mk10 final report - mekong · 2016-06-16 · ii knowledge and institutional systems in the...
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Final ReportKnowledge and Institutional Systems in the
Management and Coordination of Hydropower
Social Safeguards: Hydropower Development
in Attapeu Province, Lao PDR (MK10)
Livelihoods systems and knowledge, attitude, responses and experience of ethnic minority communities affected by hydropower development
Vientiane, January 2014
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Knowledge and Institutional Systems in the
Management and Coordination of Hydropower
Social Safeguards: Hydropower Development
in Attapeu Province, Lao PDR (MK10)
Livelihoods systems and knowledge, attitude, responses
and experience of ethnic minority communities affected
by hydropower development
Damdouane Khouangvichit, Phout Simmalavong, Sackmone Sirisack,
Nguyen Thi Hoang Lien, Khampadith Khammounheuang,
Vilaphone Visounnarath
Consultant: John William Pilgrim
Vientiane, January 2014
National University of Laos
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About CPWF
The CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food was launched in 2002. CPWF aims to increase the resilience of social and ecological systems through better water management for food production (crops, fisheries and livestock). We do this through an innovative research and development approach that brings together a broad range of scientists, development specialists, policy makers and communities, in six river basins, to address the challenges of food security, poverty and water scarcity.
The CPWF is part of the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems. WLE combines the resources of 11 CGIAR centers and numerous international, regional and national partners to provide an integrated approach to natural resource management research. The program goal is to reduce poverty and improve food security through the development of agriculture within nature. This program is led by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI).
About CPWF Basin Work
CPWF is currently working in six river basins globally: Andes, Ganges, Limpopo, Mekong, Nile, and Volta. The research in each basin tackles a specific basin development challenge (BDC) that were identified after wide consultation with partners, an analysis of CPWF’s past research, and where CPWF can have greatest impact. Each BDC is comprised of four to five linked, integratedprojects, which together tackle the identified priority challenge of the basin.
The CPWF is part of the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems. WLE combines the resources of 11 CGIAR centers and numerous international, regional and national partners to provide an integrated approach to natural resource management research. The program goal is to reduce poverty and improve food security through the development of agriculture within nature. This program is led by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI).
Mailing address:
CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food,127 Sunil Mawatha Pelawatta, Battaramulla, Sri Lanka.Tel +94 11 288 0143 Fax +94 11 278 4083 Email: [email protected] more about the CPWF at: www.waterandfood.org
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Executive Summary vii Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 5
1.1. Background ....................................................................................................................................... 5
1.2. Project objectives .............................................................................................................................. 6
1.3. Research methodology ..................................................................................................................... 8
1.4. Research organization ..................................................................................................................... 11
Hydropower Systems and Population ................................................................................................ 12
2.1. Description of research sites ........................................................................................................... 12
2.2. Population, social and cultural characteristics ................................................................................ 14
2.3 Accessibility to facilities and public services .................................................................................... 17
2.4. Links to markets and mainstream Lao society and government .................................................... 19
2.5. Communication and electronic equipment .................................................................................... 20
Livelihoods Systems ........................................................................................................................... 23
3.1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 23
3.2 Livelihoods systems .......................................................................................................................... 23
3.3 Household labor ............................................................................................................................... 32
3.4 Gross production ............................................................................................................................. 35
3.5 Rice shortage and sufficiency ........................................................................................................... 36
3.6 Home gardening .............................................................................................................................. 38
3.7 Non-‐timber forest products ............................................................................................................. 38
3.8 Livestock .......................................................................................................................................... 41
3.9 Fishing .............................................................................................................................................. 43
3.10. Non-‐farm and natural resource related employment .................................................................. 45
3.11 Cultural aspects of resettlement and livelihoods replacement ..................................................... 47
3.12 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 49
Institutional Factors in Livelihoods Sustainability and Restoration ..................................................... 53
4.1 Livelihoods restoration in statutory systems and guidelines for resettlement ............................... 53
4.2 Public sector and international institutional structures .................................................................. 56
4.3 Knowledge and communication systems ......................................................................................... 57
4.4 International, bilateral and commercial frameworks and project structures .................................. 57
Knowledge, attitudes and response to and experience (KARE) ........................................................... 59
5.1 KARE of affected communities ......................................................................................................... 60
5.2 Concerns about impact and long-‐term effects of relocation ........................................................... 68
Summary of findings and recommendations ....................................................................................... 109
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Discussion and Conclusions .............................................................................................................. 112
6.1 Community management of relocation ........................................................................................ 112
6.2. Household management of livelihoods ........................................................................................ 114
6.3 Household resource management ................................................................................................. 116
6.4. Ethnic group knowledge and culture in social safeguard and livelihoods systems ...................... 120
6.5 Location and access to natural resources, markets and services ................................................. 121
6.6 Impact of other changes in land use in Attapeu ............................................................................ 122
6.7 Cyclical factors in labor availability and use .................................................................................. 123
6.8 Rice deficits ................................................................................................................................... 125
6.9 Changes of agricultural and land use systems .............................................................................. 126
6.10 Demographic changes ................................................................................................................. 126
References ....................................................................................................................................... 127
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List of Abbreviations
ADB Asian Development Bank CGIAR Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research CPWF Challenge Program on Water and Food DDA Due Diligence Audit DoNRE Department of Natural Resources and Environment DWG District Work Groups EDL Electricité du Laos GOL Government of Laos HH Household IEE Initial Environmental Examination KARE knowledge, attitudes, responses and experiences KAS Knowledge, Aptitude and Skills LARAP Land Acquisition and Resettlement Plan MAF Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry MEM Ministry of Energy and Mines Mk 10 Mekong 10 – Mekong Basin Project No. (CPWF) MoAF Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry MoNRE Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment NAFRI National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute NBCA National Biodiversity Conservation Area NPA National Protected Area NTFP Non-Timber Forest Products NUOL National University of Laos PPTA Project Preparation Technical Assisttance RAPResettlement Action Plan RC Resettlement Committee REMO Resettlement Environmental Management Office RF Resettlement Framework RP Resettlement Plan SIA Social Impact Assessment SPPR Social Policy and Poverty Review SPS Social Policy Statement SPSS Statistical Packagte for the Social Sciences STD Social Transmission Deases SU Secretariat Unit UXO Unexploded Ordnance VDC Village Development Committee WHO World Health Organization WREA Water Resources and Environment Administration
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List of Tables Table 1.1. Number of households and sample size .................................................................................................... 11 Table 2.1. Population in sample size by ethnic group: villages affected by the transmission line ............................. 15 Table 2.2. Population in sample size by ethnic group: villages affected by Xekaman 1 ............................................. 15 Table 2.3. Population in sample size by ethnic group: villages affected by Sekong upper 3 ...................................... 15 Table 2.4. Distance to primary school ......................................................................................................................... 17 Table 2.5. Distance to secondary school ..................................................................................................................... 18 Table 2.6. Distance to health services ......................................................................................................................... 19 Table 2.7. Means of transportation by household ...................................................................................................... 20 Table 2.8. Mobile phones by household ..................................................................................................................... 21 Table 2.9. Electronic equipment by village ................................................................................................................. 22 Table 3.1. Labor and income source: villages affected by transmission line .............................................................. 25 Table 3.2. Labor and income source: villages affected by Xekaman 1 ........................................................................ 26 Table 3.3. Labor and income source: villages affected by Sekong 3 ........................................................................... 26 Table 3.4. Possession of agricultural tools .................................................................................................................. 31 Table 3.5. Possession of land ...................................................................................................................................... 32 Table 3.6. Labor working in agriculture sector by household ..................................................................................... 33 Table 3.7. Time spent working in agricultural sector by household ........................................................................... 33 Table 3.8. Mode of labor compensation: transmission line ........................................................................................ 35 Table 3.9. Mode of labor compensation: Xekaman 1 ................................................................................................. 35 Table 3.10. Mode of labor compensation: Sekong 3 .................................................................................................. 35 Table 3.11. Gross production by household ............................................................................................................... 36 Table 3.12. Rice for consumption by households ....................................................................................................... 37 Table3.13. Number of months experiencing rice shortage by household .................................................................. 37 Table3.14. Households that do gardening .................................................................................................................. 38 Table 3.15. Perception on women’s status in the community after relocation ......................................................... 39 Table 3.16. Number of households collecting NTFPs .................................................................................................. 40 Table 3.17. Distance from house to forest .................................................................................................................. 40 Table 3.18. Time spent in forest ................................................................................................................................. 41 Table3.19. Number of households with domestic animals in transmission line affected villages .............................. 42 Table 3.20. Number of households with domestic animals in Xekaman 1 affected villages ...................................... 42 Table3.21. Number of households with domestic animals in Sekong 3 affected villages .......................................... 42 Table3.22. Purpose of raising animals in transmission line affected villages ............................................................. 43 Table3.23. Purpose of raising animals in Xekaman 1 affected villages ....................................................................... 43 Table 3.24. The purpose of raising animals in Sekong 3 affected villages .................................................................. 43 Table3.25. Number of households fishing .................................................................................................................. 44 Table3.26. Quantity of fish catches in 2012 ................................................................................................................ 45 Table3.27. Perception of villagers regarding fish catches ........................................................................................... 45 Table5.1. Knowledge of affected people about the project ....................................................................................... 60 Table 5.2. Percentage of the families who feel the project will affect their families ................................................ 61 Table 5.3. Percentage of families who think they will lose their land ........................................................................ 61 Table 5.4. Number and percentage of families who expect to resettle due to the project ....................................... 61 Table 5.5. Sources of information about the project .................................................................................................. 62 Table5.6. The number and percentage of families expecting compensation for land lost ......................................... 63 Table5.7. Knowledge of mode of compensation for land lost .................................................................................... 63 Table5.8. Number and percentage of families who think they will be compensated for resettlement ..................... 63 Table5.9. Knowledge about mode of compensation for resettlement ....................................................................... 64 Table 5.10. Number and percentage of families who think the project will effect families: Sekong 3 ...................... 65 Table5.11. The number and percentage of families who think they will lose land: Sekong 3 .................................... 66 Table5.12. The number and percentage of families who think they will be compensated for land lost: Sekong 3 ... 66 Table5.13. Knowledge of mode of compensation for land lost: Sekong 3 ................................................................. 66 Table 5.14. Number and percentage of families who know they will move: Sekong 3 ............................................. 66
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Table 5.15. Number and percentage of families who think they will be compensated for resettlement: Sekong 3 . 67 Table 5.16. Knowledge of affected people about the project: Xekaman 1 ................................................................ 67 Table 5.17. Sources of information: Xekaman 1 ......................................................................................................... 67 Table 5.18. Number and percentage of families who think the project will affect their families: Xekaman 1 ........... 67 Table 5.19. Number and percentage of families who think they will lose land: Xekaman 1 ...................................... 67 Table 5.20. Number and percentage of families who think they will be compensated for land lost: Xekaman 1 ..... 68 Table 5.21. Knowledge of mode of compensation for land lost: Xekaman 1 ............................................................. 68 Table 5.22. Number &percentage of families who know they will move: Xekaman 1 ............................................... 68 Table 5.23. Number & percentage of families who think they will be compensated for resettlement: Xekaman 1 .. 68 Table 5.24. Level of concern about residence ............................................................................................................ 69 Table 5.25. Issues of concern raised by households of all villages ............................................................................. 69 Table 5.26. Specific concerns over house style, lack of construction materials or house location ............................ 70 Table 5.27. Level of concern regarding residence ...................................................................................................... 71 Table 5.28. Issues of concern ...................................................................................................................................... 71 Table 5.29. Concerns about place of residence .......................................................................................................... 72 Table 5.30. Concerns about living site ........................................................................................................................ 72 Table 5.31. Concerns regarding the area as source of food ....................................................................................... 73 Table 5.32. Issues of concern related to sources of food ........................................................................................... 73 Table 5.33. Level of concern about source of food ..................................................................................................... 74 Table 5.34. Issues of concern related to source of food ............................................................................................. 74 Table 5.35. Concerns about farming ........................................................................................................................... 75 Table 5.36. Level of concern about non-‐timber forest products ................................................................................ 76 Table 5.37. Concerns related to ntfp collection .......................................................................................................... 76 Table 5.38. Level of concern about finding NTFPs ...................................................................................................... 77 Table 5.39. Concerns related to NTFPs ....................................................................................................................... 77 Table 5.40. Level of concern about NTFPs .................................................................................................................. 78 Table 5.41. Concerns about NTFPs ............................................................................................................................. 78 Table 5.42. Concerns regarding traditional medicine ................................................................................................. 79 Table 5.43. Concern related to traditional medicine .................................................................................................. 79 Table 5.44. Level of concern regarding traditional medicine ..................................................................................... 80 Table 5.45. Concerns related to traditional medicine ................................................................................................ 80 Table 5.46. Concerns about traditional medicine sources .......................................................................................... 80 Table 5.47. Concerns about traditional medicine collection ...................................................................................... 81 Table 5.48. Concerns about hunting ........................................................................................................................... 81 Table 5.49. Concerns related to hunting .................................................................................................................... 82 Table 5.50. Concerns about hunting ........................................................................................................................... 83 Table 5.51. Issues of concern related to hunting ........................................................................................................ 84 Table 5.52. Concerns about hunting ........................................................................................................................... 85 Table 5.53. Concerns about hunting ........................................................................................................................... 85 Table 5.54. Concerns about drinking water sources ................................................................................................... 87 Table 5.55. Concerns related to water ........................................................................................................................ 87 Table 5.56. Concern about water source .................................................................................................................... 88 Table 5.57. Concerns about water source ................................................................................................................. 88 Table 5.58. Concern level about using and drinking water source ............................................................................. 89 Table 5.59. Concerns about using and drinking water ................................................................................................ 89 Table 5.60. Concern level about shortage of food ...................................................................................................... 90 Table 5.61. Concern level about shortage of food ...................................................................................................... 90 Table 5.62. Concern level about shortage of food ...................................................................................................... 91 Table 5.63. Concern level about household members’ health ................................................................................... 91 Table 5.64. Concerns related to health status ............................................................................................................ 92 Table 5.65. Concern level household members’ health .............................................................................................. 92 Table 5.66. Concerns related to health status ............................................................................................................ 93 Table 5.67. Concerns about household health ........................................................................................................... 93
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Table 5.68. Concern levels about materials for construction in transmission line affected villages .......................... 94 Table 5.69. Issues of concern related to materials for construction in transmission line affected villages ............... 94 Table 5.70. Concern levels about materials for construction n Sekong 3 affected villages ........................................ 95 Table 5.71. Concerns related to materials for construction in Sekong 3 affected villages ......................................... 95 Table 5.72. Concern levels about construction materials in Xekaman 1 affected villages ......................................... 95 Table 5.73. Concerns about construction materials in Xekaman 1 affected villages .................................................. 96 Table 5.74. Concern levels about finding work and keeping current sources of income ........................................... 97 Table 5.75. Concerns over loss or lack of household labor ......................................................................................... 97 Table 5.76. Concern levels about labor for work ........................................................................................................ 97 Table 5.77. Concern levels about labor force in household ........................................................................................ 98 Table 5.78. Concern levels about labor used to work ................................................................................................. 98 Table 5.79. Concern levels about labor force in household ........................................................................................ 98 Table 5.80. Concern levels about finding new sources of income .............................................................................. 98 Table 5.81. Concern levels about performance of new livelihoods ............................................................................ 98 Table 5.82. Concern levels about earning a living in the relocation area ................................................................... 99 Table 5.83. Concern levels about impact on traditional housing practices and beliefs .............................................. 99 Table 5.84. Concern levels about housing and village spirits ................................................................................... 100 Table 5.85. Concern levels about housing and village sprits .................................................................................... 100 Table 5.86. Concerns related to traditional beliefs ................................................................................................... 101 Table 5.87. Concerns related to spirits and beliefs ................................................................................................... 101 Table 5.88. Concerns about household and village spirits ........................................................................................ 102 Table 5.89. Level of concern about changing of lifestyles in the community ........................................................... 102 Table 5.90. Concerns about socializing and preserving traditional culture .............................................................. 103 Table 5.91. Concerns about socializing and preserving traditional culture .............................................................. 103 Table 5.92. Concerns related to child socialization and upbringing ......................................................................... 104 Table 5.93. Concerns related to child socialization ................................................................................................... 104 Table 5.94. Concerns about raising awareness and educating children to conserve ............................................... 104 Table 5.95. Concerns related to spirits and beliefs ................................................................................................... 105 Table 5.96. Concern levels about living in a new community ................................................................................... 105 Table 5.97. Concern levels about living in a new community ................................................................................... 105 Table 5.98. Concerns about socializing and preserving traditional culture .............................................................. 106 Table 5.99. Concerns related to socialization ........................................................................................................... 106 Table 5.100. Concerns about child socialization ....................................................................................................... 106 Table 5.101. Concern levels about looking after elderly people ............................................................................... 107 Table 5.102. Concern levels about looking after elderly people ............................................................................... 107 Table 5.103. Concern levels about looking after elderly people ............................................................................... 107 Table 5.104. Concern levels about child care ........................................................................................................... 107 Table 5.105. Concern levels about child care ........................................................................................................... 108 Table 5.106. Concern levels about child care ........................................................................................................... 108 Table 5.107. Concern levels about not living closely with relatives .......................................................................... 108 Table 5.108. Concern levels about not living closely with relatives .......................................................................... 108 Table 5.109. Concern levels about not living closely with relatives .......................................................................... 109 Table 5.110. Concern levels about hospitality of relatives ....................................................................................... 109 Table 5.111. Concern levels about hospitality of relatives ....................................................................................... 109 Table 5.112. Concern levels about hospitality of relatives ....................................................................................... 109
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Executive Summary This report presents the results of research conducted by the National University of Laos jointly with Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE),Electricité Du Laos (EDL), Ministry of Energy and Faculty of Environmental Sciences, University of Science, and Vietnam National University, during 2012 and 2013. The research was commissioned by the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF) and financed by AusAID. The research is based on two important sets of documentsas the point of departure for the project: 1. The main social and environmental impact assessment reports and the social environmental plans and other relevant documents of the Lao government, Vietnamese developers, and the Asian Development Bank; and 2. Research and consultations into institutional and knowledge systems of the concerned Lao and Vietnamese stakeholder agencies. This paper, reporting on livelihoods systems among ethnic minority groups affected by hydropower in Attapeu, is linked to a parallel study of knowledge, attitudes, responses and experiences of the affected groups, and on the knowledge and skills capacities of managers and staffs of safeguard agencies. Together these studies are directed to strengthening knowledge systems and improving the methodology for livelihoods restoration among affected ethnic minority groups. The research is based on three assumptions: 1. The knowledge of existing livelihoods systems of ethnic minority communities displaced by the construction of hydropower dams and reservoirs is necessary to stakeholder agencies planning resettlement and the restoration of their livelihoods. 2. The task of economic regeneration and the restoration of livelihoods of displaced peoples is acknowledged to be the most difficult aspect of resettlement brought about by public sector development projects1. Restoration of livelihoods systems of ethnic minorities presents specific problems. Their sources of livelihoods are complex and differ in relation to different environments, differing household labor force composition, access to land, and other natural resources and markets. 3. The planning of resettlement should be based on the recognition that the community, household and natural resource management capacities of ethnic upland minoritypeople need to be preserved in resettlement and relocation programs. Planning and management of resettlement needs to recognize their ability to embrace and manage change, including the traditional relocation of villages and farming areas. The purpose of the research is to examine the livelihoods systems and systems of knowledge of stakeholders, particularly the knowledge of ethnicgroups in Attapeu and Sekong Provinces in Southern Laos concerning planned hydropower development which has affected or will impact them not only during dam construction butlonger term, and their attitudes and responses to these impacts on their natural resources.Another objective is to test the research methodology to determine the relevant methods for acquiring accurate data and information of impacted people who have very limited
1Technical Guidelines on Resettlement and Compensation in Public Sector Development Projects, Vientiane, 2005, Chapter 5.
