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From: Selected Government Decisions on Forestry during 1992,
1993 and 1994 (second Edition)

Compiled by the Project 'Renovation of strategies for
forestry development' Ministry of Forestry

Unofficial translation by Pham Minh Nguyet and Hans
Warfvinge, March 1994.

------------------------------------------------------------

Government       SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM 
No. 525/TTG      Independence--Freedom-Happiness

                 Hanoi, 2 November 1993

INSTRUCTION BY THE PRIME MINISTER On policies and methods
for continued economic and social development in mountainous
areas

INTRODUCTION

Over the last few years, the economic and social situation
in many mountain localities has improved and many successful
cases of local development have been observed. Resolution
Number 22 of the Politburo, issued in November 1989, and
Decision Number 72 by the Council of Ministers (now the
Government), issued in March 1990, have played an important
role in this process. However, progress in the mountain
areas and among ethnic minorities is still slow. Many good
policies and regulations have been issued but have not yet
been implemented in the field.

By the end of September 1993, the Government held a national
seminar on socio-economic development in mountainous areas.
It aimed at a revision of guidelines for such development at
improved implementation of Resolution 22 and Decision 72.

After analysing the situation in the mountainous areas and
considering suggestions from various sectors and local
authorities, the Prime Minister has decided to issue the
Instruction presented below. It is intended to provide
policies and regulations for continued improvement in the
economic and social situation in mountainous areas, thus
being a follow-up to Resolution 22 and Decision 72. It also
follows the resolutions made by the Fifth Plenum of the
Party Central Committee (for the Seventh Legislature) on
'Renovation and Socio-economic Development in Rural Areas'.

The immediate objective is to speed up the socio-economic
development in the mountains and in areas inhabited by
ethnic minorities so as to reach the targets set for 1994
and 1995. Preparations should also be made for continued
development after 1995.

1. CHANGED ECONOMIC STRUCTURE IN MOUNTAINOUS AREAS

The change in the economic structure for mountainous areas
takes the national objective of industrialisation as one of
its main starting points. It aims at a gradual realisation
of the large potentialities in production based on forests,
cash crops, fruits, medical plants, and large-scale animal
husbandry. It also seeks to utilise the potential in mining
industry and in processing of products from agriculture and
forestry. The new structure must be adapted to the demands
from the national and international market and must
consequently be flexible, allowing for gradual change from
time to time.

In agriculture, suitable systems must be established for
cropping and animal husbandry based on the natural
conditions in each locality and in accordance with
experience of production in similar ecological zones. In
many areas, large-scale production of cash crops and fruit
can be established. The experience so far clearly indicates
that, although very important in many areas, food production
cannot constitute the foundation for development of the
mountainous areas. Food production should instead be
concentrated to other areas which have suitable conditions
for intensive and high-yielding production of various food
crops. Given the high current national food production, the
task is now to organise supply of food to the mountainous
areas in exchange for products originating from the rich
natural resources in those areas.

In forestry, it is important to protect existing forests,
assist natural regeneration, and establish forest
plantations. Areas of forest should also be designate as
protection forest, special-use forests, and production
forests. The ecological systems, including the vegetation
cover, should be restored. Methods for use of the forest
resources should be developed which are suitable for
different types of forest.

In industry, the reorgorganisation that has already started
should continue. Many enterprises, including small and
medium-size ones, may need to make investments in order to
maintain or expand their production. For enterprises for
which there is no strong reason to maintain the state as
owner, bold changes in ownership should be considered such
as merging them with other enterprises and turning them into
share-holding companies.

In mountain areas, the main direction of industrialisation
should be towards processing of local raw materials, mainly
form agriculture (including cash cropping), forestry, and
mineral exploitation. Production of construction materials
such as cement, bricks, and tiles should also be undertaken
wherever the local conditions are suitable. The Ministry of
Heavy Industry is urgently asked to set up a production
system suitable for the mountainous areas, stimulating
production and processing of raw materials from agriculture,
forestry and other sectors. The local authorities should
stimulate the creation of small and medium-sized
enterprises. The central authorities should concentrate on
large enterprises of national importance, such as steel
mills, large hydro-power plants and so on.

