37 2003 Prime Minister Decree
No. 32PM Provides a legal basis for the integration of
tourism with forest conservation. Valid
In addition, there are regulations which define roles and responsibilities of government organizations in CBFM. These are explained in section 5 below.
In spite of policy in favor of CBFM and intensive development efforts on legal framework, insufficiency and drawbacks in this legal framework are unavoidable. The Forest Law, for
instance, allows different types of management, as well as regulations and orders. However, it only allows limited participation of local people in forest management and does not legally ensure
sufficient rights or provide incentives particularly for the management of production forest See also World Bank, 2003.
In addition, the existing laws and regulations still lack provisions concerning conversion of village forest. In particular, they do not explain the process of consultation between villages and
development agencies, nor on the process of compensating villagers in the case of loss of use rights. More importantly, laws and decrees as stated above have not been further adapted into
technical instructions and guidelines for implementing CFBM. In particular, PM Decree no. 592002 and MAF regulation No. 02042003 require further clarification.
Regardless of deficiencies of the legislative instrument, the general weakness of legal enforcement is observed. The points of weakness are further elaborated as follows;
x Dissemination of information on new legislation is inadequate. It is often unclear which legislation was repealed invalid and what new rules replaced them.
x Laws, legislation and rules are disseminated in a top-down manner through the Government administration. However, copies of legal documents are often unavailable for staff in the lower
levels of government administration. x There is a shortage of staff and a lack of organizational support to enforce laws, rules and
regulations x There is no monitoring to ensure that rules are being enforced.
x The existing legal documents i.e. rules, orders etc. are not systematically updated. They are often scattered and have not been compiled into an accessible formal document i.e. one
volume of a legislation handbook or kept in one place. This makes it difficult to know what rules apply to particular situations.
5. CBFM Institutional Arrangement and Management Support
5.1 Government agencies
In Lao PDR, there are many government organizations responsible for natural resource management. The Prime Minister’s Office is the highest in the government administrative
hierarchy. The main responsibilities of the office include coordination of relevant government sectors; development of policy and legal instruments; and to oversee overall implementation of
38 policy, and legal instruments as well as the implementation of national socio-economic
development plans. The main responsibilities for forest and forest land management, including community forestry, lie
within the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry MAF. Responsibilities include: 1 materializing the national forest policy and setting the targets; 2 formulating appropriate policies, strategies,
legal frameworks; and 3 supporting conditions to enable sustainable forest management and utilization.
At the national level, MAF is assisted by its line departments including the National Agriculture and Forestry Extension Service NAFES, Department of Forestry DoF, the National Agriculture
and Forestry Research Institute NAFRI, while the Provincial Agriculture and Forestry Office PAFO and District Agriculture and Forestry Extension Office DAFEO provide assistance at
local level. While DoF focuses on policy development and legislation, as well as monitoring and evaluation at the macro level, NAFRI and NAFES focus on the implementation of government
policies at micro level such as developing, testing, and implementing sustainable forest management models with PAFO and DAFEO, as well as village authorities and village forest
associations. In addition, NAFRI and NAFES are responsible to support capacity building for PAFO, DAFEO and other partners at local levels.
With regard to community forestry especially production forest and village forest, PAFO is responsible for the implementation of sustainable management of production forest areas, and
monitoring the implementation of forest management. DAFO, on the other hand, is responsible for the organization of the implementation of forest management plans together with village
authorities and Village Forest Associations VFAs. At this level forest management activities include forest inventory and planning, harvesting and sale of forest products.
Other main government agencies that provide direct support to CBFM include financial banks, especially the APB which provides loan services to facilitate the development process. In
addition, mass organizations including the Lao Youth Union, Lao Women Union and the National Reconstruction Front provide significant support to the implementation of CBFM. In particular,
support was offered in the areas of community organizing, direct implementation of CBFM projects and development fund schemes, etc.
5.2 Training Institutions
