Abstract

In recent decades, forest conservation and development have been recognized as the decisive issues at both national and local levels. It is important to evaluate the impact of the local communal activities on the forest and to come up with a conservation and development solution for the forest. Our research developed the Forest Conservation Index (FCI) based on four criteria. Namely forest coverage, harvesting intensity, ratio of natural forest and replanting period after harvesting. The contributing level of each criterion in FCI were examined by consulting forest experts. Based on there, the classification of forest sustainability and the assessment of forest conservation were conducted. FCI was built using the same approach of the US water quality index. The FCI is used to evaluate forest conservation of a specific case, Tam Lanh commune. Tam Lanh was a mountainous commune of Phu Ninh district, Quang Nam province, with over fifty percent of household's livelihoods depending on the forest and its service. The result showed the forest resource of Tam Lanh commune was conserved at an average level. The area covered with forest increased due to econmomical benefit of combining of household benefit and forest resources development. However, the forest quality tended to decrease and the forest ecosystem in the commune was gradually simpler.