Landuse/cover change in Ho Ho Sub-watershed, north-central Viet Nam

Landuse analysis and local knowledge can explain the intensity and drivers of landuse changes in a rural
landscape. In the Huong Khe watershed north-central Viet Nam, during recent decades (1990-2014),
this analysis identified a massive transformation of natural forests into farm-based plantations of rubber
and acacia. Population growth also forced large areas of forest land to be allocated to local people for
their livelihoods, and induced an increase in cultivated lands, such as shifting cultivation in uplands, and
settlements. The Ho Ho sub-watershed is part of the Huong Khe watershed and a similar trend was
observed there with the remarkable expansion of acacia forest plantations to supply the pulp industry.
The conversion from logged over forest into acacia plantation occurred both in the upstream and
downstream communes of the sub-watershed. Claims by local people for land to feed the growing
population, over logging and the forest plantation expansion program were responsible for forest
degradation and conversion. The local people foresaw that expansion of the acacia forest plantations
would continue in the future driven by high economic as well as presumably environmental benefits
such as landslide prevention and micro-climate regulation, along with a steady increase in the total
population.