By Mr. Chanthaviphone, NLMA

1. Communal Land Titling: Government’s
Policies and Plans
Presented by:
CHANTHAVIPHONE INTHAVONG
Acting Director, LNRRIC, NLMA/MoNRE.
To the INGO LWG Meeting on Communal Land Titling
6th October 2011
Learning House, Vientiane Capital City.
LNRRIC/NLMA 2011 October 1

2. Topics
1.Background of Communal Property
2. Government’s Policy and Plans
3.Govt’ expectations
4.What’s next?
LNRRIC/NLMA 2010 August 2

3. Background
¥ Resolution of First Forestry & Agri. Congresses
1989: the need to have a clear tenureship for
every piece of forest land for effective
management LUPLA Campaign 2/3rd Village
coverage.
¥ National Constitution and Land Law Article 2:
Land & NR are common property of the every
people of the nation  LU Right Certificate 
Land Ownership Certificate/Land Title (Private,
State and Communal.

4. Perceptions/Myths
State Land Vs Communal Land
Examples:
Public Land? = Pagoda, School, Road, Market Places
Village/communal Land? = Entire or part of the
village territory, Slash&Burn rotational cultivation
areas, communal wetland.
Cooperative Land? = Cooperative field/plantations.
Communal Right of Uses in the State Land? =
community forests.

5. Land Use & NRM:
Issues and Challenges
¥ How to generate optimum if not maximum wealth from the country’s land
& resources to the country and its population;
¥ increasing investment from FDI in Laos has posed unprecedented
challenges to national land resources utilization, environmental protection
and market-oriented land management;
¥ Existence of large number of land development and concession projects
without prior national-wide LU planning & Land titling lead to increasing
losing of access to land by rural population;
¥ Limited law enforcement and governance capacity at local levels
(especially at District and Village levels) for Land & Resource sector
analysis and policy formulation, implementation and feedbacks;
 Lead to increasing social conflict and disparity and environmental
degradation and occurrence of natural disasters.
LNRRIC/NLMA 2010 August 5

6. Impacts of Unplanned and Uncoordinated Use and Management of Land & NR
Planned Spending
Economic $$$$$$$$
Social & Culture
$$$$$
NR & Environment Pennies !
Disaster
Relief $$$$$
Unplanned Spending 6

7. National Development Objectives
(Summary)
¥ Poverty Alleviation (and Food Security),
¥ Social Equity,
¥ Strong and Good Governance,
¥ Sound Natural Resource Management,
¥ Sustained Economic Growth through
– Hydropower Generation,
– Ecotourism & other land link service industries.
– Sustainable forestry mgnt and biodiversity
conservation;
– Development of tree plantations and Agro-forestry,
– Mining as a transitory industry,
LNRRIC/NLMA 2010 August 7

8. National Future Land Use Target
(to 2020)
¥ Conservation (Indirect Use) Land: 70% including
wetland areas.
¥ Production (Direct Use) Land: 30% which comprises
of:
– Agriculture (Paddy Rice (2 Mio ha) & Annual Cash Crops
(0.2 Mio ha), Fruit Trees (0.2 Mio ha), and Grass land (0.4
Mio ha)=> total 2.8 Mio ha.
– Production Forestry (Natural Production Forests (1.0 Mio
ha) & Plantations (0.8 Mio ha)=>total 1.8 Mio ha.
– Infrastructure, Mining & Settlement (2.3 Mio ha)
(Awaiting to be approved by GOL & NA)
8

9. Govt’s pland activities related to Land
sector
¥ Increase awareness and recognition that land and natural
resources are the fundamentals for increasing food security,
reducing rural poverty and for assuring sustainable nation-
wide prosperity,
¥ Determine land needs of different sectors and society to meet
national development objectives
¥ National-Wide Macro- and Micro Land Use Zoning Plans
¥ National-wide Land Use (State, Communal & Private) Right
Registration Campaign
¥ Decentralization of Land Administration and Management
Activities (to District &Village Levels)
¥ Establishment of a Computerized National Land Information
System for effective LAM
¥ Increase land revenue of 15% pa to 5% of GDP
9

10. Govt’s plan related to Land sector
for Y2012
¥ Adoption of the National L&NR Policy and
Master Plan to be used within this 5Y plan;
¥ Completion of micro-LU plans for every
locality of Laos;
¥ Completion of national-wide land titling excise
(200,000 parcels)
¥ Increase land revenue by 15% .
10

11. LAND MANAGEMENT &
ADMINISTRATION STEPS

12. Importance of Land management and
administration
¥ a nation cannot succeed if development objectives of
that country are not supported by development
policies that are based on good land management
and administration
This is because
¥ good land management and administration can
maintain proper balance between nature and social
and economic development.
¥ Need of holistic approach to land management and
administration to keep ecological and environmental
balance
12

