As Vietnam embraces the market economy, and a number of state policies
promote reforestation and rural market integration, land use and land cover
(LULC) changes are occurring in the country’s northern uplands in increasingly
complex and fragmented ways. Yet understandings of the degree and consequences
of LULC changes in this diverse agro-ecological region are incomplete.
We conduct a systematic literature review of research reported in academic
articles tracing and analysing LULC change in Vietnam’s northern regions. We
find that these studies have tended to take place away from the most mountainous,
northern borderlands. The studies nonetheless highlight a diversity of land use
land cover changes caused by numerous causes, making the distinction of overall
trends difficult. To complement and extend this body of research, we introduce
recent LULC change research we have completed in the mountainous border
districts of Lào Cai province, on the Sino-Vietnamese border. The heterogeneity
of causes of LULC change in both the review articles and our case study points to
the importance of adapting land use policies to local agro-ecological and socioeconomic
conditions and ethnic diversity, taking into account state–farmer relations,
household livelihood decision-making, and policy implementation at the
commune and district levels.