Participatory low-emissions land-use planning: the case of Ba Be landscape in Northeast Viet Nam

Land-use planning plays an important role in reconciling the often contradictory targets of conservation and economic development. This study demonstrates the use of the Land-use Planning for Low-Emission Development Strategies (LUWES) framework in multistakeholder negotiations for developing a low-emissions land-use plan for Ba Be District, a poor rural landscape in northern Viet Nam. Twenty-year land-use scenarios were created for each of four planning zones: production forest; protection forest; special-use forest; and land outside forest. By comparison with the LUWES approach, ‘top–down’ land-use planning tends to maximize the potential for conservation and mitigation by restricting certain forest uses and encouraging forest plantations without due consideration of local livelihoods. Land-use plans developed in a participatory way, albeit offering moderate carbon benefits, are more practical and feasible through incorporating the interests of local communities in rehabilitating landscapes through carbon-rich land-use practices.
We suggest that Ba Be’s low-emissions development strategy should include approaches for ‘land sharing’ to balance trade-offs between conservation targets, mitigation benefits and the livelihoods of forest dwellers. Benefits from ‘carbon farming’ within a broader carbon-accounting framework should also be fully recognized and equally shared among stakeholders across the landscape. The chapter highlights the vital role of local stakeholders in emissions-reduction planning and the need to aggregate land-use strategies. Finally, we conclude that provincial and district governments need to address discrepancies in forest allocation and management and engender greater stakeholder participation to develop more realistic low-emissions land-use development plans.