Provinces in mountainous areas are encouraged to seek
partners from the region, from other areas in the country,
or  from  abroad, for joint investments in industrial
development in mountainous areas. The provincial authorities
are to prepare projects and call for foreign funds for the
implementation of such projects. With regard to investments
from abroad, the State Committee on Cooperation and
Investment is to assist local authorities in mountainous
regions to find foreign partners and also to disseminate the
Government policies on foreign investment in mountainous
areas to potential foreign partners.

2. FOREST PROTECTION COMBINED WITH FIXED CULTIVATION AND
SEDENTARISATION

The issue of forest protection combined with fixed
cultivation and sedentarisation is a most important one for
all mountain provinces. Instruction 462 dated 11 September
1993 provides comprehensive guidelines for protection and
management of forests and for exploitation of wood. Sectoral
and local authorities are now to follow these guidelines.

During the two years 1994-1995, efforts should be
concentrated to protection of the existing forests. The
current destruction of forests must simply be stopped. A
significant share of the funds for projects within Programme
327 as well as funds originally intended for use in
reforestation can be used for protection of existing forests
may he used for this purpose. All provincial and district
authorities should prepare a plan for the gradual solution
of this problem. The present fixed cultivation and
sedentarisation programme should only be continued in areas
where forest protection is well established and where there
are only a few shifting cultivators. In those areas
reforestation should be carried out in accordance with
established plans and projects.

The Ministry of Forestry, the Ministry of Agriculture and
Food Industry, and the General Department of Land Management
as well as local authorities should immediately 'close the
forest gate' in the following kinds of forests:

- watershed forests;

- special-use forests;

- forests on rocky mountains;

- poor forests which need to be protected in order to
regenerate by natural means.

The designation of different kinds of forests should also be
finished. The designation should be followed by allocation
either to State Enterprises or army units for management or
to local people for protection and assisted natural
regeneration.

In cooperation with the authorities concerned, both at the
Centre and in the provinces, the Committee Ethnic Minorities
and Mountain Issues, is to provide guidance to local
authorities in their work to assist compatriots who still
practise itinerant farming and nomadic residence, (or who
have fixed residence but still carry out shifting
cultivation), to convert to fixed cultivation and sedentary
living. In places with favourable conditions, this work
should be finished during 1994 or 1995. In other areas, the
aim should be to finish it by the end of 1996.

For households who practise itinerant farming and
periodically shift residence, an area for cultivation should
be allocated to each household, able to provide sustainable
and adequate supply of food. The households would be given
responsibility for management and protection of an area of
forest which must not be burnt or destroyed in other ways.
The households would obtain land as follows:

- In natural forests and forests established with State
funds, a defined area is to be allocated to each family for
protection. If it is a production forest, the family will be
entitled to a defined share of the harvest upon
exploitation.

- In natural forests which are being assisted to regenerate
naturally, families are to be allocated an area for
restoration and protection. Upon exploitation, the
households are entitled to a defined share of the harvest.

- For bare land and degraded hills, the State is to allocate
funds for the establishment of various kinds of special-use
forests and watershed forests as well as for production
forests with a rotation of above 20 years. The State is also
to provide credits to households for reforestation in the
form of agro-forestry.

Ministry of Forestry and the Ministry of Finance will define
suitable sizes of plots to be allocated to households and
also propose how to share the harvest in production forests
between the Government and the households. The proposals are
to be presented to the Government for approval.

Families who have a fixed residence but still practice
shifting cultivation can obtain a defined area of forest
land for assisted natural regeneration or plantation. The
Government can assist such families either in cash or by
provision of food for up to a few years. Further, forest
extension groups should be set up in all mountain Communes,
to provide guidance in production technology.

The provincial People's Committees are to instruct units of
the Border Guard to accept areas of forest land, for
protection of natural forests, for assisted natural
regeneration, or for plantation of new forests. These
activities should be combined with the duty to protect the
border. The Border Guard will obtain support form the
Government for these assignments.

The provincial People's Committees should be given full
contractual obligation to carry out projects. They will then
be responsible to the Government for implementation of the
projects and the use of resources in cash and food
allocated. Government authorities at the Centre who are
responsible for appraisal and approval of local projects
should speed up the process so that the projects can be
initiated in late 1993 or early 1994. The procedures for
approval of projects should also be revised and simplified,
thus facilitating for staff in mountainous areas to follow
them.