13. Land Management and Administration
Steps/Cycle
¥ Public Education & awareness raising
¥ Land Use Planning and Allocation
¥ Land Use Rights Registration
¥ Promotion of Land Utilization and Development
¥ Collection of Land Use fees
¥ Land Use Monitoring and Inspection
¥ Land Use /land Transaction Administration
¥ Policy Feedback and Updating

14. MACRO-LAND USE PLANNING

15. National LU Master Plan
LNRRIC/NLMA 15

16. LNRRIC/NLMA 16

17. LNRRIC/NLMA 17

18. Final Layout
LNRRIC/NLMA 18

19. 8.

20. MICRO-LAND USE PLANNING

21. Issues of past LUP/LA exercise
 Generally participation of the villagers in the LUP/LA exercise
was very low
 Village land use maps, regulations, data on land titles etc. was
lost / not available at DAFO or LMA
 The villagers did not really know if their temporary land use
certificate was still valid or how to obtain an actual land title
(no follow-up after 3 year validity)
 LUP/LA arrangements were largely obsolete due to population
increase and land concessions
 Only temporary land use certificates have been issued so far
(only 1 permanent land title in the sample) which are all
invalid by now.
LNRRIC/NLMA 2010 August

22. Hilly Topography and Limited Agricultural potential
Land under 5% slope
Land 5–25% slope
Example of Land (Biophysical) Condition
in Northern Part of Laos.
22

23. Land use & land cover
Mostly forest
Upland agriculture & forest
Grassland
Intensive agriculture
mostly mixed forest/upland production systems
23

24. Suitability criteria

25. Tentative Land Use Zones
Native ecotype
(soil quality indicator) Slope class plots Land Suitability Matrix Conservation status
1 S S S S S S
2 U U U U U S
3 U U M S M M
+  4
5
M
U
S
U
S
U
S
U
U
U
U
U
+
6 U U M U M S
7 U U S S S M
8 U U U U U U
9 U U M U M M
…


26. Development Objective:
Bring livelihood systems from poverty to adequacy
20 Project objective
Adequacy level = 17.5 M
kip per family
Income level at which
(Estimated poverty line)
Million kip
families can meet food,
Subsistence level = 12.2 M clothing, & shelter needs,
10 kip per family Current conditions plus education, medical &
Income level at which tax expenses, plus small
Average output = 8 M kip savings
families can meet food,
per family
clothing, & shelter needs,
plus occasional – but
insufficient – education,
POVERTY ADEQUACY
medical & tax expenses
0
26

27. Family Land Requirements
©ò­ † ɤ­ ¾ ­ ¿­ ñ­ º ®­ ö
­ ê ­ º ¡ ­ ¦ ì ®£ £ ¸
ª
No. Land Category Area (ha)
¯½ ² ©- º ¤- ò
À
- ¢ ©- Àœ † ª)
­ º ­ (»­
ê
1 Paddy - ¾ - - ½ ½ ¾
§ö ì - - -
¯ ê 0.2
2 Run- ff capture or rain-ed terrace rice - ¾ Õ É
o f - -¾
³ 1
3 Vegetable Garden ¦ ¸ - - ñ
°¡ 0.012
4 Forage Plot ­ ¶ ˜ ­ ©­ ø­ õ ­ É ¦ ñ
¢
­ ­ Ã ¯ ¡ ² ©ì µ ©
¤­ 0.5
5 Orchard ¦ ¸ - Ä´ ɹ É ¾
à Ï
- - ¡ 0.2
6 NTFP Garden ¦ ¸ ­ ­ £ˆ ¤­ È­ º ¤­ ö
À º ¯ ¶ ©¤
¢ 0.5
7 Fish Pond ¦ ½ ¾
¯
- 0.01
8 Community Forest ¯È- ö - §É
¾´Ä
§ 1.5
9 Village Production Forest ¯È- ½ ò - º ¤- É-
¾ - ©¢ ®¾
° ì 1.5
Subtotal ì ¸ ´ ¨ º © 5.4

