project (FMCR) a Process Framework is required. This is because the project may restrict access to natural resources as a result of anticipated coastal protection forest zoning. The purpose of the PF is to establish a process of informed and meaningful consultations and negotiations with members of potentially affected communities. The PF defines the procedure to allow project affected persons (PAPs) to participate in the determination of measures necessary to mitigate or minimize the impacts of restricted resource access. 17. The PF is prepared to comply with the World Bank policy on involuntary resettlement (OP/BP 4.12) and GoV’s laws and regulations. The PF provides guidelines for the development of Action Plans during project implementation that: ï‚· Define the restrictions of access to natural resources in proposed protected areas; ï‚· Identify and quantify the impacts that those restrictions may have on different segments of the local communities; ï‚· Propose, implement and monitor remedial measures to compensate for the loss of those assets and the income associated with them; ï‚· Provide grievance redress mechanisms in order to resolve any issues that may arise due to restrictions of acces to resources over the course of the project. 18. The PF was prepared based on the results of: ï‚· Social assessment at the project area; ï‚· Partipatory consultations with local communities, forest owners (Protection Forest Management Boards (PFMB), Commune People’s Committees), and vulnerable population such as ethnic minorities living in the area; ï‚· Consultations with stakeholders who directly relate to the project, including Provincipal People’s Committees, District People’s Committees, Forest Protection Unit, Committee for 5 Ethnic Minority Affairs, with engagement of mass organizations, and relevant community organizations. 19. The PF ensures that the views of people whom are likely benefited from or negatively affected by the project, especially vulnerable people such as ethnic minorities, and women, are heard. Targetted activities will ensure all these PAPs participate in the process and receive adequate compensation and assistance. The PF and ESMF have been designed in close cooperation with all project stakeholders and will be diclosed locally as to allow all stakeholders to provide their views, comments and suggestions 2.2. Vietnam Legal Framework and Policy 20. The Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (2013) recognized the equality between ethnic groups in Vietnam. Article 5 of the Constitution states: (i) Socialist Republic of Vietnam is the unified state of all nationalities living in the country of Vietnam. (ii) The nationalities equal, unite, respect and help each other to develop; prohibits any discrimination, ethnic division. (iii) The national language is Vietnamese. The nation has the right to use voice, text, preserving the national identity, promoting traditions, customs, traditions and culture. (iv) The State implements a comprehensive development policy and creates reasonable conditions for the ethnic minorities to mobilize resources, along with the development of the country. 21. Pursuant to the Constitution, the national economic, social and cultural policies have taken special consideration to the EMs in the mountainous and remote regions. Accordingly, the GoV has developed a series of policies to develop, enhance socio-economic condition of EMs, especially for the extremely difficult districts/communes. The national Socio-Economic Development Strategy (SEDS) and Socio-Economic Development Plan (SEDP) specifically call for attention to the EMs. Two current major programs targeting EM people include Program 135 (infrastructure in poor and remote areas) and Program 134 (eradication of poor quality houses). After the Program 134 and the Program 135 Phase 1 and Phase 2, the Government has launched Program 135 Phase 3 to enhance socio-economic development in poor communes located in mountainous areas or areas inhabited by EMs. In addition to the overall development programs for EMs, the Government assigned CEMA to guide provinces to prepare projects Development Assistance for ethnic groups with less than 1,000 people, i.e. Si La, Pu Péo, RÆ¡ Mâm, Brâu, Æ Ä?u. The GoV also conducted the Rapid and Sustainable Poverty Reduction Program in 61 poor districts (Resolution 30a/NQ-CP of the Government), where many EMs live. 22. The Decree No.84/2012/ND-CP dated October 12, 2012 on the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Committee for Ethnic Minorities Affairs (CEMA). The Decree stipulated that the CEMA, a ministerial-level agency, performs the functions of state management of ethnic affairs in the country; state management of public services under the jurisdiction of CEMA as stipulated by law. Along with the Decree No.05/2011/ND-CP dated January14, 2011 on the works of EM, the Decree No.84/2012/ND-CP was issued as a legal basis for CEMA to continue concretizing guidelines and policies of the State on EMs in the period of industrialization and modernization; promote the power to unite the whole nation for the target of prosperous people, strong nation, social justice, democracy and civilization, in order to ensure and promote equality, solidarity, respect, help 6 each other to develop and preserve the cultural identity of the peoples in the great family of ethnic groups of Vietnam. 23. The Government’s documents on the basis of democracy and the participation of local pe ople are directly related to this EMPF. The Ordinance No.34/2007/PL-UBTVQH11, dated April 20, 2007 (replaced for Decree No.79/2003/ND-CP dated July 07, 2003) on the implementation of democracy in communes, wards, and towns provides the basis for community involvement in the preparation and implementation of development plans and community’s supervision. The Decision No.80/2005/QD- TTg by the PM, dated April 18, 2005 regulates the monitoring of community investments. Legal Education Program of CEMA (2013 - 2016) aims to improve the quality and effectiveness of legal education, awareness raising on self-discipline, respect, strictly abiding law of officials and public servants, the employees of the organizations for EMs. Policies on education and health care for EMs have also been issued. 24. The Land Law 2013 affirms that land belongs to all peoples, with the State representing on behalf of all peoples the ownership and management of this land. The State authorizes the land use rights to the land users through land allocation, land lease, recognition and management of land use. For the allocation of forest land the Land Law provides that allocation of production forestland, protection forestland, special use forestland for organizations, households, individuals, community; however, each type of forestland allocated for different user has different rights. Those being allocated by the State are called “land usersâ€?. Land Law prescribes that land users are issued with land use certificates, entitled to products from the investment on the land. Households, individuals allocated by the State for production plantation land have the right to transfer, convert, lease, inherit, mortgage and joint venture the value of the land area; forest allocated communities are not able to transfer, convert, lease, inherit, mortgage and joint venture the value of the land area. 25. Law on Forest Protection and Development (2004), the State grants the forest use right for the forest users through forest allocation, leasing and certification. Households, individuals with natural forests allocated can only utilize the forests without having forest ownership, regarding plantation, the forest owners invest in the forest and have the forest ownership. Forest land allocation is allowed for households, individuals, and a community. 26. Biodiversity Law (2008) stipulates that organizations and individuals entitled to exploitation and utilization of “biodiversityâ€? should share the benefits with stakeholders, equalize the State benefits and organizations/individuals’, combine biodiversity conservation, exploitation and utilization and poverty reduction, ensure the livelihoods for households, individuals who legally reside in the conservation areas; stipulating rights and benefits of households, individuals legally reside in the conservation areas i.e. they can exploit legal benefits in the conservation area, participate and enjoy benefits from business and service activities in the conservation area, organizations, individuals use the biodiversity environment services should pay for the organizations and individuals providing the services. The Law creates favorable legal framework for communities living inside and near the forests, taking part in forest protection and development activities and can share benefits while these forests. 27. Environmental Protection Law 2014 stipulates that the climate change management agencies are responsible for providing information, organizing activities to increase the community awareness and create good conditions for the community to take part in coping with climate change; one of the activities to manage GHG emission is sustainably manage forest resources, restore and improve forest 7 carbon stock; establish and develop a carbon credit market in the country and participate international markets, returning the bio-diversity, and establishing environment protection fund. 28. The forestry law sets up a legal framework on forest utilization and harvesting in several legal documents such as Decision 186/2006/QD-TTg dated August 14, 2006 of the Prime Minister issuing forest management regulations and Circular 35/2011/TT-BNNPTNT dated May 20, 2011 of MARD providing guidance on the harvesting and salvaging wood and NTFPs and elaborates the forest harvesting for each forest owners (organizations, households, individuals and communities), by forest functions (natural forests or plantations) and by investment sources (State, forest owners, international projects). These documents regulate the use of barren land for agro-forestry production in protection forests, production forests, ecotourism based on forest ecosystem. 29. More recently Prime Minister issued Decision 2242/QD-TTg dated December 11, 2014 allowing the enhancing the management and harvesting of natural forests period 2014-2020. Households with natural forests allocated can extract timber for themselves, the maximum volume is 10m3/household/ton, but should not overuse the forest resources. 30. The Decree 75/2015/ND-CP dated September 9, 2015 on FPD mechanisms and policies, associated with fast and sustainable poverty reduction and assisting ethnic minorities for the period 2015-2020. This introduced a Forest protection contract rate of 400,000VND/ha/year, whether revenue from selling carbon credits is fully used or in part, should be carefully reviewed to avoid conflict with other non-ER-P forests. Decree 99/2010/ND-CP on the Policy on PFES is the primary legislation regulating PFES in Vietnam. The decree identified the forest services for which charges must be paid (including carbon sequestration and storage), and clarified state management of PFES as well as the rights and responsibilities of forest service users and providers. 31. Following the Law on Forest Protection and Development (2004), Decree 05/2008/ND-CP establishes the Forest Protection and Development Fund to protect and develop forests, raise awareness and responsibility towards forest protection, and build capacity and efficiency in forest management and utilization, and financing sources include initial investment from the state budget and now, as mentioned, particularly hydropower schemes. III. PROJECT IMPACTS 32. The social assessment (SA) of FMCR confirmed that population who are the residents living in coastal disaster-prone areas are mostly vulnerable groups poor, local ethnic minorities, recent unorganized migrations and women. The analysis on poverty and vulnerability is based on data/information collected from various resources, including primary and secondary information such as interviews and group discussions with FMCR potential beneficiaries and PAPs. This served to highlight the disadvantage/vulnerability of these groups the differences in their financial and social status and their ability to access resources for livelihoods development. The SA results showed that: (1) Women, being considered a disadvantageous group, can be an important driving force of the development thanks to their traits (hard-working, industrious, willing to learn, and participate in activities organized by previous projects; women are also mainly and largely responsible for the domestic division of labor). Together with the above-mentioned strengths, if being supported, women would create positive changes in livelihood; (2) There are limited production land, some groups have values of labor capacity (diligence, hard- working, willing to improve conditions) and whom are therefore are highly likely to move 8 out of poverty, if the conditions of stabilization policy for migrations currently operating in some places comes into effect; (3) Agricultural and forestry extension officers expressed concerns about the ability to participate to the project activities of the local EM due to their lower technical skills. Therefore training and capacity building through forestry extension was defined as critic to ensure EM’s access to project activities; (4) Natural disasters (storm, flood, drought/water shortage, environmental incidents) are causing serious and unavoidable damages such as losses of assets, human and crops. Less vulnerable groups have the greater ability to recover after these shocks while vulnerable groups such as EMs and female-headed households, are hardly affected and generally taking years to recover; (5) Price instabilty of local agricultural products is afactor that may increase vulnerability and food in security for poor people whose livelihoods depend on agriculture. 