The allocation of household-based forest protection contracts in Tam Dao National Park, Vietnam: Elite capture as a bureaucratic impulse against community capture

ABSTRACTThis article examines the characteristics of households that were allocated paid forest protection contracts in Tam Dao National Park situated in northern Vietnam. Its research indicates that the national park management board systematically favored households with weaker community ties in their contract allocations. Furthermore, the article argues that the national park management board took a defensive stance against buffer zone communes resisting park policy and that they also attempted to manage forest conservation by centralizing the allocation and management of forest protection contracts. These circumstances led to an inequitable distribution of rights and continued land use inside the park, as contract holders were powerless to enforce park regulations.