Agriculture and commercial practices have severely degraded forest cover in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR). Village forestry is now being tried as a conservation initiative.

Forest cover in Lao PDR decreased from over 80 percent of total land area in 1930 to less than 54 percent in 2000. Increased demands for suitable agricultural land, shifting cultivation practices and logging have led to severe deforestation and environmental degradation. After years of ineffective management, the Lao government has now launched community based conservation initiatives to halt deforestation and promote sustainable forest management.

Research from the Faculty of Forestry, National University of Laos, argues that village forestry can promote long-term sustainable forest management. The research looks at village forestry in Dong Phou Xoy and Dong Sithouane forests.

Village forestry is a conservation initiative in which the legal ownership and management of forests is passed from the state to local authorities and villagers. The aim is to prevent damaging environmental practices and encourage economic independence and community development by ensuring that local people receive a significant share of profits from forest resources. Villagers participate in resource management training and become active participants in making forest management decisions.

Key research findings include:

• Local people have used their share of profits from forest products to develop roads, schools and irrigation systems.
• Local people were involved in all aspects of forest management, including decision-making, resource use planning, marking boundaries and labouring for forest production.
• After initial uncertainty about the motives of the project, local people now see village forestry as a good way to manage their forests and bring the benefits of the forest into their community.
• Before village forestry, local people had no control over the environmental damage caused by commercial logging companies. Now logging companies must negotiate low-intensity logging with villagers.

The development of village forestry has required investments of time and money to train local people in forest management techniques. However, profits from forest products have been directed back into communities. This has enabled an increase in conservation and environmental protection practices. Village forestry initiatives show how community participation in resource management can protect forest resources and benefit community development.

 Policy recommendations include:

• support and training, including participatory land use planning and participatory forest inventory training, for local authorities will help them to work effectively alongside villagers
• governments must be willing to devolve management responsibilities to local authorities and villagers
• the role of villagers as decision makers and managers of forest resources must be included in new laws and regulations
• authorities must finance management training programmes and technical services to enable villagers to develop skills such as forest management, land use planning, financing and community development
• access rights for local people to use forest resources must be recognised and supported by central government policies.

Source(s):
‘Dong Phou Xoy and Dong Sithouane production forests: Paving the way for village forestry’ by Yayoi Fujita, in ‘In search of excellence’, Food and Agriculture Organization, edited by Patrick B. Durst, Chris Brown, Henrylito D. Tacio and Miyuki Ishikawa, 2005 Full document.

Funded by: Regional Community Forestry Training Centre (RECOFTC)

id21 Research Highlight: 18 November 2005

Further Information:
Yayoi Fujita
International Development Research Centre Project Office
Faculty of Forestry
National University of Laos
Vientiane, Laos

Tel: +856 21 770096
Fax: +856 21 770096
Contact the contributor: nuolrts@laotel.com

Faculty of Forestry, National University of Laos

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