Evan Singer

Communities in Vietnam's northern highlands increasingly pursue wage labor opportunities in the Red River Delta and abroad. My research focuses on the experience of this change in livelihood opportunities by two Tay ethnic minority communities living in the core and buffer zones of Ba Be National Park. Using semi-structured interviews, focus groups, key informant interviews, and participant observation, I hope to better understand how new movements of people and money shape decisions by individuals living in previously forest-dependent communities as well as the structure of forest landscapes. I focus on themes of rural debt, tourism development, economic liberalization, and the social impacts of Payment for Ecosystems Services policies.