Mekong Region Land Governance

It is opportune timing that in 2014 in the ‘International Year of Family Farming’, LEI with our partner GRET, will be commencing in March, a regional program designed and funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC): the Mekong Region Land Governance Project. As momentum grows globally on the topic of land tenure and food security for family farmers, there is recognition that land governance in Asia, and the Mekong in particular, requires priority attention. The lands and livelihoods of family farmers in the Mekong are under increasing threat from foreign direct investment, resource scarcity, population growth and weak land governance.

In line with the Voluntary Guidelines on the responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests, the SDC project aims to promote stable, transparent, equitable, accountable and efficient land governance policies and practice in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, by empowering various reform actors who carry the voice of family farmers at national and regional level. The project will also create a regional platform to support research, capacity building, knowledge sharing, piloting of innovations, and advocacy for protecting the tenure rights of small holder women and men farmers.