Local People´s Demand for Forest Ecosystem Services and Drivers of Change in Vo Nhai District, Northern Vietnam

From the MA¿s framework of ecosystem services and the context in Vietnam, the present study focuses on local people¿s demands for forest ecosystem services (FES) and on drivers of changes that impact the forest ¿ local people relationship in the Nghinh Tuong and Vu Chan communes, northern Vietnam. The research identified the local FES demand and the drivers of changes to support and optimize forest management and policy decision-making at the local scale. The research results shown that local people¿s demand changed over time, depending on the service importance and their availability in each period. FES supply is recognized as having been reduced, although some FES still meets the local demand. The natural forests are appreciated to have a high potential to provide services. The national and local government demands for FES, which focus on conservation and respective forest resource management, mismatch with the demand of local people who require primarily of FPES that have practical significance for their lives. In terms of the indirect drivers of change, both external drivers and internal drivers have great impacts on the forest ecosystems and their services. This research also gave some recommendation for decision making, forestry economic development and improvement local people¿s awareness.