28. Present and Predicted Future Land Use Areas With
and Without Project
Present With Project Without Project Without Project
¯½ ÷ ñ
¥®
--- ´ ó£¤- ¾
-- ¡ -
 ®Òó£¤- ¾
´Â
-- ¡ - ®Òó£¤- ¾
´Â
-- ¡ -
2000 2008 2008 2020
Population ¯½ ¾ º -
§ ¡
- - 2,928 3,476 3,652 5,087
Agricultural Land ê † ò- ½ ò¿
©
--¡ --¦¡ Area (ha) À œ † »­ )
­º­( ª
ê
Swidden À œ †»È
­º­­
êÄ 1,097 0 1,713 2,384
Bush Fallow À œ † È­ì ‰
­º­­¶ ¶
ê¯ À 4,325 0 5,043 7,027
Irrigated Paddy Field ê † ¶ ö ­ ´ ´ ¶
­ ­­ì ­ ­ ­
¤ ¯ ê 132 202 132 132
Run­ ff Capture/Rain­ed Rice Terrace ê † ¶ Õ É
o f ­ ­ ­¶
³ 0 289 0 0
Vegetable Garden ¦ ¸ - - ö
£¸ 7 8 8 10
Forage Terrace À œ † ¶ ˜ ­ ©
­º­­ ­­Ã
ê ¢ 0 351 0 0
Fruit Orchard ¦ ¸ - - ´ ɹ É ¾
Ä - - ¡
Ã Ï 1 140 1 1
NTFP Garden ¦ ¸ ­ ­£ˆ ¤­ È­ º ¤­ ö
À º ¯ ¶ ©¤
¢ 0 351 0 0
Fish Pond ¦ ½ ¾
¯
- 0.16 6.67 0.16 0.16
Subtotal ì ¸ ´ - Ȩ
¨º 5,562 1,348 6,897 9,554
Forest Land À œ † È- ´ É
-º--¾
ê¯ Ä Area (ha) À œ † »­ )
­º­( ª
ê
Community Forest ¯È- ö - §É
¾´Ä
§ 997 1,052 997 997
Village Production Forest ¯È- ½ ò - º ¤- É-
¾ - ©¢ ®¾
° ì 0 1,052 0 0
Dedicated Plantations ¦ ¸ - - È- ½ ² ¾ - ò
¯¾ - ½ ©
¦ À ¡ 0 110 0 0
State Production Forest ¯È- ´ ɹ È ñ
¾ - ¤- ©
Ä Á ì 8,767 11,764 7,432 4,775
Watershed Protection Forest ¯È- ɤ- ñ - Í È Õ
¾ º ¡ - Á ¤-
¯ 1,337 1,337 1,337 1,337
NBCA ¯È- ½ ¤¸ -
¾ -
¦ ¹ 8,570 8,570 8,570 8,570
Subtotal ì ¸ ´ - Ȩ
¨º 19,671 23,885 18,336 15,679
Total Area ì ¸ ´ ­­ œ †
Àº­ ê 25,233 25,233 25,233 25,233

33. LAND RIGHT REGISTRATION

34. Govt’s Plan related to Land & NR Use
Right Allocation
National Land and Natural Resources
Sate Land & NR Non-State Land & NR
Communal Land Private Land &
& NR NR

35. Different rights
Hunting rights
Fishing rights

36. Issuance of Land Titles in different Land use Zones
Regenerating forest
Reserved
land
Community forest
Newly allocated
Agricultural land
parcels
Wildlife conservation forest
Watershed
protection
forest

38. Significance of the cadastre
SDI
Mapping agencies
Cadastral and other data Land Spatially
providers management enabled
engines…
paradigm government
1. Multipurpose
Incorporating:
Cadastre
(German style) Tenure
Land policy
Spatially
2. Title or deeds Value
enabled Sustainable
LAS development
Integrated functions
Parcels Better
tenure style Properties decision
- Economic
cadastres Buildings making
- Environmental
Roads
- Social
Services to - Governance
business
Use and
3. Taxation driven public
cadastre
(Latin /Spanish /
French)
Country
Development context

39. NEXT STEP

40. LNRRIC Plan Follow up activities related to Communal
land/NR property
¥ Finalization and development of guide line and data collection
format for national survey/research on communal land and NRM.
¥ Organize a national wide survey and compilation of case
study/information related to communal rights related to land & NR
in different localities, landscapes and ethnics of Laos;
¥ Development of policy brief document on communal land titling;
¥ Organization a national workshop on communal land titling;
¥ Production of resources book/hand out of case studies on
communal land use and titling;
¥ Production of training materials for TOT on communal land use and
titling;
¥ Organize a national training of TOT on communal land titling for
Provincial and District personals.

41. Issues raised
¥ How to organize?
¥ Who/which organizations are interested in the
said exercises?
¥ Who is willing to take lead?
¥ Potential cooperation between LWG and and
&NRSubSector?

42. Potential Types of
Communal Land & NR in Rural Laos
Communal housing land Communal land for spiritual
functions ( Cemetary,
pagoda/church, etc..)
community production Communal land for public
forestry utilities (village admin office,
school, health care, market,
etc..)
communal agricultural Reserved communal land for
plantation future allocation
Communal wetland
Rotational slash&burn
cultivation areas
Communal protection forests

43. Thank you !