Towards Participatory Forest Management in Laos —Laos Country Report 2003— (i) (ii) Towards Participatory Forest Management in Laos —Laos Country Report 2003— Editor in chief HYAKUMURA Kimihiko and Editors INOUE Makoto Martinus Nanarg HARADA Kazuhiro KOMATSU Kiyoshi Institute for Global Environmental Strategies Kanagawa, Japan (iii) Published by Institute for Global Environmental Strategies 2108-11 Kamiyamaguchi, Hayama, Miura, Kanagawa, 240-0115, JAPAN Printed by Sato Printing Co. Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN Cover (upper left) Local people and cardamom, Ngoi District, Luang Phabang Province. Photo credit: HYAKUMURA Kimihiko Cover (upper right) Swidden land and paddy field, Nambak District, Luang Phabang Province. Photo credit: HYAKUMURA Kimihiko Cover (lower left) Elephant and people, Nambak District, Luang Phabang Province. Photo credit: HYAKUMURA Kimihiko Cover (lower right) Women carrying fuel wood, Pakeng District, Oudomxay Province. Photo credit: MORIMOTO Takashi Back Cover1 River in the morning, Phalanxai District, Savannakeht Province. Photo credit: HYAKUMURA Kimihiko. Back Cover2 Wild konjak potato and local people: Nambak District, Luang Phabang Province. Photo credit: HYAKUMURA Kimihiko Back Cover3 Threshing the rice, Atsaphone District, Savannakhet Province. Photo credit: HYAKUMURA Kimihiko Back Cover4 Ceremony in the spiritual forest, Atsaphone District, Savannakhet Province. Photo credit: HYAKUMURA Kimihiko Back Cover5 Fallow land and swidden land, Pakbeng District, Oudomxay Province, Photo credit: MORIMOTO Takashi All Right Reserved © 2004 The Institute for Global Environmental Strategies Although every effort is made to ensure objectivity and balance, the printing of a book or translation does not imply IGES endorsement or acquiescence with its conclusions or the endorsement of IGES financers. IGES maintains a position of neutrality at all times on issues concerning public policy. Hence conclusions that are reached in IGES publications should be understood to be those of the authors and not attributed to staff-members, officers, directors, trustees, funders, or to IGES itself. (iv) TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface ···············································································································································vi HYAKUMURA Kimihiko and INOUE Makoto GNOPHANXAY Somsy Local Forest Management and Strategies in Northern Laos Following Government Intervention·····································································1 PENGSOPHA Kaisone and MORIMOTO Takashi A Study of Changes in Livelihoods and Forest Management in Namo District, Oudomxay Province, Laos ···············································································12 ISHIKAWA Miyuki and DOUANGPHOSY Boonthavy Impacts of Forest-related Policies on Local People in the Phou Xang He Protected Area, Savannakhet Province, Laos ·······································································28 HYAKUMURA Kimihiko and KOTPATHOUM Thananh Participatory Forest Management —A Research Study in Savannakhet Province，Laos— ····························································44 CHANTHAVONG Somphong (v) Preface HYAKUMURA Kimihiko Coordinator of Laos Study, Forest Conservation Project, IGES INOUE Makoto Project Leader, Forest Conservation Project, IGES During the second phase of the Forest Conservation Project, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) launched in April 2001, research activities were focused on concrete measures to facilitate participatory forest management in the target countries and areas of Laos, Indonesia, and the Russian Far East. Laos is a country in transition to a market economy, and specific features concerning the forestry sector there include (1) the development of mechanisms to implement a new legal system governing forestry, and (2) recent actions and trends in efforts to transfer the responsibility of forest management to the local people. The promotion of participatory forest management will support the efforts of the government of Laos, espe- cially its programs to clarify the responsibility of forest management, to implement the forest law, and to conduct an integrated village resource management program, which includes forest and land allocation, land-use planning, rehabilitation activities, and sustainable management of non timber forest products (NTFPｓ). Field research was carried out at two sites for the purpose of developing guidelines: one in Savannakhet Province, an area rich in forests; and the other in Oudomxay Province a forest-poor area where swidden agricul- ture is practiced. The research included examining local administrative efforts. The aims of this interim report are to disseminate the results of activities of the first and