Land Allocation Policy Research Articles

DID FOREST LAND ALLOCATION CAUSE THE RISKS TO LIVELIHOOD ACTIVITIES AND INCOME OF THE POOR IN THE UPLAND AREAS OF VIETNAM?

This research aims to explore the effects of forest land allocation policy (FLA) on livelihood activities and income of the poor households in the upland areas of Central Vietnam. The research found that FLA brought many risks to the poor households’ livelihoods. They are seen in i) the transformation from agricultural to forest land leading to a decrease in land for agricultural production; ii) the dependence of a large number of the poor on plantations, which can cause great loss of earnings in the case price fluctuations have a bad impact on plantation products; and iii) landless phenomena now has appeared in a couple of young households. This is likely to make a severe land-use conflict occur between local authorities and people in the coming time. Keywords: Forestland allocation, livelihood activities, poor household, land use, income, shifting cultivation, sedentary cultivation.

Optimal land and water resources allocation policies for sustainable irrigated agriculture

Conjunctive use of surface water and groundwater is being practiced in many regions of the world to bring more areas under irrigation, increase agricultural production and productivity, and also maintain overall system balance. Successful agricultural water management policies put the physical, hydro-geological, and socio-economic constraints on these integrated water supplies. To sustain these constraints, a linear programming (LP) model has been developed for optimal land and water resources allocation in various sectors of the Hirakud Canal Command, a multi-purpose irrigation project on the river Mahanadi in eastern India. To enhance the decision-taking ability of the Hirakud command area development authority, a menu-driven and user-friendly software has been developed by Visual-Basic that incorporates model-base, data-base, knowledge-base subsystems along with the user-interface. The model-base subsystem includes LP, groundwater balance, and evapotranspiration models. The data-base subsystem includes the meteorological, crop, and water resources data. The knowledge-base subsystem was developed from the knowledge derived from the results of the aforementioned models. Sensitivity analysis of the LP model parameters was performed by varying the parameters that affect the optimal cropping pattern and groundwater allocation. The result indicates that conjunctive use of 87% surface water and 13% groundwater is the sustainable water allocation policy of the command area. The model results also indicate that a 20% deviation in existing cropping pattern is the best alternative as it considered socio-economic need and also meets the entire food demand of the study area.

Structural Change in Agriculture in the Rice Granaries of Vietnam, Fifteen Years after DOI MOI

A decade after the introduction of the DOI MOI policy and agricultural reform, Vietnam was positioned as the world’s second largest rice exporter, whereas rice farming itself became a grim business. The government relaxed their egalitarian land allocation policy and encouraged diversification from rice monoculture. The land price had soared in 2000 and the 2003 land law stipulated measures to prevent land speculation. The objective of the research is to identify the effect of land speculation on the structural change in agriculture in the Mekong delta between 1997 and 2002. A follow-up census of an ex-hamlet was undertaken in Can Tho (current Hau Giang) province in 2002. Data from households were stratified by land size and compared with those studied from 1993 to 1997. Branchedout households had multiplied, probably due to the appreciation in land prices. Households were differentiated at around 1 ha subject to their competencies in rice production. Diversification from rice monoculture emerged as another factor differentiating farmers at around 2ha. A ceiling in yield due to land fragmentation and expectations of the agricultural land as an appreciating asset could have affected the farmers’ decision at around 3 ha whether to emigrate from or remain in the hamlet. Discipline: Agricultural economics Additional key words: diversification, land use, Mekong delta, pig, sugarcane

Regional logistics land allocation policies: Stimulating spatial concentration of logistics firms

Although spatial concentration of logistics firms in logistics concentration areas can be beneficial for society at large, there is not much research on the relationship between land allocation policies and logistics concentration areas. This paper analyzes land allocation policies by means of a survey conducted in the south of the Netherlands. Results show that municipalities do not actively stimulate spatial concentration of logistics firms, although both aldermen and public administration employees acknowledge that co-location of logistics firms can lead to benefits. There is a need for cooperation between municipalities, such that a regional policy can be developed, to attain the regional benefits of logistics concentration areas, while local disadvantages (like congestion and CO2 emissions) can be reduced. Respondents acknowledge the positive effects of cooperation with respect to logistics land allocation, but recognize some impediments. Municipalities that already cooperate with others are positive about the results. Hence, municipalities are advised to build partnerships, such that land allocation policies can be better aligned with the stimulation of logistics concentration areas.