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opportunities to access information. This information might be applied by development agencies and government officers to the similar cases elsewhere.A variety of methods have been used and tested: Quantitative methods: comprising a socio-‐economic survey of 389 households from 11 villages affected by the hydropower system. The survey covered 47.5% of the total households (five in the corridor of the planned Hatxanh substation and Hatxanh to the Vietnam border transmission line, two in the reservoir areas of the Xekaman 1 and Xanxai dams in the Dong Amphanh NBCA in Xanxai and Xaisettha Districts of Attapeu, and four in the affected area of the Sekong 3 Upper Dam close to Sekong Town. All are part of the hydropower multi-‐dam system in the process of implementation to supply power from southern Laos to Pleiku in Kontum Province of Vietnam. The villages affected by the Xekaman 1/Xanxai dams had previously relocated to make way for the Xekaman 1 dam from 2003 to 2006, and had done so without compensation or other assistance. Three of the surveyed villages (Hindam and Donkhen in the affected area of Xekaman 1, and Navakang in the affected area of Sekong 3 Upper Dam) declined to be moved to the relocation sites proposed by the government and development agencies because they do not have sufficient resources or for other reasons. Navakang has moved of its own accord to a site of its own choosing, without compensation or assistanceandis now supported by provincial DoNRE. Qualitative methods:were applied for data and information collection to acquire information and tacit knowledge of local people. The use and testing of methods is considered an outcome of the research project or as action research to identify the appropriate and relevant methods which might be applied by development agencies including government officers in similar cases. Seven techniques of inquiry were used and tested: 1) focus group discussions, 2) key informant in-‐depth interviews, 3) case studies, 4) observation,5)participative agro-‐ecological profiling,6) cultural agro-‐economic calendar, and 7) a forum with local people. Among these techniques, participative agro-‐ecology profiling and cultural agro-‐economic calendar are based on the tacit knowledge of local people and appear to be the best way to understand their wishes and expectationsconcerningthe restoration of their livelihoods after relocation or resettlement. SIA and RAP are based on socio-‐economic surveys, usually a 20% sample of the directly affected population and 10% of a wider population not directly impacted. These are a stated requirement in the policies and guidelines for resettlement planning. This, however, leaves a wide margin of discretion as to how detailed the research is to be, often at the discretion not of social safeguard experts, but of an engineering project manager. The lack of appropriate methodologies to apply in research and the analysis of complex and variable livelihoods systems, of societies which are detached from and independent of the mainstream economy and its institutions, is a fatal flaw in any application of research as a means of bridging this disciplinary gap. The main findings are described in the following paragraphs. The affected population is strongly dependent on swidden rice and other crop production, and is likely to resume swidden systems after any relocation, mainly because they do not have assured access to lowland areas suitable for paddy. Swidden agriculture is the main basis of livelihoods and labor use of households. The study reveals that almost 100% of the surveyed population depends on swidden agriculture as their main source of food. Among them, more than 99% are dependent to some degree on non-‐timber forest products (NTFP). All
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surveyed communities continue to practice and depend on swidden agriculture for their main food supply. Findings regarding swidden agriculture revealed that:
• Swidden farming by the affected groups has minimal impact on forest resources by comparison with the overall use of the forest areas impacted by hydropower.
• There is great difficulty for indigenous groups to change food production and livelihoods systems away from present use of the forest.
• The affected communities would adopt further settled agricultural if land and water are available, but in no instance in the surveyed relocation sites is the government able to provide more than minimal plot sizes for paddy or other settled agriculture.
• The prevention of swidden systems would lead to the severe loss of food security and livelihoods by the affected groups, and to social dislocation.
• While lowland farming ispredominant in the villages affected by Sekong Upper 3, they are much more evenly divided between swidden and paddy. This pattern has been maintained in areas where these villages have been resettled close to their old village sites, and reflect sharing land in the two villages which have been relocated or themselves have relocated in close proximity and in an area of shared lowland with access to irrigation. Paddy is also in high proportion at Somboune and Hatxanh where there is substantial lowland farming, and where the economy is more monetized and market oriented.
A greater portionof livelihoods assets is given to non-‐timber forest products (NTFPs). The findingsof this research showthatNTFP collection is classified as the second rank of labor in households in all three cases (transmission line , Xekaman 1 and Sekong Upper 3). NTFP collection is widelyused for income generation and to cope with rice shortages. A constraining factor is that both swidden production and collecting NTFPs are the major sources of food which could help local people with food security and elimination of poverty. They are further related to the binding constraint of the limitation of available agricultural land and the lack of knowledge and capacity of ethnic people on adoption of settled permanent agriculture or paddy. The research showed that traditional and existing systems of location choice and of relocation are supported by ritual and spiritual systems which have a management and informational function in human and natural resource management. The research indicates that as “culture”, these cannot be replicated by external or government safeguard agencies and depend on the conduct of relocation by the community itself. The affected ethnic groups have substantial capacity to manage their own resettlement, based on their knowledge of natural resources and livelihoods systems. Villagers are in a stage of transition of from their traditional livelihood activities to labor markets. Thiswas found in Hindam, where development projects such as rubber plantations and hydropower development projects have been implemented. In this case, villagers have another alternative for livelihood activity rather than depending on traditional livelihood activities. Current systems of social impact assessment and socio-‐economic surveys for purposes of resettlement planning in hydropower and other rural infrastructural development are poorly resourced and insufficiently financed. They are conducted without sufficient time for technically well directed fieldwork. They are not undertaken on a timely basis in the hydropower planning and resettlement cycle. They do not sufficiently make use of Lao professional resources, notably in recording existing
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livelihoods systems and their retention, restoration and replacement. They do not give adequate recognition of cultural and gender factors in resettlement and income restoration. Consultation with and information to affected ethnic groups about hydropower development, its impact and resettlement is inadequate and does not permit the participation which is called for in Lao statutory requirements for compensation and resettlement in public sector development:
• Consultation with and information to the surveyed groups has been restricted or prevented on the grounds that they would not be able to understand the expected project impact or contribute positively to impact alleviation or resettlement;
• Consultation has been conducted by foreign consultants with little or no knowledge of the local language or of local Lao-‐speaking members of the community; and
• Consultation and information programs most often date from several years before hydropower implementation and resettlement, so that their use in having the informed participation of the affected communities is minimal.
Drawn from these findings, it is suggested and recommended to development agencies and concerned organization, especially MoNRE and EDL, in particularly Provincial DoNRE and District Offices, to establish and strengthen appropriate management and monitoring systems:
• To assure the adequate and timely provision of resources for information and forconsultation with affected communities, and that Provincial DoNRE and District Natural Resources and Environment staff are required and financed to participate and play the role of key coordinators among relevant stakeholders in research, consultation and information programs, including provision for the involvement of local language speakers from the concerned communities.
• To include provision for affected ethnic groups to be allowed to make their own choice of relocation site and to undertake assisted relocation according to the technical guidelines and terms of reference provided to developers and consultants.
• To examine the prevalent use of forests for swidden farming and related regeneration of forest by ethnic groups affected by hydropower and other infrastructural development, with a view to use resource efficient management by affected groups themselves and these practices be included in resettlement guidelines.
• To examine this report and related work to review the improvements which might be introduced in methodology, time and resource allocation and use of local expertise in improving the research basis of resettlement planning for affected ethnic groups.
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Chapter I Introduction 1.1. Background
The development of hydropower for transmission from Laos to southern Vietnam, planned for construction between 2012-‐2015, involves the development and operation of six hydropower dams and a 160 km 500 KV transmission line from Hatxanh in Attapeu Province to Pleiku in Kontum Province in Vietnam. ADB is proposing to finance the transmission line and sub-‐stations in Laos and Vietnam. Consultants have conducted a due diligence audit (ADB 2010/11) of four supplier hydropower projects for which Vietnamese consultants and developers have sought certified approval from the Lao Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE). They found gaps between Vietnamese consultant studies and ADB and Lao safeguard provisions with regard to the level of consultation with, and information provided to, ethnic groups in the project areas, and in the planning for resettlement and livelihoods restoration of affected people. The audit attributes these gaps to a lack of knowledge amongst Vietnamese developers and consultants about Government of Lao (GOL) and ADB safeguard principles and practices. ADB studies have indicated that land shortages and a potential loss of access to forest products will exacerbate an already existing situation of poverty and child malnutrition (ADB 2011). It has been perceived that there is a significant threat of dislocation to the social, economic and cultural assets of the affected ethnic peoples in reservoir sites and in the corridors through which the transmission line passes. The safeguard systems and specific responses proposed in an ADB Land Acquisition and Resettlement Plan for the main transmission line and in a Resettlement Framework for associated hydropower development projects are subject to acceptance and implementation in which the Vietnamese developers and consultants have a significant role, and in which knowledge and participation of the affected groups are vital. This gap is the subject of research and capacity building proposed here, and for the strengthening of knowledge, communications and institutional systems in social safeguard aspects of regional hydropower development. On the basis of the ADB findings, this research seeks to examine two mainareas. The first area is the condition and livelihood systems of the ethnic people affected by hydropower programs in the two provinces: Attapeu and Sekong.The second area is directly within the project management’s responsibility and relates to the knowledge systems, attitudes and practices of hydropower planners and developers and safeguard specialists and affected people. The project monitoring and evaluation process, conducted through KAS monitoring at the project workshops, will focus on the agency staff taking part. Research in Attapeu and Sekong Provinces has been generally directed to strengthening knowledge of livelihoods systems of ethnic minority communities impacted by hydropower development. The research is based on three assumptions:
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1. knowledge of existing livelihoods systems of ethnic minority communities displaced by hydropower dams and reservoirsis necessary on the part of stakeholder agencies planning their resettlement and the restoration of their livelihoods. 2. The task of economic regeneration and the restoration of livelihoods of displaced people is acknowledged to be the most difficult aspect of resettlement brought about by public sector development projects2. Restoration of the livelihoods systems of ethnic minorities presents specific problems. Their sources of livelihoods are complex and differ in relation to different environments, differing household labor force, access to land and other natural resources and markets. 3. The planning of resettlement should be based on a recognition that the community, household and natural resource management capacities of ethnic upland minority people need to be preserved in resettlement and relocation programs. Planning and management of resettlement needs to recognize their ability to embrace and manage change, including the traditional relocation of villages and farming areas. This would, in the view of the researchers, require a stronger and better focused research methodology than is currently used in social impact assessments and resettlement planning in public sector development projects. The research team set out to test methods to acquire the detailed data for pre-‐project livelihoods systems in the differing environments and populations, predominantly of small ethnic communities, which are affected by hydropower development.It is also aimed at capturing the knowledge, attitudes, responses and experiences (KARE) of these ethnic communities. National University of Laos conducted research during 2012-‐2013 in the villages in Attapeu and Sekong Provinces which are affected by three hydropower projects which form part of a power system being developed for the supply of electricity to Vietnam:
• the transmission line from Hatxanh in Xaisettha District to Pleiku in Vietnam and two of the dams being constructed to supply power to the line;
• Xekaman 1 dam and its subsidiary Xanxai dam; and • Sekong 3 Upper Dam.
Eleven impacted villageswere chosen as case studies. A variety of methods have been used to be more effective and more precisely focus on livelihoods systems than are normally used in SIA or socio-‐economic surveys in resettlement programs. 1.2. Project objectives
1.2.1. Project structure and purpose
The research is part of a project directed to strengthening knowledge systems in social safeguard planning and administration in hydropower development. It is aimed at providing a better knowledge
2 Technical Guidelines on Resettlement and Compensation in Public Sector Development Projects, Vientiane, 2005, Chapter 5.
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and understanding of existing livelihoods systems of affected ethnic minority groups as the basis of planned relocation and restoration of their livelihoods. It also examines the methodologies and institutional systems by which resettlement and livelihoods restoration of safeguard agencies are, or might more adequately be, based on local knowledge, skills and management systems with a view to improving the planning of resettlement and for capacity building in the concerned agencies.