second fiscal years of this phase's research on Laos, and to provide the basis for discussions on developing guidelines for participatory forest management. All papers in this report were peer-reviewed, and then revised based on the reviewers’ comments. We be- lieve that this process helped to ensure the quality of each chapter. We thank Mr. Soukkongseng Saignaleuth, Dean of Faculty of Forestry, National University of Laos, Associate Professor, Somsy Gnophanxay, Vice Dean of Faculty of Forestry, National University of Laos, Mr. Khamvieng Xayabouth, Coordinator of our project, Mr. Thong Et Phayvanh, Deputy Director, Provincial Agriculture and Forestry Office Savannakhet Province Mr. Matsumoto Satoru, Mekong Watch Japan, and other research collaborators for their assistance of our re- search activities. We are also deeply grateful to Mr. Greg Helten for proofreading and his assistance. A part of research could be conducted by the financial support from Sumitomo Foundation of Grant for Environmental Research Projects. It would not have been possible to publish this report without the marvelous cooperation and help of all the individuals and institutions concerned with our project, and we would like to express our appreciation to all of them. (vi) Faculty of Forestry NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF LAOS The Research Report on “Developing the guidelines for Participatory Forest Management in Laos” Interim Report of FoF-IGES Forest Conservation Project Adviser of the Project From the Laos Side Prof. GNOPHANXAY Somsy, Ph.D. Vientiane, Laos 2004 (vii) (viii) Towards Participatory Forest Management in Laos Institute for Global Environmental Strategies —Laos Country Report 2003— : 1~11 Japan 2004 Local Forest Management and Strategies in Northern Laos Following Government Intervention * PHENGSOPHA Kaisone ** MORIMOTO Takashi Abstract: In Laos, land forest allocation has been conducting for swidden alleviation by the government. This pol- icy sets the land use classification and it has probably influenced livelihoods and of local people depending fully on forests. In the report, we clarify the disparities between the governmental policies and local people’s activities. The first research site is situated so close to the district center that the district officer visits frequently and the villagers likely observe the laws. However, some cultivation areas have been restricted because of the policy and the villagers must change and adapt the lives. In the second village, it is not so near from the district center and the village has not been given enough land for agriculture. This ends up land conflicts between villagers. The district office cannot pro- vide appropriate solution of these difficulties and so the villagers have to live against the national policies. The gov- ernment and the people must cooperate and make some new compromise agreements. Key Words: Land forest allocation, Swidden agriculture, Village border conflict, Local resource management, In- ter-village agreement. 1. Introduction 2.1 Research methodology for this chapter The primary objectives of this chapter are to investi- The first national assembly on forests in Laos was held gate the impacts of the Pakbeng DAFO intervention on in May 1998 to address deforestation and environmental natural resources and the villages themselves, and to problems in the country. Among the solutions produced examine the local peoples’ perceptions of DAFO’s work was a plan to promote agricultural production and tree and its effects on natural resources. In order to meet these plantations, which included a land forest allocation objectives, the research has gone through various steps, (LFA) program. as described below. LFA is administered mainly by each District Agricul- ture and Forestry Office (DAFO), but the program suf- Step 1: A review of central policy documents related to fers from a lack of personnel and government funding, natural resource management, such as laws, and staff often do not have enough time to fully discuss regulations, decrees, research reports, country allocations with villagers. Besides this, when demarca- reports, etc., was mainly conducted at the Faculty tions are decided, they do not always match up with the of Forestry, National University of Laos. customary land classifications of the local people, and this sometimes causes conflicts between villages. This Step 2: General data on the district was gathered during a report examines two sample cases of these problems in one-day meeting with all DAFO staff in Pakbeng, the province of Oudomxay in northern Laos. One study where documents on strategy, policy, rules, laws, site is a government-sponsored resettlement village, and regulations, etc., were collected. These included the other is a village where government intervention