Vietnamese Rubber Investments in the South of the Lao PDR Key factors influencing decision making in large-scale land acquisitions by Vietnamese investors in the agro-forestry sector of the Lao PDR Master’s thesis at the Faculty of Philosophy and Science of the University of Berne Division of the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE) submitted by Joel Zurflueh December, 2013 Coordinators: Prof. Dr. Urs Wiesmann and Dr. Peter Messerli Institute of Geography of the University of Berne Hallerstrasse 12, 3012 Bern Printed by: Copy centre of the University of Berne, Switzerland Copyright© 2013 by: Joel Zurflueh and the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE) This thesis was funded by the Swiss Network for International Studies (SNIS) and the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC). Additional financial and logistic support came from the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE), Bern, Switzerland, the Land Observatory Project, and the Institute of Geography of the University of Berne. English language editing: Marianne Gillian Hessey, Juliet Lu, and Mike Dwyer Layout: By the author Cover photo: Left: rubber plantation in Bachiangchaleunsook (Bachiang) District, Champasak Province. Middle: soil map of Bachiang District. Right: concession site of HAGL Company in Attapeu Province. Zurflueh, 2012 I Table of Contents Table of Contents ............................................................................................................ I List of Figures ................................................................................................................ IV List of Tables ................................................................................................................. VI Acronyms and Abbreviations ........................................................................................ VII Foreword ...................................................................................................................... IX Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................ X Abstract ........................................................................................................................ XI 1 Introduction on Large-scale Land Acquisitions ......................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Research Focus......................................................................................................... 3 2 Objectives .............................................................................................................. 7 2.1 Goal and Objectives ................................................................................................. 7 2.2 Research Questions and Hypotheses ....................................................................... 8 3 Conceptual Framework and Theory ....................................................................... 11 3.1 Human-Actor Model .............................................................................................. 11 3.2 Political Economy ................................................................................................... 14 3.3 Political Ecology – landscape governance .............................................................. 15 3.4 State of the Art ....................................................................................................... 16 3.4.1 Global ............................................................................................................. 16 3.4.2 Lao PDR .......................................................................................................... 20 4 Methodology ........................................................................................................ 23 4.1 Data Collection ....................................................................................................... 23 4.2 Case Studies ........................................................................................................... 26 4.2.1 Study Area and Sampling ............................................................................... 27 II Vietnamese Rubber Investments in the South of the Lao PDR 4.3 Data Analyses ......................................................................................................... 32 4.4 Critical Reflection ................................................................................................... 35 5 Land related issues in the Lao PDR ......................................................................... 37 5.1 Background Information on Laos ........................................................................... 37 5.2 History and Political Structure ................................................................................ 40 5.3 State Land Leases and Concessions ........................................................................ 41 5.3.1 Economic Liberalisation and Policy of Economic Land Concessions .............. 41 5.3.2 Legal Framework ............................................................................................ 44 6 Results .................................................................................................................. 51 6.1 Groups of Actors ..................................................................................................... 51 6.1.1 Vietnamese Investors ..................................................................................... 51 6.1.2 Government Agencies .................................................................................... 63 6.1.3 Village Authorities and Households ............................................................... 70 6.2 The Implementation Process of Vietnamese Large-scale Plantations in the South of Laos – A Five-act Play ......................................................................................... 74 6.2.1 First Act: The Approach .................................................................................. 76 6.2.2 Second Act: Land Survey ................................................................................ 79 6.2.3 Third Act: Feasibility study ............................................................................. 86 6.2.4 Fourth Act: Importing Plan ............................................................................. 91 6.2.5 Last Act: Clearing and Monitoring .................................................................. 91 6.3 Criteria Influencing the Land Allocation Process in the South of Laos ................... 93 6.3.1 Geographic conditions .................................................................................... 94 6.3.2 Bilateral relations between Vietnam and Laos .............................................. 95 6.3.3 Proximity to markets ...................................................................................... 97 6.3.4 Land tenure and land use ............................................................................... 98 6.3.5 Continuous plot of land ................................................................................ 100 6.3.6 Poverty ......................................................................................................... 100 III 6.3.7 Man force ..................................................................................................... 103 6.3.8 Ethnicity ....................................................................................................... 103 7 Discussion and Syntheses ..................................................................................... 105 7.1 Time of Project Implementation .......................................................................... 108 7.2 Company and Size of the Project ......................................................................... 108 7.3 Role of the Village Chief and Authorities ............................................................. 109 7.4 Key factors............................................................................................................ 110 8 Conclusion and Recommendations ....................................................................... 113 9 References........................................................................................................... 119 10 Annex .................................................................................................................. 127 10.1 List of visited villages ........................................................................................... 127 10.2 Memorandum of Understanding on Compensation Payment ............................ 133 10.3 Memorandum of Understanding on Rubber Plantation Investment in Contract Farming ................................................................................................................ 135 10.4 Map of Investment Project Locations in the Forestry Subsector ........................ 140 10.5 Overview of Conducted Interviews ...................................................................... 141 10.6 Village Questionnaire for Group Discussions with Village Authorities ................ 142 10.7 Overview of Applied Codes .................................................................................. 147 IV Vietnamese Rubber Investments in the South of the Lao PDR List of Figures Fig. 1 Conceptual framework of sustainable development (Hurni