33. The assessment shows that the project will not create any disadvantage at the project sites. Issues such as involuntary land loss will be very limted and minor and the resettlement policy framework for affected people provides the guidance for the RAP preparation consistent with the OP 4.12 and local norms. (1) Relevant local forestry staff have made commitments to cooperate, especially regarding the projectimplementation. The assessment showed the need for capacity building and training local staff, in order to ensure an adquated project implementation; (2) The assessment confirmed the need to effective engagelocal associations (e.g. women, farmers etc.). It also confirmed that their roles are to be strongly enhanced under the project activities designed for the community-based forest management; (3) The private sector has commitmented to provide at at least 50% for local labor to be hired for the infrastructure construction contracts, for ensuring local benefits of the project. 34. The project will intend to support for sustainable rehabilitation, development and management of coastal forests in order to strengthen resilience to extreme weather conditions and coastal sea level rise in eight project provinces. It will also assist the application of good practices in the course of restructuring forestry sector. However, the project may have potential negative impacts on local communities, such as: (1) Involuntary acquistions of agricultural, and garden and encroached forest land affecting livelihood/business activities; (2) Restriction to protected areas resources such as fuel wood from mangroves and other products; (3) Potential relocation of graves; IV. IDENTIFICATION AND ELIGIBILITY OF DISPLACED PERSONS 4.1. Defining Displaced Persons 35. As per the World Bank’s OP 4.12, the term “displaced personsâ€? is synonymous with “project affected personsâ€? and is not limited to those subjected to physical displacement. It must be noted however that project activities will not result in physical relocation of persons or communities. The term connotes all those persons who loose “access to legally designated parks and protected areas resulting in adverse impacts on their livelihoodsâ€?. It is important to note that not every villager will 9 automatically be eligible for livelihood support under the project as loss of access as a result of restrictions carried out under the project must be demonstrated. 4.2. Eligibility 36. Individuals and communities targeted by this PF are those using natural resources in/from designated coastal protected forests. The project affected persons (PAPs) depend on the access to natural resources of protected areas, using resources for their livelihoods as per Bank’s OP 4.12 suggests three criterions for eligibility: (i) Those who have legal rights to land and/or natural resource use in protected areas (including customary land, traditional and religious rights recognized under the laws and regulations of the GoV); (ii) Those who do not have legal rights to land at the time the cut-off date begins but have potential legal claim to such land or assets provided that such claims are recognized under the laws and regulation of GoV or become recognized through process identified in the resettlement plan; and (iii) Those who have no recognizable legal right or claim to the land they are occupying. 37. The eligible PAPs living within or in the vicinity of the protected forest areas, will be determined by participatory process, to determine the exact number and scope of impacts to be compensated by the project. Special consideration and priority will be given to the vulnerable groups including the poor, ethnic minority groups(1), landless, elderly and female-headed households. Those are non-local community members accessing the areas for illegal purposes such as logging and/or wildlife hunting are not eligible. 38. All PAPs must be consulted to identify project adverse impacts, and in a joint activity to establish the eligibility criteria for mitigation or/and compensation measures. The project will wok with PAPs and co-mangers, represenatitve of local forest organizations, local leaders to define the 2 elegibility criteria for project assitanaces and to define a cut-off date( ) in a participary manner, once they are identified. The project will ensure to provide culturally appropriated information for EMs affected. Any illegal encrochment/occupant or exploitation of the natural resources of a protected area after the cut-off date will not be eligible for any type of livelihood-related or other assistances (consistent with the Bank’s OP 4.12). Additional eligibility crireria for occupants or neighbors of protected areas needing special consideration related to livelihood will be discussed with relevant stakeholders and will be part of protected area management plan. 4.3. Establishing Criteria for Eligibility 39. Although relatively minor negative impact is expected, the project will endeavor to assist project affected persons (PAPs) in their efforts to improve their livelihoods or restore to pre-project levels where there will have restrictions on forest resource use. Two types of PAPs were identified: (i) Those who currently (illegally) encroach in the protection forests for the purpose of agricultural cultivation. (1) Any land acquisition taking place with an Ethnic Minority community will need to be consistent with the Projects EMPF which is prepared for the same project prior to project appraisal in compliance with the WB OP 4.10. (2) This refers to the date prior to which the occupation or use of the project area makes residents in the area recognized as eligible PAP. For the project, the cut-off date is the date of census begins. The persons who are not in the census are not eligible for compensation and other entitlements, unless they can show proof that (i) they have been inadvertently missed out during the census and the IOL; or (ii) they have lawful requirements on the affected assets after completion of the social census and the IOL and before conduct of the detailed measurement survey (DMS). 10 (ii) Those who regularly (illegally) enter the protection forests for the purpose of collection of fuelwoods, honey or other forest products. 40. The public consultation confirmed that the number of people in the first category comprises small land areas (200m2 per household). Most encroachers are aware that they are illegally farming, that has been discussed with relevant stakeholders and Commune People’s Committees (CPCs). The project agreed with PAPs that: (i) the baseline information will be published and notified to those concerned and community leaders; (ii) a cut-off date will be agreed with PAPs and properly informed locally; (iii) programmed discussions with encroach farmers and their leaders, will be defined and announced, to jointly resolve issues and reach agreements, in close cooperation with local authorities and leaders. 41. As for the second category, it was confirmed that regularly people access the protected forests for forest products collection. In this regard, the following was aggreed with local community members, leaders and authorities: (i) to identify individual collectors a validation will be carried out; (ii) preliminary mitigating measures have been identified in consultations and will be decided upon during meetings with the Protection Forest Management Board and/or Commune People’s Committees, once further consultations with the broader community take place and results are recorded and informed to PAPs. 42. The project participatory process in consultation with community representatives in areas where people are negatively affected by project activities will focus on the following. The preparation of the Village Development Plan (VDP) and Co-management Plan (COP) will identify the numbers of PAPs, the type of impact and their eligibility to participate in alternative livelihoods activities or be compensated. Drafted VDPs and COPs will be discussed at public meetings with the PAPs, so that informed decisions can be made about the options available to them. Mitigating strategies will be based on the promotion of alternative livelihood initiatives, capacity building of self-help organizations and community based defined productive activities. 4.4. Considerations for Vulnerable Groups 43. The poor, EMs, elderly, and women in the local communities are likely to be particularly vulnerable as they are often more heavily dependent on agriculture, forest products collection and have less diversified income sources. In order to ensure that the effects on vulnerable groups are minimized if not avoided, the project will firstly ensure they have access to project related information including livelihoods assistance and secondly, alternative livelihood activities carried out in communities will ensure the inclusion and participation of vulnerable groups. To ensure women participate in the project, livelihoods support will be directed towards the affected household rather than just the affected fisher. Women will be able to apply for alternative livelihood assistance that they lead and manage. 4.5. Project Activities Phases 44. The project will carry out the activities to define access restriction to illegal or/and costumary activities in the protected areas, and will evaluate the impact on local livelihoods in consultation with the affected people. The restriction to access will be phased in to ensure that mitigation and compensation measures are in place to minimize potential impacts. (i) Information with the spatial planning and mapped demarcation of protected areas will be provided to ensure the locals are fully informed on the delimitation of forest information on the new forest management areas will provided; 11 (ii) The project will ensure to initiate restriction access once the project alternative livelihoods will be initiated. For instance, if agricultural land will become part of the forest management activites, the support needed the impacted households/individuals will be provided to ensure the transistion and changes on livelihood sources are addressed. V. LIVELIHOODS RESTORATION AND DEVELOPMENT 45. The overall aim of the restoration and mitigation measures is to compensate for and diversify the livelihoods of the affected persons of the forest resources restriction. The project will support the development of modelities that provide an alternative livelihood opportunity for PAPs. The process of developing these alternative livelihoods will be participatory and will be underlined by equity and community driven decision-making. The models will be developed through a guided process as each model a plan to support the development of products and services all the way through to distribution and service delivery. The process to achieve this will naturally be starting with mobilizing affected community members to ensure that they have the space and opportunity to consider the options available to them. Mitigation measures being taken to address the livelihoods of both ethnic minority and non-EM communities must be for the long-term for sustainable livelihood development. 