Three Cases Displaying Common Issued Related to Land and Natural Resources in Lao PDR
LIWG and LIFE collaborated on a project entitled “Strengthening Rights of Communities in Lao PDR” with the goal of increasing and protecting the land tenure rights of rural communities.
From this collaborated project, LIWG and LIFE conducted the study which introduces three common cases, all of which could possibly be replicated in other parts of the country. Two cases were observed in Khammuane Province, in central Lao PDR, and the third case occurred in Oudomxay Province in Northern Laos.
The target villages that were visited during the coachings were selected by LIFE’s respective partner organisations (PSNUA and DALaM in Khammuane and CCL in Oudomxay) based on issues occurring in their project’s target communities.
In all three cases, villagers lacked knowledge and understanding about their rights but also their responsibilities regarding the use of land and natural resources. In all three cases, the authorities involved also lacked knowledge about the law which rendered them unable to help the villagers. In some cases they neglected important regulations and their own responsibilities towards the communities. All parties did not know where to turn to ask for support and nor where to look information up.
The study can be download:
