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‘Slippage’ in the Implementation of Forest Policy by Local Officials: A Case Study of a Protected Area Management in Lao PDR

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Abstract

A progressive part of protected area management program in Lao PDR is a land and forest allocation program which contains critical elements that delegate right of land and forest use to local people. This study analyzes the gap between the original intent of the program and its actual implementation by local officials in Phou Xang He protected area, and discusses policy issues that need to be addressed. It appears that several types of non-compliance with regulations by local people have occurred, with local officials tacitly ignoring infractions. By switching viewpoints, however, it appears that the local officials permit these infractions as a way of allowing local people to secure their livelihoods. As constraints on the realities of land and forest use vary widely in and around villages in different locales, there is a need for government to allow local officials flexibility in implementing policies.

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Notes

  1. According to MAF Instruction No. 822, Article 2, the program is comprised of eight steps: 1. Preparation; 2. Consultation with village; 3. Actual data collection; 4. Open discussion meetings for the whole village; 5. Actual field measurement; 6. Conclusion; 7. Extension; and 8. Monitoring and evaluation.

  2. The orders of MAF also require spare land to be secured for possible increase in the population in the future.

  3. These codes are used to preserve confidentiality with respect to the villages.

  4. One household was excluded because the change occurred after the program was conducted.

  5. The wealth ranking method is a simple field research technique used to classify each household on the basis of their relative wealth or economic status, by the community itself.

  6. Swidden agriculture within protected areas is prohibited by MAF Order No. 524; however, the utilization of land for cultivation within buffer zones is allowed.

  7. Even if ideal institutions are established and put into operation, this may widen the gap between the central and local governments.

  8. Flexible implementation did not always have a positive impact on local people in Lao PDR. Dam construction, tree plantation and development programs including timber harvesting caused some loss of rights of local people.

  9. In environmental administration, administrative organizations often diverge from the aim and provisions of a law in implementation (failure to implement laws, laws that are no longer enforced, delayed implementation, neglected violations, compromises made in court.). Farber (1999) referred to this adjustment mechanism as ‘slippage.’ Administrative organizations could recognise and approve of this slippage as an adaptive management technique.

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Acknowledgments

The research was conducted with the support of the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research, Japan No. 16658068 (The Elucidation of Interaction of Social Capital of Forest Management in Lao PDR; representative Kimihiko Hyakumura) and No. 12572028 (Political Ecology of Participatory Forest Management; representative Prof. Makoto Inoue).

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  1. Natural Resource Management Group, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, 2108-11 Kamiyamaguchi, Hayama, Kanagawa, Japan

    Kimihiko Hyakumura

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Hyakumura, K. ‘Slippage’ in the Implementation of Forest Policy by Local Officials: A Case Study of a Protected Area Management in Lao PDR. Small-scale Forestry 9, 349–367 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11842-010-9120-4

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