5.1. Community Mobilization and Engagement 46. Affected community members with access restriction will be supported to mobilize themselves in order to identify viable livelihoods activities in a participatory manner. The approach will help to ensure that there is equity in the process and that all affected users including vulnerable groups, such as women, elderly and indigenous peoples, have the opportunity to become involved in and benefit from alternative livelihoods assistance being provided by the project. After the definition of eligible people for assistance support due to resources restriction, identification in a participatory process the phase activities will be as follows: (i) PAP assessment that will assist to map out their own resources and assets, identify and diagnose constraints and impacts due to access restrictions from household to community level, and identify the required support; (ii) Define the training and capacity building to sustain their affected livelihoods and way of transitions to alternative livelihoods; (iii) Define of co-management arrangements and alternative livelihood activities to be supported including pertinent training. 47. EMs communities will be fully engaged and their participation promoted to define alternative livelihoods that are culturally appropriate. The project will consider their agreements reached with the participation of their local leaders supporting the preparation of appropriated material for project communication. 48. Based on the information provided above, therefore it is critically important to engage communes’ project as follows: (a) Consider beneficiaries (from villages, communes, etc.) as equal partners and stakeholders in the management of forest resources, with special attention to EMs, for whom their views will be considered and respected; (b) Observe beneficiaries’ information requirements of EMs and other vulnerable commune’s members such key women; 12 (c) Approach the different local organizations that may differ from place to place; (d) Recognize that engaging local communities is time consuming process and that it requires consistency and a good planning. 5.2. Building Community Awareness 49. The project will ensure to provide guidance to facilitate participation with especial attention to be provided to EMs, ensuring culturally appropriated information provided. Awareness-raising through information sessions before starting formal consultations will be undertaken which will take the form of community meetings, informational presentations and dissemination of informational materials among others. The awareness-building process will entail the following: (i) An ongoing process, with subprojects developed to support alternative livelihoods within the communities where dialogues and learning events among the participating communities will be undertaken. The project will support the local leaderships when developing training mentoring of community leaders. Community leaders will also play a key role in supporting the implementation activities regarding the VDPs and COPs for the PF; (ii) Consultations will entail meetings and focus groups discussions to address potential in adverted impacts of the proposed forest management, observe the traditional practices that could be supported by the project. The communities will be informed about the access restrictions in workshops, and community meetings, focus groups enforcing women participation. The results of the information collected will be considered in the design of activities and in the information materials prepared for the project as required; (iii) The new defined areas for forest restoration along with the designed protected areas will be mapped and the plans for their management will be provided, including the local legislation and Bank’s policy requeriments. 5.3. Development of VDP and COP 50. The assessment of good practices in coastal forest co-management models in Thanh Hoa, Quang Ninh and Nam Dinh demonstrated effective forest management, successful forest rehabilitation, increased local incomes, and enhanced knowledge and defined effective roles/responsibilities by related parties/authorities. The lessons learnt proposed CPCs and PFMBs for managing forest land has supported, assessing and design. Coastal forest co-management will benefit local people by securing the protective functions of forests. Better management will bring more sustainable exploitation of fishery resources in mangrove forest and improved exploitation of agricultural forestry products between forest canopy and sandy soil areas. 51. Given the facts that the project is going to (i) promote co-management of forest protection and management with local communities and, (ii) promote stricter restrictions of access to forest resources which will affect local communities in general, effective VDPs and COPs are needed. On the other hand, a more effective plan will assist the project owners to have better interactions with local communities through providing and organizing real alternative livelihoods which reduces pressure to coastal forest protection and management. However, expertise to support project owners and local authorities on creation of participatory VDP which aims to be practical and feasible in a long-run is highly required. Accurate and sufficient baseline information is essential for VDP which not only provides basis for the planning, but also for effective management of implementation, monitoring and evaluation and capacity building of the village and its members. In general, development of VDP requires the following steps: 13 (i) Mobilization of the community and the VDP team; (ii) Development of working schedule and scheme as well as task allocation among the team; (iii) Strategic analysis of community development; (iv) Analysis and development of VDP objective framework; (v) Assessment of current village development; (vi) Resource analysis of village development; (vii) Strength - Weakness - Opportunity - Threat (SWOT) analysis of village development; (viii) Selection and development of village development project activities; (ix) Establishment of indicator system for VDP. 52. Co-management plans will also be devoped with full particiaption from local communities. They will be developed on the same timeline as the VDPs and will ensure communities get to express their opinions on the choice of project activities and investments. The form of community participation can vary, depending on specific or impacts being considered, and according to contextual needs and demands VDP and COP Plans. VDP and COP will be drawn upon consultations assuring that local communities take part on their management and supervision. The CPMU will be responsible for monitoring the implementation and PPMUs will be mainly responsible for design and for selecting partners and contractors to carry out specific activities in VDP and COP. 53. Forests in project areas are presently managed by CPCs. CPCs assign local forest rangers and staff for carrying out forest protection and management. To participate in the project, CPCs will issue contractual forest land allocation to household/communities for the purpose of long-term co- management and protection, consistent with the policy being developed by GoV and with lesson learned been incorporated. For forest areas managed by PFMBs, the project will support for development of co-management regulations and benefit-sharing mechanism for households and local communities. Trainings and capacity building will also be provided. Payments will be made as stipulated in Decree No.119/2016/ND-CP on the contractual basis for the households/communities for their forest protection. 5.4. Other Alternative Livelihoods 54. Possible restoration measures for resource-based livelihoods include the planting of mangrove forests or coconut as “biological shieldâ€? to stabilize coastal grounds. Preventing deforestation of high grounds and reforestation of strategic areas will also be helpful. Training local builders in appropriate construction and “anti-riskâ€? measures can be useful if local authorities and private sectors hire them to renovate current works. 55. The establishment of financial encouragement systems such as credit programs beneficial to farmers and fishermen in coastal areas will help to reduce environmental impacts. These systems could link to the CO2 exchange market, for example, the planting of mangrove forests. Preserve high areas to deal with future flood risks, and to maintain for essential community services. In addion, the establishment of the “Female Mutual support Associatesâ€? to enhance the adaptive activities for similar social groups, will be supported. 56. Alternative livelihood and livelihood restoration programs will be developed based on and incorporated with the VDP, COP, institutional analysis and economic assessment. To appropriately and adequately compensate for households that will be adversely affected by access restrictions, the 14 project will develop alternative livelihoods to mitigate negative impacts on their livelihoods. However, successful implementation of the project in a long-run heavily rely on the cooperation with local communities, not only on VDP and COP but more on designing and organizing of alternative livelihood measures and as a result, the livelihood restoration of local people. Measures to develop alternative community and individual livelihoods will be identified with the participation of the affected communities, which will focus on establishing alternative livelihood and livelihood restoration activities that are environmentally sustainable and culturally appropriate. 5.5. Implementation of VDP and the COP 57. All eligible households affected by access restrictions as a result of project activities will be covered by the mitigation measures developed in the VDPs and COPs under the PF. The implementation of the VDPs and the COPss could integrate and coordinate local resources. Implementation of the VDPs and the COPs will not affect the alternative livelihood activities to be organized in other project affected communities and forest farms. Key contents of the VDPs will include those alternative livelihood activities which fitting local natural endowments, benefiting eco- protection and restoration, positive for increase local living standard and conforming development planning of local government. Therefore expertise and professional institutes should be introduced and to integrate with local resources on development planning and development of infrastructures in particular. Contents of the possible co-management so far include: 58. The forest co-management model at community level includes 4 main steps: (1) Identify and establish representative institutions for involved stakeholders (village and commune, forest management board). Identify the roles, duties and rights of the stakeholders in the forest management; (2) Negotiate and get agreement among the stakeholders on forest protection and management issues in order to get consensus and collaboration of all stakeholders by minutes of agreement (MoA) and collaborative VDPs and COPs; (3) Implement co-management following the agreed VDPs and COPs in: forest patrolling and protection, community livelihood development, management of forest products utilization, management of forest environment services (tourism, PFES funds), forest land planning. Promote the collaboration through small grants given to the communities and supported by the project; (4) Monitoring and evaluation by participation of all stakeholders, through regular joint meeting. 5.6. Budgeting of VDP and the COP 59. Based on the above analysis, this process framework recommends implementing VDP and the COP within the project. Budget for the implementation of VDPs is from the GoV counterpart and for COPs is under Component 2 and activities of which will be designed with affected communities’ participation applying Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) methods carried out during implementation. 60. VDP is aimed to promote the alternative livelihood development as well as living circumstances for both the villagers and the communities as a whole. The proposed budgeting was estimated based on the estimation of potential loss of fuel wood which is the main product collected by the villagers in the project area. It was estimated to be approximately USD23 per household per hectare for whole life of the project per year (according to the Social Assessment and Economic Analysis carried out for the Project). The loss is temporary as access will only be restricted during the 15 planting time and early years of new tree nursing. The estimate based on the wholelife project, 6 years, is conservative. The following budget is estimated and secured under the GoV counterpart for VDP implementation: Estimated number of households in the communes with planting and 72,300 enrichment activities (based on the population in the project communes) Economic analysis value (fuel wood collected value) $23/hh for 6 years 50% of households affected in planting and enrichment areas 36,150 Estimated number of households affected by future co-management 7,230 contracts (10%) Amount of funds needed $997,740 61. The estimated implementation budget for VDPs and COPs would be allocated to each province basing on scale and anticipated workload. Specific budget for each VDP would be drawn up after Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) is taken in each site in the second year. VI. IMPLEMENTATION ARRANGEMENT 62. The institutional focal point for this project with the Management Board for Forest Projects (MBFP) within the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD). MBFP will be responsible for oversee and managing the overall project. In addition to MBFP, there will be engagement of Vietnam Forests (VNForests) from MARD and also involvement of the relevant departments from within the District Agriculture Rural Development (DARD) departments. 