Local Power Structures and Their Effect on Forest Land Allocation in the Buffer Zone of Tam Dao National Park, Vietnam

This article examines how household property claims over forest land used for economic production were established in communes bordering Tam Dao National Park in northern Vietnam under the decentralized implementation of forest land allocation policies. Using data from surveys of households living on the edge of Tam Dao National Park, this study examines “who got what” when household access to forest land used for production was established. This demonstrates the community interests that constitute the local power structures affecting distribution of access to forest land. In this case, household access to forest land used for production is determined greatly through entrepreneurial and institutional factors. If decentralized forest land allocation policies have any hope of circumscribing land use so that it corresponds to the uses laid out in land use plans, we must first understand how local power structures affect household access to forest land.

An overview of forest and land allocation policies in Indonesia: Is the current framework sufficient to meet the needs of REDD+?

The global community is negotiating an international REDD+ mechanism, and recent multilateral and bilateral arrangements indicate Indonesia may receive a significant share of financial resources attached to this mechanism. These financial incentives may potentially alter the country's economic landscape. However, current forest and land allocation policies and politics support economic activities that promote the exploitation of forest assets. More recently, global needs for energy and food have increased pressure on forest land. The REDD+ mechanism is designed to reverse this situation and create opportunities for necessary reforms both inside and outside the forestry sector. In this paper, we take a political economy perspective to analyze Indonesia's policies on the allocation of forest land (kawasan hutan) and, related to this, assess the changes in forest land allocation that are needed to enable REDD+ to compete with other sectors. This paper shows that there are numerous challenges to create a “space” for REDD+, many of which are rooted in the political economy of forests that shapes the nature and process of the land allocation system. The questions of where, on which type of forest land, at what scale and based on which procedures remain key for REDD+ and its capability to compete with other objectives within the current forest land allocation framework.

Rethinking Internal Migrations in Lao PDR: The Resettlement Process under Micro-Analysis

Current debates about the resettlement issue in Laos point to the need to pay closer attention to the migrants' representations and practices. In this article, three biographies of recent settlers in Thongnamy (Bolikhamxay Province) are analysed to highlight some concrete mechanisms at work in this context of socio-economic change. People rely on a diversity of resources to make ends meet, with varying success. Kinship and social capital are vital resources, and land is a major concern for all. The migrants' agency (a dimension missing in more quantitative surveys) must, however, be framed against a local ‘arena’, which is itself entangled in the broader, national setting, as revealed by a discussion of the ethnic issue and the land allocation policy. Ultimately, this paper offers insights into the progressive social differentiation that takes place in a new, heavily populated and multi-ethnic village where access to land is now at stake.

Impacts of land and forestland allocation policy on livelihood in the Lao PDR

Impacts of land and forestland allocation policy on livelihood in the Lao PDR

Land and Forest Allocation in Lao People's Democratic Republic: Comparison of Case Studies from Community-Based Natural Resource Management Research

This article reviews a landmark policy on resource management in Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR). The Land and Forest Allocation Policy was introduced in the early 1990s as a means of legitimately recognizing the customary rights of local communities to use and manage land and forest resources. We examine the policy from the viewpoint of decentralized resource management and, through three case studies conducted by the National University of Laos, how it works in practice. The studies were conducted in Vientiane, central Lao PDR, and indicate gaps between the expected goals of land reform and actual practice. The study also shows the varying impacts of the allocation policy on local resource use and household livelihoods in different villages. Finally, the case studies suggest the importance of field-based research as a way of critically reviewing the impact of government policy on local resource management and people's livelihoods.

