Forest conservation; sustainable agriculture

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Background

The livelihoods of villagers in Laos are dependent upon the natural blessings of the forest. However, in recent years the forests that have traditionally supported people`s livelihoods are being lost thanks to tree-planting by business, the expansion of commercial cultivation, the development of the mining industry and so on.

Mindful of upholding a suitable path for development in Laos, JVC is supporting local people so that they themselves can analyse the new threats that are facing them in their villages.

Summary of activities

1. Forest Conservation

Villages are increasingly encountering the problem that their jointly owned forests are being cut down by large companies. In Khammouan province, JVC is operating a "forest conservation" project in partner-ship with local villagers in order to protect their community forests. We are focusing on the following three activities: "Land and forest allocation program" aimed at securing local people`s rights over commu-nity forest; "Domestication of Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP)"aimed at increasing incomes through the sustainable use of the forest resources; and "advocacy"towards governmental and interna-tional organizations aimed at promoting development work .

In 2005 we helped to establish community forests in three villages. In the past when problems have arisen in relation to community forests, JVC has put pressure on the government to act, but recently there have been more instances where the government and villagers have themselves proactively taken steps to hold a dialogue.

We continued to establish "community forests" in 2006. We also carried out training for the forest vol-unteers who manage the forests at local level.

2. Promoting sustainable agriculture and livelihood improvement

Many local villagers go short of rice for between three to six months each year. The local people wish to increase production of rice and other crops. At the same time, there are serious shortages of water and hence water preservation is also an important issue. JVC is therefore carrying out the following activities: providing shallow wells and pumps in order to im-prove the provision of water; improving rice farming technology in order to counter the food shortages; and supporting and promoting vegetable gardens and orchards.

In 2005, we helped to dig 14 wells. We also carried out a new experiment in introducing a new agricul-tural technique called "The System of Rice Intensifi-cation(SRI)", and as a result we saw an increase in harvest yields. In 2006, we continued to work on en-suring food security and water provision. We are nar-rowing our focus to concentrate specifically on areas where natural resources are being depleted.