40 cultivating upland crops three ha and livestock grazing 15 ha
7
. The size of land allocated to households tends to differ from one village to the other, depending on land availability within each
village. Based on the recognition of authorized rights, communities in Lao PDR have participated and
shared benefits from forest management in all forest categories. The mode and level of participation varies depending on government regulation and community’s interests in forest
management.
In all villages with some forests, a forest management unit is established and is responsible for forest management, utilization, conservation and protection of forests allocated to the villages as
well as areas of state forests located within a village boundary. The unit works closely with DAFEO in order to ensure local villagers’ rights and to take responsibility in the management.
Village Forest Association VFA is another form of village organization participating in forest management. This organized group of villagers mainly participates in the management of state
production forests on a contractual basis. Similar participation in the management of allocated village forests is also found in many villages. Individual participation, on the other hand, is mostly
found in commercial forest plantation -either on land received from land allocation schemes or on concession lands.
5.3 Civil Society
Unlike in other countries in the region where civil society is developed, CBFM initiatives in Lao PDR have been influenced by government with supports from international organizations, donor
community and international NGOs.
5.4 Networks and Federations
Networking in the area of CBFM in Lao PDR has not been well developed. No CBFM associated federation has been formed up to this date. Although CBFM has been recognized for its
importance in sustainable forest management, networking and coordination on this issue has been sporadic and very limited.
One of the first efforts on networking and coordination related to community forestry was initiated by DoF in the early 1990s with support of CUSO and TERRA. A Community Forestry Unit was
established within the former CPAWM at the Department. However, the initiative was dissolved in 1999 by the restructuring of DoF Braeutigam, 2003.
Currently, there few functional networking forums in place. One forum was established through the formation of the Lao thematic group on Rural Development and Food Security in 2003 with
the support of FAO and other government agencies, bilateral donors, international NGOs, and the media. The main purpose of the formation of this thematic group is to provide an informal inter-
agency forum to exchange and share information on best practices in rural development. Sustainable forest resource management is one of the key sub-themes. Some areas of importance
have been identified for further discussion within the group including land and forest allocation policy, stabilization of shifting cultivation and its impact on food security and natural resource
management planning at village level Braeutigam, 2003.
7
Numbers in parenthesis indicate the maximum area allocated per household labor.
41 A new network on NTFP was established in July 2004 after the Joint Workshop on NTFP
Networking in Lao PDR. This workshop was co-organized by NAFRI, RECOFTC and SNV. Currently, SNV is actively running the network.
5.5 Private sector