An adaptation of local communities after the implementation of land and forest land allocation policy in Lao P.D.R

An adaptation of local communities after the implementation of land and forest land allocation policy in Lao P.D.R

The role of NTFPs in a shifting cultivation system in transition: A village case study from the uplands of North Central Vietnam

Geografisk Tidsskrift, Danish Journal of Geography 106(2): 103–114, 2006 Periods characterized by agricultural change and transitions are often associated with insecurity and vulnerability regarding food production and food supplies. Forests and forest products tend to play an important buffer role during the process of change and uncertainty, where forest and fallows provide food products or income that people can temporarily fall back on. In the upland village of Que in North Central Vietnam, several different drivers are currently changing land use and land cover. The Forest Land Allocation policy, implemented in 1998, is one of the major driving forces, allocating farmers a reduced area of land for shifting cultivation in order to prevent any further deforestation and land degradation. However, the reduction in agricultural land set aside for shifting cultivation has lead to a severe decrease in hill rice production. The land use system is in a transition phase—from a conventional shifting cultivation system to a composite swiddening system. The area under shifting cultivation has been reduced, and the system has been intensified via the introduction of paddy rice cultivation, increased livestock rearing and commercial exploitation of non-timber forest products (NTFPs). Yet, the current transformation of the system has resulted in a drastic reduction in overall rice production. Thus, the collection and selling of NTFPs such as bamboo shoots, broom grass and pherynium leaves seem to prevent severe shortage of food since farmers are able to purchase food products with the money generated from the selling of NTFPs.

Mixed tree‐vegetative barrier designs: experiences from project works in northern Vietnam

AbstractThere has been an increased interest in the use of vegetative barriers in acid‐infertile upland management systems in Southeast Asia. This paper analyses the experimental designs and policies in early‐1990s of using vetiver grass barriers (Vetiveria zizanioides L.) in microwatersheds with short‐rotation tree plantations in Vinh Phu Province, Vietnam. Four different mixed tree‐vetiver models on degraded Ferric‐Plinthic Acrisols are discussed. It is concluded that the institutional approach of demonstrating vetiver barriers as a model had a poor cost‐wise performance, and that the model itself did not address the underlying issues of land degradation due to uncontrolled harvest of organic matter from the forest floors. The institutional approach was tainted with price distortions and ‘disbursement‐oriented’ actions. Alternative and more flexible on‐farm approaches, using V. zizanioides or the indigenous leguminous shrub Tephrosia candida (Roxb.) DC as vegetative barriers, were found to be more cost‐effective and likely to have a higher rate of adoption among farmers. The institutional changes in land allocation policies (securing long‐term usufruct users and transfer rights of agricultural and forest land) that took place in Vietnam in the early 1990s, in combination with a reorientation of programme policies to support needs of individuals and farmers' households, are hypothesized to have contributed more to the ‘regreening’ of the hills, than any single approaches of technical barrier designs by the Swedish‐Vietnamese Forestry Co‐operation Programme (FCP) in northern Vietnam. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Community values for environmental protection in a cane farming catchment in Northern Australia: A choice modelling study

Choice modelling is an emerging approach to estimating the non-use values of environmental services with multiple attributes. In this paper, results are reported of a choice modelling study conducted in the Herbert River District of North Queensland to estimate the value placed on the protection of natural vegetation in areas suitable for cane production by the local community. Resource use options that vary in the level of environmental protection and the level of agricultural production were presented as a series of choice sets and respondents were asked to choose among a set of three discrete alternatives in a given choice set. The alternatives in each choice set were described by four attributes, pertaining to the area of teatree woodlands, the area of vegetation along rivers and in wetlands, regional income from cane production, and an environmental levy. The responses were analysed together with socio-economic data using a nested-logit discrete-choice model to estimate the community willingness-to-pay for the protection of natural vegetation. The results indicate that the environmental values of wetlands are comparable to returns from commercial production of sugar cane and that the values of teatree woodlands are comparable to returns from extensive grazing. It is argued that land allocation policies should recognise these values in tandem with commercial benefits of production to ensure that resources are used more efficiently.

Dynamic interaction of short rotations and conventional forestry in meeting demand for bioenergy in the least cost mitigation strategy

Simulation modelling reported previously of the effect of allocating land to two carbon absorption processes is refined and carried further. The processes are short rotation biofuel production and long rotation plantation forestry acting as a buffer stock of carbon. The modelling procedure is designed to show the effect relative to published scenarios. It is shown that, up to a 70-year time horizon, the profile of reducing carbon in atmosphere in the published scenarios is brought forward—and reaches a lower final level—as the result of vigourous land allocation policy. This is in line with previous work. A first assessment of costs suggests that, after taking credit for sales of products, these improvements to published scenarios are available at very low cost or at a profit.