Community / village participated in forest management or social forestry in Vietnam basically consists of two forms including community forest and community based forest management. These regimes are entrenched from the traditional community self-claim forest, recognized by the State and common forest serving benefits for whole community.

Community forest management is a form in which all villagers are equal to partake in governance process whilst the ownership or rights deciding the ways of resources utilization are belonged to the community. This forest has not yet been belonged to a particular owner.

Community-based forest management is a form in which the community or community members involve in the process of protection. However, the rights to access are under the ownership and use of other economic sectors which have direct connections to the community. This manner is classified into two categories. They are forest of groups of community members, and forest of external organizations such as state-owned and economic oriented entities. For the former, members in the groups are normally cooperating with each other to manage the forest and protect the common benefits. For the later, these organizations make contracts with the community or villagers to protect and develop forest. In so far in Vietnam the forestland allocation (FLA) to the community is only functional to the former.

The Vietnam Law on Forest Protection and Development in 2004 legalizes that the community is only allocated the natural forest for management, but not entitled to have rights of the ownership. The forest is owned by the community if it is formed and developed by the community.

In 2011, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) jointly issued the circular 07/TTLT to allocate forest in association with forestland allotment. Yet, how the legal position of the community is understood when the land use rights associated with forest use entitlements which are the foremost criterion to determine community forest. Further, the Vietnam Civil Code in 2005 does not recognize the community as a legal entity.

In the Article 9, Clause 3 of the Land Law in 2003 recorded the community is allocated land and granted the land use rights, but still not fully covering the rights as transfer, mortgage, inherit and so on. Still, it is getting better as the article legally recognizes the community as a lawful entity.

So, these legal documents appeared some inconsistencies. For instance whether the community chief is eligible to represent whole responsibilities, obligations and rights of the community? Whether the community chief represents the community as an economic entity or an administrative division? But, the term of community chief is only 2.5 years.

The benefits and task assignments are openly revealed in the community based regulation which is monitored and implemented by every community member; but who is on behalf of the community to take the civil liability according to the Civil Code in 2005?

The fact indicates that community forest and community-based forest have been the most efficient mode of management, particularly in remote mountainous areas where are home to indigenous ethnic minority groups with the high mutual interactions, less rivalry, abundant forestland, nature dependent modes of production. However, if it is still not translucent in terms of defining interactive relations between legal rights and obligations, the community forest would tackle risks when we are heading towards a society ruled by law.

Therefore, it is essential to consider the community based forest management is a focal strategy in social forestry while the legal standing of community forest ought to be properly acknowledged in the policy.

The community could be seen as a cooperative or forestry collective. While the community still does not obtain its legal position, the community forest should be allocated to the communal people’s committee. This forest is then assigned to the community under the mode of community based forest management.

Besides the significant cultural, environment and livelihood meanings, the community forests should be viewed as a reserved benefit space for the purposes such as expanding residential locales, public infrastructures and others in the future.

Nguyen Tien Lam