Land ownership and development: The influence of Forest Land Allocation on land market development and local livelihoods in two communes in the north central coast of Vietnam

Abstract

Land markets in Vietnam have developed rapidly in the last few years, where one of the driving factors has been forest land allocation. The development of land markets can have strong socio-economic effects and result findings from Thuong Lo and Huong Loc show that land markets have not developed in an even or transparent way. This is due to several factors, among which government involvement in financial and land markets, distance to other markets, institutional problems and lack of sufficient information canals. Despite a lack of institutionalised land markets, some form of land consolidation is visible as some households have still been able to acquire land by buying it from other households. Given the eventuality of continued land market processes, poor households would benefit from more transparent markets and an institutional environment as the current situation puts them at a disadvantage. The findings from the study area further suggest that social networks, which are traditionally stronger in post-socialist land relations, can have a mitigating affect on socio-economic equity.