Accelerating the Forest Cover Rehabilitation and Implications for Eco-environmental Management and Sustainable Rural Livelihood Development in Upland Northwest Vietnam

Vietnam’s forests have undergone major transformations since the 1990s, including a transition from net forest loss to net expansion, which is attributable to plantation forests and rehabilitated forests. Our study aimed to better understand the patterns and the causes of forest cover rehabilitation in Vietnam to expand tropical forests in other regions. We used geographic information system tools, a structural regression model and a random effects model based on official Government of Vietnam forest cover maps, and field surveys to quantify the extent of rehabilitated forests and its drivers at the local, commune, scale, in Dien Bien province, Vietnam. Results showed that around 118,000 hectares of forests were rehabilitated between 1990 and 2010. Rehabilitated forests comprised the largest share (above 84%) of total forest gain and this share increased from 1990-2000 to 2000-2010. Rehabilitated forests were associated with biophysical and accessibility conditions (elevation and road density). Expansion of rehabilitated forests was mainly driven by the presence of migration, lower population density, higher income, and the implementation of forestry policies. The empirical results offer policy implications for forest restoration practices as part of forest-based climate change mitigation programs as well as for environmental management, sustainable mountainous rural livelihood development in Vietnam and beyond.