Rubber Barons: How Vietnamese Companies and International Financiers are Driving the Land Grabbing Crisis in Cambodia and Laos

In Rubber Barons, Global Witness documents the devastating impact of Vietnam’s rush for rubber on local communities in Laos and Cambodia. The investigation also shows how international financiers Deutsche Bank and the International Finance Corporation were backing these land grabs – often in contravention of their own policies. In both Laos and Cambodia, national laws are supposed to protect forests, limit the size of foreign land concessions and require consultation with local communities over land use, but these laws are rarely enforced. Millions of hectares of land have been handed over without the knowledge or consent of the people who live on it.