Economy and sustainable development issues among local ethnic minorities in the South Central Highlands, Vietnam

Abstract

Sustainable development has been a topic of concern to the Party and State for many decades. Especially, the sustainable development in mountainous regions and ethnic minority areas has always been focused on with promulgated resolutions and policies. Local ethnic minorities in the South Central Highlands such as Ede, Co-ho, Mnong in particular, and other ethnic minorities are also among the subjects of concern to promote the sustainable development. However, currently, in order to develop sustainably as expected by the Government, these ethnic groups must gradually solve the challenges they are facing, including economic development, hunger eradication and poverty reduction, food security, education development, etc. Although these issues have positively changed over the past years, they are still not enough to ensure the sustainable development. Because of the high rate of poor and near-poor households, low education levels and limited lifelong learning opportunities, uncertain food security, etc., to achieve the sustainable development, in addition to the efforts of the ethnic groups themselves, the Government still needs to continue to support them more in the coming time to gradually solve the challenges they are facing. That is also the goal of this article with implications for policy implementation so that local ethnic minorities in particular and other ethnic minorities in general can develop sustainably in the future. The data source of the article was collected in the community in 2022 by participant observation, questionnaire surveys, and in-depth interviews. The article analyzes the economic situation and explores the challenges that local ethnic minorities in the South Central Highlands are facing.