63. The bulk of project implementation is at subnational level and activities related to component 2 and 3 will be primarily implemented at a district commune level. Accordingly, the project implementation structure will involve a modest size central level project management unit (PMU), and provincial level project management units (PPMUs). The PPMUs will oversee project activities in their respective provinces. (See Figure below for implementation arrangements). 16 Figure 1. The project organization diagram Governance Advisory Investors Project implementation agency organizations CPMU MARD MBFP Central Steering Committee Component1/ VNForest PPC DARD PPMU Provincial Steering Committee District Working Group Forest Management Commune Working Group Board Implementation Partners Agriculture, Forestry, Aquatic Cooperatives Household Groups/Communities 17 6.1. Central level 64. Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD). MARD will collaborate with donors, related ministries, and departments to steer the project. MARD will consult withrelevant departments on appropriate policy, frameworks and project implementation and they will evaluate the project performance. 65. Central Project Management Unit (CPMU) is responsible for all operational activities and the implementation activities of social safeguard plans conducted by consultants. The consultant company is required to collaborate closely with the Provincial Project Management Unit (PPMU) in implementing and conducting activities at town and community levels. 6.2. Provincial level 66. PPMU will work with Vietnamese stakeholders at province, town and village levels on activities related to; social safeguards, training, performance and awareness enhancement. PPMU and the social consultant team of MARD are responsible for monitoring implementation activities under the social safeguard plans. 67. CPC will support theimplementation of the social safeguard plans at the commune level. 68. Political-social organizations such as: Fatherland Front, Women Association, Farmers Association, Youth Association, Elders Association, etc. will monitor project implementation, espcially land acquisition and compensation, benefit sharing, land and benefit conflit resolution to ensure the Bank’spolicies and Vietnamese laws and regulations are followed. 69. Residental groups will work directly with affected people toraise issues during project planning, implementation and monitoring. They are will provide project information to affected people and they will be the main receiver of comments about the project. Comments from residential groups will help improve the social-economic impacts of the project. 70. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) often have experience in implementing similar projects in rural areas. Therefore, seeking NGOs guidance and pertinent lesson learned for project implementation. VII. PUBLIC CONSULTATIONS AND GRIEVANCE REDRESS (GRM) 7.1. Public Consultation and Participation 71. The project has been based on wide process of consultations carried out, which will continue to be developed during the whole project cycle. The purposes of consultation process and regular public meetings are to minimize possible impact as amongst people who may be affected and respond to local demands/needs and expectations. This approach involves affected people in the process of designing and implementing the project and encourages EMs and locals to timely solve concerns and/or conflicts that may arise. Meaning consultations with EM population will provide guidance for the definition of activities, as per the OP 410, observing costumary uses and practices of forest resources and will ensure to attain wide support for the project implementation activities including the preparation of the APs. ï‚· Information will be disseminated, as needed, in local languages and visual, oral and other appropriate means of communication will be used in communities with limited literacy and Vietnamese language skills. 18 ï‚· Information dissemination methods should be diversified including by the provision of visual information (e.g. posters, photos) in community places, leaflets and the use of loudspeaker and radio broadcasts, etc. ï‚· Identification and acknowlegment of EMs leaders/elders and their organizations to ensure their participatation in consultation cycles/activities. When necessary, EM communities and their leaders/elders will receive support and training to enable their full participatation and decision-making processes. ï‚· Culturally appropriate participatory processes and methods with sufficient time frame will be established to allow adequate gender and generational representation. 72. A two-step consultation process has been designed: Step 1: During the project preparation process, consult with vulnerable groups about project activities at the project site. The objective of these free, prior and informed consultations is to ensure that the all proposed activities of the project receive broad community support from groups who may be affected the project activities. Social experts/specialists conducting consultations will identify potential impacts on EM communities. Randomized discussion groups involving EM women will address the project effects on EMs, community desires/expectation to improve to increase living standards through project and guide to ensure access from their communities. Step 2: Consultation with EMs during the project implementation will gather information about the needs and specific challenges they are facing, and identify any potential areas that may need additional support. This work will be carried in timely manner by specific staff in an appropriate place and manner to ensure and to be conducive of creative a friendly and fair environment. The process should ensure that EMs raise any concerns and issues, while been aware of the project benefits. 7.1.1. Participation of affected community for project design impacts 73. During August and September 2016, various consultations with the local communities and relevant stakeholders about project design and potential impacts were conducted (see results details in Annex 2). A field survey was carried out with 499 people, namely: ï‚· 42 provincial leaders and forest protection management officials (representatives of provincial People Committee-PPC, the municipal departments, Forest Management Board; households, FPD); ï‚· 45 district officials (representatives District People Committee-DPC, Woman Union, Ethnic division, Agriculture and forestry division); ï‚· 81 commune officers (representatives of Comnune People Committee-CPC, Woman Union, Ethnic division, Agriculture and forestry division, extension forestry); ï‚· 321 family representatives including poor, middle, and well-off households, as well as single women, and EMs. The results showed the willingness to participate, amongst women and EMs. 74. The two-step consultation process outlined above suited the local communites and vulnerable population such as EMs poor, landless, and women. 7.1.2. Consultations carried out during the project preparation process 19 75. To perform the first step of consultation process, the CPMU contracted the Center for Cooperation of Science and Technology to carry out extensive, culturally appropriated consultation with affected groups. (More information in Annex 2). Discussions groups had groups of 10 to 15 people. The participants were selected randomly with some targetted sampling to collect views and encouraging discussion of views and ideas related to the proposed project. The participants freely expressed their aspirations and their concerns about improving agricultural production. 76. Consultation with forest owners, and management groups in charge of the 72,412 ha of forest land were: ï‚· Communal People’s Committees who manage 36,212 ha (50.0%) ï‚· Board of Protection Forest Management who manage 28,783 ha (39.7%) ï‚· Forestry companies with 904 ha (1.2%) ï‚· Specialized Forest Management Board who manage 452 ha (0.62%) ï‚· Private enterprises with 274 ha (0.4%) ï‚· The armed forces with 218 ha (0.3%) ï‚· Household manage 4,320 ha (5.97%) ï‚· Community or household grous manage 848 ha (1.2%) ï‚· 401 ha (0.55%) is with other groups such as total youth volunteer team, or agricultural cooperatives). Summary of the public consultation No Provinces, districts Consultation date I Quang Ninh province 1 Consultation with Department of Agriculture and Rural 17 and 18/8/2016 Development, People's Committee of Tien Yen district and Mong Cai City 2 Protection Forest Management Board of Mong Cai city, Quang Ninh 18/8/2016 province 3 Van Ninh and Dong Rui commune, Quang Ninh province 19/8/2016 4 Consultations with households in Van Ninh and Dong Rui commune 19 and 20/8/2016 II Nghe An province 1 Consultations with Department of Agriculture and Rural 5 - 6/9/2016 Development, Dien Chau district People's Committee 2 Dien Ngoc and Dien Thanh commune, Nghe An province 7/9/2016 3 Consultation with households in Dien Ngoc and Dien Thanh 8/9/2016 commune, Nghe An province III Thanh Hoa province 20 No Provinces, districts Consultation date 1 Consultations with Department of Agriculture and Rural 9/9/2016 Development; Department of Forestry, Tinh Gia district People's Committee 2 Hai Ninh and Xuan Lam commune, Thanh Hoa province. 10/9/2016 IV Ha Tinh province 1 Consultations with Department of Agriculture and Rural 12/9/2016 Development, Forest Protection Management Boards, Thanh Ha district People's Committee 2 Ho Do and Cam Linh commune, Ha Tinh province 13/9/2016 Consultation with households in Ho Do and Cam Linh commune, Ha 14/9/2016 3 Tinh province V Thua Thien Hue province 1 Consultations with Department of Agriculture and Rural 6/9/2016 Development, Forest Protection Department, Forest Protection Funding Association, Quang Dien district People's Committee 2 Phu Loc town, Thua Thien Hue province 7/9/2016 3 Quang Cong and Lang Co commune, Thua Thien Hue province 8/9/2016 VI Quang Tri province 1 Consultations with Department of Agriculture and Rural 9/9/2016 Development, Forest Protection Department, Forest Protection Management Boards of Thach Han river and Ben Hai river, Gio Linh district People's Committee. 2 Consultations with Trung Giang and Gio My commune, Quang Tri 9/9/2016 province Consultations with Trung Giang and Gio My commune households, 10/9/2016 3 Quang Tri province VII Quang Binh province 1 Consultations with Department of Agriculture and Rural 12/9/2016 Development, Forest Protection Department of Quang Binh, Quang Ninh district People's Committee 2 Consultations with Gia Ninh and Hien Ninh commune, Quang Binh 13/9/2016 province VIII Hai Phong City 21 No Provinces, districts Consultation date 1 Consultations with Department of Agriculture and Rural 20/9/2016 Development, Forest Protection Department of Hai Phong, Do Son district People's Committee 2 Consultations with Bang La commune, Do Son district, Hai Phong 20/9/2016 province 3 Consultations with Dai Hop commune, Kien Thuy district, Hai 20/9/2016 Phong province 77. As per Bank’s requirement, the first draft Vietnamese version was disclosed on the website of MBFP in December 16, 2016 and the final draft on January 19, 2017. At the locally provincial, district, and commune levels on from January 17-20, 2017. English version was disclosed on Bank’s website on February 3, 2017. 7.1.3. Consultation planned for the project implementation stage 78. During the project implementation phase, all stakeholders will be continuously consulted on project activities that may have potential positive or negative impacts on them. All efforts will be made to engage the participation of the vulnerable groups and interest groups in planning, design, implementation and monitoring. 