The ongoing benefit sharing pilot is the second of its kind implemented in Dak Lak province, and the third of its kind implemented in Vietnam: In 2006, RDDL assisted DARD in the implementation of community forest management pilots in two villages in Ea H’Leo district. Based on approved forest management plans and Forest Development and Protection Regulations (FPDR), timber has then been harvested for village internal consumption purposes as well as for commercialisation. T’Ly village thereby generated a net income of VND 283 million (USD 17,000) from the sale of 370m³ of timber at the same time covering the timber needs within the village. Cham village satisfied the communities’ demand for timber; commercialisation was not possible due to poor forest conditions.

In order to draw further conclusions and decide on final administrative procedures, DARD decided to implement a second pilot in a different district, incorporating lessons learned from 2006. Technical and administrative procedures have to be approved by province authorities for wider replication. Therefore, the documentation of procedures and evaluating the experiences made are crucial.

Tul Village in Yang Mao Commune, Krong Bong District had been selected for the second pilot implementation. Forest land allocation of 964ha evergreen forest was finalised in 2001. The allocated forest is situated close to the village, but mounting from 800m to 1500m altitude, and borders in the south on Chu Yang Sin national park. Community Forest Management Planning and the elaboration of Forest Protection and Development Regulations have  been realised in Tul village in early 2008. With these results in hand, trees have then been marked for selective cutting along silviculture guidelines. A total of 401 trees have been marked for harvesting. Harvesting plans have been implemented in early 2009. Since then 132 (out of 401) trees have been harvested, resulting in 173 logs to be sold. After establishing log-lists and approval by Forest Protection Unit, Commune and District authorities have been preparing the timber auctioning and announcements on mass media in Dak Lak an the adjacent provinces. Timber has been sold during an auction on 8 May 2009, where 6 companies participated from 4 provinces. The total volume of 410m³ was sold for VND 916.361.000, ( circa 50,000 USD). The project in cooperation with Tay Nguyen University of Dal Lak, assisted the village community in calculations on benefit sharing for tax payments, commune levy and village internal benefit sharing as agreed in village regulations.

It is anticipated that the remaining 260 trees can be harvested until October 2009 and sold in two further auctions, which would give all stakeholders the opportunity to assess and validate a one-year plan implementation. The second auction will take place by the end of August, 2009.