1.2.2 Research objectives
The researchobjectives were: • to examine the existing livelihoods system, in the light of a better knowledge and
understanding of existing livelihoods, how they might be sustained and applied in income or livelihoods restoration;
• to test a research methodologies which might assist in strengthening present SIA, socio-‐economic surveys and resettlement planning; and
• to examine and capture the knowledge, attitudes, responses and experiences of these communities impacted by hydropower development and resettlement.
A key element in the approach adopted was to examine the factors behind management roles:
• of households in managing a portfolio or package of resources and livelihoods derived from the varying activities and labor inputs of household members; and
• of ethnic minority community leaders in traditional villages and swidden farming relocation, their role related to relocation, what they have done to replace diminished forest resources, and how they haveresponded to planned or forced relocations.
1.2.3 Specific research objectives
The specific purposes of the research are to record existing livelihoods systems of ethnic minority groups and villages which are impacted by the three hydropower systems:
• to provide a detailed account of the livelihoods of the three groups of villages affected by the two dams and the transmission line;
• to analyze factors which link livelihoods systems with the differing environmental and historical circumstances and access to services and markets of existing land and forest use, experience of previous settlement, and belief systems of the affected groups;
• to examine the institutional arrangements in each of the three systems and their effectiveness in relocation and livelihoods restoration, and
• to make the findings of the research available to stakeholder agencies, including an improved and tested research methodology for purposes of planning and implementation of resettlement and livelihoods restoration of affected ethnic groups.
In studying the differing characteristics and circumstances of the various affected villages, their differing histories, differing access to land and natural resources (for example, of access to land and water for paddy rice), and distances from and access to markets and services, and the impact on them of various development projects, including hydropower. At household level we examined the differing possibilities and range of livelihoods activities which depend on the labor makeup of the household, and which relate to cyclical development of the household labor force in the family life cycle.
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We examined three aspects of transition which were found to take place in various respects and which determine the livelihoods systems of communities and individuals:
• that occurring in the traditional or endogenous ‘transhumant’ relocation of swidden farming, and thus of villages and their access to natural resources in community management of residence and production systems;
• that of the adaptation which is taking place in the relationship of ethnic minority communities to modern, marketoriented and technologically advanced Lao society; and
• that of relocation, both conducted by government and developers and by villagers themselves (self-‐managed), to make way for hydropower dams and reservoirs and similar major projects.
The research was designed first to capture the differences in the makeup of livelihoods systems that occur over time, in and between households and communities, of changing labor force makeup and skills, changing balance of active work force and dependents, and changing access to land, forest and fishing resources and to markets, services and wage employment. Secondly, the research was designed to provide and test a strengthened methodology for research on ethnic minority livelihoods systems as a basis of resettlement and livelihoods restoration. One of the specific objectives of the project has been to design and test the project methodology as one which could be adopted for use by stakeholder agencies in SIA and socio-‐economic survey for resettlement planning, and to determine the basis of livelihoods sustainability and restoration in hydropower development affecting ethnic minority people. 1.3. Research methodology
1.3.1 Selecting and improving methods
By methodology we mean collectively: • the hypothesis or hypotheses which are proposed and tested or changed in the
research; • the approach and instruments which are used; • the data which are generated in the research; and • the analysis which is undertaken of the data.
In applying this type of methodology, the hypotheses are those which are adopted in the research as a basis of policy ideas and their application to practice. In this case, the hypothesis concerns policy and practice in resettlement and livelihoods restoration of people impacted byhydropower development projects. It is argued that the knowledge and communication aspects are inadequate in relation to the complexity of the livelihoods and natural resource management systems with which they are concerned. Secondly, the hypothesis states that the degree and quality of knowledge of the existing livelihoods systems of affected people on the part of resettlement and social safeguard agencies determines the quality of planning and management, and thus the effectiveness of state or developer interventions in resettlement and livelihoods restoration. If proven, this would suggest three areas of strengthened system and capacity:
• more precise research; • more effective communication of knowledge to decision makers; and
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• more appropriate and effective consultation with the affected communities. This approach was sharpened during the research in respect of two areas of knowledge:
• knowledge and understanding of the role or agency of ethnic minority households in managing a portfolio of livelihoods sources, varying in respect of the labor composition of the household, of the seasonal management and of the access to land, and to other natural resources and to markets; and
• that regarding the knowledge base, experience and management capacities of communities and their leadership, notably that derived from traditional practices of land use and community relocation, and thus their capacities to participate in plan and manage relocation and livelihoods restoration required as a result of displacement by hydropower projects.
A number of research approacheshave been used and tested in the research which is the combination between two main type of methods: quantitative and qualitative as listed below. Quantitative: Households surveyused tocapture data on:
• facilities and the to public services and natural resources, • agro-‐economic, i.e. uses and products of land and natural resource management on the
related household resources, labor use and occupational systems of households; and • knowledge, attitudes, responses and experiences of the affected villagers.
The data were collected by socio-‐economic surveys and used a single household questionnaire (usually administered by a team of two enumerators interviewing the household head or the spouse, and then checked by a field supervisor) in a total of 11 villages of differing ethnic composition affected by the transmission line and three hydropower dams, Xekaman 1, Xekaman Xanxai and Sekong 3 Upper Dam. Qualitative: methods used toelicit tacit knowledge and realities of the communities and to provide opportunities for marginal groups of people to take part in the research, particularly women, who are often left out. Researchersperceive that information gathered from qualitative methods can strongly support the findings from quantitative approach. It can be said that the richness of methods can prove the reliability of the research. Therefore this research used the following qualitative approaches:
• case studies of household labor force composition and use in relation to family life cycle and seasonal production system and labor use;
• participative agro-‐ecological profile mapping of affected villages to establish location, natural resources, markets, services and employment determinants of livelihoods portfolios; including women’s mapping of seasonal forest food sources;
• creating cultural calendars with local people , particularly with the head of the clan whohas a good knowledge of traditional culture and usually leads the village ceremonies;
• in-‐depth interviews with key informants including the local government, elderly people, heads of villages and clans;
• observation; and • focus group discussions with different groups categorized by age and gender.
Among the research strategies and instruments, four were specific to the project purpose of strengthening factfinding and analytical methods in resettlement planning and livelihoods restoration, and are suggested for adoption in routine in SIA, SMP and socio-‐economic survey. These are:
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• household demographic and labor force composition and livelihoods activities analysis; • village agro-‐ecological profiling and resource mapping; • community livelihoods and occupational resource allocation analysis; • knowledge, attitude, response and experience surveys; and • case studies in the affected ethnic group communities.
The design and findings of the research have been strengthened in discussion with representatives of the stakeholder agencies, most notably with those of MoNRE and of MEM/EDL, theProvincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment(Provincial DoNRE ), district and sub-‐district officials, with local representatives of the Lao Women’s Union , representatives of youth organizations and with associations of elderly people. These discussions were in respect of the institutional and communication systems for consultation with affected communities and for their participation in resettlement and livelihoods restoration planning. Triangulation of these sources of data was done at two stages of the research:
• the use of secondary data and initial observational data on differing agro-‐ecological situations to design the socio-‐economic household questionnaire survey and sample; and
• in the analysis of differences in livelihoods systems measured in quantitative socio-‐economic surveys in relation to location and agro-‐ecological profile of the community.
• The combination of instruments used reflects a basic interest in household management of a “portfolio” of livelihoods resources and options, and of household agency in human resource and natural resource management in the rural community3. A second main interest is in the linkage between community management of the “transhumant” character of swidden forest rotation and residential relocation, as technical management capacities, as determining social systems, and the responses and experiences of affected ethnic minorities. The research was directed to understanding how community systems of authority and resource management operated in the use of the forest for swidden, including village and farming area location, and traditional relocation associated with swidden systems. It examined the application of ‘endogenous’ management capacity to the planning and management of relocation brought about by hydropower development, and paid particular attention to three villages which had undertaken relocations with their own resources and management.
1.3.2. Identification of survey sample
The sample size was definedaccording to the total number of householdslisted in the report by ADB (2009) in the case of the transmission line and the report from Songda company in the case of Xekaman 1 and Sekong Upper 3. The number of household samples are taken from the formula of Taro Yamane as shown in the equation below :
3For further discussion of the concept of household agency in natural resource and livelihoods management, see Diepart, J.C. 2007
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( )21 eNNn
+=
Where: n = sample size, N = total number of population, e = standard error With 645=N , 05.0=e , 248=n Applying this formulation gave us 389 households as the total sample size: 250 from the transmission line, 50 from Xekaman1 and 89 from Sekong Upper 3 as presented in Tables 1.1 below. Table 1.1. Number of households and sample size
Cases Villages Total No. of HH in village Sample size
Transmission line
Hatxanh 292 114 Namsuane 57 22 Phouyang 28 12 Poukeua 49 18 Somboune 219 84 Total 645 250
Xekaman 1 Hindam 36 32 DonKhen 21 18 Total 57 50
Sekong 3
Navasene North 25 17 Navajatsan 33 29 Navakang 33 23 Navasene South 26 20 Total 117 89
1.4. Research organization
The research was conducted by a team of senior researchers, lecturers and graduate field workers during December 2012 to September 2013 in consultation with the social and environmental safeguard sections of MoNRE and of EDL ,and with senior researchers from the Faculty of Environmental Sciences of Vietnam National University, University of Sciences.
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Chapter II Hydropower Systems and Population This chapter deals with the characteristics of the research site, study population, accessibility to facilities and public services and household property and other resources. This information is important background to helping the reader to understand clearly the location and characteristic of the research area. The structure of the explanation will be organized successively according to the three cases which are thetransmission line, Xekaman1 and Sekong Upper 3 dams. 2.1. Description of research sites
2.1.1. Brief overview of three hydropower projects
Transmission line The 500 KV transmission line is the basis of a bilateral power supply agreement between the Lao and Vietnamese governments dating back to the late 1990s, and of concession agreements for the multiple dam and transmission development taking place mainly since 2007. The transmission line would supply much of the power development needs of southern Vietnam and was the subject of a feasibility study by Electricité de France on behalf of the Asian Development Bank and Electricité Du Laos between November 2009 and January 2012. It was proposed to carry electricity from six hydropower dams: Xekaman 1, Xanxai, Xekaman 4, Sekong 3 Upper, Sekong 3 Lower and Dak Emeule. It runs for 168 km between Hatxanh in Attapeu Province, Laos, across the border to Pleiku in Kontum Province, Vietnam. Xekaman 1 Xekaman 1 is the earliest of six or seven dams which are planned for development in Attapeu and Sekong Provinces). The dam construction started in 2008, and in 2013, at the date of the research, is about 40% completed. The transmission line and the substation at Hatxanh in Xaisettha District, Attapeu Province, which will take power from Xekaman1 and the other dams, are planned to begin construction during 2013. The transmission line is proposed for financing by the ADB, while Xekaman 1 dam is financed by Vietnamese power companies. The dams are designed and planned, including the preparation of SIAs and resettlement plans, by Vietnamese consultants for the developers.4 Sekong 3 Upper Dam Sekong 3A (Upper) dam is 6 km from Sekong Town, and is currently in the early stage of construction, with an installed capacity of 410.57 million KW. A pre-‐feasibility study for the dam was carried out in May 2007, and an SIA and RAP were conducted by the Song Da Company in July 2009. Resettlement or planned resettlement of communities affected by the transmission line, by the Xekaman 1 dam and its subsidiary Xanxai dam, of the Sekong 3 Upper Dam, and their reservoirs are at different stages of development. Villages affected by the Sekong 3 Upper Dam and reservoir have already been relocated. Those at Xekaman 1 have recently self-‐relocated, but are faced with further relocation through inundation of their villages. The five villages which will be more marginally impacted
4ADB Hatxan to Pleiku transmission line TA Preparation Report, February 2012.
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by the transmission line are awaiting clearer information about the alignment of the line and position of towers, on which ADB and EDL, the responsible agencies, have yet to make a decision, an uncertainty which is reflected in the mainly inaccurate knowledge which the affected communities have about its impact. The location of the three hydropower project are shown in the map in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Map of study site. Source: ADB 2011
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2.2. Population, social and cultural characteristics
2.2.1. Lao and provincial demographics
In 2011, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic had an estimated population of 6.4 million with 37.3% under 15 years of age and 3.7% above 65 years. It is a predominantly natural resource-‐based, land locked country with an estimated 66.8% of the population dispersed and living in rural areas in 2010. Many places are difficult to access due to the highly mountainous landscape and up to 21% of the population live in areas with no roads. There are 49 officially recognized ethnic groups. Lao-‐Tai group comprise 52.5% of the total population and inhabit the lowlands predominantly, while ethnic minorities mostly live in the highlands. WHO reports that the poverty gap is getting wider, as are the gaps in access to schools, food, and health care, especially among women and girls. The national proportion of the population living under the poverty line was 27.6% in 2010. The proportions of people living under the poverty line in villages impacted by the transmission line, discussed in detail below, have reported poverty levels of more than 80% of the population, with a high rate of literacy (ADB, 2011). Attapeu and Sekong are the poorest provinces of Laos by criteria of income, housing, and access to services, including health services, education, roads and markets, and have one of the highest proportions of ethnic minority people, with some 15 separate ethnic and language groups constituting 85% of the population. The Lao-‐Tai group, the dominant national majority group, are present mainly at Attapeu, in district towns as administrators and the business community, and as farmers in lowland areas suitable for paddy rice production. The small ethnic groups speaking separate languages are traditionally located in highland forest areas, but have over the years mainly moved, or been moved, to locations on or close to roads accordingly to government development strategy of grouping or clustering small villages scattered in the remote areas into a larger villages close to roads and other public services as is the cases of Hatxanh and Somboun villages.
2.2.2. Characteristicsof surveyed villages
All are part of the hydropower multi-‐dam system to supply power from southern Laos to Pleiku. The communities are ethnic minorities, usually with an indigenous clan system and one main vernacular language spoken by all the members of the community. Women and children usually speak only this language and a smattering of Lao, while men speak Lao-‐Tai aswell as the local language. Consequently, men are usually dominant in any discussions or dealings with outside groups and agencies. Hatxanh in Xaisettha, close to Attapeu, is exceptional in having almost half its population Laolum, the mainstream Lao population (See Tables 2.1-‐2.3).
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Table 2.1. Population in sample size by ethnic group: Villages affected by the transmission line
Villages Ethnic groups
Total Lao-‐Tai Brao Kayong Sadang Ouy Jang Salong
Hatxanh 50 59 0 1 1 2 1 114
Namsuan 0 22 0 0 0 0 0 22
Phouyang 1 3 8 0 0 0 0 12
Poukeua 1 1 2 11 1 2 0 18
Somboune 3 78 1 2 0 0 0 84
Total 55 163 11 14 2 4 1 250 Table 2.2. Population in sample size by ethnic group: Villages affected by Xekaman 1
Villages Ethnic groups
Total Lao-‐Tai Ouy Alak Xang Daktoud Yea
Hindam 0 1 30 1 0 0 32 Donkhen 1 0 0 2 9 6 18 Total 1 1 30 3 9 6 50 Table 2.3. Population in sample size by ethnic group: Villages affected by Sekong Upper 3
Villages Ethnic groups
Total Lao-‐Tai Alak
Navasene North 1 16 17
Navajatsan 1 28 29
Navakang 0 23 23
Navasene South 0 20 20 Total 2 87 89 Table 2.1shows theethnic composition of respondents in the five villages affected by the transmission line including Hatxanh , Namsuan, Phouyang , Phoukeu and Somboun , two villages affected by the Xekaman 1 dam, namely Hindam and Donkhen and four villages affected by the Sekong 3 Upper dam consisting of Navasene North, Navajatsan , Navakang and Navasene South, known as Grand Nava5. The data presented in Table 2.2 shows that the composition of ethnic groups in the villages along the transmission line project and in Xekaman 1 are more diverse; nonetheless, Brao groups occupy the largest part successively by the Lao-‐Tai group. In the villages affected by Xekaman 1 and Sekong Upper 3, the majority of belong to the Alak group, precisely in the village affected by Sekong 3, nearly 100 % are Alak, only two families are Lao-‐Tai.
5Grand Nava is the group of 4 villages including Navasene North , Navasene South, Navakang and Navajatsan. These four villages are known as “ development villages” according to development strategies of the government to move the small villages close to services.