Organisations such as the Youth League, the Women's Union,
the Farmers Union, and the Union of War Veterans should be
mobilised for the purpose of informing its members of the
importance of environmental protection. To the extent
suitable, these organisations could also participate in the
implementation of projects.

The provincial Forest Inspectorate should be reorganised,
placing it under the direct authority of the provincial
authorities. In this way, increased effectiveness can be
ensured. The Ministry of Forestry will provide guidelines
for this reorganisation, including setting of rules and
regulations for staff and provision of training. The Forest
Inspectorate should not only set up its check-points along
the roads but should also be present both at the 'forest
gate' and deep in the forests. The Forest Inspectorate
should also gradually improve its transportation facilities
and its capacity for fighting forest fires and combating
insects and other pests. It should also strive to improve
the living conditions for its staff.

3. ESTABLISHMENT OF INFRASTRUCTURE

3.1. Transportation Network

The Ministry of Transportation and the provincial
authorities are responsible for management of the road
system in the provinces. Each of the roads in the Province
should be classified according to its function, for example
as a national road, a provincial road, a feeder road, or a
road leading to the national border. The roads should be
maintained or upgraded in accordance with this
classification.

Priority should be given to national roads and important
provincial roads. Roads from district centres to communes
and other local population centres should be improved. Roads
within communes should gradually be upgraded, allowing the
use first of pack animals, then of motorbikes and finally of
four-wheel vehicles. By the end of 1995, all district
centres should be accessible by car throughout the year, in
both the dry and the wet season. By the year 2000, motorable
roads in the districts should reach all centres of
population and economic activity in that communes. Roads
from commune centres to the villages are to be constructed
by the local population in accordance with their needs and
capacity.

All provinces are to establish a plan for upgrading and
construction of roads. Funds may be available from the
Centre of from Provinces, Districts, and Communes. The State
also provides certain services, such as construction of
bridges and culverts. It also supplies dynamite and makes
steam rollers and other road-making equipment available. The
Ministry of Transportation should prepare a request for
supplementary funds to be used during the remainder of 1993
and also prepare an expenditure plan for 1994-1995 so that
the Government can include the corresponding amounts in the
State Budget for 1994. The Government is also requested to
develop suitable policies with respect to credits, interest
rates, taxes, and so on which will serve to attract funds
from various economic sectors to the transport sector in
mountainous areas.

3.2. Water Supply

Efforts should be concentrated to the consolidation or
construction of small irrigation systems. All provinces
should identify which irrigation systems need to be upgraded
and where new ones need to be constructed and should
calculate the corresponding costs. Wherever suitable,
small-scale irrigation systems should be combined with
small-scale hydro-electric generation.

State grants should primarily be used for domestic water
supply in highland areas, particularly in the nine priority
Districts identified in cooperation with the UNICEF project
for water supply and construction of wells and reservoirs in
highlands and other rural areas. The aim should be to
compete this assignment by 1996 (according to previous
plans, it was to be finished by 1998-1999).

The Ministry of Aquatic Resources and the Ministry of Health
will provide technical guidance and follow-up the
construction of the hydraulic works. In particular, they
will control that the water supplied for domestic use in
mountainous areas is of good quality. The local People's
Committee are responsible for the implementation of the
projects and have to ensure that technical standards are
followed.

There should be a clear division of responsibilities between
the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Labour, War
Veterans, and Social Affairs in the cooperation with UNESCO
concerning the construction of wells and water reservoirs.

3.3. Energy Supply to Mountainous Regions

For highland communes, the most cost-effective way to secure
the supply of electric power, particularly for lighting
purposes, should be used. Whenever suitable, a connection to
the national electricity grid should be made. In such cases,
the State will bear the cost of constructing the power line
and transformation to below 35 kV. However, in certain
areas, the conditions may necessitate production of
electricity by diesel generators or in small and micro
hydropower stations. The Ministry of Energy should
supplement plans made for the supply of electricity to
highland and mountainous areas for the period 1994-1995 and
proceed to implement the activities planned.

