Local Power Structures and Their Effect on Forest Land Allocation in the Buffer Zone of Tam Dao National Park, Vietnam

Abstract

This article examines how household property claims over forest land used for economic production were established in communes bordering Tam Dao National Park in northern Vietnam under the decentralized implementation of forest land allocation policies. Using data from surveys of households living on the edge of Tam Dao National Park, this study examines “who got what” when household access to forest land used for production was established. This demonstrates the community interests that constitute the local power structures affecting distribution of access to forest land. In this case, household access to forest land used for production is determined greatly through entrepreneurial and institutional factors. If decentralized forest land allocation policies have any hope of circumscribing land use so that it corresponds to the uses laid out in land use plans, we must first understand how local power structures affect household access to forest land.