79. The PPMU will be responsible for ensuring the participation of the community. This will be done through the People's Committee of communes, community groups/associations, local leaders and ethnic minority leaders, women and fatherland front, and other local agencies. Local women will be provided with the opportunity to join separate meetings to ensure their effective participation. 80. The PPMU will hold regular meetings with the People's Committee of communes, women's associations, and village headman to ensure affected communites are fully aware of the project. These meetings will be planned in accordance with given timelines during the activities/works implementation phase. The purpose is to ensure satisfactory information on the timing and impacts of the project is getting to all communities. PPMU will coordinate with EM Committees at provincial level or officers in charge of EMs at the district level. 81. Through the consultation process, the PPMU will notify EM and other locals of potential impacts of the project on their livelihoods, environment and natural resources and rights. If conflict between EMs and the project implementing agencies would emerge, the PPMU will be in charge of mediation observing the cultural differences, and bringing on board their legitimate representatives. 82. Appropriate communication methods when working with EMs will be put in place, including translation of documents into ethnic languages, using interpreters in community meetings, greater use of audio visual tools holding separate meetings for women and men per the local cultural traditions. 7.1.4. Customary procedures observed amongst of EMs, female headed households and for other vulnerable’s participation 83. The design of the EMDP as peer the OP 4.10 for each subproject should include the analysis of impacts caused by restriction of use or access to natural resources in PAs. Implementation budget will include compensation/assistance/allowances, for lost assets, income and business activities, and support to promote substitutes of livelihood activities affected within or outside the forests. A participatory results evaluation will be carried out at the subroject completion. 22 84. Vulnerable groups such as female headed households and poor households, should receive particular attention. There should be a strengthening of social activities to facilitate these groups to participate in the planning, design and implementation of sub-projects. Female-headed households, disabled and elderly will also be provided with special allowances to help them restore their livelihoods and their incomes. 7.2. Grievance Redress Mechanism 85. The grievance mechanism (GRMs) of the project will have two levels: at local level the community each project province will establish a system for resolving complaints at the village, commune, district and provincial levels based on existing structures, including the relevant departments, public organizations and representatives of women and of EMs. The project will provide training and support to strengthen existing mechanisms to address complaints that PAPs can make in effective way and focus during implementation progress including those related to access restriction to protected areas. 86. All grievances and complaints will be documented and kept in the settlement of complaints committee at commune and district as well as will be resolved by consultation in a positive and transparent way. Records and reports of complaints may be accessed by the public. All costs related to the settlement of complaints processes and the representatives of the complainants will be charged to the project. Grievance resoloution procedures are as follows: ï‚· The first step. The affected household may raise their issues verbally or in writing to village head or directly to CPC. The mission of CPC’s cadres or the village head will notify the CPC about the complaint. The CPC will directly meet the affected households who complained and settle the complaint issues within 30 days after submitting a complaint (Note: in the remote and mountainous regions, it should resolve complaints within 45-60 days). The secretariat of the CPC is responsible for documenting and archiving of all relevant records complaints. As soon as the decision of the CPC released, the households may appeal the decision within 30 days. If the second decision will be signed but the household is not satisfied, the household can submit complaints to the DPC. ï‚· The second step. When receiving a grievance, the DPC will resolve the complaint within 30 days. District offices will be responsible for documenting and archiving relevant records of the complaints. As soon as the decision of the DPC released, households may appeal the decision within 30 days. If the second decision will be signed but the household is still not satisfied, the household can submit complaints to the PPC. ï‚· The third step. After receiving a household grievance, PPC will take 45 days to resolve the complaint. PPC will be responsible for documenting and archiving relevant records of all complaints. As soon as the decision of the PPC released, households may appeal the decision within 45 days. If the second decision will be signed but the household is still not satisfied, the household can submit complaints to the court within 45 days. Then, PPC will have to return the compensation money into a trust account. ï‚· The final step. The petitioner will submit dossiers or complaint to court and the court shall hear to the petitioner; in that case, the provincial government will have to increase the level of compensation according to the court decision. 87. To ensure that the grievance resolution mechanism mentioned is practical and and acceptable to ethnic minorities the mechanism must be be consultated on with the competent authorities at local 23 and the local community. If ethnic minorities oppose, it will have to attempt to verify and determine a suitable culturally appropriate way to reach consensus. 88. Communities and individuals who believe that they are adversely affected by a World Bank (WB) supported project may submit complaints to existing project-level grievance redress mechanisms or the WB’s Grievance Redress Service (GRS). The GRS ensures that complaints received are promptly reviewed in order to address project-related concerns. Project affected communities and individuals may submit their complaint to the WB’s independent Inspection Panel which determines whether harm occurred, or could occur, as a result of WB non-compliance with its policies and procedures. Complaints may be submitted at any time after concerns have been brought directly to the World Bank's attention, and Bank Management has been given an opportunity to respond. For information on how to submit complaints to the World Bank’s corporate Grievance Redress Service (GRS), please visit http://www.worldbank.org/GRS. For information on how to submit complaints to the World Bank Inspection Panel, please visit www.inspectionpanel.org. VIII. BUDGET SOURCES AND COST 89. The project budget includes the funding for developing the VDPs and COPs to be developed according to this PF and will ensure full funding required for each village of activities including consultations, monitoring and participatory evaluation. 90. The estimated summary costs of VDPs implementation will be allocated from the counterpart fund as follows: Estimated number of households in the communes with planting and 72,300 enrichment activities (based on the population in the project communes) Economic analysis value (fuel wood collected value) $23/hh for 6 years 50% of households affected in planting and enrichment areas 36,150 Estimated number of households affected by future co-management 7,230 contracts (10%) Amount of funds needed $997,740 IX. MONITORING AND EVALUATION 91. The Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) will be the overall responsibility of the MBFP. An M&E officer will coordinate the development and implementation of the M&E system and project staff, implementing partners and contractors will play an important role in M&E activities. 92. As the implementation of the project may lead to a change in access to forest resources in areas as a result of protection activities, building capacity for improved monitoring activities is essential. Monitoring should be participatory and include the monitoring of beneficial and adverse impacts on persons within project impact areas. 93. The PF will require that key performance indicators be developed in relation to MPA-related activities. Indicators can be grouped as those that: (i) will demonstrate whether or not the PF is meeting performance expectations; and (ii) demonstrate the status of livelihoods in communities 24 (through household-level indicators). The following indicator groups are suggested as a basis to measure the success and weakness of activities related to affected groups. 94. Process Framework Indicators to measure the effectiveness of the PF include: ï‚· Number of participants in consultation process ï‚· Number and types of vulnerable groups participating in consultation process ï‚· Number of affected communities included relative to total number of affected communities ï‚· Number of grievances or conflicts recorded ï‚· Number of remedial activities implemented in response to recorded grievances ï‚· Time taken to resolve grievances ï‚· Number of individuals with a positive perception over the level of empowerment in natural resources management ï‚· Number of individuals with a positive perception over the level of empowerment in natural resources management, disaggregated by vulnerable group and user sub-group categories 95. Community livelihood Indicators to measure status of households and changes in forest resource use and access restriction: ï‚· Change in type of natural resources use, and substitute activities ï‚· Changes livelihood activities of households, by type of activity and amount ï‚· Change in livelihood activities of households, by type of activity and amount, disaggregated by vulnerable group and user sub-group categories 25 Annex 1: Summary of the consultation results Consultation No Provinces, districts Components date I Quang Ninh province 1 Consultation with Department of Agriculture and Rural 17and 18/8/2016 Development, People's Committee of Tien Yen district and Mong Cai City. - Hoang Cang Dang: Deputy Director of Department of Agriculture and Rural Development - Bui Xuan Hien: Director of Vietnam-Germany afforestation project - Hoang Cong Dung: Department of Agriculture and Rural Development - Le Duc Thanh: Head of Natural Resources and Environment Division of Tien Yen - Nguyen Ngoc Dung: Deputy Head of Finance Division of Mong Cai People's Committee - Le Thanh Nhan: Women's Union President of Mong Cai - Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan: Women's Union, Tien Yen district - Vi Van Nam: Ethnic Division, Tien Yen district - Representatives from other related departments. Summary of the results: Department of Agriculture and Rural Development: - Most of the mangroves in Quang Ninh are still monitored by the town and the Protection Forest Management Board. The project proposes to re-allocate it to the community because the actual deployment showed effectiveness in Dong Rui town. Mangroves forest should not be assigned to individuals but to communities, since conflicts are likely to occur between households. - The construction of rural infrastructure and forest protection proposed by the project do not lead to land withdrawal and resettlement because they are built in available area and the construction scale is small. If there is land withdrawal (garden or crops) during the project implementation. - The main income of people are from agriculture and fishery. - People welcome the project and look forward to its deployment because coastal and mangrove forests are especially important for them. - Saplings: Enterprises should be encouraged to saplings production since the project will buy it for afforestation. This can ensure the quality of saplings. Tien Yen district and Mong Cai city - Currently, local government has not assigned forests to communities for managing. If the project and the Government decide to do it, local People's Committee and people will agree. - Village 1 and village 2, Hai Tien town were the pioneers for reallocating forests to the communities during 2 years. Preliminary results show the effectiveness of the model since forests are well-developed and well-combined with seafood farming. The management and implementation are in accordance with the communities and regulations, Regulation Committee has been established. - The implemented models currently include: + Extensive shrimp farming and crab farming: However, shrimp farming encountered risks, according to surveys, only 50% of households can get profits. + Clams: High economic value, low risk but the output faces difficulties. - It will be good if the project can support to people to develop livelihoods, however new models need to be carefully 26 analyzed and trained before implemented. - The need for credit loan is very high due to the shortage of investments. The project is hopefully to provide credit at low interest rate for loans, thus people could invest to agricultural production. - The percentage of EM in the project region is not high, about 2,000 persons, mostly concentrated in Quang Nghia and Hai Hoa town, mainly Dao, Tay Hoa. - People are very welcomed the project and they look forward to its deployment. 