The recognition of customary tenure in Lao PDR

  • Forest cover
  • Forest policy and administration
  • Land
  • Land policy and administration

This study begins with a broad overview of customary tenure arrangements in Lao PDR, followed by a discussion of key policy changes over the past 30 years that have impacted on these arrangements. Forest and land allocation, village consolidation and market oriented policies aimed at turning land into capital have all undermined customary tenure systems and depicted small farmers as poor and unproductive, partly because the non-monetary value of their productive activities are not accounted for. Poverty reduction solutions proposed by the government and development partners often focus on ‘modernizing’ and transforming subsistence rural farmers into market-oriented agribusiness producers. These have resulted in multiple impacts on culture, livelihoods and customary practices. A more balanced approach, this study argues, would be greater legal recognition of customary land rights to ensure livelihood security while rural populations adapt to changes based on what they know.

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The recognition of customary tenure in Lao PDR

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Document type

Reports, journal articles, and research papers (including theses and dissertations)

Publication date

2017

Publisher

Mekong Region Land Governance

Access and use constraints

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

Copyright

Yes

License

CC-BY-3.0-IGO

Author (individual)

Jeremy Ironside

Language

English

Date modified

7 Feb 2019