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Hatxanh and Somboun both have a predominance of Brao people, closely related to Brao in Ratanakari Province across the border in Cambodia. Hatxanh alsohas Lao-‐Tai, which makes up about 40% of its population. Namxuan, which is a hamlet of Somboun, is also predominantly Brao. Phouyang is mainly Kayong, but with some Brao. Poukeua has a mainly Sadang, reflecting its closeness to the Vietnam border and links with Sadang population in Vietnam. There are also Ouy and Xang at Poukeua. There are a total of 13 other reported language and ethnic origins of members of the eleven villages reflected in the table above6. They are mainly those of individual in-‐marrying spouses of both sexes, who have adopted the ethnic identity of their wife or husband and the immediate community. This is particularly seen at Hatxanh, which is the most modernized and socially mobile of the villages, reflecting its position close to Attapeu on the National Highway to Vietnam. Ethnic identities at Hatxanh include 11 Xang and individual Ouy, Makong, Alak, Lavea, Salong, Kajing, Khmoue, Dakjing, Kasang, Talieng and Daktoud. Hindam has a predominantly Alak population (the same ethnic group and language as that in the four Nava villages studied in the affected area of the Sekong 3 Upper Dam).The small village of DonKhen, 8 km from the dam site on the Xekaman 1 access road to National Road 18A, has a mainly Daktoud and Yea population.
2.2.3.Cultural and social characteristics
The results show that culture and clan structure is not significantly different between the various ethnic and language groups present in the eleven villages, their livelihoods practices and resource management systems are also essentially similar and closely related to belief inspirits. The differences in livelihoods systems arise rather in relation to agro-‐ecological practices, specific resource endowment, and access to services and markets. Heads of clans and heads of the villages are very much respected and are leaders of all ceremonies and rituals in villages. Social norms and traditional rules are the basis of social control and organization, and play an important role in daily life and in defining livelihoods strategies. The patriarchal hierarchy system is still strongly in these societies. Women have a lower status compared to men. Community work, interaction with outsiders and decision making are the domain of men and traditional authorities such as the village holy man or head of the clan. Family relations and kinship systems are still strong. Ethnic groups in all three cases, despite having common beliefs in spiritsand animism, have different representative symbols. For instance, Alak have their temple or kuanor chia-‐naaruuhin Alak language. Kuan is similar to the temple in the Buddhist religion, and is where villagers hold theirmeetings andconduct their traditional ceremonies and rituals. It is supposed to be the center for village consolidation. The kuan is also a sacred place, which normally does not allow women or outsiders to enter except during aceremony, otherwise the spirits must be appeased with the sacrifice of a buffalo.This pattern of beliefs and practices forms the identity of the different ethnic groups.
6The data is recorded according to the ethnic group of the household member.
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2.3 Accessibility to facilities and public services
2.3.1 Access to education and skills development
The access to education is based on the distance from the respondents’ house to school, both primary and secondary, as measured in kilometers. All the surveyed villages have primary schools, with the exception of Namxuan, where the children go to school at Somboun, 5.7 km distance. The potential benefit of relocation close to services is especially in respect of access to secondary school, as a basis of future development of the community, the household and individual employment in the wage sector. Differences and difficulty of access to school are evident in the location and distances from school and other services in the Grand Nava villages, which are displaced by Sekong 3 Upper Dam, and now relocated 5 to 20 km from a secondary school at Sekong Town (Table 2.4). Most children who go to school in Grand Nava villages walk to and from school taking between 1 to2 hours for the two way journey. Since a bicycle costs USD 35 dollars at the market, this is an indicator of the relative poverty of these villages. The otherchildren travel, like virtually all secondary school children in Laos, by bicycle. The nearest secondary school for villages displaced by the Xekaman 1 and Xanxai dams is more than 50 kilometers distance, at Hindam. Children are currently attending upper primary classes from grade 4 to 5 grade at Xanxai 10 km from the village and living at the temple there. None are at the secondary school in Attapeu, a further 40km distance. Accessibility to schoolfor the villages affected by the transmission line have a better situation. The evidence is shown from the cases of Somboun and Hatxanh, which are the sub-‐district centers and a focus or development villages where they have secondary schools. The schools at Hatxanh, 30 km from Attapeu town, serve about 600 households. Table 2.4. Distance to primary school
Cases Villages
Distance in km Min Mean Max
Transmission line
Hatxanh 0.1 1.41 12 Namxuan 0.1 0.73 6.20 Phouyang 0.1 0.32 0.5 Poukeua 0.05 0.51 1.50 Somboune 0.05 0.78 2.0
Xekaman 1 Hindam 0.01 0.3928 3.0 Donkhen 0.01 0.4875 7.00
Sekong 3
Navasene North 0.60 1.058 3.00 Navajatsan 0.20 0.3793 0.50 Navakang 0.10 0.2913 1.20 Navasene South 0.10 0.2850 0.50
The building of the secondary school at Somboun was privately funded by a Korean benefactor in 2009. Somboun and its satellite hamlet Namxuan village is 5.7 km distance,with around 300 households, It now has full primary and secondary schooling up to grade 12 (Table 2.5).
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Table 2.5. Distance to secondary school
Cases Villages Distance in km
Min Mean Max
Transmission line
Hatxanh 1 11.03 17 Namxuan 0.1 5.16 11 Phouyang 50 146.25 155 Poukeua 68 90.11 130 Somboune 0.1 1.09 2.40
Xekaman 1 Hindam 15 16.81 17 Donkhen 16 45.94 90
Sekong 3
Navasene North 5 6.00 7 Navajatsan 5 5.97 19 Navakang 12 18.74 20 Navasene South 3 3.95 5
2.3.2. Health and access to medical services
The major health problems identified by WHO in a 2011 report are related to the remoteness of ethnic minority groups in rural highland areas with poor road access to health or other services. The main problems they identify are the high maternal mortality ratio per 100,000 live births: 357 per 100,000 (WHO, 2012), malnutrition, with 26.6% of children under 5 years of age being underweight, 44% being stunted, and high incidences of malaria and infectious diseases. The poor health situation, notably that of maternal, neonatal and child health, which the government prioritizes, is in many respects related to poor or no access to modern health services, mainly because of distance to the nearest health centeror hospital, but also because of the cost of modern medicine. Ethnic minority communities make use of traditional medicine and healers, of which there are two or three in every village, before seeking treatment at a public or private health clinic or hospital. The ability to pay is a major barrier to utilization. Subsequently, the purchase of drugs in official or unofficial pharmacies or the use of traditional healers are most often the first health-‐seeking behavior7. Coverage for preventive health services is also low. The health centers provide referrals and are theoretically the liaison with community services. However, public facilities, especially district and health centers, are poorly utilized, with bed a occupancy rate averaging 44.6% nationwide and ranging 15% to 80% at provincial level8. The findingsof this study reveal that villagers most often use traditional healers before going to hospitals or health centers. This might be due to the barrier of distance, as evident from the villages affected by transmission line, Namsuan, Phoukeu and Phouyang, the hospital is situated far from
7Laotian traditional medicine dates back to at least the 12th century, and is influenced by Buddhist and Indian traditional medical systems. It remains an important element in the prevention and treatment of disease, and is officially supported by the Ministry of Health. In 1976, a national office for traditional medicine was established inthe Institute of Traditional Medicine under the Ministry of Health. 8 WHO 2011
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their villages, more than 100 km, coupled with the lack of public transportation service induces the villagers to use tradition healing as first choice rather than going to hospital. Table 2.6. Distance to health services
Cases Villages Distance Means of transportation
Min Mean Max Walk Bicycle Motorbike Bus Car Hand tractor
Transmission line
Hatxanh 8 13.23 18 0 8 102 1 0 0 Namxuan 115 117.64 120 0 0 22 0 0 0 Phouyang 155 155 155 0 0 12 0 0 0 Poukeua 100 122.39 160 0 3 14 1 0 0 Somboune 60 99.78 113 0 0 78 0 1 0
Xekaman Hindam 16 17 18 2 0 30 0 0 0 Donkhen 1 46.61 90 1 0 16 0 1 0
Sekong
Navasene North 5 6.24 8 14 2 1 0 0 0 Navajatsan 5 5.45 18 28 1 0 0 0 0 Navakang 13 18.76 19 17 2 3 0 0 1 Navasene South 3 3.95 5 16 0 4 0 0 0
2.4. Links to markets and mainstream Lao society and government
As with access to health services, access to other services and markets is restricted by distance and isolation and is increasingly determined by the possession of some means of transportation and of communication. The most important means of transportation in Lao rural society are bicycle, motorbike and hand tractor. These have different ownership rates and relate to different kinds of use in the household. Bicycles, universally in Laos as well as in the ethnic minority villages, are mainly used by children to go to and from secondary school, or by women to go from house to market or to a garden. Motorcycles are the universal form of family and individual adult transport, and are now widely owned in all the eleven surveyed villages. They are, with rare exceptions in remote areas, not owned or used by women, but by men, and especially by young men for leisure and travel to work. The high percentage of ownership of motorcycles in the sampled households is an indication of a radical change of connectivity and participation of men and particularly young men in wider Lao society, which has taken place in the past decade. The possession of a hand tractor is both an indicator of engagement in paddy farming and (together with a trailer) of the universal system of village transportation, both of people and of goods, mainly of minor households and farm related local travel, but also farm to market, and sometimes village to forest for purposes of hunting and NTFP collection. The relatively large numbers of hand tractors and trailers at Hatxan (30 km from Attapeu on National Road 18A) and at Somboun, the administrate center for Phouvong District and a development village, are an indicator of the extent to which these two Brao villages have become – at least in the behavior of
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men – integrated with modern Lao society, but also indicate the extent of paddy and other farming which, in the presence of flat alluvial lands, is practiced in the two villages. By contrast there are no hand tractors or trailers owned by any household at Hindam and Donkhen, the villages in the sample affected by Xekaman 1 and Xanxai dams. This is not, on the evidence of possession of motorbikes and mobile phones, an indicator of adherence to a traditional lifestyle, but reflects the total agricultural dependency of these villages on swidden farming (Table 2.7). Table 2.7. Means of transportation by household
Cases Villages
Means of transportation
Bicycle Motorbike Hand tractor Car Trailer Cart Boat
1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 1 2 1 2 1 1
Transmission line
Hatxanh 31 13 1 66 28 8 1 -‐ 46 1 -‐ 5 -‐ 14 1 -‐ -‐ Namxuan 4 -‐ -‐ 12 5 2 -‐ -‐ 1 -‐ -‐ 1 -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ Phouyang 3 -‐ -‐ 8 3 1 -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ Phoukeua 6 1 -‐ 7 6 -‐ 1 -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ 1 1 -‐ -‐ -‐ Somboune 14 -‐ -‐ 43 12 5 -‐ 1 1 -‐ 1 3 1 4 -‐ -‐ -‐ Total 58 14 1 136 54 16 2 1 48 1 1 9 2 19 1 -‐ -‐
Xekaman 1 Hindam 3 -‐ -‐ 1 2 -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ 1 -‐ Donkhen 1 -‐ -‐ 22 2 -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ 2 -‐ Total 4 -‐ -‐ 23 4 -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ 3 -‐
Sekong 3
Navasene North 7 -‐ -‐ 6 -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ 8 -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ 1 -‐
Navajatsan 9 -‐ -‐ 4 1 -‐ -‐ -‐ 1 -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ 1 2 Navakang 3 2 -‐ 4 -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ 2 -‐ -‐ 1 -‐ -‐ -‐ -‐ 1 Navasene South 11 -‐ -‐ 8 2 1 -‐ -‐ 9 1 -‐ 1 -‐ -‐ -‐ 2 -‐
Total 3-‐ 2 -‐ 22 3 1 -‐ -‐ 2-‐ 1 -‐ 2 -‐ -‐ -‐ 4 3 The importance of the hand tractor in the Lao rural economy is its dual use as the main form of powerfor land preparation and cultivation, and its use in transportation, both of people and of equipment and produce, especially for village to farm and village to market. The differing rates of possession of hand tractors among the villages is primarily related to the presence or absence of lowland paddy areas and settled farming, at Hatxan for example, by comparison with the other predominantly upland villages. The one hand tractor at Hindam is used for village to market transportation, rather than for cultivation. 2.5. Communication and electronic equipment
2.5.1. Communication equipment
As in the rest of Laos and the Mekong region, the mobile phone has transformed communications in rural areas and in the connection of rural populations with towns and markets, with almost universal
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ownership or access of the affected ethnic communities of mobile phones, often of several individual members of the household. Some families own 2 to 5 mobile phones, as shown in Table 2.8. Hatxanh , the village located along the road connected to Vietnam and close to Attapeu center, the connection to market. Administration and commerce generally have become more effective through the use of the mobile phone system. It has affected livelihoods systems in three main ways: that of the economies of communication and movement in production, marketing activities, and movement of labor; that of internal social communication in households, family and community organization of activities and resources; and that of communication between community leaders and external agencies in administration and in the management of development. In the last couple of decades, the use of mobile phones has spread very quickly, even in remote areas, as shown in Table 2.8. Many households have more than one mobile phone. This also relates to the labor used in the household and interaction with outside or as engaging in modern society. Table 2.8 shows that in Hatxanh , 37 households own 2 mobile phone sets and 6 families have 4 mobile phones. However, the data reflect that not all families haves mobile phone. This reflectsthe different opportunities in accessing the market as well as the different livelihoods strategies and livelihoods portfolios. Table 2.8. Mobile phones by household
Cases Villages Number of mobile phones by household Total
Transmission line
Hatxanh 32 37 10 6 0 85 Namxuan 2 6 1 1 0 10 Phouyang 3 4 0 0 0 7 Phoukeua 4 0 5 0 0 9 Somboune 29 19 7 2 1 58 Total 70 66 23 9 1 169
Xekaman 1 Hindam 12 5 2 0 1 20 Donkhen 10 2 0 1 0 13
Total 22 7 2 1 1 33
Sekong 3
Navasene North 6 2 0 0 0 8
Navajatsan 3 1 1 1 0 6 Navakang 4 1 0 1 0 6 Navasene South 9 3 1 0 0 13
Total 22 7 2 2 0 33
2.5.2. The affordability of electronic equipment
Electronic equipment can be classified into 2 categories: tools used to access information, such as radio and television, and appliances such as a refrigerator, fan, washing machine or rice cooker. The findings indicate that villagersgive more importance to entertainment and access to information than to the
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convenienceof the family (Tables 2.9). Among 11 villages, all have radios and television sets, even inPhouyang, Navakang and Hindam where there is no electricity line. These areas have a long history of contact with Vietnamese vendors andcombined with the low price of Chinese goods explains how almost all villagers can afford these items. Table 2.9. Electronic equipment by village
Cases Villages
Electronic equipment
Total
Radio TV Refrigerator Fan Washing machine
Rice cooker
Transmission line
Hatxanh 35 67 18 42 19 3 184 Namxuan 9 14 1 9 0 0 33 Phouyang 3 3 0 0 3 0 9 Phoukeua 2 11 4 6 2 2 27 Somboune 12 48 10 30 11 1 112 Total 61 143 33 87 35 6 365
Xekaman 1 Hindam 2 16 0 7 0 0 25 Donkhen 1 4 0 2 0 0 7 Total 3 20 0 9 0 0 32
Sekong 3
Navasene North 2 11 0 1 0 0 14
Navajatsan 4 15 3 6 0 0 28 Navakang 7 4 0 0 0 0 11 Navasene South 8 8 1 0 0 0 17
Total 21 38 4 7 0 0 70 Theaffordability of modern equipment, especially media instruments, has led to changesin the way of life among young people. Many restrictions have been eased, as reported by a young man at Navajatsan: “ I like the new place because there are no restrictions. We can make noise , sing or any entertainment. Nowadays we can meet and talk, sing, watch TV and listen to the radio” . Villagers seem to be little by little moving toward more consumerism and are in a period of transition from traditional society to a more modern one.
