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8/14/2019 Lao PDR Overview - For Web
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Customary Land Rights inLaos an overview
Communities, Land, Forest and theClash of Big Agri-Business in one of theLast Frontiers of South East Asian Wilderness
Phetdavan Sipaseuth & Glenn HuntJVC Laos
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Lao Peoples Democratic Republic
Pop. 6 million
80% rural subsistence farmers
70% mountainous Heavily Forest Dependent
population
Unique Biodiversity
Large Ethnic Minoritypopulation (33.3%)
One Party state
Economic Development basedpoverty alleviation strategy
State run media
Transparency International2.0/10 Corruption Index(151/180)
Source: WFP
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Lao Legal System
Image courtesy VFI-Laos
Interpretation of Laws
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Customary Forest Tenure in Lao PDR Underlying Principal is that the State sees Forests as National
Property
Natural Forest and Forest is the property of the nationalcommunity(Art 4 Forestry Law 2008)
Thus communal rights to Land Tenure over Natural Forest andNatural Resources are extremely weak
Customary Rights not acknowledged in Law but only in minorMinisterial Recommendations
Community Forestry removed from 2008 re-writing of ForestLaw.
Limited Land Tenure through Land Use Planning / LandAllocation Process
Village (headman) has final say over land use in the village
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Customary Utilization of Forests
Forest Law (2008)Article 42. Customary utilization of forests
Customary utilization of forests is the use of forest and forestproducts that has been practiced for a long time in accordance withlaws and regulations.
The State allows the use of timber and harvest of forest products innon-prohibited forests for household utilization without adverseimpact on forest resources, and the environment as well as
reflecting the rights and interest of individuals or organizations.
Customary utilization of forest and forest products shall bepracticed in accordance with a designed plan and with village
regulations and laws and regulations on forests.
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Shifting Cultivation
Negatively viewed as major cause of deforestation
since colonial times Government Policy is to Stabilizeand Eliminate
Forestry Law (2008) gives government the right toappropriate barren forestland for plantationsdevelopment (Art. 74-76)
Barren Forestland are the forestland areas without trees causedby natural or human destruction (Art. 3)
Stabilization policy calls for 3 plot rotation
Policy widely criticized for contributing to food insecurity(ADB, 2000; MAF, 2005)
(Customary Low Input Sustainable Agro-Forestry)
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Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4
Year 8 Year 7 Year 6 Year 5
Traditional Long Fallow Shifting
Cultivation System
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Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4
Year 8 Year 7 Year 6 Year 5
Incroachment
on NaturalForest
Impact of Plantations on Shifting
Cultivation Systems
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Industrial Tree Plantations
Two Major Types Legitimate Plantation companies
Logging operations pretending to be plantationcompanies
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Illegitimate PlantationsCentral Laos Bolikhamxay Province2006 Lao World Coconut Plantation
5000 ha concession granted on Rich
Dense Forest Logging of Forest is primary Objective
No management of Plantation
Map Courtesy of Luxembourg Development
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Where a re the c oc onuts
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Legitimate Planta tion Companies
Industria l Planta tions Overview Industrial Tree Plantations promoted as both Poverty Alleviation
Strategy, Reforestation Strategy and Shifting Cultivation
Stabilization Strategy.
Small, Medium and Large Scale Plantations increasing across
the country at the expense of natural forest
In 2005 there were reportedly 75,000 ha of plantations acrossthe country (FS2020)
Forest Strategy 2020 originally proposed to have 500,000 ha by
2020 Rapid Increase in Chinese and Vietnamese small and medium
sized companies with poor social policies
Legislative reforms and Infrastructure supported by IFI's anddonors to facilitate FDI
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Approved Foreign Investment for Agriculture ProjectsApproved Foreign Investment for Agriculture Projects
458,578,711392006
17,352,240212005
75,704,017192004
17,321,800162003
13,988,00062002
18,616,250132001
Investment Value (USD)Number of projectYear
Foreign Direct Investment in AgricultureForeign Direct Investment in AgricultureSectorSector
Source: Committee for Planning and Investment 2007
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Ma nagement of Concession a reas
Plantations have been promoted in Laos by Donor community and GoLwithout first creating sufficient regulations regarding village land tenure and
company land acquisition processes
Both central, provincial and district levels of government have the ability togrant land concessions to private investors
Different line ministries and government agencies are able to grant landconcessions
However there is no coordination between these different actors, nor anyone agency monitoring or mapping concessions areas.
The result is a chaotic system with overlap of company prospecting areas
and a scramble for land by companies Still today no one knows how many hectares of plantation concession have
been granted or actually planted in Laos. A Donor agency is undertaking a
full survey in 2 Provinces (Vientiane / Luang Nam Tha) and privately
estimates that throughout Laos there could be as much as 2 million ha ofconcession already granted (8% of total land area).
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Land Ac quisition a t the
Loc a l Level The central problem with Plantations in Laos is a problem of land
acquisition.
Companies and villagers are competing for land with the best
soil.
