Change through conservation: protected areas and institutional change in ethnic minorities in Nam Dong district, Vietnam

Abstract

Attention for the development of livelihoods of indigenous communities has been increasing during the last two decades. At the same time, the increase of importance of national parks as a means to nature conservation and the general loss of control over the environment for indigenous groups, results in their marginalization. In this paper, the consequences of the loss of control over their own development is explained in the context of Ka Tu people in Nam Dong district, Vietnam. It is argued that the retained control of the Vietnamese government over indigenous communities resulted in a loss of customary institutions of Ka Tu people. Nobelprize winner Elenor Ostrom's argues that this leads to a decreasing feeling of ownership in the communities, is found to be true in the context of Ka Tu communities in Vietnam.