Abstract
Forest-dependent communities globally are experiencing rapid environmental and social changes that require attention beyond policy to also consider governance. This case study from Laos examines a national program that links forest management and poverty alleviation in upland areas. I conducted fieldwork across 45 ethnic minority communities in Savannakhet Province. I detail three main findings: first, expanding natural resource extraction will likely entail the greatest impacts to forest-lands, but government discourses blame forest-based livelihoods as causing deforestation and poverty; second, that while data from community surveys and formal interviews indicate success in poverty alleviation in communities, informally collected data indicate this was driven by illegal logging from National Protected Areas; third, community perspectives increasingly criticize government-supported activities when there are severe negative impacts, especially in the case of rubber plantations. I conclude that critical attention to forest-lands change, governance, livelihoods, and community perspectives is important to understand the complexity of environmental and social changes for forest-dependent communities.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
The term ‘forest-lands’ encompasses extensive forest areas with small areas of permanent farms (e.g., rice paddy), concessions (e.g., rubber), non-permanent farming areas (e.g., swidden, fallow), and non-forest areas (e.g., rivers, cliffs).
Bru or Brou includes sub-groups such as Katang, Makong, and Tri in this study (Pholsena 2006).
The fact that it is priced by the kilogram is an indicator of its extreme rarity and high-value.
No communities reported LFA in Sepon1 and Sepon2. Nong and Phine both had 91% of communities reporting LFA, but with only two community maps remaining. No household level allocation of land was reported.
Reasons include the distance from the Thai border, less familiarity with Lao and Thai languages, and cultural restrictions on Bru women. Lao citizens reported not seeking work in Vietnam, in contrast to the many Vietnamese who come to Laos.
Scrap metal in Laos is often locally referred to as a ‘forest product.’
These included: bong bark; yang resin (Dipterocarpus spp.); berberine vine (Coscinium fenestratum); and cardamom (Amomum spp.).
References
Baird, IG 2010. Land, rubber and people: rapid agrarian changes and responses in southern Laos. Journal of Lao Studies 1(1): 1–47.
Baird IG, Shoemaker B 2007. Unsettling experiences: internal resettlement and international aid agencies in Laos. Development and Change 38(5): 865–888.
Barbier EB, Tesfaw A 2015. Explaining forest transitions: the role of governance. Ecological Economics 119: 252–261.
Bevir, M 2012. Governance: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Broergaard RB, Vongvisouk V, Mertz O 2017. Contradictory land use plans and Policies in Laos: tenure security and the threat of exclusion. World Development 89: 170–183.
Castella J-C, Lestrelin G, Corenelia H et al. 2013. Effects of Landscape Segregation on Livelihood Vulnerability: Moving From Extensive Shifting Cultivation to Rotational Agriculture and Natural Forests in Northern Laos. Human Ecology 41(1):63–76.
Dove, M. 1983. Theories of swidden agriculture, and the political economy of ignorance. Agroforestry Systems 1: 85–99.
Ducourtieux O, Laffort JR, Sacklokham S 2005. Land policy and farming practices in Laos. Development and Change 36(3): 499–526.
EIA 2014. Routes to Extinction: The Corruption and Violence Destroying Siamese Rosewood in the Mekong. London: Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA).
Evrard O, Goudineau Y 2004. Planned resettlement, unexpected migrations and cultural trauma in Laos. Development and Change 35(5): 937–962.
Kenney-Lazar, M. 2012 Plantation rubber, land grabbing and social-property transformation in southern Laos. Journal of Peasant Studies 39: 1017–1037.
Lagerqvist Y F. 2013. Imagining the borderlands: Contending stories of a resource frontier in Muang Sing. Singapore Journal Tropical Geography 34(1): 57–69.
Lambin EF, Meyfroidt P 2011. Global land use change, economic globalization,and the looming land scarcity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 108(9): 3465–3472.
Lestrelin, G, Castella J-C, Bourgoin J 2012. Territorialising sustainable development: the politics of land-use planning in Laos. Journal of Contemporary Asia 42(4): 581–602.
Pholsena V 2010. Life under bombing in southeastern Laos through the accounts of survivors in Sepon. European Journal of East Asian Studies 9(2): 267–290.
Pholsena V 2006. Post-war Laos: The Politics of Culture, History and Identity. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS).
Pokorny B, de Jong W, Godar, et al. 2013. From large to small: reorienting rural development policies in response to climate change, food security and poverty. Forest Policy and Economics 36: 52–59.
RFA 2014. Family members of Lao elite smuggling rosewood to China. Radio Free Asia (RFA), 29 June 2015.
Singh S. 2018. Nam Theun 2 and transformation of institutions and public debate in Laos. In B. Shoemaker and W.G. Robichaud, Dead in the Water: Global Lesson from the World Bank’s Model Hydropower Project in Laos. University of Wisconsin Press.
Singh S 2012. Natural Potency and Political Power: Forests and State Authority in Contemporary Laos. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.
SUAN 1991. Swidden Agroecosystems in Sepone District, Savannakhet Province, Lao PDR. Report of SUAN-EAPI-MAF Agroecosystem Research Workshop, Laos. Southeast Asian Universities Agroecosystem Network (SUAN), the Environment and Policy Institute (EAPI), East-West Center, and Government of Laos.
To PX, Mahanty S, Dressler W 2014. Social networks of corruption in the Vietnamese and Lao cross-border timber trade. Anthropological Forum 24(2): 154–174.
Vientiane Times 2014a. Govt aware of rising deforestation in Laos, PM says. Vientiane Times, 9 July 2014.
Vientiane Times 2014b. Rubber tapping launched in Savannakhet. Vientiane Times, 8 May 2014.
Vientiane Times 2013. Funding woes hinder efforts to banish poverty. Vientiane Times, 11 October 2013.
Acknowledgements
I appreciate the support and generosity of many communities, officials, and others in Laos, which made this work possible. I appreciate support from the Australian Research Council and my colleagues at the School of Social Science, University of Queensland. Thanks to Michael Fabinyi for reviewing many drafts and support as an Adjunct Research Fellow in Anthropology at James Cook University.
Funding
This study was funded by an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant (grant number DP1096157).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
The author declares she has no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Singh, S. Understanding Changes for Forest-Dependent Communities in Upland Laos. Hum Ecol 48, 199–209 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-020-00143-7
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-020-00143-7