2 Protection Forest Management Board of Mong Cai city, Nguyen Danh Dang -Director 18/8/2016 Quang Ninh province of Protection Forest Management Board - Currently the Protection Forest Management Board of Mong Cai is managing 1,293 ha of mangrove. If the project and the Government have plans to reallocate it to communities, the Management Board is willing to support and cooperate with people to ensure good forest protection. - Risks: After forests reallocating, people will use forest for other purposes. Therefore, good announcement with rules and clear conventions are required. - Currently, funding from the province to forest protection and management is limited which is only 10% of the needed, the Management Board has to take care the rest of it. Although the forest area is large, human resources are rather limited. Thus it will be good if the project can provide funding support to local people for forest protection. - Impacts of the project: Create more jobs, increase income for local people. - The project is suggested to provide to the Protection Forest Management Board funding, patrol vehicles, sentry towers and message boards. - The Protection Forest Management Board is willing to share responsibility and experience as well as techniques to people about forest planting, monitoring and management. 3 Van Ninh and Dong Rui commune, Quang Ninh province 19/8/2016 and 14/12/2016 - Bui Xuan Truong: Vice Chairman of Van Ninh commune People's Committee - Vu Hoang Tuan: Officer of Van Ninh commune People's Committee - Pham Thi Tan: Women's Union President of Van Ninh commune - Bui Van Tu: Village head - Pham Van Hai: Chairman of Dong Rui commune People's Committee - Kieu Van Nguyet: Farmers Association, Dong Rui commune - Representatives from other related departments. Summary of results: - Van Ninh commune is currently managing only 80 ha of mangrove among 1,675 ha available. The rest is monitored by the Management Board. If the project and the Government plans to reallocate forest to communities, Van Ninh commune is willing to support. - Being a poor commune, Van Ninh is lack of investments for rural and silvicultural infrastructures. Existing infrastructures have deteriorated much, including nursery and primary schools. - Expected constructions in the project do not require land clearance and resettlement. If land withdrawal is needed, the commune will encourage households to donate land. Experiences show that people in previous projects are willing to donate land for constructions. - The current model of agriculture production in the commune is mainly aquaculture (shrimp, crab) and chicken, pigs breeding. However, the output is not stable by depending on traders, thus the project is expected to develop to build a value chain for people. - For Dong Rui commune, the livelihood of the people is mainly seafood exploitation under the forest canopy, sea ducks breeding and planting sweet potatoes in the sand. In addition, there are several aquaculture projects to be 27 planned. Dong Rui has ecotourism model. The mangrove forests here are protected by communities. - Currently, people are lack of investment. The project is expected to provide credit at low interests for loan for people to invest in agriculture production. - The percentage of ethnic minority households in the commune is very low (under 10). They marry local people. - Single women having difficulties situation is about 26 persons, such as no permanent homes, diseases, etc. The project is expected to have policies to support them. - People are willing to support the project. 4 Consultations with households in Van Ninh and Dong A total of 36 households, 19 in 19 - 20/8/2016 Rui commune Van Ninh commune, 17 in and 14/12/2016 Dong Rui commune - People agreed with the project about reallocating forest to the communities for planting, protecting and restoring purposes in which they can exploit fishery resources under canopy forest. - The project is expected to support seedlings and technical training in aquaculture and horticulture as well as develop production and improve living conditions. - Currently, there is shortages of classrooms for students, roads are deteriorated, many places do not even have good quality road. The project thus is expected to invest and reduce difficulties for people. - Aqua productions are going on sale at very low prices, processing and preserving procedures are bad. The project is expected to help people on processing and preserving techniques as well as finding output for the products. - If the infrastructure projects and rural silviculture construction must withdraw a small portion of land, the farmers are willing to donate land. - People are in need of investment. It will be good if the project has a credit source to borrow at low interest for people. II Nghe An province 1 Consultations with Department of 5 - 6/9/2016 Agriculture and Rural Development , Dien Chau district People's Committee - Nguyen Tien Lam: Deputy Director of Department of Agriculture and Rural Development - Nguyen Khac Hai: Forest Protection Department - Nguyen Cong Son: Head of Protection Forest Management Boards of Nghi Loc - Phan Xuan Vinh: Vice Chairman of Dien Chau district People's Committee - Phan Thi HÆ°Æ¡ng: Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Division, Dien Chau district - Dau Thi Nga: Women's Union, Dien Chau district - Representatives from other related departments. Summary of the results: - Nghe An is ready to receive the project and look forward for its implementation. High level of provincial officers and funding will be assigned to the project. People are very happy. - For mangroves, they must be high and in good quality to live here. Coconut needs to be put in research to plant along the coast. Nghe An can ensure about seedlings since the province has more than 30 units to provide it. - After reallocating forest to the communities, if there is any misuse (defined in a procedure explained to beneficiaries and monitored), the district will withdraw the forest and give it to others. - Currently, some areas having coastal tourism generate negative effects to the forests by reducing the forest areas. Solutions for this situation are being planning. - Livelihoods support for coastal areas from here has advantages: favorable natural conditions, good quality of lands, abundant human resources with youth. For these groups livelihoods should be supported at households, communities; to villages levels 28 - Demining process: Should implement in new areas but not in current areas. - For infrastructure: Land clearance and resettlement process are not needed. Land clearance construction will not be selected. 2 Dien Ngoc and Dien Thanh Ho Thi Tam: Chairwoman of Dien Thanh Commune 7/9/2016 and commune, Nghe An province People's Committee 16/12/2016 Nguyen Van Dung: Vice Chairman of Dien Ngoc Commune People's Committee - Dien Thanh commune has 110 ha of coastal tourist areas to be planned, thus the forest area has been decreased. In protection forest area there is currently a number of households who use forest wrongly: They interwoven agricultural crops with forest trees. - People are willing to receive the project and agreed with the plan of reallocating forest to local community for managing and protecting purposes. - Both communes are lack of classrooms for primary schools as well as roads and irrigation systems. Constructions do not require land clearance, resettlement and land withdrawal. - Appropriate policies for better forest protection and management are recommended to force people do not use forest for improper purposes. - Clean vegetables models techniques are needed to increase incomes and ensure food safety for the communities. - Investments are needed thus the project is expect to have credit funds with low interest loans. 3 Consultation with households in Dien Ngoc and Dien A total of 52 households, 30 8/9/2016 and Thanh commune, Nghe An province in Dien Ngoc commune, 22 in 16/12/2016 Dien Thanh commune - People are agreed with the project, with the plan of reallocating forest to the local communities to grow, restore and protect it, in which they can exploit aqua production in permission. - The project is expected to provide support and training in processing and preserving seafood, as well as increasing the prices of the products. - Both communes are lacking of classrooms for primary schools, in many places roads are deteriorated. People are looking forward to support from the project. - People are willing to donate land (if needed) to implement the project, community supervision is required during the implementation to ensure the construction quality. In such cases, the land donation will need to follow the procedure established by the project, and ensure and evidence tha t it won’t be affecting poor landholders - There are still a various number of households that are required to be supported: Poor people, single women, lacking-production-land households, etc. The project is expected to help those people. 2 communes do not have ethnic minority households. - Investments are needed thus the project is expect to have credit funds with low interest loans. III Thanh Hoa province 1 Consultations with Department of Agriculture and Rural 9/9/2016 Development; Department of Forestry, Tinh Gia district People's Committee - Pham Chi Dung: Deputy Head of Forestry Department of Thanh Hoa - Trinh Quoc Tuan: Senior Officer of Forestry Department of Thanh Hoa - Le The Ky: Vice Chairman of Tinh Gia district People's Committee - Mai Van Chau: Director of Agriculture Division, Tinh Gia district People's Committee - Nguyen Thanh Phong: Deputy Head of the Protection Forest Management Board - Luong Thi Nhung: Vice President of Women's Union of Tinh Gia district - Representatives from other related departments. 29 Summary of the results: - Thanh Hoa has 102 km of coastline and there are various number of provincial programs of afforestation, although they are in small scale due to the shortage of funding. People are willing to support the project and look forward to its implementation, however clear support mechanisms need to be clarified - The coastal area of Thanh Hoa has very few of ethnic minorities. Support activities are still implemented even though. - Currently, the province has a specific plan for the coastal area for aquaculture and tourism thus there will be no conflicts between groups, however inefficient aquaculture zones will be converted to planting. - The construction of rural infrastructure and service do not require land withdrawal and resettlement, it will be implemented on available ground, in a small scale. - Clean vegetables models techniques are needed to increase incomes and ensure food safety for the communities. - At Hau Loc, people are using coastal line for boats mooring since the canals are too shallow to be accessible. The project is expected to invest for canals dredging, thus it will return coastal line for afforestation. - Seedlings: The province has prepared for the project. - Demining process should have been processed before the project because this region has left many landmines. JICA project has implemented in some areas but many places are in need to be considered. - Assessment and analyzed process on the socio-economy and environment should be implemented to propose mitigation measures. 2 Hai Ninh and Xuan Lam commune, Thanh Le Dinh Thang: Chairman of Hai Ninh 10/9/2016 and Hoa province. Commune People's Committee 15/12/2016 Pham Duc Binh: Chaiman of Xuan Lam Commune People's Committee Representatives from other related departments. - People are agreed with the project, with the plan of reallocating forest to the local communities to grow, restore and protect it. - Hai Ninh commune is a poor commune, there are more than 3 ha of mangrove and 8 ha of mudflats which currently are under of local government management. But people are willing to be assigned to management and reforestation stuffs. Casuarina forest has been reallocated to the community for management and exploitation. - The project is expected to provide support and training in processing and preserving seafood, as well as increasing the prices of the products. - Both communes are lacking of classrooms for primary schools, in many places roads are deteriorated. People are looking forward to support from the project. People are willing to donate land (if needed) to implement the project, community supervision is required during the implementation to ensure the construction quality. - There are still a various number of households that are required to be supported: Poor people, single women, lacking-production-land households, etc. The project is expected to help those people. 