De engang så store tropeskove i Laos har været udsat for rovhugst og dækker nu kun 40 procent af det fattige sydøstasiatiske land, men nu er man gået igang med at give de første landsbyer fælles ejendomsret til jorden.
VIENTIANE, 16 April 2012 (IRIN): With pressure on natural resources increasing in Laos, the first community land titles (fælles skøder på jord) granted to five villages in Vientiane Province could provide a national model for environmental protection while safeguarding the livelihoods of villagers.
“It is very important because the communal land titles can give communities the right to access and harvest natural resources, and overcome land concessions (jordrettigheder) to companies,” Souvanpheng Phommasane, an advisor for SNV Netherlands Development Organization told IRIN.
The title deeds cover an area of 2.189 hectares of bamboo-producing forest. After a two-year process the land was finally handed over to the five villages in Sangthong District, 50 km west of the capital, Vientiane, in February.
Hanna Saarinen, coordinator for the Land Issues Working Group, which represents 40 concerned civil society organizations, says the issue of land ownership is becoming more urgent.
“In the last five to 10 years there have been more and more competing interests seeking control over natural resources,” she said. Private sector companies as well as communities “have been using the same land, the same forest for years”.
The government’s 2011-2015 development plan sets a target of at least 8 percent annual economic growth, driven primarily by extractive (udvindings) industries, such as mining, hydropower and plantation agriculture.
All these activities require significant land allocation, while slash-and-burn agriculture (svedjebrug) and logging further diminish forested areas.
Trees once spread across 70 percent of Laos, but in 2010 the Department of Forestry estimated that this has now been reduced to just 40 percent. The decline in forest cover not only has wide environmental impacts but also affects rural incomes.
Per capita income stands at just over 1.000 US dollar (ca. 5.500 DKR) per year, the World Bank reports, and 75 percent of the country’s workforce earns a livelihood from agriculture.
Government statistics note that non-timber forest products, such as bamboo, contribute about 40 percent of rural income.
A bamboo trade association in Sangthong District, set up in 2007, designs and produces furniture and handicrafts made from local bamboo.
The district administration states that households involved in the project can earn an additional 2 million Lao Kip (250 dollar) a month – a significant amount for villagers living in one of the 46 districts designated by the government as the poorest in the South East asian country.
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