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The purpose of the Mekong Land Research Forum online site is to provide structured access to published and unpublished research on land issues in the Mekong Region. It is based on the premise that debates and decisions around land governance can be enhanced by drawing on the considerable volume of research, documented experience and action-based reflection that is available. The online site seeks to organise the combined work of many researchers, practitioners and policy advocates around key themes relevant to the land security, and hence well-being, of smallholders in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.
The research material on this site is mounted at three levels:
First, a selection of journal articles, reports and other materials is provided and organised thematically to assist researchers, practitioners and policy advocates to draw on one another’s work and hence build up a collective body of knowledge. This is the most “passive” presentation of the research material; our contribution is to find and select the most relevant material and to organise it into key themes. In some cases the entire article is available. In others, for copyright reasons, only an abstract or summary is available and users will need to access documents through the relevant journal or organisation.
Second, a sub-set of the articles has been annotated, with overall commentary on the significance of the article and the research on which it is based, plus commentary relevant to each of the key themes addressed by the article.
Third, the findings and key messages of the annotated articles are synthesised into summaries of each of fourteen key themes. For each key theme, there is a one-page overall summary. Extended summaries are being developed progressively for each theme as part of the Forum's ongoing activity.
Overall, we intend that this online site will contribute toward evidence-based progressive policy reform in the key area of land governance. We further hope that it will thereby contribute toward to the well-being of the rural poor, ethnic minorities and women in particular, who face disadvantage in making a living as a result of insecure land tenure.
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Resources
Displaying 301 - 305 of 564The Socio-Economic Context of Illegal Logging and Trade of Rosewood Along the Cambodian-Lao Border
Siamese Rovsewood (Dalbergia cochinensis) has recently been listed on Appendix II of The Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). This listing means that source countries are legally required to export only controlled quantities of rosewood with close monitoring and documentation, which is intended to ensure that the international trade is not detrimental to the survival of this species.
Timber Trade Flows and Actors in Myanmar: The Political Economy of Myanmar’s Timber Trade
This report on Myanmar's political economy of timber trade highlights five different sources and flows of timber destined for export. The purpose is to bring to light the different actors, geographies, and politics embedded within the web of timber flows because each inter-connected stream has its own degree of legality, sustainability, land rights regimes, and ethical sourcing.
A Strategic Agricultural Sector and Food Security Diagnostic for Myanmar
ABSTRACTED FROM THE INTRODUCTION: This report provides a strategic assessment of the key issues, opportunities, constraints and choices facing Myanmar’s agricultural sector. Discussion focuses on pathways that will permit agriculture to contribute meaningfully to broad-based improvements in purchasing power and food security for the country’s many landless and vulnerable households. In doing so, it aims to assist public and private stakeholders who will be making the key investment and policy decisions governing future agricultural and food security trajectories in Myanmar.
Sustainable bamboo forestry management and communal land titles in Sangthong District: The experience of Huay Hang and Napor Villages
This report presents the innovative experience in bamboo forestry management and the process of Communal Land Titling carried out by the community of Huay Hang and Napor, Sangthong District, Lao PDR. The systematization of this experience has been made possible with the cooperation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Ministry of Planning and Investment of Lao’s People Democratic Republic, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the PROCASUR Corporation. They provided technical and methodological support in the process of documentation of the experience.
'Indigenous Peoples' and land: Comparing communal land titling and its implications in Cambodia and Laos
In 2001 a new Land Law was adopted in Cambodia. It was significant because - for the first time - it recognised a new legal category of people, Indigenous Peoples or chuncheat daoem pheak tech in Khmer, and it also introduced the legal concept of communal land rights to Cambodia. Indigenous Peoples are not mentioned in the 1993 constitution of Cambodia or any legislation pre-dating the 2001 Land Law. However, Cambodia's 2002 Forestry Law also followed the trend by recognising Indigenous Peoples.