protection and other environmental services. Rural areas in northern Thailand and
northern Vietnam have definitely witnessed a substantial reduction in rural poverty
due to agricultural intensification – by generating higher incomes per hectare of
agricultural land. While per-capita land holdings in northern Vietnam have declined
slightly over the past 20 years, incomes and wealth have risen sharply, and poverty
rates have dropped substantially; however, this development has been coupled with
an increase in maize monoculture on steep slopes, exacerbating soil erosion and
leading to land degradation. Hence, our empirical evidence supports the view that
the market-based approach needs to be coupled with protection approaches that
recognize the public utility nature of many environmental services, both for current
and future generations.
Our empirical analysis shows that a simplistic, one-sided and explanatory
approach to the relationship between poverty reduction and economic development
on the one hand, and environmental resource protection on the other, leads to the
development of inadequate policy strategies. While the reduction of hunger and
poverty through agricultural technology and improved market access is a necessary
condition for sustainable rural development, it is not sufficient on its own to protect
vital natural resources – this can only be ensured through the introduction of policy
instruments such as enforced protection, and the use of decentralized management
systems involving communities and payment systems for environmental services.
These policy changes, however, will require both improved governance and the
strengthening of the political voice of marginalized populations.
Acknowledgments This research was conducted as part of the Uplands Program (SFB 564), the
funding of which by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), the National Research Council
of Thailand (NRCT) and the Ministry of Science and Technology of Vietnam is gratefully
acknowledged. We thank Andreas Neef and Pepijn Schreinemarchers for their valuable comments,
as well as the farmers and local authorities for their willingness to participate in this research. We
also thank Gary Morrison for reading through the English and Peter Elstner for helping with the
layout.
References
Adams WM, Aveling R, Brockington D, Dickson B, Elliott J, Hutton J, Roe D, Vira B, Wolmer W
(2004) Biodiversity conservation and the eradication of poverty. Science 306(5699):1146–1149
Ahlheim M, Neef A (2006) Payments for environmental services, tenure security and environmental valuation: concepts and policies towards a better environment. Q J Int Agric
45(4):303–318
Ahlheim M, Fro ¨r O, Heinke A, Keil A, Duc NM, Van Dinh P, Saint-Macary C, Zeller M (2009)
Landslides in mountainous regions of Northern Vietnam: causes, protection strategies and the
assessment of economic losses. Int J Ecol Econ Stat 15(F09):20–33
Open Access. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution
Non-commercial License, which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in
any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
208
C. Saint-Macary et al.
northern Vietnam have definitely witnessed a substantial reduction in rural poverty
due to agricultural intensification – by generating higher incomes per hectare of
agricultural land. While per-capita land holdings in northern Vietnam have declined
slightly over the past 20 years, incomes and wealth have risen sharply, and poverty
rates have dropped substantially; however, this development has been coupled with
an increase in maize monoculture on steep slopes, exacerbating soil erosion and
leading to land degradation. Hence, our empirical evidence supports the view that
the market-based approach needs to be coupled with protection approaches that
recognize the public utility nature of many environmental services, both for current
and future generations.
Our empirical analysis shows that a simplistic, one-sided and explanatory
approach to the relationship between poverty reduction and economic development
on the one hand, and environmental resource protection on the other, leads to the
development of inadequate policy strategies. While the reduction of hunger and
poverty through agricultural technology and improved market access is a necessary
condition for sustainable rural development, it is not sufficient on its own to protect
vital natural resources – this can only be ensured through the introduction of policy
instruments such as enforced protection, and the use of decentralized management
systems involving communities and payment systems for environmental services.
These policy changes, however, will require both improved governance and the
strengthening of the political voice of marginalized populations.
Acknowledgments This research was conducted as part of the Uplands Program (SFB 564), the
funding of which by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), the National Research Council
of Thailand (NRCT) and the Ministry of Science and Technology of Vietnam is gratefully
acknowledged. We thank Andreas Neef and Pepijn Schreinemarchers for their valuable comments,
as well as the farmers and local authorities for their willingness to participate in this research. We
also thank Gary Morrison for reading through the English and Peter Elstner for helping with the
layout.
References
Adams WM, Aveling R, Brockington D, Dickson B, Elliott J, Hutton J, Roe D, Vira B, Wolmer W
(2004) Biodiversity conservation and the eradication of poverty. Science 306(5699):1146–1149
Ahlheim M, Neef A (2006) Payments for environmental services, tenure security and environmental valuation: concepts and policies towards a better environment. Q J Int Agric
45(4):303–318
Ahlheim M, Fro ¨r O, Heinke A, Keil A, Duc NM, Van Dinh P, Saint-Macary C, Zeller M (2009)
Landslides in mountainous regions of Northern Vietnam: causes, protection strategies and the
assessment of economic losses. Int J Ecol Econ Stat 15(F09):20–33
Open Access. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution
Non-commercial License, which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in
any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
208
C. Saint-Macary et al.