LEI co-implements Mekong Regional Land Governance Project

On 13 March 2015, the Governments of Switzerland (through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)) and Lao PDR signed a Memorandum of Understanding agreement to launch the Mekong Regional Land Governance (MRLG) Project in Lao PDR. This SDC initiative with German co-funding (starting in April 2015 through GIZ), is implemented by Land Equity International and professionals for Fair Development (Gret). The Project will support land tenure security for family farmers, especially women and ethnic groups by progressively improving land and natural resource governance in policy and practice in the Mekong Region.

The previous granting of large-scale and long-term economic land concessions of agricultural and forest land to investors has significantly reduced the area available for family agriculture and community forestry. The practice has also reduced access to natural resources which previously contributed to food security. The loss of land tenure and use rights, environmental degradation, resettlement and limited prospects regarding alternative employment have made the situation for family farmers quite difficult.

The MRLG Project will provide a wide range of stakeholders in the land, natural resource and investment sectors with capacity building, learning, networking and regional cooperation opportunities. It aims to improve policies and policy dialogue, institutional strength and practical models that support family farmers, long term rural development and food security in the Mekong region countries of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV).

The MRLG Project is planned to run for eight years. The first phase (four years) has a total budget of USD9.25m.

To view a recent article on this project in the Vientiane Times (“Switzerland, Germany pledge US$12m for land governance”), see: www.vientianetimes.org.la/FreeContent/FreeConten_Switzerland.htm

For more information on SDC, see: https://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/home.html

For more information on LEI and the MRLG Project, see: www.landequity.com.au/projects/mrlg/ and www.mrlg.org/

For more information on Gret, see: www.gret.org