In recent years the Lao government has provided many foreign investors with large-scale economic land concessions to develop plantations. These concessions have resulted in significant alterations of landscapes and ecological processes, greatly reduced local access to resources through enclosing common areas, and ultimately leading to massive changes in the livelihoods of large numbers of mainly indigenous peoples living near these concessions.

The impacts of climate change on agriculture and food production in Southeast Asia will be largely mediated through water, but climate is only one driver of change. Water resources in the region will be shaped by a complex mixture of social, economic and environmental factors.

The current study attempts to examine whether large-scale agricultural investment of this type benefits the poor and how this investment can be implemented to increase benefits for the poor. It is arguable whether the poor need more land to grow crops to meet their food security requirements or need to benefit from large-scale agricultural investment in Cambodia. Although the poor households are capable of operating small plots of a few hectares each, they generally lack capital and the means to work large chunks of new land with forests or degrade forests.

This paper focuses on legal and economic instruments of the multi-donor-driven land reform in Cambodia with its overarching aim of achieving tenure security and reparation after the Khmer Rouge. Land tenure applies to state public/state private property and private property. The essential property form for public land management is state public property. This property must be interpreted in the future as the property of Cambodian people that serves all human beings in the country.

FIRST PARAGRAPH OF OVERVIEW: This paper is part of a study “Policy Analysis for the Development of Land Policy for Socio- Economic Development.” Land policy relates to the institutional arrangements through which the Government of Vietnam defines which individuals and groups have access to rights in land and the circumstances that apply to gaining and retaining that access.

Agricultural accumulation has been one of the main source determined the social differentiation in Vietnamese countryside. The complexities of agrarian changes under the post - socialist industrialization with high rate of agricultural land conversion in recent context reveal the new forms of capital accumulation and social differentiation. This research investigates how land conversion process to industrial zones and clusters affected to the way that different groups of peasant households accumulate their resources.

ABSTRACTED FROM THE SUMMARY: Land-grabbing is occurring at a significant extent and pace in Southeast Asia; some of the characteristics of this land grab differ from those in regions such as Africa. At a glance, Europe is not a high profile, major driver of land-grabbing in this region, but a closer examination reveals that it nonetheless is playing a significant role. This influence is both direct and indirect, through European corporate sector and public policies, as well as through multilateral agencies within which EU states are members.

ABSTRACTED FROM THE INTRODUCTION: This is a study of the rice economy in Myanmar. It seeks to identify barriers and bottlenecks that are hindering growth and depressing value in a sector that must play a central role in alleviating the extreme poverty that currently afflicts an expanding proportion of rural households.

SUMMARY: In the last 30 years, the context of development in Cambodian has gone through dramatic changes. A succession of transitions characterised by a complete restructuring of institutional and socio-economic frameworks have resulted in a singular situation. Cambodian society remains largely agrarian with land being a major safety net for a large majority of the population who depend on natural resources in their livelihood. Nevertheless, in the context of an industrializing economy, land-based resources are under the pressure of competing driving forces.

On 1st of July 2009, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen signed the “Declaration of the Royal Government on Land Policy”. According to this document emphasis should be given to State reform, land law, and environmental law with their impacts on the use of non-renewable resources (land, water, and soil). The implementation of the Cambodian social land policy should start with the need to ensure access to land and to sustain rural development and environment for a modern, prosperous Cambodia.

The research team set out to answer three research questions: 1) What are rubber investment’s key features with regard to the investment process, investor identity, location, activities and scale? 2) How was the “upland” landscape originally zoned and mapped as part of the LFA process, and later re-zoned and mapped by local authorities and foreign investors? 3) What are the impacts of rubber investment in upland areas on the land use and livelihoods of the villagers involved?

ABSTRACTED FROM THE OVERVIEW: At the request of the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation of Myanmar (MOAI), a joint FAO/WFP Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission (CFSAM)) team visited the country from 5 October to 4 November 2008. The main objective of the Mission was to analyze the food supply situation for the forthcoming year at the national and subnational levels (particularly in Cyclone Nargis-affected areas) and estimate food and agricultural assistance needs.