ABSTRACT
We analyse how the concept and practices of village forestry evolved in Laos through various donor driven forestry interventions since the early 1990s. We start our analyses with the Forest Management and Conservation Programme (FOMACOP) and conclude with village forestry interventions undertaken in the REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) programme. We find that over time, using participation as a central donor requirement, villagers’ role has shifted from being village forest managers to being village forest participants and labour, fulfilling externally defined forest management tasks. In the frame of the REDD+ process, village forestry is used as a platform for piloting REDD+ activities in the villages, accompanied by a set of existing and additional tools and strategies. Such tools include village forest management plans, land-use planning and allocation, and alternative livelihoods, as well as environmental discursive practices, where local forest-based livelihood activities, especially shifting cultivation, are framed as a source of CO2 emissions. We conclude that the underlying reason for various bottlenecks in village forestry relates to a power imbalance, lack of trust, and lack of political will to establish a deliberative decision-making process and to devolve decision-making power, forest management, and tenure rights to villagers.
