Community - based natural resource management in Kado village, Lam Dong province, Vietnam

Kado, an upland village in Lam Dong province of Vietnam, is characterized by a diversity in natural and socio-economic features. This diversity offers a good opportunity to study the community arrangement for natural resource use and management. The community-based approach of the research project includes the participation of local villagers in the process of designing and implementing research activities. The identification of target groups, based on criteria such as ethnicity, wealth ranking and gender, and the involvement of local stakeholders, especially local administrators, foresters and rural extension workers, help to promote the approach both in enhancing the capability and confidence of villagers and improving skills and attitudes of outside institutions. Certain technical and institutional solutions such as integrated farming, forest-garden, community woodlot and common land management have been tested and some have been adopted by the community. Impacts were also observed in the improvement of the research capability of the involved researchers in conducting action-oriented research. 1. Background to Project