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Chapter III Livelihoods Systems 3.1. Introduction
In the following sections we detail the economic activities and resources which make up the livelihoods systems of the affected minority communities, and examine the differences which occur between households and communities and the factors lying behind these differences.The livelihoods package or portfolio varies from household to household and from group to group, and may change over time, depending mainly on labor, access to natural resources and to markets. In the following pages we present the findings of the research on the existing livelihoods systems of the effected ethnic people in 11 villages in the three hydropower project areas. This part of our report has two purposes. First, to report on the livelihoods systems practiced by these various groups and their relationship with the environment and with external markets and services; second, to identify elements of production systems and management capacities, especially in the management of relocation, which would be valuable in planned relocation in the context of hydropower development and in achieving continuity, in avoiding disruption in livelihoods and social systems and their stability. The report will cover the following items:
• ‘Resources’ means the assets owned by households including land, human resources or household labor, and natural resources used as sources of food and income.
• Livelihoods activities ranked from the wider to the lesser activities, namely swidden cultivation, lowland cultivation, NTFP gathering , fishing, livestock, home gardening, small scale handicraft, gold panning, wage labor, hunting, trading and selling produce in the market, upland crop and tree crop production, and logging.
• Resource management, institutions and organizations, labor use and traditional norms and traditional relocation.
3.2 Livelihoods systems
The tables in this chapter provide data on household head statements of the most important uses of labor for purposes of food production and agricultural income generation. The data also provide a source of information on land use for five different kinds of farming – paddy or lowland crop production, swidden (cut and burn), gardening or field crop, livestock, and planted trees. The following sections of the report deal with access to natural resources, including forest, fishing, hunted game, logging of timber, gold panning, and commerce and trade. These are not the only occupations in which these communities engage. The survey questionnaire asked for the four most important uses of labor, so lesser but vital elements in the household portfolio are not included here. These data provide a guide to the activities which make up the main sources of food and livelihoods portfolios of virtually all ethnic minority communities impacted by hydropower systems. Greater and more specific detail, especially on fishing, non-‐timber forest projects, livestock keeping and of labor use, is provided in the following sections and tables. Of 389 households, almost a hundred per cent of households engage in non-‐timber forest products collection as their third or fourth most
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important use of labor(Tables3.1, 3.2, 3.3). Virtually all households collect firewood from the forest, but this is not recorded as a major labor use, which in fact it is, because it is exclusively women’s work, as is fetching water, child care and food preparation, which is not regarded as important. A high percentage of households engage in fishing, and this is important as fish are the highest source of protein, but is mainly in very small quantities done by children or women, unless the village is close to or on a major river, when it becomes a specialist activity and a major source of income for some of the men. The same is true of hunting, conducted by most households and involving all of its active members at some times of the year, but a specialty and providing a major source of income from sales to market traders for some men. A notable factor is the differentiation between villages in the same grouping. While the factors behind different land use and production systems may be obvious, the recognition of factors of accessibility to roads and market or of access to irrigated lowlands is not automatic in government or developer relocation and livelihoods restoration planning. Both these factors are apparent in the data on agricultural livelihoods systems at Hatxan and at Somboun, respectively related to the larger presence of irrigated paddy available to farmers and the larger number of Lao-‐Tai households at Hatxanh. We examine the function of the household as the agency for management of a “portfolio” of core property, labor and livelihoods systems. We identify eleven main sources of livelihoods, production systems and food supply and security.
• Upland swidden (cut and burn) rice and other crop production • Lowland rice production • Home or river bank gardens • Upland crop and tree crop production • Non-‐timber forest production • Hunting • Fishing • Small scale artisanal or commercial activity • Exchange and waged agricultural labor • Waged employment in business
Livelihoods portfolios of households relate to a number of factors:
• Stage of development in a family life cycle and thus its active labor and dependents • Skills base • Possession of production equipment, linked to land use and farming system • Access to transportation and communication equipment • Access to schools or other sources of skills • Location in relation to commercial services • Credit and inputs to agricultural and retail markets • Employment markets • Location in relation to natural resources such as forest, farm land and fisheries
A common determining factor in livelihoods differentiation is that of location, and the recognition of location and access to resources, which is practiced by the affected ethnic communities. The list of livelihoods sources is not exhaustive, and the variability of sources depends again on location. For example, access to gold deposits for artisanal mining or river panning is a common source of cash
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income to the villages located close to the river. Both gold panning and unexploded ordinance collected for sale as scrap metal are common to Brao villagers along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, where the transmission line will pass from Pouvong District in Attapeu Province in Laos across the border to Pleiku in Kontum Province in Vietnam. All of these areas of artisanal and traditional gold mining have now been affected by the intervention of Vietnamese mining companies operating under concession agreements awarded during 2008 to 2012 by the provincial and district governments.The collection of unexploded ordinance (UXO) as a source of income for sale as scrap metal in villages along the Ho Chi Minh Trail reflects the fact that this was among the most heavily bombed areas in the world, dating from the American-‐Vietnam war. The differences in livelihoods systems and the livelihoods portfolios of individual households differs significantly between the five villages affected by the transmission line, and differ again from those of the villages affected by the two “supplier” dams: Xekaman 1 and Sekong 3 Upper. The differences which we observed derive partly from their agro-‐ecological and geographic location, their characteristics, and partly from the distance from and access to markets and services and the impact which these have on household labor, notably on young men and women in wage or migrant labor. The livelihoods systems of people at Hatxanh on National Road 18B, only 30 km from Attapeu, for example, is affected by three factors not found in other villages or potentially affected by the transmission line: the presence there of a sizeable population of Lao-‐Tai alongside the predominantly Brao population; its proximity to Attapeu and to the major highway; and the recent presence of a Vietnamese rubber plantation, which has taken a large part of the adjacent forest available to these and other Brao in Xaisettha District. Villagers seem to be in a stage of transition from their traditional livelihood activities to work-‐for-‐pay in locallabor markets. In Hindam, where development projects have been implemented such as rubber plantations and hydropower development projects, 34 out of 49 laborers have opportunities to work in these projects. Thisgives villagers an alternative livelihood activity rather than depending on traditional livelihood activities (Table 3.2). Table 3.1. Labor and income source: Villages affected by transmission line
Type of labor used
Villages Total Rank
Hatxanh Namxuan Phouyang Phoukeua Somboune Swidden cultivation 162 79 42 50 208 541 1
NTFP 180 33 21 31 167 432 2 Lowland cultivation 310 0 0 0 39 349 3
Gold panning 74 66 11 5 125 281 4 Tree plantation 44 4 25 6 26 105 5 Fishing 45 0 2 16 19 82 6 Hunting 14 9 12 18 28 81 7 Gardening 42 0 0 12 3 57 8 Wage labor 49 0 0 0 4 53 9 Commerce/trade 15 9 1 4 15 44 10 Livestock 10 11 0 6 0 27 11
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Total 945 211 114 148 634 2052 Table 3.2. Labor and income source: Villages affected by Xekaman 1
Type of labor used Village
Total Rank Hindam Donkhen
Swidden cultivation 81 44 125 1 Wage labor 34 15 49 2 NTFP 44 3 47 3 Fishing 26 14 40 4 Gardening 7 6 13 5 Tree plantation 2 11 13 6 Hunting 10 3 13 7 Gold panning 1 0 1 8 Livestock 0 1 1 9 Lowland cultivation 0 0 0 10 Commerce trade 0 0 0 11 Total 205 97 302 Table 3.3. Labor and income source: Villages affected by Sekong 3
Type of labor use Villages
Total Rank Navasene North Navajatsan Navakang Navasene South
Swidden cultivation 60 86 64 35 245 1 Lowland cultivation 50 20 20 51 141 2 NTFP 33 35 37 27 132 3 Fishing 26 27 36 13 102 4 Gold panning 38 17 0 6 61 5 Gardening 5 12 23 7 47 6 Livestock 3 15 5 0 23 7 Wage labor 4 8 4 6 22 8 Tree plantation 2 1 7 4 14 9 Commerce/trade 0 1 2 0 3 10 Hunting 0 0 1 0 1 11 Total 221 222 199 149 791 3.2.1 Agricultural labor use and income sources
The tables set out below provide data on household head statements of the rank from the most important to lesser uses of labor for purposes of food production and agricultural income generation. The data also provide a source of information on land use for five different kinds of farming: swidden (cut and burn), paddy or lowland crop production, gardening or field crop, livestock, and planted trees and access to natural resources, including forest, fishing, hunted game, logging of timber, gold panning, and commerce and trade. These are not the only occupations in which these communities engage. The
27
survey questionnaire asked for the four most important uses of labor, so lesser but vital elements in the household portfolio are not included here. These data provide a guide to the activities which make up the main sources of food and livelihoods portfolios of virtually all ethnic minority communities impacted by hydropower systems. Greater and more specific detail, especially on fishing, non-‐timber forest products, livestock keeping and of labor use is also provided in this chapter. Tables 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3 (above) show the use of labor in 11 villages in the three hydropower projects households. Almost a hundred percent of household laborused for food production is given to swidden cultivation as the first rank, followed by gathering NTFPs, then lowland farming. This is the case except in Hatxanh where lowland cultivation ranks first and in three Nava villages close to Sekong Town, allocated to lowland areas within 3 km of their existing farmland location and residential sites. All engage in non-‐timber forest products collection. Virtually all households collect firewood from the forest, but this is not recorded as a major labor use, which in fact it is, because it is exclusively women’s work, as is fetching water, child care and food preparation. A high number of households engage in fishing, which is important as the main source of protein, but is mainly in very small quantities and done by children or women, unless the village is close to or on a major river, when it is a specialist activity and a major source of income of some of the men. The same is true of hunting, conducted by most households and involving all of its active members at some time of the year, but a specialty and providing a major source of income from sales to market traders for some men. These data are not included in the tables. A notable factor is the differentiation between villages in the same grouping. While the factors behind different land use and production systems may be obvious, the recognition of factors of accessibility to roads and markets or of access to irrigated lowland is not automatic in government or developer relocation and livelihoods restoration planning. Both these factors are apparent in the data on agricultural livelihoods systems at Hatxan and at Somboun, respectively related to the larger presence of irrigated paddy available to farmers and the larger number of Lao Loum households at Hatxanh. Swidden farming is ranked first aslabor use at Somboun, Namxuan, Phouyang, Phoukea in the Ho Chi Minh corridor, and in the similarly isolated villages of Hindam and Donkhen impacted by Xanxai and Xekaman 1 reservoirs. While Hatxanh, located close totown and where arable land and irrigation are available, the highest rank of labor use is lowland cultivation. Stated rankings of importance of land use in the two villages impacted by Xekaman 1 and its subsidiary Xanxai dam, Hindam and Donkhen are evidence of the dependency on swidden rice production, with “settled” farm land in both villages, and constituting “home garden” plots inland areas used for substantial cash crops or beans, corn or root crop production for the market or for food in common Lao farming practice (Table 3.2). By contrast, land use in the GrandNava villages impacted by Sekong 3 Upper, which are in valley land in the relatively low hills of the Sekong valley, are much more evenly divided between swidden and paddy. This pattern has been maintained in areas where these villages have been resettled close to their old village sites, and reflect sharing landin the two villages which have been relocated or themselves have relocated in close proximity and in an area of shared lowland with access to irrigation (Table 3.3).
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3.2.2 Swidden agriculture in livelihood systems of people affected by hydropower systems
The study reveals that almost 100% of the surveyed population depends on swidden agriculture as their main source of food. More than 99% are dependent to some degree on non-‐timber forest products. On average, each household is cultivating about 1.0 hectare of swidden rice land at one time, but has access to about three times that amount of bush-‐fallow land, areas of the forest which after being used for 2 or 3 years are allowed to regenerate for a further 4 to 5 years before reuse. The system thus allows for regeneration of trees or for secondary forest growth for a period of about 4 to 5 years between periods of 2 to 3 years crop production. Land use policy of the Lao government focuses on discouragement of swidden agriculture, moving small highland villages to consolidate village locations, and conversion of the communities’ agricultural system to paddy rice plantation or other settled crop production on continuously cultivated land. The main challenge of this policy is the lack of available arable land, and particularly of suitably irrigated lowland areas for paddy rice production. A second difficulty is the lack of experiences of upland farmers in adopting irrigated rice production systems. Government and development agencies seem to be unaware or to ignore the reliance of rural population on swidden, or on the lack of arable land for any substitution by settled paddy or other crop production. This policy has not been effective in practice in reducing the level of swidden cultivation, Provincial and district officials have not sufficiency pursued them, and tacitly accept the continuing of swidden production. The Participative Poverty Assessment reported that measures to relocate upland villages in lowland areas and attempts to prevent swidden agriculture were the single biggest factor in the impoverishment and dislocation of ethnic highland groups, and the biggest cause overall of rural poverty in Lao PDR. Our study indicates that, needing to immediately ensure or replace rice supplies, virtually all resettled households will, on relocation, continue or immediately resume swidden production. For this reason, they need to travel to suitable forest areas to find land to clear or they resume previous forest swidden crop areas. Thus it was found that villagers at Hatxanh, for example, who lost their surrounding forest to rubber plantation in 2009-‐2010, forest where they previously hunted, collected NTFP and practiced swidden rice production, have almost all now resumed swidden production in “pioneer” areas which are newly explored and cleared in forest in more distant areas of Xaisetta District.Those who have not resumed swidden are mainly Lao Loum and are households with wage earning members working in Attapeu. A study of the impact of hydropower reservoirs in highland villages throughout Laos in 2010 indicated that the population displaced in inundated areas in 40 hydropower schemes throughout Laos then planned and in process of implementation was 104,000 people, or some 20,000 households. A total of 280,000 people, about 50,000 households, may eventually be displaced by the whole projected hydropower program in Laos. Assuming 1.0 hectare per household under swidden cultivation, this suggests that there were, in the currently planned program, about 20,000 hectares of land under active swidden cultivation and perhaps double that amount under total swidden cropping by ethnic groups impacted by hydropower developments9. 9The socio-‐geography of mining and hydro in Lao PDR -‐ World Bank http://siteresources.worldbank.org/LAOPRDEXTN/Resources/293683-‐1301084874098/LDR2010_Mappi
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The area of reservoirs directly impacting population and forest areas of communities in NPA was given in the study as 517.0 km2 to 5,170,000 hectares. The total area of forest inundated in hydropower reservoirs in NPA was 2,548.6 km2. The amount of swidden land being inundated and for which alternative land has to be found for the affected ethnic minority farmers is about 50,000 ha, about 0.002% of the total area of NPA inundated by hydropower schemes10. Given the tendency for and dependency on continuation or resumption of swidden rice and other swidden agriculture among the surveyed population, and the evidence of it in other areas of hydropower inundation of highland villages, the research findings indicate that, from an overall economic or land use point of view, the feasibility or benefit of requiring village communities impacted by hydropower to abandon swidden agriculture should be reassessed in land use policy and in specific resettlement planning. Three conclusions could be drawn from the results of the NUOL study, the World Bank study and from national statistics for swidden land use in inundated areas. Firstly, the affectedpopulation are strongly dependent on swidden rice and other crop production in Attapeu, and are likely to resume swidden systems after any relocation, mainly because they do not have assured access to lowland areas suitable for paddy. Secondly, the economic or land use advantages from attempting to prevent or restrict swidden systems are minimal. Thirdly, the dependency on swidden agriculture is the main basis of livelihoods and labor use of the concerned households. Relocated farming communities cannot risk a failure of food supply by not continuing annual renewal of swidden production, and they absorb the relocation of swidden areas as one which constitutes a normal rotation and a change of location but not of the commitment of labor and production process, seeking any available areas to maintain the annual cycle. A constraining factor is that both swidden production and collecting of non-‐timber forest productsare in sheer volume the major sources of food which help local people maintain food security and elimination of poverty. There is also the constraint of the limitation of available agricultural land, and the lack of knowledge and capacity of ethnic people on adoption of settled permanent agriculture or paddy. The ADB Rural Development Participative Poverty Assessment Committee (2008) have drawn attention to the negative social impacts of the relocation of villages of ethnic minority people whose land and houses and accessibility to forest are affected by hydropower projects. Attempts to stop those practices are only feasible if the concerned communities are physically prevented from continuing this principal means of livelihood. Where this has occurred, it appears to be deeply disruptive to the wellbeing and to the social structure of the people concerned. Almost all of the surveyed population depended on widenagriculture as their main source of food. At least partial changes to paddy rice production has occurred at Hatxan close to Attapeu and the three Nava villages close to Sekong Town, allocated to lowland areas within 3 km of their existing farmland location and residential sites. Continuation of swidden post relocation Our study indicates that, needing to immediately replace rice supplies, all the researched communities will, on relocation, continue or immediately resume swidden production, travelling to suitable forest
10Project research.