In cooperation with the various sectoral branches concerned,
the Ministry of Heavy Industry is to find a suitable way to
link enterprises engaged in the production and installation
of diesel generating plants and hydropower stations. The
Government will procure the diesel generating plants and the
hydropower plants and resell them (or supply them for free
to certain areas) in accordance with plans and needs of the
various provinces. The Government will also organise
erection of the power line down to the household level,
gradually expanding the production and installation of such
units.

Attention should also be given to the search for and testing
of other forms of energy suitable for certain areas, such as
solar and wind power.

3.4. Post and Telecommunication

The General Department of Post and Telecommunication is to
ensure that there are telephone connections to all districts
and also to other important points in the mountainous areas.
This is particularly important where the road network is
poor. Further, already in the first quarter of 1994, the
telecommunication problems should be solved for all border
posts.

4.EDUCATION, TRAINING, HEALTH SERVICES, CULTURE, AND
INFORMATION

4.1. Education, Training, Science and Technology

Together with local authorities, the Ministry of Education
and Training is to revise the contents and methodology of
teaching and learning. The size of classes should also be
set in accordance with the conditions prevailing at the
provincial and district levels. In time for the school year
1995-1996, an elementary school combining grades 1 through 3
should be established in all mountain villages, attracting
school children of the corresponding age groups. One
boarding school for grades 4 and 5 should be set up per four
to five villages, particularly for the purpose of providing
training to children from remote villages where there is no
complete primary school. Whenever needed, textbooks should
be provided in the language of the ethnic groups concerned.

Boarding schools should be established or developed at the
provincial level for students belonging to ethnic
minorities, primarily with the purpose of creating an
adequate supply of teachers for children in the mountainous
areas. The programme for teaching and learning should be
improved, with particular emphasis given to the combination
of theory and practice. New technology should also be
utilised. An attempt should be made to engage all students
who have graduated from the lower level boarding schools for
ethnic minorities.

Border guards and other Government staff should be engaged
in the local training programmes, particularly for literacy
campaigns. Such staff are entitled to special allowances for
this work.

Four university centres should be established, in Da Lat,
Buon Ma Thuot, Thai Nguyen, and Hoa Binh. (Certain buildings
previously used as hotels or guest houses can be integrated
in the university centres.) The Ministry of Education and
Training should make the necessary preparations for this
task.

Increased importance should be attached to the use of
technological advances for productive activities in the
mountainous areas, in areas such as agriculture and forestry
and processing of raw materials from these sectors.

Together with the Ministry of Labour, War Veterans, and
Social Affairs, the Government Committee on Organisation and
Personnel is to develop policies concerning the supply of
teachers and other Government staff for work in mountainous
areas in general and in the highlands in particular.
Incentives should be available, able to attract teachers and
other staff from lowlands to work in highland areas. Staff
belonging to ethnic minorities should be encouraged to work
in highland areas. Students who have graduated from
universities and colleges and work in mountainous areas are
to receive 100% of their salary level immediately after
taking up service. Other ways of stimulating graduates to
work in mountainous areas should also be sought. The real
payment for graduates working in mountainous areas might be
increased to twice the basic salary level; the annual
vacation period might be prolonged, perhaps doubled; and so
on. Local solutions should be sought together with village
heads and hamlet elders.

4.2. Health Care and Social Affairs

The cultivation and use of opium is a serious problem. Local
people should be informed its effects and mobilised to stop
growing the crop and to organise successful programmes for
curing addicts.

In each Province concerned, the local authorities should
find out where poppy is grown. In cooperation with the local
people, a shift of cultivation to other plants suitable to
the local conditions should be carried out. A time limit
should be set for this duty. Suitable compensation must be
arranged for the first few years after the shift is made, to
compensate for the decreased level of income. Payment in the
form of food is one possibility. In some localities, plants
of Artemisia species are being grown and artemicine. is
extracted. The Ministry of Health should provide guidance on
cultivation methods and quality control, provide-tools and
instruments, and organise sales and marketing. Those
trading, transporting and smuggling opium should also be
brought to trial and punished severely.

