Improving sustainable land use in Laos

Project description

Title: Land Management and Decentralized Planning 3 (LMDP 3)
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)​​​​​​​
Country: Laos
Lead executing agency: Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MoNRE), and Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF)​​​​​​​
Overall term: 2019 to 2023

Meeting with Provincial Department on Investments (DPI) in Sayabouri Province on harmonisation of the Provincial Social Economic Development Plan (PSEDP) and the Provincial Land Allocation Plan (PLAP). Person presenting is Dr. Veophet, deputy director of PONRE (Provincial Department of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment). Photo: © GIZ/Bart Verweij

Context

In Laos, various ministries and the affiliated agencies are responsible for land use and land management. However, their mandates are often not clearly defined and may overlap in practical execution. This leads to an unclear distribution of responsibilities, which can result in the mismanagement of natural resources. Moreover, empirical land use data is often lacking, yet extremely important for solving land conflicts and applying sustainable land management principles in practice. Although there have been improvements in recent years, government agencies require further support in capacity development to strategically implement existing land use planning instruments and methods.

From 2015 to 2019, a variety of tools to improve land use planning processes were developed as part of the previous project phases. These include the digital cadastre for land registration LaoLandReg, the land information system LUIS, and the Area Physical Framework (APF) for land zonation. Since 2020, the current project phase focusses on the institutionalisation and further technical expansion of these tools.

Objective

At all levels, the responsible authorities in Laos are capable of using land use planning instruments to manage natural resources, as well as to solve and prevent conflicts over land and resources.

Drone flying used for land use planning activities. Photo taken in Sayabouri Province. Photo: © GIZ/Bart Verweij

Approach

The project has three core features:

  • Institutionalisation of capacity building measures into government authorities and training centres to strengthen long-term technical expertise, digital skills and understanding of procedural issues in land administration at local, provincial, and national level.
  • Technical guidance to improve linkages between the digital cadastre for land registration and other relevant land related databases.
  • Applying procedures and instruments in the pilot province Sayabouri, which feed into the development of guidelines and manuals. Moreover, results will be incorporated into the provincial socio-economic development planning.

Last update: April 2022

Additional information