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areas to find land to clear or resume previous forest swidden crop areas. Thus it was found in this survey that villagers at Hatxanh who lost their surrounding forest to rubber plantations in 2009-‐2010, have almost all now resumed swidden production in newly explored “pioneer” areas, some in the Dong Ampanh NPA. Those households which had not resumed or are not now practicing swidden farming are mainly households with wage earning members working in Attapeu or are Lao-‐Tai rather than Brao. Hatxanh is located close to Attapeu and with a population of about 40% non-‐minority Lao-‐Tai households, and with substantial low-‐lying farming areas where paddy rice is produced. Swidden is, however, the main source of food and employs most labor of the Brao ethnic minority community at Hatxan, with a minority of Brao and most Lao-‐Tai engaged in paddy on available lowlands (Table 2.1) Somboun, the one large village with available flat lowland crop areas among the three villages in the Ho Chi Minh Trail along the edge of the DongAmpanh NPA, has a majority of farmers with swidden as the main occupation and main source of food and income. Most households at Somboun depend on swidden as the major source of food and income. Namxuan, which is a “satellite” hamlet of Somboun, originally a location of farming shelters for households at Somboun with field crop and banana gardens, similarly relies on swidden farms as their main rice supply. Two other villages affected by the transmission line in the Ho Chi Minh Trail corridor, Poukeua and Phouyang have virtually no lowland crop, lying in hilly surroundings more typical of Brao and other ethnic groups in the area, and relying entirely on swidden as their source of rice. Continuity in swidden production is also the basis of social and residential continuity. Traditionally, relocation of the community is closely linked to continuity of rice production. The relocation of swidden farming sites is practiced in order to allow regeneration of old production areas and to take up the rotational use and regeneration of swidden in new fertile forest areas, but also to achieve continuity and avoidance of risk in community welfare and in food supply and food security. Often also the relocation is triggered by natural disaster, such as Typhoon Ketsana, which gave rise to the relocation of both Navakang and Navajatsan in Sekong and DonKhen in Attapeu. It is also undertaken in response to other shocks, such as serious illness, which the community associates with the mood and behavior of spirits and with witchcraft, as characteristics of an area needing to be left for cleansing and renewal. The change and choice of relocation site is made in consultation with the spirits of both the old and the new sites, conducted by community leaders and elders11. As with continuous production, which is the aim of all households in periods of settled residence and livelihoods management, risk avoidance is closely linked with food, and especially rice sufficiency and deficits. Rice deficits for several months of the year are suffered by virtually all households and routinely require either food to be obtained from forest products, which make up a substantial part of the diet throughout the year, but especially during rice shortage in the rainy season, or from cash purchases from off-‐farm activities or wage employment. The livelihoods and food production system are adapted to an annual and perennial situation of food deficiency, seen in the malnutrition of children and other aspects of material poverty as reflected
11 See Appendix 2, Transcript of interview with the key informant of Navakang, project records, 2013.
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fromin-‐depth interviews, but a poverty which is mainly cyclical and which is borne as the normal state of a subsistence and traditional culture. Agricultural production systems and tools The findings confirm that agricultural production is for almost all families by hand, and that there is limited power driven traction as a means of cultivation or transportation. Where these exist in the ownership of the surveyed villages, it is related either to access to lowland paddy production or to the use of a hand tractor and trailer as transportation. Out of 50 households surveyed in the two villages impacted by Xekaman 1 dam, 32 at Hindam and 18 at DonKhen, none has a plough, hand tractor, trailer, water pump, or brush cutter, which are considered standard equipment in most lowland Laos households. All 32 households at Hindam and 17 out of 18 households at Donkhen have cutlasses, axes and hoes, mostly 3 per household. These are standard equipment for swidden clearance and cultivation by hand (Table 3.4). Table 3.4. Possession of agricultural tools
Villages Axe Cutlass
Min Mode Max Min Mode Max Hindam 1 2 9 1 3 10 Donkhen 1 3 9 2 3 20
3.2.3 Land holdings
The finding of our study show that the majority of households cultivate between 0.5 and 1.5 hectares of swidden rice land at any one time, but had access to approximately three to four hectares of bush-‐fallow land areas in the forest which they allowed to regenerate after being used for 2-‐3 years, and which will be allowed to develop secondary forest growth for several years before again being cleared for upland rice production and subsequent crop production (Table 3.5) . This finding corresponds to the study by MoAFand NAFRI, which found that on average each household occupies at any one time about 1.0 hectare of swidden rice land12. A common practice is for swidden land to be used for hill rice, rain-‐fed production for 1 to 3 years, and then to be used for maize or pulse crops for a further period, while regenerated bush-‐fallow area or a new area of forest is cleared for rice production. There has been little change of farm size in the past five years according to household heads at Hindam and Donkhen. Discussions in focus groups and the data from related questions on the absence of any sales of surplus rice and on labor inputs, suggest that the stable farm size reflects constraints on labor inputs, since there are no effective limits on land clearance. Farm sizes are at the limit of what each household can farmusingtheir own labor and from labor exchange with others. From discussions with the affected villagers at a forum in Attapeu on November 23-‐25, 2013, it was found that swidden cultivation land has decrease due to the expansion of rubber plantation concessionsto Vietnamese companies.
12. Lao uplands, and with the Provincial statistics.
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Table 3.5. Possession of land
Cases Villages Size of land in hectares
Total < 0.5 ha 0.5 -‐1 ha 1.01 -‐1.5 ha 1.51 -‐2 ha >2 ha
Transmission line
Hatxanh 3 24 16 25 41 109
Namxuan 1 17 1 1 2 22
Phouyang 0 11 1 0 0 12
Phoukeua 0 15 1 0 1 17
Somboune 3 52 8 13 5 81
Total 7 119 27 39 49 241
Sekong 3
Navasene North 1 6 5 3 1 16 Navajatsan 5 18 1 3 0 27 Navakang 7 8 4 3 1 23 Navasene South 5 7 3 5 0 20 Total 18 39 13 14 2 86
Xekaman 1 Hindam 9 21 1 0 0 31 Donkhen 5 12 0 1 0 18 Total 14 33 1 1 0 49
3.3 Householdlabor
In the following sections we examine the labor composition, duration of working in agricultural covering time spent for swidden and lowland cultivation, gardening and tree plantations, then move to the issue of labor use and labor exchange between households in the three groups of villages. Most households have 2 ,3 and 4 active laborers working in agricultural sector as shown in Table 3.6.
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Table 3.6. Labor working in agriculture sector by household
Cases Villages Number of laborers/household
Total 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Transmission line
Hatxanh 1 2 56 23 18 6 6 2 0 114 Namxuan 0 1 6 6 2 5 0 2 0 22 Phouyang 0 0 3 4 4 0 1 0 0 12 Phoukeua 1 0 10 2 3 1 1 0 0 18 Somboune 2 3 30 22 15 5 4 2 1 84 Total 4 6 105 57 42 17 12 6 1 250
Sekong 3
Navasene North 0 1 5 2 5 2 0 2 0 17 Navajatsan 2 2 11 7 3 1 2 1 0 29 Navakang 0 1 10 3 5 2 1 1 0 23 Navasene South 0 3 7 1 3 4 2 0 0 20 Total 2 7 33 13 16 9 5 4 0 89
Xekaman 1 Hindam 1 14 14 2 1 1 0 0 0 32 Donkhen 2 12 3 1 0 2 0 0 0 18 Total 3 26 17 3 1 3 0 0 0 50
Time spent working in agricultural production Swidden cultivation is practiced among the households in all three groups of people ,except Hatxanh. Time spent for swidden is much longer than for rice field cultivation. Data from the participatory calendar made with local people strongly supports this finding. Table 3.7 shows that the group affected by the transmission line whereas the lowland cultivation is more practiced than other groups, as a result the highest number of households working in agricultural production is 9 months, while in the other two groups, swidden cultivation too up 10 months. Table 3.7. Time spent working in agricultural sector by household
Cases Villages Number of monthsworking
Total 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Transmission line
Hatxanh 1 1 1 2 2 5 32 4 12 29 10 5 10 114 Namxuan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 9 0 1 22 Phouyang 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 4 2 4 12 Phoukeua 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 7 6 2 0 18 Somboune 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 58 19 0 4 84 Total 4 1 1 2 2 5 32 4 17 106 48 9 19 250
Xekaman 1 Hindam 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 16 2 7 32 Donkhen 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 5 8 2 18 Total 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 21 10 9 50
Sekong 3
Navasene North 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 11 1 0 17 Navajatsan 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 5 10 8 1 29 Navakang 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 7 15 0 0 23 Navasene South 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 13 2 1 20 Total 2 0 0 1 0 0 2 1 4 17 49 11 2 89
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Farm labor exchange In this section we examine the labor compensation, labor use and labor exchange of households in the three groups of villages. Both quantitative and qualitative data indicate that the majority of farm labor received in exchange with other households is for the clearance of a swidden farm and some in rice planting/sowing and in rice harvesting. Remuneration may be in food, very rarely in cash, but predominantly in the form of exchange labor in all swidden farming communities. Even in Hatxanh, where there is a predominance of lowland paddy production, and at Somboun where there is a substantial lowland farming, and where the economy is more monetized and market oriented, is similar both in the use of exchange or hired labor and in forms of remuneration. Nearly 80% of remuneration is still predominantly by labor. A more detailed analysis of household labor force composition and labor use making up the household livelihoods portfolio can be obtained from the data provided for households at Hindam and at Donkhen, in Appendix 1. This analysis provides information for all members of every household concerning their livelihoods activities by season. It can be seen from the data, which divides households by size and by ratio of active workers to dependents, that households which are relatively newly formed and those which have aged, have a much smaller labor force and have a smaller range of income earning activities than more mature and larger households. The smaller households tend also to have longer periods of rice deficiency, reflecting the smaller areas of swidden they are able to cultivate. Such households may also have a greater involvement in non-‐farm and non-‐NTFP collection, and earn income from wage labor or other activities, such as gold panning or logging, from which to purchase rice at the market. A normal part of the swidden farming system is that of pooled and exchange labor, with up to 10 or 15 people working together to clear a new or regenerated area of forest for swidden rice cultivation. This is most often associated with creating a common farm area, divided into separate farm plots of the member households, but having common fencing and against wild animal incursions. One effect of this common pooling of farm area is to overcome cyclical shortages of labor arising in normal family life cycle development, so that households with only one or two active workers can rely on others for help with heavy work by able-‐bodied men, or in sowing and harvesting, traditionally done by groups of women. The system is one which is dependent on reciprocity, exchange without material payment, rather than on wages, but people working together will often receive in-‐kind rewards, such as food and water from the household or family group of households benefiting from their labor (Tables 3.8-‐3.10).
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Table 3.8. Mode of labor compensation: Transmission line
Villages
Mode of compensation (in %)
Total In cash In-‐kind Labor
reciprocity
In cash and labor
reciprocity
In-‐kind and labor
reciprocity
Hatxanh 1.4 18.9 79.7 0.0 0.0 100 Namxuan 0.0 0.0 100.0 0.0 0.0 100
Phouyang 0.0 0.0 80.0 0.0 20.0 100
Phoukeua 0.0 33.3 44.4 0.0 22.3 100 Somboune 0.0 8.5 83.0 2.1 6.4 100 Total 0.6 14.3 79.6 0.7 4.8 100 Table 3.9. Mode of labor compensation: Xekaman 1
Villages
Mode of labor compensation (in %)
Total Nothing Labor
reprocity In-‐kind In-‐kind, labor reciprocity
Nothing, labor reciprocity
Hindam 33.3 16.2 22.2 5.6 22.2 100 Donkhen 0.0 38.5 7.7 7.7 46.1 100 Total 19.35 25.81 16.13 6.45 32.26 100
Table 3.10. Mode of labor compensation: Sekong 3
Villages
Mode of labor compensation (in %)
Total Nothing Labor
reprocity In-‐kind , labor reciprocity
Nothing, labor reciprocity
Navasene North 0.0 63.6 9.1 27.3 100 Navajatsan 14.3 85.7 0.0 0.0 100 Navakang 0.0 100.0 0.0 0.0 100 Navasene South 6.2 87.5 0.0 6.3 100 Total 5.3 81.6 2.6 10.5 100
3.4 Gross production
Rice is the main source of caloric intake for ethnic groups in Laos and therefore rice production is the main activity in their livelihood system. The ethnic groups in effected villages are no exception. They also rely on rice as their staple food. However, the capacity and the potential to produce the rice depends on many factors, including geographical location, climate, quality of soil, waterand technology. One important factor is the experience of the farmer. Their rice production yield is still low due to the lack of arable land and experience in low land cultivation. Correlating to these two factors, this study has found
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that the majority of respondents in transmission line villages, and in Sekong 3 and Xekaman 1 affected villages, produce rice less than 500 kg per year. For example, among 209 families in transmission line effected villages, 72 families (approximately one-‐third of households) produce less than 500 kg per year. Less than half are able to produce more than 1000 kg of rice in a year (Table 3.11). Table 3.11. Gross production by household
Cases Villages
Gross production in kg Total
<500 500-‐1000
1001-‐1500
1501-‐2000 >2000
Transmission line
Hatxanh 23 6 4 11 28 72 Namxuan 20 9 1 0 26 56 Phouyang 15 3 5 0 6 29 Phoukeua 24 3 0 0 2 29 Somboune 18 0 0 1 4 23
Total 100 21 10 12 66 209
Xekaman 1 Hindam 17 8 5 0 0 30 Donkhen 10 6 0 0 1 17
Total 27 14 5 0 1 47
Sekong 3
Navasene North 4 5 1 0 6 16
Navajatsan 13 6 2 2 0 23
Navakang 7 5 2 0 3 17
Navasene South 5 6 3 1 4 19
Total 29 22 8 3 13 75 3.5 Riceshortage and sufficiency
In Laos, rice shortage is a fundamental problem of populations living in remote areas. A shortage of rice is experienced normally for between 2 and 4 months by all except the largest households. This issue is no exception for the ethnic groups in the villages affected by hydropower system in Attapeu and Sekong. Other research has indicated thatall ethnic minority groups in Laos, and particularly in Attapeu, suffer very high levels of malnutrition, particularly child malnutrition and stunting, mainly because of rice shortages in the family diet. Data presented in the Tables 3.12 and 3.13 show the incidence of rice shortages faced by these villages. The situation is more severein the case of transmission linevillages. In 250 households, 103 reported that they do not have enough rice. More details are shown in Table 3.13, which indicates the length of the shortage. Most households experienced rice shortages of between 2 to 6 months (Tables 3.12-‐3.13).
