Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current
    • Archive
  • Info for
    • Authors
    • Subscribers
    • Institutions
    • Advertisers
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Editorial Board
    • Index/Abstracts
  • Connect
    • Feedback
    • Help
  • Alerts
  • Other Publications
    • UWP

User menu

  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • My alerts
  • Log in

Search

  • Advanced search
Ecological Restoration
  • Other Publications
    • UWP
  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • My alerts
  • Log in
Ecological Restoration

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current
    • Archive
  • Info for
    • Authors
    • Subscribers
    • Institutions
    • Advertisers
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Editorial Board
    • Index/Abstracts
  • Connect
    • Feedback
    • Help
  • Alerts
  • Follow uwp on Twitter
  • Visit uwp on Facebook
Research ArticleResearch Articles
Open Access

Assessing the Social Benefits of Tree Planting by Smallholders in Vietnam: Lessons for Large-Scale Reforestation Programs

Pamela McElwee and Tran Huu Nghi
Ecological Restoration March 2021, 39 (1-2) 52-63; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3368/er.39.1-2.52
Pamela McElwee
Department of Human Ecology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 55 Dudley Road, New Brunswick, NJ 08901 U.S.
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • For correspondence: [email protected]
Tran Huu Nghi
Tropenbos Vietnam, 1 Đoàn Hữu Trưng, Phước Vĩnh, Thành phố Huế, Thừa Thiên Huế, Vietnam.
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Info & Metrics
  • References
  • PDF
Loading

Abstract

In recent decades, Vietnam has embarked on several ambitious projects, including restoration of coastal mangroves and the expansion of national forest cover through large-scale tree planting efforts. Much of the work is being carried out by individual households, who now likely control a majority of planted productive forest land. Yet despite the strong role for smallholders, questions have been raised about the social benefits of their participation, and insufficient attention has been paid to whether these programs are truly aimed at restoration or more narrowly at plantation development only. This paper assesses several of Vietnam’s recent tree-planting projects against the Society for Ecological Restoration’s standards, particularly around social benefits, and concludes that Vietnam is failing on most measures, ranging from stakeholder engagement to natural capital benefits. Overall, smallholders mostly view the tree planting projects in terms of financial benefits from short rotation cycles for pulp and woodchip mills, which offer low value, few social benefits, and little ecological restoration potential. The paper argues that Vietnam would benefit from more engaged restoration activities that pay attention to social benefits for smallholders, ensuring more long-term sustainability for both people and forests.

Keywords:
  • Asia
  • participation
  • plantations
  • reforestation
  • social benefits
  • © 2021 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System

This open access article is distributed under the terms of the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0) and is freely available online at: http://er.uwpress.org

PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

Ecological Restoration: 39 (1-2)
Ecological Restoration
Vol. 39, Issue 1-2
March and June, 2021
  • Table of Contents
  • Table of Contents (PDF)
  • Index by author
  • Back Matter (PDF)
  • Front Matter (PDF)
Download PDF
Article Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on Ecological Restoration.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Assessing the Social Benefits of Tree Planting by Smallholders in Vietnam: Lessons for Large-Scale Reforestation Programs
(Your Name) has sent you a message from Ecological Restoration
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the Ecological Restoration web site.
Citation Tools
Assessing the Social Benefits of Tree Planting by Smallholders in Vietnam: Lessons for Large-Scale Reforestation Programs
Pamela McElwee, Tran Huu Nghi
Ecological Restoration Mar 2021, 39 (1-2) 52-63; DOI: 10.3368/er.39.1-2.52

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Share
Assessing the Social Benefits of Tree Planting by Smallholders in Vietnam: Lessons for Large-Scale Reforestation Programs
Pamela McElwee, Tran Huu Nghi
Ecological Restoration Mar 2021, 39 (1-2) 52-63; DOI: 10.3368/er.39.1-2.52
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One
Bookmark this article

Jump to section

  • Article
  • Info & Metrics
  • References
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • Restoration for Whom, by Whom? A Feminist Political Ecology of Restoration
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • Assessing Social Equity in Farmer-Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) Interventions: Findings from Ghana
  • Equitable and Inclusive Landscape Restoration Planning: Learning from a Restoration Opportunity Assessment in India
  • Onto the Farm, into the Home: How Intrahousehold Gender Dynamics Shape Land Restoration in Eastern Kenya
Show more Research Articles

Similar Articles

Keywords

  • Asia
  • participation
  • plantations
  • reforestation
  • social benefits
UWP

© 2023 Ecological Restoration

Powered by HighWire