2 communes do not have ethnic minority households. - Investments are needed thus the project is expect to have credit funds with low interest loans. IV Ha Tinh province 1 Consultations with Department of Agriculture and 12/9/2016 Rural Development, Forest Protection Management Boards, Thanh Ha district People's Committee - Nguyen Ba Thinh: Deputy Director of Department of Agriculture and Rural Development - Nguyen Xuan Hoan: ODA Deputy Chief Management - Nguyen Ngoc Lam: Deputy Director of Protection Forest Management Board of Ha Tinh 30 - Nguyen Viet Ninh: Director of Ke Gio Nature Reserve Center - Nguyen Van Sau: Head of Agriculture Division, Thach Ha district People's Committee - Nguyen Thi Kieu Huong: Women's Union of Thach Ha district - Representatives from other related departments. Summary of the results: - For sustainable forest management: There must have forest owners. The province will promote the forest reallocation to the community. A plan for management and protection also are needed. - Seedlings: Seedlings must adapt for each area with different types of soils, a plan to ensure the quality is needed. - To protect forests effectively, funding must be increased to allocate to people and raise their awareness as well as support them with good infrastructure and livelihood patterns. - About the environment: After the Formosa incident, the province will not allow any other incident which is harmful to the environment to occur. People will be encouraged to monitor and manage the environment. - About people supporting: Understanding the real need of people is required thus there should have experts to examine and propose appropriate livelihood patterns. - People agreed with the project, with the plan of reallocating forest to the local communities to restore and protect it. - Livelihoods: The province has nearly 11,000 models of different agricultural livelihoods. Appropriate models should have been choose during the project. There will be no land withdrawal and resettlement. - There will be no conflicts between the parties if good plans and proper processes are implemented. - Demining process should have been processed before the project because this region has left many landmines. - Coastal climate is very extreme, windy storms occur frequently thus the funding level of reforestation needs to be increased in order to implement the planting, restoring and protecting process. 2 Ho Do and Cam Linh Phan Dinh Hinh: Chairman of Ho Do 13/9/2016 and 17/12/2016 commune, Ha Tinh province commune People's Committee Tran Dinh Lam: Chairman of Cam Linh commune People's Committee Tran Van Huu: Commune Party Committee Secretary - Ho Do commune has totally 60.23 ha of mangrove, this is the best commune of Ha Tinh in terms of mangrove protection. Mangroves are important over here, namely: Being green walls to protect people against sea waves, wind storms; seafood resources and an aquatic life under the forest canopy. - Commune Forest protection: The commune has built a convention in villages, who violates will be punished and the discover will be rewarded. The mangroves here are beautiful thus the project is expected to invest to the eco- tourism activities. - Do Ho commune has 15 ha for forest planting, seedlings should be in place. - Consensus: The commune and people are looking forward to the project. - Suggest to the project to invest in infrastructure, especially home during storms, in silvicultural infrastructure to protect forests. - Cam Linh commune has 4 ha where it was forested. It is currently assigned to the community to manage and protect. Each village has selected 20 experienced households to participate in forest protection. However funding is limited thus the people are all volunteers. In the other hand, Cam Linh has 31 ha of areas which can be afforested, but appropriate analyzing needs to be done. - The construction of rural infrastructure and service works on forest protection do not require land withdrawal and resettlement. They will be made on the available grounds, in small-scale. - Demining processes are not required because the area has been reviewed before. 3 Consultation with households in Ho Do A total of 48 households, 21 14/9/2016 and 17/12/2016 31 and Cam Linh commune, Ha Tinh in Ho Do commune, 27 in province Cam Linh commune - People are agreed with the project, with the plan of reallocating forest to the local communities to grow, restore and protect it. - There was a reforestation plan 10 years ago but it ended without funding for forest protection, therefore the forest areas have been reduced. Lesson-learn must be drawn in this regard. - Both communes are lacking of classrooms for primary schools, in many places roads are deteriorated. People are looking forward to support from the project. People are willing to donate land (if needed) to implement the project, community supervision is required during the implementation to ensure the construction quality. In such cases, the land donation will need to follow the procedure established by the project, and ensure and evidence that it won’t be affecting poor landholders - There are a various number of households that are required to be supported: Poor people, single women, lacking- production-land households, etc. The project is expected to help those people. - Investments are needed thus the project is expect to have credit funds with low interest loans. - Investigation in each area needs to be done to select appropriate plants which can adapt to the climatic conditions. - The seafood models here are very consistent. The project is expected to support livestock breeders to help people improving their lives. V Thua Thien Hue province 1 Consultations with Department of Agriculture and Rural 6/9/2016 Development, Forest Protection Department, Forest Protection Funding Association, Quang Dien district People's Committee - Pham Ngoc Dung: Deputy Head of Forest Protection Department of Thua Thien Hue - Nguyen Duc Huy: Forest Protection Department of Thua Thien Hue - Tran Van Lap: Director of Protection Forest Management Board of Bac Hai Van - Ha Van Tuan: Vice Chairman of Quang Dien district People's Committee - Pham Canh Nguu: Farmer association, Quang Dinh district - Representatives from other related departments. Summary of the results: - Thua Thien Hue has mainly sand forests and hilly forests. Mangroves forests exists only in the mudflats. Native trees are planted on hill (mountain area to the sea). Crops cultivation requires higher techniques than the mangroves trees. - Livelihood issues: Agro-forestry model livestock under the forest canopy, eco-tourism model based on lagoon (Tam Giang, Cau Hai). - People are agreed with the project, with the plan of reallocating forest to the local communities to grow, restore and protect it. - Quang Dien district has more than 8.5 km of coastline, sandy area is large, the annual volume of sand blow in 2 communes Quang Cong and Quang Ngan is big. To resist this phenomenon and develop protection forests, in recent years, the local government encouraged people planting trees on the coastal lands. Farmers in 2 communes have planted about 65 ha of forest on this sandy coastal area. Forests help to reduce the amount of sand blow every year and ensure the security for people of Quang Dien district. - The province is always ready to receive this project and look forwards its implementation. Provincial officers and means will be assigned to implement the project. People are happy with the project. - There will be no land withdrawal and resettlement during the project. The coastal area has very poor transportation infrastructure thus it will need about 45 km of silvicultural road to patrol and guard the forest. 32 - Gender issues: Most of the afforestation is undertaken by women (60-65%). - The project region has no EM, but refinement will be conducted. - After reallocating forests to the community for management, if there is any misuses, the local government will take forests back and handle to others. - Demining problem: There is a Norwegian project implementing in Phong Dien district. Other districts should conduct reviews in the new growing areas. 2 Phu Loc town, Thua Thien Hue province 7/9/2016 and 15/12/2016 - Forests in Phu Loc include coastal protection forests, mangrove forests and hilly forests. The hilly forests have been recovered and can be exploited (acacia, casuarina, etc). Mangroves forests are mostly apiculata. - Currently people livelihoods are mainly exploiting and aquaculture. People agreed with benefits from mangroves forest thus they want to restore it to for environment protection, ecological restoration and fishery resources. - The expectations of local government is now dispersing plants to develop eco-tourism. - Investment on silviculture road to Hoi Mit residential area, An Cu about 1-1.4 km. - For protection forest of the North Hai Van, 01 watch tower is needed a long with 100 ha of afforestation and 500 ha of restoration. 3 Quang Cong and Lang Co commune, Thua 8/9/2016 and 15/12/2016 Thien Hue province - In Quang Cong commune, protection forests are mainly Casuarina and Acacia, they are planted to resist sand blow to develop production and fishing. Mangroves are difficult to plant over here due to deep water and high cultivation costs. Protection forests are assigned to the community for management and protection purpose. After 10 years forests will be exploited and people can use around 30%. - In Lang Co commune, mangroves are mainly in the mudflats in the east. Afforestation in this area is difficult, new construction is required. In the West, breakwater is needed. - Quang Cong and Lang Co has currently 40 ha of forests and 200 ha will be afforested. - People are agreed with the project, with the plan of reallocating forest to the local communities. - Both communes are lacking of classrooms for primary schools and roads as well as irrigation systems. There will be no land withdrawal and resettlement during the project. - People are willing to donate land (if needed) to implement the project, community supervision is required during the implementation to ensure the construction quality. In such cases, the land donation will need to follow the procedure established by the project, and ensure and evidence that it won’t be affecting poor landholders - - The project should implement appropriate policies for protecting forests from misuse purposes. - Investments are needed thus the project is expect to have credit funds with low interest loans. - Both communes have no EM. VI Quang Tri province 1 Consultations with Department - Khong Trung: Head of Forest Protection Department 9/9/2016 of Agriculture and Rural of Quang Tri Development, Forest Protection - Doan Viet Cong: Deputy Head of Forest Protection Department, Forest Protection Department of Quang Tri Management Boards of Thach - Le Thi Huong: Senior officer of Department of Han river and Ben Hai river, Agriculture and Rural Development Gio Linh district People's - Phan Thi Mo: Natual Resources and Environment Committee. Division, Gio Linh district - Tran Thi Cuc: President of Women's Union of Gio Linh 33 - Nguyen Van Thuc: Agriculture and Rural Development Division of Gio Linh district - Representatives from other related departments. Summary of the results: - Quang Tri has over 31,000 ha of sand, including 8,000 ha of inland sand which are mainly concentrated in Vinh Linh, Gio Linh, Trieu Phong and Hai Lang district. To improve the environment, since 1993, through programs and projects on coastal areas, Quang Tri has established more than 7,000 ha of forest protection and 10,000 ha of production forests. - Currently, the province has 3,000 ha of barren sand which are not yet to be greened by afforestation project. The main reason is lacking investment funding, some people do not appreciate the role of forests over sand. - Due to the steep terrain and the components which are mainly sandy soil, Quang Tri is not suitable for mangrove development, there is only a small area of mangrove in estuaries. - People livelihoods are mainly fishing and livestock. Some other models include beekeeping which is around 300- 500 barrels in terms of scale. In addition, the province has salamanders model but it is only in the testing stage. - Seedlings garden: The province has many gardens for seedlings, mainly by households. Currently there are 23 gardens with good quality standards, licensed by local governments. - Currently protection forests have not been assigned yet to the communities for management purpose yet but the local government has a plan to do it. - Difficulties in local afforestation: Soil are mainly mobile dunes, semi-submerged and submerged which are very difficult to plant. For protection forests, Casuarina forests are allocated to the communities for managing but there is no financial support for the people. Also, the exploitation does not give much income. - Experiences from previous projects show that in the end of the project, forests were being assigned to local communities for management but there is problem of financial support thus forests do not have enough protection. - Demining process: There are many projects which performed this process. - There will be no land withdrawal and resettlement during the project. - Local government and people are ready to receive the project and they are agreed with the project guidelines. 