This field trip and feasibility study follows on from an initial concept paper for creating wetlands in reservoirs that have a large draw down. The guiding hypothesis is that such reservoirs often have relatively limited diversity of aquatic habitats and their productivity is limited by the…

This is a draft edition of the Poverty Environment Nexus (PEN) report for Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam. The purpose of this conference edition is to present the findings from the studies that have been undertaken in each country over the last three years as well as to obtain relevant comments…

This report presents results of the Lao Census of Agriculture 2010/11. It highlights the major findings of the census, featuring commentary and graphical presentations, as well as some summary tables. Results are shown for each province. The report is available in Lao and English as separate…

Debates and critiques around land policy often focus on the neo-liberal agenda of formalising land as alienable property, most notably through land titling schemes. Sometimes these schemes are posited against alternatives such as land reform and community land holding under common property…

This article examines the transition from shifting cultivation to rubber production for a study area in northern Laos PDR using an agent-based model of land-cover change. A primary objective of the model was to assess changes in household-level inequality with the transition from shifting…

ABSTRACTED FROM INTRODUCTION: Women’s access to and control over land can potentially lead to gender equality alongside addressing material deprivation. Land is not just a productive asset and a source of material wealth, but equally a source of security, status and recognition. Substantive…

This report from EIA highlights an illegal trade in banned timber from Laos into Vietnam, where it supplies a booming furniture industry. The report suggests that this is the result of weak law enforcement and poor governance in Laos. A number of recommendations are made to address this…

Land reform, land politics and resettlement in Laos have changed people’s land access and livelihoods. But these reforms have also transformed political subjectivity and landed property into matters for government to a degree hitherto unknown in Laos. The control over people, land and space has…

In the early 1990s, the Lao government launched a nationwide Land Use Planning and Land Allocation programme in a bid to foster socio-economic development while protecting the environment. However, the programme has long been perceived as having negative impacts on rural livelihoods. A central…

This working paper reviews the experiences of the Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF) with 14 “small
grants for impact” that were contracted in early 2006 and operated for periods of 12 to 18 months. For a total
investment of under US$1 million – less than the equivalent of a…

Watersheds face a range of degradation challenges associated with human activities, such as pollution, deforestation and changes in sediment generation. The way they are managed has a profound cascading effect on natural resources and communities in the wider basin. Although watersheds play a…