Despite the high level of dependency of villagers on forest
resources, all forest land is regarded as property of the state.
There is not yet a legal forest land tenure system in place for
forest dependent villagers.
Land acquisition does not take into account shifting cultivation
systems, in fact it actively seeks to eliminate those systems
through plantations development.
Promoters of plantations state that only degraded land is used forplantations development, however...
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Some cases of companies paying local government staff to
undertake negotiations with villagers to acquire land, leading to a
situation where companies are represented by government staffand independent government oversight is missing.
Villagers have very limited rights over forest land and are
sometimes manipulated to accept plantation developments Village level forest management systems are rarely used as a
tool to delineate land for plantation concessions.
Generally stated that plantations should be on barren forestlandor degraded forest.
Widespread Confusion about what constitutes degraded forest
- fallow fields, degraded in whose opinion?
Land Ac quisition a t the
Loc a l Level
L d U Pl i d L d
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Land Use Planning and LandAlloc a tion Programme
LUPLA process developed in 1996 through SIDA
One of the main objectives to Stabilizeand EliminateShiftingCultivation
Policy heavily criticized for impoverishing farmers in mountainous
areas (ADB, 2000; MAF, 2005)
Does provide formal recognition of village boundaries and gives
villagers limited use rights over forest lands and forest resources
LUPLA is primarily seen by the government as a tool to manage
village forest use Not as a tool to manage government forest
planning, or provide secure land tenure
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Impac ts from Land Conc essions
Environmental - Loss of natural forest and biodiversity
Social Loss of access to natural resources
Loss of agricultural and forest lands
Upland rice farming plots
Timber and Non-Timber resources lost Food, Medicines, Income Generation, Housing
Loss grassland for buffalo grazing
Increase in conflict with neighboring villages overnatural resources
No compensation for loss of natural resources
Ethnic minority populations are particularly vulnerable
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Stakeholders in Land Issues
Gov of Laos
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
Traditionally managed anything to do with forests
Long History of Implementation of LUPLA
Long History Shifting Cultivation Elimination policy
National Land Management Authority
Newly Established Department under Prime Minister'sOffice
Has taken control of land titling and aspects of landmanagement from MAF
NGOs have effectively utilised both ministries to
bring land issues to the national agenda.
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Stakeholders (2)Donors
GTZ Main donor on land issues, very vocal,
pushing for reforms around communal forest tenureand revision of LUPLA process to address multipleshort comings. Actively engaging and working withNGOs. Also promoting private land ownership in
rural areas.
JICA Also heavily involved in Forest Issues for along time. Actively engaging NGO's. JICA also the
main Donor behind REDD.
ADB Heavily promoting industrial plantations andcommercial crop production with little regard forforest / land tenure issues. Does not engageNGO's.
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Stakeholders (3)
NGO's
- Only a small number of NGOs working directly on land issues,
however there is now a broad understanding within NGOcommunity about problems with land concessions
- Land Issues Working Group
- Formed in 2007- Formalized Working Group working on land issues under the
umbrella of the INGO Network of Lao PDR.
- Actively highlighting land issues and promoting land tenure /customary rights in Lao PDR.
- MicMac / MakPhet Group
- MicMac has been around for a long time, recently revived aroundworking on land issues. MakPhet also a relatively new groupworking on land issues.
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Stakeholders (4)
Private Industry Oji Paper (Japan [80,000 ha]) First of the large pulp
companies to enter Laos. Wary of NGO's, but some staff willing
to engage NGO's at private level. Company says it wants toimprove the tenure system to avoid conflict.
Grassim Birla (Indian [50,000 ha]) Some contact with NGOthrough certain staff.
Stora Enso / Burapha (Swedish / Finnish) trying to undertakemore participatory approach to land acquisition.
Multiple Smaller operations from neighbouring countries littleor no contact, inability of NGO's to engage with thesecompanies general disregard for communal forest usufructrights.
Lao Coffee companies losing smallholder farmers to rubberplantations, potential allies.
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Communities
- Large number of diverse and uncoordinated ethnicminority groups
- Little awareness of laws and rights surrounding
concession agreements- Lack of avenues to successfully appeal forest / land
conflicts with powerful interests
- Difficulty to talk openly about land conflicts
Stakeholders (5)
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Lessons Learned
With strong networks between NGO's (and some keydonors), NGO's have been able to work well with boththe MAF and NLMA to highlight the problems with land
concessions and bring land issues to national agenda.
Having good case studies has allowed us to be able tocontribute towards national policy review around land
tenure issues (Concessions decree, Forestry Law,LUPLA review), to offer suggestions and promote landtenure as an issue.
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Recent Changes in
Communal Land Tenure NGOs have been advocating for stronger land tenure
system over village forest area and highlighting
impacts from land concessions. May 2007 Prime Minister announces moratorium of
land concession.
August 2007 National Land Management Authoritydecree No 564 introduces concept of communal orcollective land title.
Presently MAF designing new LUPLA system with
much stronger focus on land tenure security includingcommunal land titles.