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Historical Changes of Land Tenure and Land Use Rights in a Local Community: A Case Study in Lao PDR

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  • Saykham Boutthavong

    (Graduate School of Social and Culture Studies, Kyushu University, 744, Motooka, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka City 819-0395, Japan
    Faculty of Forestry Sciences, National University of Laos, P.O. Box 7322, Dong Dok Campus, Xaythany District, Vientiane Capital City, Lao PDR)

  • Kimihiko Hyakumura

    (Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Kyushu University, 6-10-1 Hakozaki, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka City 812-8581, Japan)

  • Makoto Ehara

    (Center for International Partnerships and Research on Climate Change, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute (FFPRI), 1 Matsunosato, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8687, Japan)

  • Takahiro Fujiwara

    (Institute of Decision Science for a Sustainable Society, Kyushu University, 744, Motooka, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka City 819-0395, Japan)

Abstract

Land-titling programs, land and forest allocation programs, and projects on state-allocated land for development and investment in Laos have been key drivers of change in land tenure. These have triggered major shifts in land use rights, from customary, to temporary, and then to permanent land use rights. This article explores how government programs to grant land use rights to individual households have affected the way people have been able to acquire and secure land tenure. For our case study, we selected the village of Napo, the target of many land tenure changes in the past four decades. We collected data from district offices, group discussions with village organizations, and interviews with selected households. The study shows how land use rights shifted over time and reveals that households obtained most of their agricultural land and forestland through a claim process. Original households were mainly land claimers, while migrants were land buyers. The process of formalization and allocation of tenure triggered inequality among households. Attention is needed in future land governance and tenure reforms in order to safeguard the land use rights of local people in an equitable manner.

Suggested Citation

  • Saykham Boutthavong & Kimihiko Hyakumura & Makoto Ehara & Takahiro Fujiwara, 2016. "Historical Changes of Land Tenure and Land Use Rights in a Local Community: A Case Study in Lao PDR," Land, MDPI, vol. 5(2), pages 1-20, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:5:y:2016:i:2:p:11-:d:69176
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Khamphay Manivong & Phouthone Sophathilath, 2009. "Land Use Planning and Land Allocation in the Upland of Northern Laos: Process Evaluation and Impacts," EEPSEA Special and Technical Paper tp200910t2, Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA), revised Oct 2009.
    2. Edella Schlager & Elinor Ostrom, 1992. "Property-Rights Regimes and Natural Resources: A Conceptual Analysis," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 68(3), pages 249-262.
    3. Meinzen-Dick, Ruth S. & Brown, Lynn R. & Feldstein, Hilary Sims & Quisumbing, Agnes R., 1997. "Gender, property rights, and natural resources," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 25(8), pages 1303-1315, August.
    4. Ian G. Baird & Jefferson Fox, 2015. "How Land Concessions Affect Places Elsewhere: Telecoupling, Political Ecology, and Large-Scale Plantations in Southern Laos and Northeastern Cambodia," Land, MDPI, vol. 4(2), pages 1-18, May.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Katusiime, Juliet & Schütt, Brigitta & Mutai, Noah, 2023. "The relationship of land tenure, land use and land cover changes in Lake Victoria basin," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    3. Salman, Faris & Mori, Akihisa, 2023. "When, where, and how can land governance overcome path dependency? A trajectory of land governance change," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    4. Yiwen, Zhang & Kant, Shashi, 2022. "Secure tenure or equal access? Farmers’ preferences for reallocating the property rights of collective farmland and forestland in Southeast China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    5. Zhang Yiwen & Shashi Kant & Hexing Long, 2020. "Collective Action Dilemma after China’s Forest Tenure Reform: Operationalizing Forest Devolution in a Rapidly Changing Society," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-18, February.

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