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The purpose of the Mekong Land Research Forum online site is to provide structured access to published and unpublished research on land issues in the Mekong Region. It is based on the premise that debates and decisions around land governance can be enhanced by drawing on the considerable volume of research, documented experience and action-based reflection that is available. The online site seeks to organise the combined work of many researchers, practitioners and policy advocates around key themes relevant to the land security, and hence well-being, of smallholders in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.
The research material on this site is mounted at three levels:
First, a selection of journal articles, reports and other materials is provided and organised thematically to assist researchers, practitioners and policy advocates to draw on one another’s work and hence build up a collective body of knowledge. This is the most “passive” presentation of the research material; our contribution is to find and select the most relevant material and to organise it into key themes. In some cases the entire article is available. In others, for copyright reasons, only an abstract or summary is available and users will need to access documents through the relevant journal or organisation.
Second, a sub-set of the articles has been annotated, with overall commentary on the significance of the article and the research on which it is based, plus commentary relevant to each of the key themes addressed by the article.
Third, the findings and key messages of the annotated articles are synthesised into summaries of each of fourteen key themes. For each key theme, there is a one-page overall summary. Extended summaries are being developed progressively for each theme as part of the Forum's ongoing activity.
Overall, we intend that this online site will contribute toward evidence-based progressive policy reform in the key area of land governance. We further hope that it will thereby contribute toward to the well-being of the rural poor, ethnic minorities and women in particular, who face disadvantage in making a living as a result of insecure land tenure.
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Resources
Displaying 396 - 400 of 564Stolen Land Stolen Future: A Report on Land Grabbing in Cambodia
The report documents how affected communities have lost their livelihoods because of land grabbing by national and international business corporations. Local communities have not been consulted and they have received little or no compensation for their loss. The communities have been evicted from their land and have faced systematic human rights violations.
What Limits Agricultural Intensification in Cambodia? The Role of Emigration, Agricultural Extension Services and Credit Constraints
This paper attempts to define the factors which determine emigration and rice doublecropping, i.e. rice cultivation on the same plot twice per year, by rural households in Cambodia, and investigates whether these decisions influence each other using data from a two-period panel survey of 231 households in three provinces in rural Cambodia. In the analysis, we take into account possible correlation between these decisions (through estimating a seemingly unrelated bivariate probit model) and unobserved heterogeneity among farmers (through estimating a random-effects probit model).
The Agricultural Sector in Cambodia: Trends, Processes and Disparities
The agricultural Sector in Cambodia still contributes the dominant quantity to the GDP. It is the most important source of income and rural livelihood for around 80% of the Cambodian population. Cambodia’s rural population faces new challenges like high population growth, embracing market economy and international private investment, nationwide food security and decreasing agricultural production conditions as a result of rapidly changing socio-economic conditions since 1990.
Crossroads: The illicit timber trade between Laos and Vietnam
This report from EIA highlights an illegal trade in banned timber from Laos into Vietnam, where it supplies a booming furniture industry. The report suggests that this is the result of weak law enforcement and poor governance in Laos. A number of recommendations are made to address this situation, including improved cooperation between the two countries. The findings are based on undercover operations conducted in 2010 and 2011.
Grabbing Land: Destructive Development in Ta'ang Region
ABSTRACTED FROM THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: In accordance to the land confiscation documented in this report, the Burmese military regime has not only constantly violated the domestic laws in Burma like the Nationalisation Act, the Land Acquisition Act and also Customary Law but also international law, such as the UDHR charter, CEDAW, CRC, ICESCR and farming protection rights.