17 - Population's Mobility in Northern Laotian Transborder Areas

Summary

The aim of this chapter is to understand and analyse the effects of the opening of frontiers, the increase in cross-border exchanges and subsequently, the creation of economic corridors among local societies in Northern Laos. Until the last decade, a picture of Northern Laos would have been approximately the following: on the one hand, Tai populations (including the Lao majority) settling in the lowlands, growing rice, and on the other, highlanders practising shifting cultivation, husbandry and poppy growing. Roughly 75 per cent of the Laotian population of 5.5 million practised shifting cultivation. During the last ten years, some significant changes have raised questions concerning this situation. These changes are the result of the combination of several policies:

A first set of changes concerns the border areas and has its origins in regional political and economic transformations induced by the opening of borders. In the northern part of Laos, most border regions have been isolated for a long time since they are located in the outer regions of the country. Since the policy of Economic Corridor Development, these previously isolated regions are now mostly included in the new trade routes and there has been a particular increase in pressure on these peripheral areas. Due to the regional context mentioned elsewhere, the government considers border area trade as an important component of its foreign trade policy. Facing external demands for developing market-based agriculture, the Lao State has promulgated various laws (e.g. land-forest allocations), following the injunctions of the World Bank and the UNDP. These two organizations strongly encourage land allocation in order to develop a land market attractive to investors and to ensure a better use of agricultural land and environmental protection. At the same time, and as the contribution of Danielle Tan will show, the opening of borders has made possible the establishment of several foreign companies (mainly Chinese) which are, for the most part, dedicated to the agricultural sector (growing rubber trees, corn, tea, or buying NTFP). As a result, each province and district is witness to the burgeoning growth of foreign concessions owned by these companies. This rapid growth is also having a snowball effect and is leading to the appearance of Lao citizen-owned concessions — generally smaller in size.