Adequate cure for addicts should be established. This
requires supply of certain medicines facilitating the cure.
The Ministry of Health is responsible for the search for
such medicines. Centres for addicts should be set up
(perhaps the youth Unions could be given the responsibility
for operating such centres), and work opportunities for
former addicts should be created.

The provincial authorities are to prepare a plan for the
reduction of malaria, goitre, and diarrhoea, in a first
phase for the time until 1995. In a second phase, covering
the time 1995-2000, the incidence of malaria and goitre
should be significantly lowered. Particular attention should
be paid to the prevention of outbreaks of epidemics (for
example of malaria). Should epidemics break out, they must
be fought vigorously.

All provinces are to survey the situation with regard to
leprosy. All efforts should be made to limit and gradually
repel the illness. In the short term, people affected by
leprosy should be gathered in centres for care. The
facilities for daily life and cure in existing centres
should be checked and if necessary improved. In certain
cases, the best solution may be to move the centre to a
locality providing better conditions. The Ministry of Health
should prepare a plan and a cost estimate to present to the
Government regarding the health staff needed for the fight
against leprosy.

Health care in the mountainous areas should be strengthened.
In particular, the network of health care centres should be
extended to all districts. Local health workers should be
assigned at the commune level in accordance with the local
situation and as required for health care by the local
people. Health services should also be available in villages
and hamlets. This level should, indeed, be the basis for the
rural health service. Over the next few years, it should be
ensured that every Commune has a health centre with staff
(at present 90 Communes lack such services). Mobile health
teams should also be set up. They are required particularly
in highland areas where the network of health services is
still weak.

Medical staff who work in communes and townlets in
mountainous areas are to enjoy the same benefits with
respect to salaries and allowances as those indicated above
for teachers.

4.3. Culture and Information

The expansion of radio broadcast and television should he
continued into mountainous areas and areas inhabited by
ethnic minorities. By the end of 1995, all districts should
have access to television. The quality of radio broadcasts
in minority languages should be improved. They should
concentrate on practical themes such as selection of
production methods, the new ways of life now being opened,
and information about outdated customs and superstition.
Small radio receivers should be produced which can be sold
at a low price to the inhabitants in the mountains. Perhaps
they could even be subsidised in areas facing special
problems.

Mobile information teams should be set up. The teams should
be equipped with electric generators and video playback
equipment. Suitable and practically-oriented programmes
should be developed. The teams should travel to Communes in
the highlands and other remote areas. Together with the
provincial authorities, the Ministry of Culture and
Information should develop proposals on how to set up and
equip such teams and also on how to attract people to staff
them.

The State will finance the production of different kinds of
books with contents designed to suit the real situation of
people in the mountains and in areas dominated by ethnic
minorities. The State will also continue to subsidise
newspapers for children's groups and for Young Pioneers
among pupils in schools in the mountainous areas, as it has
been doing since the beginning of 1993.

Cultural activities and popular art should receive
increasing attention. The cultural heritage of different
ethnic groups should be preserved and utilised. Healthy
traditional festivals should be studied and supported.

5. SUPPLY ESSENTIAL COMMODITIES AND MARKETING OF PRODUCTS

5.1. Food Products

For cereals, the provincial authorities are to make an
investigation of the situation in all Districts and Communes
with regard to periodic food shortages. Both the extent of
and the reasons for hunger must be found. On that basis,
solutions should be developed for the Districts and Communes
concerned, gradually reducing the need for relief supplies
between harvests. At the Commune level, specific proposals
should be found for the families concerned. For example,
funds could be provided (perhaps in the form of bank loans
given to trusted organisations among the people in the
Commune, as stipulated by the State). In the short term,
before harvests of food crops become adequate, loans could
be in the form of cereals. For households which are short of
labour, relief to be provided must be limited with respect
to time and amount.

All provincial People's Committees are to define the needs
of cereals in the Province and how the province can obtain
amounts which are not produced within the Province (through
purchase or exchange with Provinces which have a surplus of
cereals) or through government assistance (defined in terms
of time and amount).

5.2. Other Kinds of Food
 
For other kinds of foods (such as fish sauce providing
necessary protein, dried fish, different kinds of fish
paste, glutamate, instant noodles, etc.) the various trading
enterprises belonging to the Ministry of Commerce and the
Provinces are responsible for the distribution to mountain
and highland areas and for the setting up of sales points in
Communes and at markets in such areas.