2 Consultations with Trung Giang and Gio Tran Xuan Tuong: Chairman of Trung Giang 9/9/2016 and My commune, Quang Tri province commune People's Committee 16/12/2016 Nguyen Dinh Do: Gio My commune People's Committee - The local government is agreed with the project guidelines of reallocating forests to the communities for managing. Currently, forests are assigned to villages and funding are provided by the commune. - The main livelihood models are agro-forestry and mallard breeding. - Infrastructure: Water systems are expected to be supported by the project. Land withdrawal and land clearance are not required. - There are a various number of households that are required to be supported: Poor people, single women, lacking- production-land households. There is no EM in both communes. - Investments are needed thus the project is expect to have credit funds with low interest loans. - Agricultural and fishery products are at low prices, processing and preserving procedures are bad. The project is expected to support on processing and preserving techniques, as well as providing outputs for the products. - The project will create more jobs and increase income for local people. Consultations with Trung A total of 50 households, 26 in Trung Giang 10/9/2016 and Giang and Gio My commune commune, 24 in Gio My commune 16/12/2016 3 households, Quang Tri province 34 - People agreed with the project and the policy of reallocating forests to the communities for management, restoration and protection purposes. However, appropriate policies with reasonable assistance need to be provided to people to assure their responsibilities. - Currently, the communes are lack of water supply systems and classrooms for primary schools. People expect that the project and the government will support them to reduce their difficulties. The constructions do not need land withdrawal. However, people are willing to contribute their land if needed. In such cases, the land donation will need to follow the procedure established by the project, an d ensure and evidenced that won’t be affecting poor landholders - There are sill a various number of households that are required to be supported: Poor people, single women, lacking-production-land households, etc. The project is expected to help those people. - Investments are needed thus the project is expect to have credit funds with low interest loans. - Agricultural and fishery products are at low prices, processing and preserving procedures are bad. The project is expected to support on processing and preserving techniques, as well as providing outputs for the products. VII Quang Binh province 1 Consultations with Department of Agriculture and 12/9/2016 Rural Development, Forest Protection Department of Quang Binh, Quang Ninh district People's Committee - Nham Thanh Duy: Department of Agriculture and Rural Development - Luu Duc Kien: Deputy Head of Forests Department of Quang Binh - Nguyen Van Hue: Forests Department of Quang Binh - Nguyen Viet Anh: Chairman of Quang Ninh district People's Committee - Nguyen Thi T Tam: Vice President of Women's Union of Quang Ninh district - Representatives from other related departments. Summary of the results: - Quang Binh has a total of 174,482 ha of protection forests to be planned, so far until now 149,564 ha is under management and protection, which is about 23% of the forest land over the province. - Forests in sand: Casuarina, Acacia. Forests in sand gives low productivity and economic value thus to develop the forests sustainably, people need to be supported. - Mangroves forests in Quang Ninh district have hundreds of years old, some can reach over 20 years. Currently there is only one household can grow trees from local seedlings. - Previously, protection forests are under management of forest enterprises thus it is lack of coordination with the local government and illegal exploitations occur frequently. Since the new policy is applied, forests management require the participation of all political systems in which the Protection Forest Department is the core. With this model, forests are well-protected and strengthen. - Quang Ninh district: Planting, protecting and forest fire preventing are being focused. The whole district plant 1,183 ha, assign 2,836 ha to 728 households and 4 villages, reallocate land and land use to 525 households for regeneration, protection and afforestation. - The forest reallocation to local communities is expected to be successful because human resources are available in the province. - Local livelihoods model: + Agro-forestry model brings high economic value: Pig, chicken, fish, ducks breeding etc. Crops: Grass, watermelon (total of 70 ha), maize (18-24 tons/ha, total of 20 ha), sweet potatoes in sand (these products are the specialties of the province). + Fish cages, shrimp farming in mangrove areas. + Eco tourism, spiritual tourism. 35 - Local government and the people are very supportive to the project and look forward to its implementation because coastal areas are very important to the environment and them. - The constructions do not need land withdrawal and resettlement because they are built in the available grounds, in a small scales. In average, each commune should have a silvicultural road of <5 km in length. - There is no EM in the project region. They live in the mountainous area outside the project commune. 2 Consultations with Gia Ninh and Hien Ninh 13/9/2016 and 17/12/2016 commune, Quang Binh province - People welcomed the project and agreed with the policy of reallocating forests to local communities for management and protection purposes. - Hien Ninh commune has 8 villages including 5 riverside villages with mangroves, the People's Committee has allocated forests to local villages, thereby people are very supportive to the forests management and protection. - Long Dai, Hien Ninh commune has 30 ha of mangroves but until now due to erosion, this area has left only 20 ha (the total area of Hien Ninh commune is about 50 ha). Fundings are mainly taken from the reserved fund of the local government (human resources are mainly from communal militia). - Both communes are lacking of classrooms for primary schools and roads as well as irrigation systems. There will be no land withdrawal and resettlement during the project. - Support to build silvicultural roads and embankments in Thuan Bac and Thuan Dong - Livelihoods: + People are in need of built watermelon value chain, maize and training courses to raise awareness of the communities about afforestation and forest protection. + Under the forest canopy, incense can be planted because this can live in drought and do not need a lot of sunshine. This is planted to serve the Lunar new year because there is no output and cultivation funding. + Currently, 50% of the growing depends on natural water, there is no irrigation systems of the government. Productivity thus is being affected. - Investments are needed thus the project is expect to have credit funds with low interest loans. - There is no EM in both communes. - Afforestation difficulties: + No funding for forest protection. Guards mainly are from police with limited responsibilities. + Cork forests grow fast but the trees are very weak and often fall during hurricane season. - The clean water issue is essential to local people. They do not have clean water to use due to the limitation in funding. People are using water from wells but it is alum and saline. - The urgent task is to restore mangroves forest in the eastern and northern village of Tan Hien and Dong Tru district to prevent erosion, protect farmland and houses. VIII Hai Phong province 1 Consultations with Department of Agriculture and 20/9/2016 Rural Development, Forest Protection Department of Hai Phong, Do Son district People's Committee - Luyen Cong Khanh: Deputy Head of Forest Protection Department of Hai Phong - Bui Xuan Chuyen: Head of Forest Protection Unit of Kien Thuy - Do Son - Cao Thi Hai Xuan: Deputy Head of Forest Protection Unit of Kien Thuy - Do Son - Phan Thi Phuong: Deputy Manager of Economy Division, Do Son district, Hai Phong Summary of the results: - Coastal forests are important to Hai Phong because the province faces 3 to 5 hurricanes annually (the national average is about 6 to 7 hurricanes/year), causing tremendous damage to dykes systems and the population. 36 - The entire forest area and coastal forest land of Hai Phong are being managed by the commune People's Committee. It annually allocates forests to some following organizations to manage, such as: the Red Cross, military, the community households. Funding resources are from the city's budget (200,000 VND/ha/year). - The importance of forests: The capacity of dyke’s protection against waves and sand blow to ensure coastal people's lives, improve the environment ecology, limit sea pollution and accelerate the expansion of tidal sedimentation and aquatic breeding grounds. - The livelihoods include farming, fishing, ecotourism activities, grazing livestock, waterfowl, beekeeping, etc. - The province and people are welcomed the project and look forward its implementation because the coastal forests are very important to the environment. - The constructions of the project do not need land withdrawal and resettlement because they are built in the available grounds, in small scales. - There are no EM living in the project region. - Demining process: There are many projects which performed this process. 2 Consultations with Bang La commune, Do Son 20/9/2016 and 13/12/2016 district, Hai Phong province - Bang La commune has currently 360 ha of mangrove forest. It had been planted in 1993 but being destroyed before afforestation in 1998 by the project of the Japanese Red Cross. From 1998 to 2005, forests have been grown steadily including afforestation and forest enrichment. - Currently the afforestation area is about 1,200 ha. Plantation land has mainly sand and mud thus afforestation encounters difficulties. In addition, protection measures against waves and wind are required. - Forests protection are being assigned to the forest protection groups. - Local livelihoods are mainly beekeeping and fishing under the canopy as well as developing eco-tourism. In addition, there are local specialties such as apples and tomatoes, farmers are in need of support to build their brand. - Infrastructure: The project is expected to support for the dredging, equip more boats, personal protective stuffs to protect forests. Build 02 watchtowers and apartments for forest protection groups. The commune also is in need to build a place for cultural activities. - Investments are needed thus the project is expect to have credit funds with low interest loans. 3 Consultations with Dai Hop commune, Kien 20/9/2016 and 13/12/2016 Thuy district, Hai Phong province - Afforestation is effective since 1998 supported by the Japanese Red Cross. Afforestation and forest management are allocated to households and security organizations thus forests are well developed. - Mangroves forests have mainly Rhizophora and Apiculata. - The main livelihood models are: Agriculture, exploitation and aquaculture with a total average income of 31 million VND/year/person. - Investment categories needed: + 01 fishing port + 03 watchtowers, 01 school + Dredge the creek and build silvicultural roads. + Construction of a silvicultural road of 2.5 km of length to avoid flooding and to increase the protection, exploitation and fishing productivity. - The constructions do not need land withdrawal or land compensation. There is no EM living in the project area. 37