Developing a GIS for integrated land use planning

Many people in Central Vietnam directly or indirectly depend on forest products for their livelihood. Pressure on forest and tree resources is increasing, leading to exploitation beyond sustainable levels. Outside protected areas, forest lands are degrading, leading to scarcity of forest products. In response, the generally poor people, who are living in forest fringe areas, turn to the protected areas to fulfil their needs, thus threatening these lands as well.
National authorities recognise these problems and have developed policies and methods to mediate the situation. However, the complexity of the landscapes, the multitude of stakeholders involved and the strong sectoral approach of many organisations complicate development, selection and implementation of appropriate planning interventions.
A spatial information system can assist planners and other stakeholders through analysis and visualisation of a complex situation. In combination with simulation models it can visualise the effects of proposed planning interventions.
In the framework of the Tropenbos Geocobuf project, a problem oriented, spatial information system is being developed to support sustainable management of Bach Ma National Park and its bufferzone, located in Thua Thien Hue Province, Vietnam.
A multi-disciplinary group of GIS users is established through training of selected staff from the many organisations involved in planning in the area. Through intensive collaboration of people within this group, while taking into account the multiple missions of their organisations, GIS data have been integrated for development of relevant products to support selection of appropriate interventions for sustainable management. Due to the inter-sectoral approach and active involvement of stakeholder organisations the resulting GIS products are ‘owned’ by the organisations, which will contribute to effective collaborative planning in Park and bufferzone.