Fostering rural development and environmental sustainability through integrated soil and water conservation systems in the uplands of Northern Vietnam

In Vietnam, overexploitation of resources has led to productivity reduction, increasing rural poverty and food insecurity in the past decades, and hence accelerates the migration to less densely populated, marginal forested regions. The on- and off-site effects of inappropriate land use systems in mountainous regions of northern Vietnam pose considerable threats to people’s livelihoods and the environment. Despite severe threats to the environment, soil and water conservation projects have only had a limited impact in the past, and very few farmers are nowadays practicing effective soil conservation measures on their fields. Reasons for the lacking adoption of soil conservation measures are that (i) they are economically not attractive, (ii) the introduction of high yielding varieties combined with increased fertilizer use masks negative impacts of cropping activities on soil fertility in the short-term, and (iii) many projects used a top-down approach to disseminate soil conservation techniques without adequately considering farmers’ needs. The overall goal of this project is to foster sustained and enhanced livelihoods and environmental quality in the uplands of Northern Vietnam.