1.

Cambodia has a land area of 181 035 square kilometers and a population of almost 14 million people (2008). In 2008, about 82 percent of the households lived in rural areas. A large majority of these households engage in rice- based agriculture, collection of forest products and livestock production. The agricultural sector generates about 32 percent of the Gross Domestic Product and provides employment to about 80 percent of the country’s labour force. The sector is dominated by small farm households who are mainly engaged in subsistence production.

Vietnam Land Administration system has implemented successfully the land policy in recent decades. In the next phase of socio-economic development plan, land is requested to become important domestic resources for many investment projects. Obviously, land registration needs further development so that land use rights or land use right certificate can be used as asset in the open market. In the past ten years, many improved on land registration was undertaken. Many first-look problems have been identified and fixed. The issues of Vietnam land registration are more difficult to identify.

This ADI study in collaboration with the Land Information Centre seeks to understand the relationship between land titling and poverty reduction in two sangkat of Prey Nup District, Sihanoukville Municipality.

According to the annual report of Huaphan Provincial Agriculture and Forestry Office (PAFO) (1999), despite land allocation, some villages are still practising shifting cultivation. To address this problem many decrees and regulations on land and land use have been developed and declared. The land allocation (LA) programme is one of these initiatives. So far, no effort has been made to evaluate whether the LA programme could facilitate change in land use and land management. The major objective of this study was to assess the impact of the LA programme on land use and land management.

Slow agricultural development has restrained economic growth and poverty alleviation in Cambodia. The country’s volatile history has left a legacy of weak tenure security and large areas of underutilized land. This study estimates the impact of access to land on poverty in a logistic regression framework using household survey data. Increased access to land is shown to significantly lower the risk of household poverty. Tenure security, land improvements and irrigation strengthens this effect.

The legal framework for land use planning and land allocation (LUP/LA) in Lao PDR has been analysed based on the relevant laws (Land Law, Forest Law, Agricultural Law etc.). A national LUP/LA program under the overall responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has been created in 1996. Until 2003, district agricultural and forestry staff have conducted LUP/LA activities in a total of 5400 villages in all provinces of Lao PDR. It is estimated that approximately 300.000 Temporary Land Use Certificates have been issued as a result of LUP/LA.

The purpose of this study is threefold: (1) to describe the legal and institutional framework governing land in Cambodia, as well as the current status of land ownership and use; (2) to estimate the impact of access to land on human development and the potential benefits from land reforms; and (3) to discuss implications for land polices and challenges for implementing land reforms.

The dramatic increase in migration and settlement in several areas where indigenous people live is leading to a multitude of problems for the original inhabitants. Lowland immigrants are taking advantage of the vulnerable situation of indigenous people, and the absence of regulations, to lay claim to the people’s traditional lands. Illegal land transactions are taking place at an alarming rate without thought of the problems that would result from widespread landlessness among indigenous peoples or the impact this is likely to have on the remaining forested areas.

Land conflicts occur in Lao PDR in both the urban and rural environment. Recent research work points to an increase of land conflicts in a range of areas however it has been difficult to monitor how conflict resolution activities are actually working because detailed information on the types and nature of land conflicts, their occurrence rates and resolution mechanisms applied was not available.

This paper examines the impact of a land reform in Viet Nam which gave households the power to exchange, transfer, lease, inherit and mortgage their land-use rights. We expect this change to increase the incentives as well as the ability to undertake long-term investments on the part of households. Our difference-in-differences estimation strategy takes advantage of the variation across provinces in the issuance of land-use certificates needed to enforce these rights.

ABSTRACTED FROM PREFACE: This volume... present a rich set of articles presenting issues specific to a number of continents and regions, countries and communities, land tenures and land tenure databases. The articles in this volume are unique in presenting a set of regional perspectives on this important issue. They demonstrate the importance of collection, recording and analysis of land tenure data in all regions.