Linking Food and Land Tenure Security in the Lao PDR

2062

By: DALaM, LIWG, GAPE and VFI

Maintaining access to land and natural resources, including village forests and fisheries, is an important aspect of food security and nutrition. The rural poor have few assets apart from village land and communal natural resources. Livelihoods tend to rely heavily on cultivating agricultural land, supplemented by foraging for wild forest products, hunting and fishing. Access to these resources provides a level of food security, while selling the crops or natural products they collect contributes to household income.

Food security, nutrition, biodiversity, and environmental sustainability are all significantly supported when local farmers use their land under the protection of permanent land titles, participatory land use planning, and other forms of land registration such as private land titles and communal land titles. Conversely, literature shows that development projects, policies and large-scale investments that decrease land access also decrease food security.

Download the study: