2010 Progress Report – Draft - NFP Facility

2010 Progress ReportA participatory policy process in ChinaSanming Prefecture of Fujian Province, in southeast China, has been a piloting area forcollective forest policy reform in China since 1980. In 2003, a collective forest tenure reformsystem was initiated with the principle of “making ownership clear, liberalizing the operationright, enforcing the user right and protecting the beneficial right”. Since then, the reform hasbeen lifted up as the national policy and has been expanded all over China.With support of the State Forestry Administration and the NFP Facility, a series of activitieswere carried out, including training in participatory forest policy process, establishingcoordinating team, identifying focus groups, conducting stakeholder consultation, organizingpublic hearing, engaging media, developing vertical and horizontal partnership building amonggovernmental agencies of forestry, agriculture and land management.This was the first time that China officially formulated a forest policy and regulatory toolthrough participatory approaches. Great success has been achieved in mobilizing publicparticipation, enhancing capacity building, integrating policy formulation and strengtheningbetter coordination among authorities horizontally as well as vertically. All these achievementshave contributed greatly to the development of a more transparent, fair and just policy andlegislative formulation process in China.Eco-tourism in national parks and protected areas in VietnamIn November 2010, a national workshop was organised on mechanisms and policies topromote eco-tourism activities compatible with conservation in national parks and protectedareas of Vietnam.The initiative attracted much interest from stakeholders (national parks, nature reserves,provincial departments of forest protection, NGOs, institutes, etc,). A series ofrecommendations were formulated, and the proposals are being submitted to the Departmentof Protection of Biodiversity within the Administration of Forestry (MARD). Some specificrecommendations were proposed, including establishing closer collaboration on economicdevelopment of eco-tourism between the Protected Areas/National Parks and communities.Another proposal was on introducing eco-tourism products to benefit local communities.Mechanisms should be set up for collaboration, linking and facilitating communication. Laws ontourism and forest protection should be institutionalised. Other recommendations were raised,including the development of a master plan, promulgation of mechanisms and policies,advertisement and promotion, training and human resource development, traditionaljob/resume training, management and distribution and usage of revenue from ecotourism.The workshop was a great opportunity for many stakeholders, including staff of national parks,nature reserves, provincial departments of forest protection, NGOs, institutes and others todiscuss and propose recommendations for the development of a master plan on eco-tourism.The proposal will be submitted to the Government for approval.22