Co-management agreements
The co-management agreements were drafted in facilitated village meetings with the help of a neutral facilitator by the first 9 villages that were setting-up village co-management committees. Based on the first participatory draft agreements the local authorities decided do generate one uniform co-management agreement in the form of a district by-law. As differences between the 9 proposed agreements were small, a compromise was found during a workshop held in July 2014 and chaired by the vice-district governor. The proposed consensus document coming out of this meeting was also presented to the 10 villages that created their village co-management committees later in 2014. Furthermore, upon request by the local authorities the document went through several meetings and due diligence processes involving legal government offices before it was officially approved by the District Governor. The final version was disseminated to all 19 villages and also over the border in Vietnam to the protected area authorities and rangers of Phong Nha-Ke Bang National park.
Agreements formulated in a participatory process with incentives for local stakeholders to participate, based on customary rights. Process considered to be fair as it was an open discussion in a public meeting Due diligence process by district governor to see if this is what the people want (100% confirmed) Due diligence process by district governor: documents were legally verified by relevant departments Official delegation for endorsement to District Governor by national + provincial level Official endorsement of legal district by-law by district governor.
Implementation of law enforcement without endorsed agreements gave problems as the village rangers felt insecure/not safe in doing the job. Now the fines for poachers have been agreed upon via co-management agreements developed in a participatory manner. Due diligence process by district governor was lengthy but important as there is now clear leadership and ownership from the local authority and clear encouragement for local villagers to implement. As the protected area is located in only one district, the process went relatively fast as it is easier to approve a district by-law compared to higher level agreements/by-laws. Initial governance baseline assessment was important in giving direction on how to develop the agreements.