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Table 3.12. Rice for consumption by households
Cases Villages Sufficiently of rice
Total Not enough Enough Surplus
Transmission line
Hatxanh 30 56 23 109 Namxuan 8 11 3 22 Phouyang 4 5 3 12 Phoukeua 9 7 1 17 Somboune 52 16 13 81 Total 103 95 43 241
Xekaman 1 Hindam 20 12 0 32 Donkhen 11 6 1 18 Total 31 18 1 50
Sekong 3
Navasene North 10 7 0 17 Navajatsan 23 4 0 27 Navakang 17 4 2 23 Navasene South 8 6 6 20 Total 58 21 8 87
Table 3.13. Number of months experiencing rice shortage by household
Cases Villages Number of months rice shortage
Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Transmission line
Hatxanh 2 4 6 7 2 4 1 2 0 0 1 1 30 Namxuan 1 1 2 0 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 8 Phouyang 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 4 Phoukeua 0 5 1 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 9 Somboune 4 7 12 8 5 5 2 5 2 0 1 1 52 Total 7 17 21 17 11 10 4 7 5 0 2 2 103
Xekaman 1 Hindam 1 3 1 3 0 2 1 1 5 1 2 0 20 Donkhen 0 0 2 2 0 0 1 1 3 0 2 0 10 Total 2 3 3 5 0 2 2 2 8 1 4 0 31
Sekong 3
Navasene North 0 0 3 1 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 10
Navajatsan 1 2 0 2 5 2 2 2 5 0 1 1 23 Navakang 0 2 1 1 7 4 0 2 0 0 0 0 17 Navasene South 0 3 2 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 8
Total 1 7 6 4 16 10 3 4 5 0 1 1 58 To cope with or fill the gap of insufficiency of rice, villagers strongly rely on natural resources, for example, collecting NTFPs as food and as goods for selling at the market (for more details Appendix 3), or fishing, gold panning, wage labor in rubber plantations, or construction work. Nearly all family members participate in many of these activities, including children.
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3.6 Home gardening
The type of garden (suan in Lao language) varies between suan khua, which is a home garden for salad or herbal crops used on a daily basis for home consumption, and arable fields, which may be upland or riverside, and which produce corn, beans, chili, cabbage, and other similar crops mainly for sale at markets. In our data, all plots below one rai(one rai equals 1,600 m2 ) in an area can be taken as suan khua, and all those more than one raias suan for commercial vegetables, orchards or field crop production. Table 3.14. Households that do gardening Cases Villages No Yes Total
Transmission line
Hatxanh 42 67 109 Namxuan 18 4 22 Phouyang 2 10 12 Phoukeua 12 4 16 Somboune 47 35 82 Total 121 120 241
Xekaman 1 Hindam 12 20 32 Donkhen 2 16 18 Total 14 36 50
Sekong 3
Navasene North 9 8 17 Navajatsan 16 13 29 Navakang 11 12 23 Navasene South 7 13 20 Total 43 46 89
3.7 Non-‐timber forest products
The second most important source of food after rice production is non-‐timber forest products as ranked in Table 3.16. All households were dependent to some degree on the collection of NTFPs. Those few which did not are non-‐farming households commercially engaged or employed in administration, and obtained forest products from neighbors or family members. This widespread use of forest food products reflects the agro-‐ecological situation, i.e. their location in highland forested areas, and the economics of food security and labor use, but it also reflects food practices and supply throughout Laos. NTFPs area major source of green vegetable foods, garnishes and salads for virtually all affected households. They make up a substantial source of both carbohydrate food intake, especially of bamboo shoots, and of sales at markets. They are of particular importance during periods of rice deficit, mainly in the rainy season. NTFPs, especially bamboo shoots and various green leafy vegetables, are purchased by agents from urban markets, and are a routine source of cash income for women. Thus forests are also sources of cash income and other resources, for example, medicinal crops sold at markets, and rattan at Donkhen for making of baskets and other handicrafts which mainly the women use, and for house construction, which permits the creation of a wide and diverse portfolio of
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livelihoods systems by individual households. Labor resources, access and individual specialization all play a part in differential livelihoods portfolios. One issue is that of the decrease of forest cover resulting from the expansion of the large-‐scale rubber plantation projects, particularly in Hindam and Donkhen. It was reported through in-‐depth interviews and women’s’ group discussion that they have great difficulty to find food and order supplies from forests caused by the change of size, shape and the richness of the forests. They need to travel longer distances and need more time to access to forests. Table 3.17 shows the distance from the respondents house to the forest can be more than 3 kilometers. Most villagers need to spend a full day in the forest. The destruction of the forests coupled with the relocation and the expansion of development projects seems to deeply impact on women’s lives. Gathering NTFPs in minority ethnic groups communities iswork totally given to women, therefore the more difficulty to access to forests the more women‘s work becomes harder. This excerpt was narratedby a women at Navajatsan in Sekong resettled in 2009: “Every day I go to collect vegetable from the forest for preparing food for myfamily. It is very hard work. The forest is too far. Sometimes I need to walk half a day or a whole day. In my old village it was easy. The forest was nearby and I could collect many things. I did not need to spend so much time in the forest. In a day I could collect vegetablesthen prepare food and sell some in the market. Now I cannot do that, just collect and make food.” Interview August, 2013. The narration above and the data shown in Tables 3.15-‐3.17 reflect the changes of access to forest of the three groups affected by hydropower and other development projects in Attapeu and Sekong, and the negative impact on women. Women are perceived to have lower status in society after relocation (Tables 3.15-‐3.18). Table 3.15. Perception on women’s status in the community after relocation
Cases Villages
Level (in %) Total
Higher Same Lower
transmission line
Hatxanh 7.9 42.1 50.0 100 Namxuan 9.1 31.8 59.1 100 Phouyang 25.0 25.0 50.0 100 Phoukeua 16.7 44.4 38.9 100 Somboune 20.2 28.6 51.2 100
Xekaman 1 Hindam 9.4 25.0 65.6 100 Donkhen 0.0 22.2 77.8 100
Sekong 3
Navasene North 0.0 70.6 29.4 100 Navajatsan 13.8 55.2 31.0 100 Navakang 8.7 56.5 34.8 100 Navasene South 5.0 55.0 40.0 100
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Table 3.16. Number of households collecting NTFPs
Cases Villages No Yes Total
transmission line
Hatxanh 0 114 114
Namxuan 0 22 22
Phouyang 0 12 12
Phoukeua 0 18 18
Somboune 0 84 84
Total 0 250 250
Xekaman 1
Hindam 0 32 32
Donkhen 0 18 18
Total 0 50 50
Sekong 3
Navasene North 0 17 17
Navajatsan 3 26 29
Navakang 0 23 23
Navasene South 0 20 20
Total 3 86 89 Table 3.17. Distance from house to forest
Cases Villages Distance to forest Total
<1km 1 km 2 km 3 km >3 km
Transmission line
Hatxan 45 19 14 5 31 114 Namxuan 21 1 0 0 0 22 Phouyang 6 4 2 0 0 12 Phoukeua 12 2 3 0 1 18 Somboun 74 4 4 1 1 84 Total 158 30 23 6 33 250
Xekaman 1 Hindam 8 10 5 4 5 32 Donkhen 11 4 1 2 0 18 Total 19 14 6 6 5 50
Sekong 3
Navasene North 7 4 3 2 1 17 Navajatsan 3 2 7 1 13 26 Navakang 8 12 3 0 0 23 Navasene South 3 11 4 2 0 20 Total 21 29 17 5 14 86
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Table 3.18. Time spent in forest
Cases Villages Time used in Forest
Total 1/2 day 1 day 2 days 3 days >3 days
Transmission line
Hatxanh 40 48 7 8 11 114
Nanmsuan 2 18 1 1 0 22 Phouyang 0 8 1 0 3 12 Phoukeua 1 17 0 0 0 18 Somboune 25 38 8 5 8 84
Total 68 129 17 14 22 250
Xekaman 1 Hindam 8 16 2 4 2 32
Donkhen 2 16 0 0 0 18 Total 10 32 2 4 2 50
Sekong 3
Navasene North 9 8 0 0 0 17 Navajatsan 12 13 0 1 1 26
Navakang 17 6 0 0 0 23
Navasene South 8 12 0 0 0 20
Total 46 39 0 1 1 86
3.8 Livestock
Animal raising is animportant activity in the livelihood system of ethnic groups in the villages affected by the three hydropower development projects. The research found that most households are raising some kind of domestic animal, such as poultry, pigs, buffalos, cows and goats. The responsibility for raising animasis mainly husband and wife. The purpose for raising animals is mainly for consumption and sale. Animals will also be used as an in rituals (Tables 3.19-‐3.24).
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Table 3.19. Number of households with domestic animals in transmission line affected villages
Animals
Villages
Total
Hatxan
h
Nam
xuan
Phou
yang
Phou
keua
Sombo
une
Poultry 39 1 1 2 14 57 Carriage animals* 1 3 0 1 1 6 Aquatic animals 0 0 0 0 1 1 Pigs and goats 13 2 1 4 7 27 Poultry, and carriage animals 2 1 0 3 7 13 Poultry, and aquatic animals 1 0 1 0 0 2 Poultry, and pigs and goats 22 1 5 3 13 44 Carriage animals, pigs and goats 0 1 0 0 1 2 Poultry, carriage animals and aquatic animals 0 0 0 0 4 4 Poultry, carriage animals, pigs and goats 4 0 3 0 10 17 Poultry, aquatic animals, pigs and goats 0 0 0 0 1 1 Poultry, carriage animals, aquatic animals, pigs and goats 0 0 1 1 2 4 Total 82 9 12 14 61 178 * Carriage animals = buffaloes and cows Table 3.20. Number of households with domestic animals in Xekaman 1 affected villages
Animals Villages Total Hindam Donkhen
Poultry 0 3 3 Pigs and goats 20 3 23 Poultry, pigs and goats 3 3 6 Carriage animals, pigs and goats 6 0 6 Poultry, carriage animals, pigs and goats 2 1 3 Total 31 10 41 Table 3.21. Number of households with domestic animals in Sekong 3 affected villages
Animals
Villages
Total
Navasen
e North
Navajatsa
n Navakan
g
Navasen
e South
Poultry 1 4 1 3 9 Carriage animals 1 6 1 1 9 Pigs and goats 1 4 2 1 8 Poultry, carriage animals 1 2 2 3 8 Poultry, pigs and goats 2 5 5 4 16 Carriage animals, pigs and goats 0 1 0 1 2 Poultry, carriage animals, aquatic animals 0 0 0 1 1 Poultry, carriage animal, pigs and goats 11 3 11 5 30 Total 17 25 22 19 83
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Table 3.22. Purpose of raising animals in transmission line affected villages
Purpose
Village
Total Rank
Hatxanh
Nam
xuan
Phou
yang
Phou
keua
Sombo
une
Consumption and sale 43 4 7 7 39 100 1 Consumption 27 5 2 5 18 57 2 Sale 10 0 0 2 1 13 3 Consumption and killing for ritual 1 0 3 0 2 6 4 Killing for ritual 0 0 0 0 1 1 5 Consumption and sale, and killing for ritual 1 0 0 0 0 1 6 Total 82 9 12 14 61 178 Table 3.23. Purpose of raising animals in Xekaman 1 affected villages
Purpose
Villages Hindam Donkhen Total Rank
Consumption and sale 21 5 26 1 Sale 8 2 10 2 Consumption 2 3 5 3 Killing for ritual 0 0 0 4 Consumption and Killing for ritual 0 0 0 4 Consumption and sale, and Killing for ritual 0 0 0 4 Total 31 10 41
Table 3.24. The purpose of raising animals in Sekong 3 affected villages
Purpose Villages
Total Rank Navasene North
Navajatsan Navakang Navasene South
Consumption and sale 10 8 11 13 42 1 Consumption 2 6 5 6 19 2 Sale 2 7 2 0 11 3 Consumption and sale, and Killing for ritual 2 1 3 0 6 4 Consumption and Killing for ritual 1 2 1 0 4 5 Killing for ritual 0 1 0 0 1 6 Total 17 25 22 19 83
3.9 Fishing
Fishing is the main source of protein for all households throughout the year. Fishing is also a major source of cash income from sales at markets for a minority of households. This particular case applies some villages located close to markets and along National Highway 18A, in the case of the transmission line and Xekaman 1. The type of fishing varies by gender. Men mainly fish in the main rivers and women
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in streams or ponds. Fishing, especially in the rivers, is already, and will be increasingly, impacted by the effects of hydropower on river flow, temperature and water quality. Fishing is practiced by all households at widely varying levels and of differing types, from fishing in small streams with small gill nets, mainly by women and children, and fishing from boats in the main rivers, usually by one or two men. Fishing yields are substantial, varying from 60 kg to over 700 kg per annum. On average, the villagers from Hindam can catch 103.80 kg, Navajatsan 74.88 kg and Navakang 67.96 kg (Table 3.25-‐3.26). Tables showing the use of different fishing technology and equipment, family laborinputs and yields are given in Appendix 3. The fishing situation has been changing, the quantity of fish is decreasing , the size of fish is getting smaller, and fewer species are caught. It was reported by the respondents and from women’s’ group discussions that it is getting harder to catch fish and many species seem to have disappeared from the river. Many factors were noted by villagers, the most cited is the use of new technology, for instance guns and batteries, which fishers use to catch large quantities of fish including undersize fish. An important factor noted by nearly all informants is the contamination of water by gold mining, particularly small scale mining in streams often not under the control of local authorities (Tables 3.25-‐3.27). Table 3.25. Number of households fishing
Cases Villages No Yes Total
Transmission line
Hatxanh 23 91 114
Namxuan 2 20 22
Phouyang 0 12 12
Poukeua 0 18 18
Somboune 13 71 84
Total 38 212 250
Xekaman 1 Hindam 1 31 32
Donkhen 4 14 18
Total 5 45 50
Sekong 3
Navasene North 2 15 17
Navajatsan 4 25 29
Navakang 0 23 23
Navasene South 1 19 20
Total 7 82 89
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Table 3.26. Quantity of fish catches in 2012
Cases Villages Fishes collection (kg)
Mean Mode Minimum Maximum
transmission line
Hatxanh 66.91 20 1 560 Namxuan 103.80 1 1 480 Phouyang 41.17 10 6 150 Phoukeua 62.50 10 3 288 Somboune 65.03 50 1 720
Xekaman 1 Hindam 85.94 10 1 760 Donkhen 35.21 6 3 154
Sekong 3
Navasene North 38.20 30 5 120 Navajatsan 74.88 5 1 300 Navakang 67.96 20 10 160 Navasene South 20.79 10 5 120
Table 3.27. Perception of villagers regarding fish catches
Cases Villages Fishing situation
Total Decrease Same Increase
Transmission line
Hatxanh 88 3 0 91 Namxuan 16 4 0 20 Phouyang 12 0 0 12 Phoukeua 18 0 0 18 Somboune 66 4 1 71
Total 200 11 1 212
Xekaman 1
Hindam 31 0 0 31
Donkhen 13 0 1 14
Total 44 0 1 45
Sekong 3
Navasene North 15 0 0 15 Navajatsan 25 0 0 25 Navakang 23 0 0 23 Navasene South 19 0 0 19 Total 82 0 0 82
3.10. Non-‐farm and natural resource related employment
Non-‐farm sources of income and livelihoods are increasing with more opportunities for wage labor in the wider Lao economy, but cannot be accessed by most ethnic communities because of lack of aptitude or lack of interest, or insufficient education. Young men in all communities are working in the transport and construction sectors, but very few have profited from any employment in the hydropower development program. The ADB due diligence audit on Xekaman 1 dam draws attention to the low numbers of Lao in the construction force there, and records that most of those that are employed are
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from central parts of Laos rather than from the local population. It states that a principal reason is the lack of skills or lack of interest on the part of affected ethnic people in taking up these employment opportunities. Handicrafts The main handicrafts activities are those which provide bamboo and rattan basket work, matting and trellis making for use in housing, furniture, rice and fishing systems, and are important in the local economy. They are also sold to itinerant traders for sale at provincial markets, particularly bamboo matting, which was reported by households and by women as the main work for selling to or exchanging with rice for the Lao-‐Tai group. It is an important strategy to cope with rice shortagesamong the Alak people in Grand Nava. Gold panning Gold panning in upland streams has until recently been an important source of income for women of villages affected by the Xekaman 1 dam and by the transmission line. It is a traditional activity used in all villages affected by all three hydropower development projects, especially in the villages located close to the river and streams, markedly at Somboun where, according to agro-‐ecology mapping by the villages and the narration of the women, there are more than four important streams where they could pan for gold. However, this activity has been largely lost to mining concessions provided to Vietnamese mining companies by the provincial or district government and by small scale mining scattered along the streams, many of which are not under any control from local authorities. This loss has led to two important changes. First is the change of women’s’ status (Table 3.15) in society. The loss of gold panning as a source of income means a loss of direct cash income women and forces women to rely more of other activities such as colleting NTFPs. The excerpt below is from an interview with a man at Navkang: Q: What does your wife do in her daily routine? Respondent: My wife? Nothing, she just looks after my parents, looking after children, preparing food, fetching water, collecting vegetables, catching small fish from the river, and just does somethings here and there, like cleaning house, feeding the chickens and ducks. Nothing important. Q: How about you, what do you do ? Respondent: Many things: cutting wood , repairing and constructing the house when needed, fishing, hunting …” These remarks by the respondent reflect clearly that none-‐cash laboractivities performed by women are completely neglected by the men in these communities. The second changes is that it has led to a change in the way of life among young people. A number of young men, particularly of Donkhen and Hindam, are employed as workers and miners for Vietnamese mining companies. Despite these changes, gold panning is still an important household activity used to generate income. UXO The collection of unexploded ordinance, often of cluster bombs and their container pods, has for the past forty years been a significant source of income as sales of scrap metal. It has also been a major cause of loss of life and injury, especially of children.
