Forests are extremely important to the people of Laos. They are the basis for the livelihoods of most of those living in rural areas, especially the poor and Laos’ large population of indigenous peoples. Forests are also an important source of government revenue, and Lao forests are being increasingly recognized for the high levels of biodiversity that they support, including many rare and endemic species. They also provide various crucial ecosystem services.

Vietnam has become a hub for processing huge quantities of unlawfully-logged timber from across Indochina, threatening some of the last intact forests in the region, a major new report reveals. Much of the illegally-imported wood is made into furniture for export to consumer markets in Europe and the US.

The Outlook is a diagnostic tool that provides a comprehensive overview of local development trends in Cambodia. It also discusses policy and governance reforms aimed at reducing disparities and exploiting the enormous potential of Cambodian territories. The report will be of interest to policy makers, Development Partners, researchers, NGOs and others interested in the dynamics of Cambodia’s economic and policy development.

ABSTRACTED FROM SUMMARY: A bitter land struggle is unfolding in northern Burma’s remote Hugawng Valley. Farmers that have been living for generations in the valley are defying one of the country’s most powerful tycoons as his company establishes massive mono-crop plantations in what happens to be the world’s largest tiger reserve. The Hukawng Valley Tiger Reserve in Kachin State was declared by the Myanmar Government in 2001 with the support of the US-based Wildlife Conservation Society.

As an important step forward, the Government of Vietnam issued Decree 200 in December 2004 to accelerate the reform of state forest enterprises. The government aims to develop provincial SFE reform plans by mid-2005 and to have them implemented over two to three years. However, the Government also recognizes that several implementation and policy issues remain. This review examines the overall policy framework of SFE reform in light of the promulgation of new regulations and existing implementation capacity.

Over 943,069 hectares of land in rural Cambodia have been granted to private companies as economic land concessions, for the development of agro-industrial plantations. Thirty-six of these 59 concessions have been granted in favour of foreign business interests or prominent political and business figures. These statistics exclude smaller economic land concessions granted at the provincial level, for which information on numbers and ownership has not been disclosed.

Under the development paradigm of ‘Economic Concessions’ increasingly large areas of Cambodia’s land have been given over to establishing fast-wood plantations in recent years. Whilst proponents have argued that plantations are necessary for Cambodia’s economic development, opponents have argued that overall the rural poor do not benefit and that, in addition, there are numerous other negative social impacts and environmental consequences.

TAKEN FROM EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: This report documents the contemporary ecological, social and economic transformations occurring in one village in Lao PDR’s central Khammouane province under multiple sources of development-induced displacement. Rural development policy in Laos is focused on promoting rapid rural modernisation, to be achieved through foreign direct investments in two key resource sectors: hydropower and plantations.

Increasing complexity and multidisciplinarity of water management has resulted in the development of broader approaches such as Integrated Water Resources Management IWRM). This paper discusses the IWRM and particularly its social and participatory dimensions based on the practical experience gained from the socio-economic analysis within a modelling project in Cambodia's Tonle Sap Lake.

Con la noción de la reexistencia, como la reinvención creativa de las circunstancias propias, el documento técnico muestra a los siringueros dentro del sistema-mundo colonial y capitalista, como un movimiento que propone la Reserva Extractivista como la mejor forma de defender y construirse autónomamente, aglutinando una perspectiva de clase, las relaciones de género y la relación con la naturaleza…

Con la noción de la reexistencia, como la reinvención creativa de las circunstancias propias, el documento técnico muestra a los siringueros dentro del sistema-mundo colonial y capitalista, como un movimiento que propone la Reserva Extractivista como la mejor forma de defender y construirse autónomamente, aglutinando una perspectiva de clase, las relaciones de género y la relación con la naturaleza…

La comunidad ha gestionado y financiado la titulación de su territorio sin apoyo externo. Se trata de una empresa comunitaria con impactos económicos, sociales y ambientales dentro del Parque Nacional Madidi, lo cual es reconocido tanto en Bolivia como en el exterior del país, puesto que además se trata de la primera empresa de ecoturismo indígena, manejada por una comunidad entera.