Workshop: Forest managed by communal people's committees - The legal paradox of 'nominal ownership'

The workshop* “Improving the Effectiveness of Management and Protection of Forests and Forestry Land Managed by Commune-level People's Committees (UBND)” *was organized by the Vietnam Association of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development in collaboration with the Department of Forestry & Forest Protection, and the Sectoral Economics Department (Central Policy and Strategy Committee) on June 4, 2025, with the participation of numerous experts and policymakers. Discussions and exchanges at the workshop revealed a worrying reality: Over 20% of the national forest area is stuck in a prolonged 'responsibility gap'.

The Paradox of “Managing but Not Owning Forests”

According to forest status data as of late 2025, commune-level People's Committees are managing approximately 3.07 million hectares of forest and forestry land. This enormous figure presents a major legal paradox.

• Responsibilities of a forest owner but zero benefits: Mr. Ha Cong Tuan (former Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development) pointed out: Legally, these more than 3 million hectares are essentially 'ownerless forests.' Commune-level People's Committees are merely local state administrative bodies, yet they have to bear forest protection obligations like true forest owners, while having no rights or benefits. This situation leads to commune authorities being in a position of 'both manager and managed entity.'

• Assigning tasks on paper, lacking actual records: Not only do commune-level authorities lack power, but they also lack legal basis and management records. Ms. Hoang Thi Van Anh (former Director of the Legal Department, General Department of Land Administration) reflected a reality: While other types of land, when assigned to localities, have clear plans and strict management books, forest land held by commune-level People's Committees is almost empty of records and documentation. This is clearly a significant loophole for a large-scale national asset.

Discrepancies Between Statistics and Field Reality

Loose management has led to significant discrepancies between reported data and actual inventory.

• Data discrepancies of up to 30%: A field survey in 6 communes across 4 provinces (Phu Tho, Son La, Gia Lai, Dak Lak) showed: On reported documents in 2025, the forest area was nearly 14,900 ha. However, when scanned with satellite imagery, the actual area was only about 10,500 ha (a discrepancy of over 4,400 ha). Dr. Ha Cong Tuan noted that this is land-use change not updated promptly in the field, rather than outright forest loss, but it reflects a lack of close management.

• 90% are degraded and encroached forests: The quality of these over 3 million hectares of forest is alarming. Reports from 12 provinces show that the proportion of poor and severely degraded forests ranges from 70% to over 90%. More notably, up to 91% of forestry land managed by communal People's Committees is actually being self-cultivated, encroached upon, or misused by local people for a long time.

• Local people are the actual owners: Mr. Nguyen Lam Thanh (former Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Ethnic Council) commented that with over 80% of this area actually being stably cultivated by local people, they are the true owners on the ground. Therefore, the state needs to clarify how much area is encroached, and how much consists of inaccessible rocky mountains, ponds, and lakes before proposing solutions.

Assigning Tasks Without Providing Tools

A core reason why commune-level authorities cannot effectively manage forests is the immense imbalance between tasks and actual resources.

• Human resource overload: In Ea H'leo commune (Dak Lak), one official has to handle poverty reduction, ethnic minority affairs, social work, and simultaneously manage over 17,800 ha of forestry land (of which the commune directly manages over 3,500 ha). Most highland communes lack dedicated forestry officials. After the merger of commune-level administrative units from 2025, the administrative area has greatly expanded, but the staffing quota remains unchanged, increasing the pressure.

• Lack of funding for forest protection: Among the surveyed communes, very few received budget for forest protection work. The enormous revenue from forest environmental services (approximately 3,500 - 4,000 billion VND/year nationwide) largely cannot be used to pay for the forest areas managed by commune-level People's Committees due to legal mechanism obstacles. According to Mr. Cam Bun Loc, Chairman of Nam Lau Commune People's Committee: “When local people and authorities do not see direct economic benefits from preserving forests, administrative directives will lose their effectiveness.”

Finding a Way Out for 3 Million Hectares of “Ownerless Forests”

To address the root of the problem, experts at the workshop agreed that a single formula cannot be applied to all 3 million hectares of forest; instead, clear classification is needed for proper management.

• Stratifying to manage land funds: For high, rugged mountainous areas, the State needs to allocate funds for communes to hire local community forest protection teams. For land that local people have stably cultivated for many years, consideration should be given to transitioning to a lease or land allocation with payment, absolutely not regularizing it for free. Simultaneously, communes need to retain good, crucial land plots to serve as resources for local economic development.

• Considering forest management as a public service: A research report by the Vietnam Association of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development proposed a solution to view the forest protection duties of communal People's Committees as a type of public service commissioned and annually funded by the State. At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen the allocation of land and forest to the correct entities, expand financial mechanisms from the carbon market, and apply digital transformation to management.

• Policies must stem from reality: Mr. Ha Cong Tuan recommended that localities bravely report honest data based on the principles of “accurate, sufficient, clean, and current” and propose that competent authorities do not retroactively pursue past responsibilities to avoid a mentality of evading reality. Lawmaking must be based on actual consultation, avoiding armchair thinking that further complicates matters for grassroots levels.

Conclusion

The workshop concluded with a consensus that the over 3 million hectares of forest managed by commune-level People's Committees is not merely a technical issue, but a national-level institutional problem – requiring, first and foremost, a correct understanding of the nature of each land parcel, from which appropriate and feasible policies can be designed. Mr. Bui Giang Long summarized: forest management is not solely the concern of the forestry sector, but a political task linked to national security and sustainable development, and that responsibility must be clearly defined, accompanied by sufficient authority and resources for implementation.