Effects of environmental change and policy responses on natural resource access in Vietnam

The report examines the intersection of biophysical climate changes and environmental policies in Bac Kan Province, Vietnam, finding that policy-driven resource demarcation and hydropower development often reinforce existing socio-economic inequalities among ethnic groups. While biophysical changes like prolonged hot seasons disproportionately affect the poorest households, the report highlights that women's empowerment through education and migration is shifting traditional patriarchal land-control structures.

• Biophysical environmental changes in Bac Kan Province include a prolonged hot season that now lasts from February until October, starting two months earlier than in previous decades, and a fourfold increase in the frequency of whirlwinds observed in 2018.
• Environmental policies that categorize forests into production, protection, and special-use types have created 'winners and losers' due to a lack of transparency in recategorization. Some households with 'green-book' land-tenure certificates had their production forests recategorized as community protection forests, maintaining de jure rights but losing the ability to benefit from the resources, with some facing heavy fines for logging in formerly family-owned areas.
• The operation of the 4.5 MW Ta Lang hydropower plant has reduced water availability for downstream irrigated rice production in Na Thau village. During the dry season (October to April), water release is sometimes reduced to once a week or month, forcing farmers to reduce paddy rice harvests from two per year to one or switch to maize.
• Climate-driven biophysical effects disproportionately endanger the poorest households, who rely on upland crops and animal husbandry. In contrast, better-off households utilize livelihood options less susceptible to drought, such as forestry and fruit trees, or those with irrigation access, such as aquaculture and paddy rice.
• Environmental policies have reinforced pre-existing ethnic inequalities in land access. Dao and H’mong villagers, who were resettled to lowlands more recently than the Tay people, possess less paddy rice and forest land.
• Increased access to education and labour migration—particularly for young Tay and Dao women moving to industrial parks in Thai Nguyen and Bac Giang—has empowered women, leading to more equal control over household decisions regarding land use and management.
• Government public campaigns promoting the link between forest protection and water resource availability have influenced local perceptions, leading some households to accept the loss of their forest access for the 'greater good' of the community.

APA

Nguyen, H., Vigil, S., & Dang, N. (2020). Effects of environmental change and policy responses on natural resource access in Vietnam. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/sei-report-nguyen-vietnam-sep-2020.pdf

Chicago

Nguyen, Ha, Sara Vigil, and Nguyet Dang. Effects of environmental change and policy responses on natural resource access in Vietnam. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2020. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/sei-report-nguyen-vietnam-sep-2020.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Nguyen |first1=Ha |last2=Vigil |first2=Sara |last3=Dang |first3=Nguyet |title=Effects of environmental change and policy responses on natural resource access in Vietnam |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=August 2020 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/sei-report-nguyen-vietnam-sep-2020.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{nguyen2020effects, author = {Nguyen, Ha and Vigil, Sara and Dang, Nguyet}, title = {{Effects of environmental change and policy responses on natural resource access in Vietnam}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2020}, month = aug, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/sei-report-nguyen-vietnam-sep-2020.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }