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.