Recently concerns have been raised regarding the potential for the Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) framework to recentralize forests, potentially setting back efforts to institute localized and decentralized forms of natural resource management. Here, I apply a…

For centuries, farmers in the mountainous region of mainland Southeast Asia have practiced shifting cultivation, with plots of land cultivated temporarily and then allowed to revert to secondary forest for a fallow period. Today, more than one million hectares have been converted to rubber…

This briefing note presents the findings of seven case studies conducted from May to June 2014. The studies were conducted in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Nepal and Thailand and looked into the livelihood and food security among indigenous shifting cultivation communities in…

Over 72% of land leases involve foreign investors, primarily Chinese, Vietnamese, and Thai companies. Most products from these operations are exported as raw material to the investor countries, leaving little to no room for added value domestically to benefit the Laotian economy. Rubber is the…

ABSTRACTED FROM EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: This report deals with land concessions in Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Thailand – a much contended topic which leads discussants from issues such as land ownership and utilization to social structures, human rights and beyond. Overall, this…

ABSTRACTED FROM INTRODUCTION: Many of the economic, demographic, and social changes animating land disputes in Vietnam are also sweeping across other countries in East Asia. The aim of this Report is to provide comparative insights into land-taking disputes in three East Asian countries—China,…

Though there are surprisingly few estimates of the economic benefits of coordinated infrastructure development and operations in international river basins, there is a widespread belief that improved cooperation is beneficial for managing water scarcity and variability. Hydro-economic…

Although corruption is a core issue in discourses on Southeast Asian states and the region’s illegal timber trade, its specific meanings, characteristics, and role are poorly understood. Our ethnographic study of corruption and timber trade in the lower Mekong uncovers the relationships,…