SUMMARY: Deforestation has become an issue of increasing concern in many tropical countries. In Vietnam, the response of policymakers has been embodied in several policies and programs, including land classification, land use rights devolution and reforestation schemes. Understanding how these state initiatives have affected the farmer’s land use decisions is essential to further guide policymakers in developing national planning strategies.

According to the annual report of Huaphan Provincial Agriculture and Forestry Office (PAFO) (1999), despite land allocation, some villages are still practising shifting cultivation. To address this problem many decrees and regulations on land and land use have been developed and declared. The land allocation (LA) programme is one of these initiatives. So far, no effort has been made to evaluate whether the LA programme could facilitate change in land use and land management. The major objective of this study was to assess the impact of the LA programme on land use and land management.

Slow agricultural development has restrained economic growth and poverty alleviation in Cambodia. The country’s volatile history has left a legacy of weak tenure security and large areas of underutilized land. This study estimates the impact of access to land on poverty in a logistic regression framework using household survey data. Increased access to land is shown to significantly lower the risk of household poverty. Tenure security, land improvements and irrigation strengthens this effect.

As an important step forward, the Government of Vietnam issued Decree 200 in December 2004 to accelerate the reform of state forest enterprises. The government aims to develop provincial SFE reform plans by mid-2005 and to have them implemented over two to three years. However, the Government also recognizes that several implementation and policy issues remain. This review examines the overall policy framework of SFE reform in light of the promulgation of new regulations and existing implementation capacity.

TAKEN FROM EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: This report documents the contemporary ecological, social and economic transformations occurring in one village in Lao PDR’s central Khammouane province under multiple sources of development-induced displacement. Rural development policy in Laos is focused on promoting rapid rural modernisation, to be achieved through foreign direct investments in two key resource sectors: hydropower and plantations.

The overall objectives of the study were to collect and analyse LUP methodologies in the 4 countries and to assess the experiences and lessons learned during implementation. The comparative assessment would include land use planning approaches at various levels, ranging from participatory village level LUP activities to the elaboration of land use master plans at provincial or even regional level. Finally, recommendations were to be formulated for the countries as well as for the sub-region as a whole.

Source: Fao.org

Source: Médiaterre

An analysis paper by Future Directions International on livelihood considerations and food security in the Lower Mekong countries, published in May 2016.

Se trata de una familia bogotana de raíz campesina que retorna al agro en busca de su autosuficiencia alimentaria. La familia logra comprar un predio en la vereda El Salitre, donde establece su vivienda permanente y desarrolla su producción agroecológica a través de prácticas de resguardo, resilencia y sostenibilidad para con la tierra, los recursos y el paisaje.

El asentamiento Arsenio Báez es fruto de una de las largas y penosas luchas por la tierra que se dio en Paraguay, desde la caída de la dictadura en 1989. Cuenta con 346 hectáreas, en promedio las familias tienen entre 3 y 5. Luego de años de lucha, el Estado paraguayo procedió a expropiar la tierra a favor de los ocupantes.

El caso de la Asociación de Hilanderas de Tilipulo muestra a una organización de mujeres que ante la necesidad de alimentos, y formando parte de un territorio, han emprendido un proceso de reivindicación por su acceso a la tierra