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Abstract:
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The Advancing Conservation in a Social Context: Working in a World of Trade-offs Initiative
(ACSC) was designed to promote productive and meaningful research and discussion about
the relationship between biodiversity conservation, social well-being, and economic develop-
ment in Viet Nam. Given Vietnam’s unique history and socio-political context, a primary
emphasis of the research initiative undertaken by the Centre for Natural Resources and
Environmental Studies (CRES) was to examine and digest the volume of relevant technical
reports, laws and policies, and other documents in such a way that they can be used to under-
stand and intervene in the trajectory of conservation and development in Vietnam. From this
analysis, we were able to summarize and categorize Vietnam’s history with respect to the
social and decision making context of conservation and development decisions through three
different time periods, and create a typology of the multiple kinds of relationships between
conservation and development activities that occur in Vietnam. Vietnam has experienced a
significant process of change and development in its management of natural resources, its
socio-economic situation, its social organization, and its institutions and policies since 1960.
These changes are a result of a series of important historical events as well as the political
economy and related policies of the country. Before 1986, trade-offs between development
and conservation were not described in strategies and policies of the government and the
communist party. Since 1986, trade-offs have been taken into consideration in the commu-nist party and the government’s strategy and policies. |