The MRLG Project Hosts the 4th Mekong Regional Land Forum, celebrating 11 years of the Project

Hosted by the Mekong Region Land Governance (MRLG) project – implemented by Land Equity International and GRET – the Forum marked both a culmination of ten years of collaboration and an invitation to chart new trajectories for land, climate, and community resilience across Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam.

We’ve developed a short clip detailing why continued efforts on spatial planning are needed, so please take a look. And read on below for some of the achievements and successes of this project.

Most recently I have been assisting one of my colleagues by conducting research on the links between development, land tenure and climate change. The intersection between the three is more pronounced than I would have thought and has made me realise just how central land tenure is to achieving development outcomes, climate change outcomes, and conversely, how climate change efforts can affect development and land tenure. For example, some of my research indicated that often climate change adaptation and mitigation practices – those being actions which either reduce the risk of climate impacts on the land, or help the landholder adapt to the effects of climate change – are often only available to those with formally recognised land ownership. This leaves those who have informal tenure – that which is not legally recognised in the jurisdiction’s land administration system – vulnerable. The vulnerability boils down to the fact that farmers or land dwellers are only likely to invest in climate smart agriculture (‘CSA’) or sustainable land management (‘SLM’) practices if they are sure that they will be the ones to reap the benefits from those investments, which may take many years to become fruitful. For those with insecure tenure, making a longer-term investment, in, for instance, agroforestry, is not logical as they may have their land stripped from them before the benefits of their investment are felt – due to an inability to defend their rights to land. They therefore have less incentive to protect themselves from the effects of climate change – both present and future. This is, however, not to say that those with informal tenure do not act as good stewards of the land they inhabit. It is just that in the absence of a perceived sense of tenure security, landholders not have the same incentives to invest in the long term climate resilience of their land where they cannot guarantee they will see out the benefits of such an investment.

Thanks, Kate, and nice to talk with you. All things being equal, the transition has been really smooth. As you know, I came into the Mekong Region Land Governance Project (MRLG) amid the Covid-19 pandemic, when things in Vientiane were just beginning to reopen. The borders remain effectively closed so this makes for a difficult situation trying to run a regional project. But I have an amazing team—some of the best people I have worked with.

The Bokeo Province in Lao PDR’s North-West, is predominantly populated by ethnic groups such as the Hmong, Khmu, Akha and Lahu. Despite having occupied the forest areas for generations, many communities face challenges of ownership to their ancestral lands today. The remote, mountainous location often leaves them disconnected from a modernizing world and the rural communities typically have a high rate of poverty. A lack of options for local, sustainable livelihoods lead the youth to migrate to urban environments for education and work.

A pivotal case study conducted during Phase one of the Mekong Region Land Governance (MRLG) project was “Policy Influencing and Advocacy on the 2017 Vietnam Law on Forestry”. Implemented by the Forestland Coalition (FORLAND), the initiative demonstrated how to successfully influence the Forestry Law to improve the security of land rights for ethnic forest communities and traditional forest protectors.

The Mekong Region Land Governance (MRLG) Project with partner organizations in Cambodia will pilot methodology to recognize customary tenure of communities in Protected Areas (PA). The results will be used for the continuing advocacy for the Environmental Code, with the intention of revisions of the Protected Area Law and Forestry Law.

Indigenous youths in Cambodia were provided an opportunity to discuss the current situation of land tenure insecurity in relation to indigenous peoples (IP). The national Cambodia Indigenous Peoples Organization (CIPO) held a workshop in December 2016 to facilitate information and experience sharing, awareness raising and debate among young people – with the aim being that these young people would come away with a better understanding of contemporary issues faced by IPs.