5.3. Other Goods

The policy of supplying other essential goods (such as
iodised salt, vegetable oil, writing paper, cloth, iron and
steel) to State-owned sales points, enabling them to be sold
at subsidised prices should be continued. The Ministry of
Commerce should find a way to secure the supply and sales of
such commodities to people living in the mountainous areas.
Exemption of turn-over tax for enterprises carrying out
business in mountain areas should be considered.

Members of ethnic minorities living in highland areas with
special difficulties will be provided with certain
commodities on a grant basis, such as iodised salt,
vegetable oil, and kerosene. Together with the Ministries
concerned (Finance, Commerce, and Health), the State
Committee for Ethnic Minorities and Mountain Issues is to
present a proposal on which products and which quantities
are to be provided in this way, and prepare the associated
budget for presentation to the Government.

From 1994, the supply of iodised salt should be guaranteed
to all mountain provinces. Everyone should be made aware of
the value of iodised salt and thus start using it. The
Ministry of Health is responsible for this issue and should
prepare a plan without delay.

5.4. Trading Network

The Ministry of Commerce should continue to upgrade the
network of State-owned trading in mountain provinces and
establish new sales outlets wherever needed, so that the
network reaches all communes. New markets should be created
in mountain and highland areas accessible by road. New fairs
should also be established.

Provincial People's Committees in mountain areas are
responsible for supply of subsidised products. They also
have to follow up and control which prices are in reality
charged in the localities.

6. IMPLEMENTATION

First, implementation must be organised in accordance with
the various programmes set up under the authority of the
various central and provincial Government bodies (which
govern both the supply of funds and the field
implementation). The sectors concerned should develop
guidelines for the local authorities responsible for field
implementation and also present those guidelines to the
Government.

The local People's Committees must strengthen their staff so
that they become able to implement the local programmes. The
Chairmen of provincial and district People's Committees in
mountainour areas have the responsibility for the
implementation, including guiding the activities and
coordinating the use of resources from various bodies Also
in Provinces and Districts which have both mountains and
plains but where the mountainous area is important, the
Chairmen of the provincial and district People's Committee
have to be directly involved in projects.

Provincial and district authorities should learn from
successful cases where advanced techniques and production
methods have been applied, so that such experience can be
spread. The Ministry of Science, Technology, and the
Environment and the State Committee for Ethnic Minorities
and Mountain Issues are to provide guidance in these
matters.

Ministries and other central Government bodies should
establish adequately staffed specialised units responsible
for mountain issues (the Ministry of Commerce and the
Ministry of Education and Training have for example already
appointed a Vice Minister to be in charge of such issues).
The specialised units would have the responsibility to
supervise, follow up, and control the implementation of the
various programmes and projects and in particular draw
conclusions from the field experience, thus facilitating the
development of improved structures and policies.

Ministries and provincial authorities should prepare plans
for engaging and training staff to work with issues related
to mountainous areas and ethnic minorities and should also
set up units with such staff as soon as possible.

CONCLUSION

In short, more attention and guidance needs to be given to
the process of renovation of organizations guidance of
staff, and improvement of methodologies of work in
mountainous areas. This is necessary in order to follow the
directives issued by the Seventh Plenum of the Party Central
Committee (Fifth Legislature) and also Resolution 22,
Decision 72, and the present Instruction which all aim at
creating an improved socio-economic situation for people in
mountainous areas and also in other areas inhabited by
ethnic minorities over the next several years.

In accordance with this Instruction, the State Committee for
Ethnic Minorities and Mountain Issues and the ministries
concerned are to assist the People's Committees in
mountainous provinces to prepare programmes and projects so
that implementation can be initiated already during the
remaining months of 1993 and continue during 1994 and 1995.
Special attention should be given to development of suitable
policies. The State Planning Committee, the Ministry of
Finance, other ministries, and other organisations concerned
are to cooperate in the preparation of local plans for 1994
and 1995, to be presented to the Government.

PRIME MINISTER

Vo Van Kiet  (signed)

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