Residents in Vietnam’s central mountainous district, particularly mountain minorities, have maintained a lifestyle of using natural resources continuously as typified by traditional rotational swidden cultivation and the semi-domestication of wildlife at places close to them for food and medicine as well as livestock husbandry, hunting, the collection of forest products. Yamasaki et al. (2007) report 58 kinds of edible wild and semi-wild plants as examples of use of natural resources around settlements. Major edible plants include ginger, red pepper, mints, and long coriander (Eryngium foetidum), water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica), bitter gourd (Momordica charantia), dokudami (Korean houttuynia, Houttuynia cordata), and wild betel leaf (Piper sarmentosum) (used for salad and soup); taro and banana (sources of starch); and mangos and papayas (fruits). Many of these species are the same as those eaten in such countries as Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia. In Indochinese countries, as many as 550 species of wild and semi-wild animals and plants are eaten on a daily basis (JWRC, 2011). People grow useful plants at places close to them and collect them as necessary, and this way of using natural resources is shared by all countries in this region, although there are slight differences among ethnic groups in terms of preference. These plants are grown mainly in each family’s home garden and left to grow in other places such as vacant lots around settlements and along roads, canals, and paddy fields and ridges between them. Usually, these plants can be freely collected on a daily basis, and major collectors include workers who are on their way home from rice cultivation or hunting and children or elderly people who take charge of their households during others’ absence (JWRC, 2011). In Vietnam’s central mountainous district as well, edible wild plants similar to those mentioned above are quite commonly observed in home gardens as well as in settlements and their vicinities (JWRC, 2009a). In the villages along the shore of Lake Tonlé Sap in Cambodia, wild and semi-wild plants account for 50-80% of all vegetables eaten by local residents (JWRC, 2009b), and in the Laotian province of Vientiane, they represent nearly half of all plant ingredients used for food (JWRC, 2011). This is highly effective in reducing food expenses. These investigations show that the old traditions of using natural resources in a sustainable way have survived to the present day (Boivin, 2006; Yamasaki, 2007; JWRC, 2009a).

Photo 1. Hong Ha Commune, Thua Thien-Hue Province (photo: Kei Mizuno, Kyoto University Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies)

Hong Ha Commune of Thua Thien Hue Province’s A Loui District (Photo 1), which is located in a mountainous area 45 km away from Hue, a city situated in central Vietnam. This commune was built by people who evacuated to Laos to escape the ravages of the Vietnam War and after the war, in compliance with government guidance, relocated to the site in the upstream area of the Bo River where the commune is located (see Table 1).

Table 1: Overview of the History of Arom Village in Hong Ha Commune

Source: Modified based on Hong, N. X.,2002

Its population consists of several minorities, including Katu, Paco, Taoey, and Kinh (Gannon et al., 2008). While approximately 50% of its land is currently covered with natural forests, including young forests, which are currently being regenerated, 43% is covered with artificial forests such as acacias and rubber trees. Their traditional economy mainly comprised swidden cultivation, livestock husbandry, hunting, the collection of forest products, textile manufacture, and the gathering of fuel materials. It is recognized to a certain extent that this traditional swidden cultivation was sustainable (Fukui, 1983), and it occupied an important position in the villagers’ traditional activities to make a living. Since 1975, when the Vietnam War ended, villagers have mainly been engaged in afforestation, dry field farming, fish culture, paddy-rice cultivation, and small commercial transactions.

However, it took about 15 years after the government’s order to prohibit swidden cultivation before many of the villagers abandoned the traditional style of agriculture. In addition, the current lives of villagers, particularly words that indicate the characteristics of soil and farming calendars, unmistakably reflect the central role that swidden cultivation has in their lives (Table 2; Hong, 2002).

Table 2: Katu Agricultural Calendar