Land to Some Tillers: Development-Induced Displacement in Laos

In: International social science journal: ISSJ, Heft 175

Abstract

Development is inherently about reorganizing space, thus all development has the potential of causing displacement, most of which is indirect. Greater attention to indirect development-induced displacement could shift our attention from questions of how to justify and reconstitute lives and livelihoods after displacement to finding ways of preventing or minimizing displacement to the point where reconstitution is not necessary. This approach may not eliminate all the vexing dilemmas that accompany development, but it could make them less vexing and could suggest better procedures for addressing them. These arguments are illustrated through an analysis of the Land and Forest Allocation Programme in Lao PDR. This program is exemplary in the way that it creates community-based natural resource management institutions through a process that, while highly participatory, is also the single most important cause of displacement and impoverishment in Lao PDR today. This impact can be traced to the way that the program attempts to reorganize space into arable land and non-arable forests. There are alternative approaches to land and forest allocation, which could bring most of the benefits without inducing widespread displacement. 27 References. (Original abstract - amended)