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Wage labor in plantation and construction Rubber plantations are having significant impacts on the villagers parallel with the development of hydropower. One very clear case is Hatxanh, Hindam and Donkhen. For the past decade, rubber plantation projects have been implemented in Attapeu. More than 11,000 ha have been given as concessions to Vietnamese companies. Plantations continue to expand, commonly reported by the villagers, and reciprocally minimize forest areas or villagers’ food sources. This condition pushes the villagers to engage in wage labor, mainly for forest clearance. Forest clearance in the development of rubber plantations in Xaisettha, covering much of the eastern part of the province, has been the main source of wage employment for women of all the women affected by the Xekaman 1 dam and by the transmission line. The rubber plantation company plans to employ a significant labor force for latex tapping and for maintenance of the estate, and anticipates that this will be largely drawn from local ethnic people, including relocated village communities, working under Vietnamese supervision. 3.11 Culturalaspects of resettlement and livelihoods replacement
Traditional and self-‐managed relocation in response to the periodic depletion of forest resources or to climatic events, but also to man-‐made impact, is a routine procedure. It is primarily directed to the cyclical renewal of swidden farming areas and of access to forest products, but also of the shelter and social protection of the community, including its spiritual well being. Relocation management is, therefore, a key element in community leadership and management of human and natural resources and of livelihoods renewal and sustainability. The research explores the current situation and recent experience of relocation in more intensive case studies of three among the eleven villages studied: those of Hindam village and DonKhen village which will be displaced by the Xekaman 1 and Xanxai dams, and of Navakang village, which has relocated under its own management and displacement directed by the local government in response to two factors: that of Typhoon Ketsana whichoccurred in 2009, and that of the impending flooding caused by the inundation of the Sekong 3 Upper Dam. The research indicates that failure to fully engage ethnic communities in self-‐management of relocation means that their experience and management capacities are lost, and are a major defect and cause of social and economic disruption in developer or government relocation brought about by hydropower and related developments. Use of the forest for farming and for the collection of forest products is embedded in systems of social organization, household labor use and rituals and ceremonies. In consequence, traditional and cyclical management of relocation is organic in relation to the social system and conducted with no interruption to social and economic organization and with the continuous involvement of the spirits which are part of the belief system of the community and which are also fundamental to its authority and management structures. The research identified the importance of culture in this and other social and economic systems, including ritual related to spirits and ancestors in family systems and in the management of natural resources. It analyses rituals and ceremonies as important in their own right, but also as information
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management systems in household labor and reproductive systems, and in natural resource and livelihoods management, rights and authority. The researchers found that cultural and ritual aspects of livelihoods systems are emphasized by representatives of the affected ethnic minorities. They are embodied in existing livelihoods systems and may not be replicable if the livelihoods systems themselves have changed. The research examines the loss which is experienced in forced or involuntary relocation of an ethnic people’s culture at the community and household level. The function of ritual in household and community resource management and the spiritual and moral values and the recreational activities associated with it are at the heart of resistance to or difficulty of making the radical changes which relocation demands. The loss of the ritual which is embedded in daily life is not just cultural but, more materially, a loss of information systems which are basic to roles and functions of authority and obedience, to property ownership, to production management, to family development and the socialization of children and to rights in the wider community. The researchers examined the implications of the loss of cultural practices and related losses of social control and economic organization and draw on this analysis for an explanation of the social dislocation and impoverishment which has been noted in earlier literature on ethnic community relocation. The transitional processes taking place in the social and economic systems of the groups studied recognizes elements of a wider Lao society which, in transport and communications technologyfor example,and in the marketing of local products, have entered into the routine daily life and resources of the 11 villages studied. There is a need, therefore, to understand:
• How ethnic livelihoods systems are managed in relation to the household and community’s environment and assets.
• Food production and supply systems, including swidden agriculture, and to natural resource gathering from forests, hunting and fishing.
• The importance of swidden rice production as the principal occupation and the principal source of food for the majority of households.
• The function of swidden agriculture in the cyclical management of the household’s labor force. • The social and cultural importance of swidden agriculture to ethnic group household
organization and labor use. • The difficulty which elders of these groups express at the possibility of ending it or replacing it
with settled rice production systems. • The social and cultural factors attached to swidden farming.
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3.12 Conclusion
Land use and relocation Central to both the main farming systems and livelihoods systems of ethnic minority communities and to resettlement and relocation is the practice of swidden agriculture. The land use policy of the Government of Lao PDR is to discourage swidden agriculture and to move small highland villages to consolidated village locations and convert community agricultural systems to paddy rice or other settled crop production on continuously cultivated land. The main constraint on achieving this policy is the lack of available land, irrigation, and swidden farmers knowledge regarding lowland paddy rice production. One difficulty experienced by upland farmers in adopting irrigated rice production systems is accepting the risks attached to any cessation of the annual upland rice production cycle. This is a rational response in a production, storage and consumption cycle in which rice is the staple, but is commonly not sufficient for more than eight or nine months of the year. Farmers will not take the risk of stopping or postponing the process of land preparation and crop production, and are constrained from doing so by customary and ritual systems which accompany rice production. Government and development agencies seem to be unaware of this constraint on any cessation in upland rice production, or to be prepared to ignore it, but in the local administration of resettlement programs, tacitly accepting that the affected people will continue swidden production. Given this tendency for and dependency on, continuation or resumption of swidden rice and other agriculture among the surveyed population, and the evidence of it in other areas of hydropower inundation of highland villages, the question arises: From an overall economic or land use point of view, what is the feasibility or benefit of requiring village communities impacted by hydropower to abandon swidden agriculture? Two conclusions could be drawn from the results of the NUOL survey and from the national figures for swidden land use in inundated areas. First, that impacted populations are strongly dependent on swidden rice and other crop production in Attapeu, and will customarily resume swidden systems after any relocation. The economic or land use advantages from attempting to prevent or restrict swidden systems are almost zero. Second, it can be concluded that the dependency on swidden agriculture is the basis of some 70% of livelihoods and labor use, and thus economic organization of the concerned households, and particularly of household heads and their spouses. Attempts to stop the practice are only feasible if the concerned communities are physically prevented from continuing this principal means of livelihood. Where this has occurred, it appears to be deeply disruptive to the well being and social structures of the concerned people. The evidences from our research, especially from the Nava villages relocated in the impact areas of the Sekong 3 Upper Dam, are that relocation itself is resisted particularly by men who remain in existing areas of swidden production and other forest use, and that this leads to extreme dislocation of households with severe consequences for the welfare and health of the family. An aspect of this problem is that of a generation gap, particularly among men. Older men interviewed in the study said they could not adapt to a new rice production system or to changes to or any ending of their dependency on hunting and NTFP. This response is borne out by the data on Grand Nava, where
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there have been an exceptional number of divorces, separations and related breakdowns through male heads of household staying in the area of their old villages, and a high incidence of sickness and death following involuntary relocation. Most younger men accept the move, preferring to take up other employment away from traditional agricultural and forest gathering, but might engage in these activities seasonally. There may seem to be political or administrative advantages in government policy in achieving a change from the practice of swidden agriculture to settled agriculture, or specifically to paddy, since swidden is associated with highland livelihoods systems, and thus as indiscriminate use of the forest. Practically all of the communities studied in our research have continued topractice swidden production. A constraining factor is that these production systems, both of swidden and of the gathering of NTFP, are in sheer volume their major sources of food and continuous access to them is necessary to food security and staying out of poverty. Both these factors are further related to the binding constraint of there being no land available for the people being displaced to be able to adopt settled permanent agriculture or paddy. A number of studies have drawn attention to the negative social impacts of the relocation of villages of ethnic minority people whose land and houses and access to forest are affected by hydropower projects. The NUOL research is too early to demonstrate the social impacts of externally directed relocation, but demonstrate, especially from focus group discussions and case studies, two specific effects which will occur: 1. That of a disassociation and loss of household labor, which will occur and is already doing so in the differing response of younger and older generations, especially among men: household heads and other older household members having great difficulty in responding or adapting to changed land and labor use; younger men and women, being prepared for or even welcoming a change to wage employment and to migration for work in urban areas or in construction or other mobile trades. 2. That of the loss of context and relevance in religious practices and belief in spirits and their close association with tenure and management of natural resources. A third concern on the part of relocated households is the loss of social contact and of the means of care for family and for the aged and the expected loss of control in child care and socialization. While the NUOL research and other studies identify the severe social cost in family and community disruption which tends to be caused by relocation, the examination of land use factors in the Lao PDR Development Report indicates that swidden land use is of insignificant proportions compared with the loss of forest which occurs in hydropower reservoir inundation. Relocation away from forest areas which attempts conversion from swidden to paddy rice production may achieve low or negligible economic or land use benefits. It will, however (together with rubber plantation, mining and related developments), almost certainly impact on the identities, society, language and cultural systems of at least fifteen ethnic groups affected by the hydropower systems in Attapeu and Sekong supplying power to the Haxtanh to Pleiku transmission lines. A summary analysis of the costs and benefits of changing land use systems suggests that preventing swidden production in the tiny areas where it is practiced by ethnic minority groups impacted by
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hydropower systems may have a severe impact – to the point of destruction of their separate social life and cultural identity – on a small portion of the concerned population. It may have substantial negative effects by comparison with the heritage or touristic advantages, or simply the internal economic benefits to the concerned communities, of leaving them to relocate where they can continue existing swidden and forest non-‐timber product collection. An advantage available to the government and the development agencies, including ADB, is that this option is available if they wish and have the capacity to undertake it. Another negative impact is on women’s lives. The findings indicate that relocation and resettlement make women’s’ lives more difficult and lead to lower status in their society. They are more responsible for domestic work and spend more time for searching food, activities which are seen as less important by males in the community. Relocation as an aspect of livelihoods systems The research has demonstrated the experience, knowledge and skills of ethnic minority communities in undertaking and managing village relocation and the sustaining or restoration of livelihoods by themselves. The research findings indicate that community human and natural resource management skills, including relocation management, needs to be included as a key factor in livelihoods restoration and sustainability13 in involuntary resettlement, especially in hydropower development in areas which are the traditional territory of small ethnic minority groups. Relocation has occurred in the fairly recent history of most of the studied communities. This has been mainly to restore the social and production basis of the community in the aftermath of resource depletion or natural disasters, but also to meet the pressure of government development. Relocation is a traditional process in ethnic culture, and may occur as frequently as every five or ten years14. The research examined the benefits which accrue through self-‐management of relocation in the context of land loss and village inundation which occurs specifically in the context of hydropower. An important aspect is the normality with which the process of relocation may be managed by the concerned community, for whom it is traditionally a process of continuity of essential functions of the community and its member households, notably in respect of continuity and risk management in the maintaining of livelihoods and food security. The research examined the importance of swidden agriculture which has been apparent in these studies as the basis of food supply and livelihoods systems. It also studied the social, economic and land use factors involved in the continuation of swidden farming among relocated communities. The researchers have analyzed the reasons for this and the need and advantages which the continuation of swidden, seen in all the studied communities, provides in respect of land and forest utilization and in restoring or renewing social and economic stability in ethnic communities whose villages or lands and forest are affected by hydropower. The affected people’s own actions to overcome external shocks on their livelihoods or production systems suggest, in respect of swidden, that they do not conceptualize renewed or alternative siting and conduct of swidden as “restoration”. Swidden is seen rather as a process which entails continuous renewal – whether the relocation is as a result of an external shock involving resettlement of the 13 See Appendix transcript of an interview with the headman of Navakang village for an account of relocation management by a community impacted by Sekong 3 Upper dam. 14 MoNRE and Xekaman 1 Power Company, Xekaman 1 SIA (2009)l Baird (2008).
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community, or in the normal rotational cycle – a cycle which in traditional practice requires from time to time to be moved or extended to new previously uncleared or fallow areas of forest. The research indicates that, in their own eyes, the community are undertaking a traditional procedure when they move their village location, or move swidden production to new areas to respond to relocation of the village or its access to regenerated forest and farming areas. The research has lent emphasis to the importance and difficulties of women in coping with the impacts of hydropower and with relocation, both culturally, in their care of children and old people and in food management. Stresses occur in the pressures involved in any radical change to the work of women and their responsibilities to their families, and in disruption of the social network and community systems which support their positions and responsibilities15. Location choice and access to markets and services The research has shown the importance of recognizing the awareness of impacted ethnic minority groups on benefits to be gained from improved or closer access to modern services of the state or of the market to schools and health facilities and to labor and commodity markets. This is well illustrated in the discussions held with young men and women of Navakang and Navajatsan villages displaced by the Sekong 3 Upper Dam, close to Sekong Town, or with villagers and the headman at Hindam, which has moved to a site with access both to the road to Xanxai and to its traditional forest areas of hunting, logging and NTFP. It is also apparent in the rapid development of Somboune as a focal “development” village, among the villages affected by the transmission line, where Brao villagers are benefiting from linkages with the national electricity grid – not from the transmission line cross-‐border project, but from earlier expansion of the national system. From the standpoint of a policy of encouraging ethnic minority groups into mainstream development in Laos, the positive attitude to embracing modern lifestyles and access to employment evidenced in the statements and behavior of young villagers at Navakang and Navajatsan (now located only 6 km to 20 km from Sekong Town) suggests that adaptation to modern aspirations and lifestyles does not conflict with a preference for retaining traditional livelihoods systems and locations. It does not contradict a wish to manage relocation and livelihoods restoration or retention under the community’s own control and capacities, rather than having it done by the state or the developer. The retention of swidden farming and the collection of NTFP as principal means of subsistence, and of hunting and logging as sources of cash income, for example, and the strength of retention of the household in a traditional setting, preferably with access to markets and services, do not seem likely to hinder adaptation to other areas of modernization, of lifestyle, migrant wage labor, or the acquisition of artisanal skills by a younger generation of both sexes.
15 See below, section IV, KARE Evaluation, p.
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Chapter IV Institutional Factors in Livelihoods Sustainability and Restoration 4.1 Livelihoods restoration in statutory systems and guidelines for resettlement
A problem in achieving any standard basis of livelihoods restoration in public sector development projects is that the statutory system, in Lao PDR o the Constitution and Land Law, and the specific statutes and regulations for resettlement and compensation16, deal primarily with land and fixed assets. They deal with broadly defined compensation for, or livelihoods restoration of, vulnerable or severely affected households, but these are discretionary and action depends on agreements and planning reached as a result of research and consultations. If damaged or lost in the interests of a public sector development, land and fixed assets must be “fairly compensated” at an agreed valuation. Compensation or replacement in the case of land or other fixed assets is, as a standard procedure, based on “unit prices” derived from market rates or rebuilding costs. An entitlements matrix, detailed measurement survey and replacement cost survey using unit pricing are standard procedures in resettlement plan preparation, both in the Lao Decree and Regulations and Technical Guidelines, and in ADB and World Bank guidelines. These procedures permit measurements of losses of land and fixed assets and standardized rates for compensation to be negotiated household by household to uniform and agreed rates, and on that basis are agreed with affected people and their representatives and used in the creation of a resettlement budget. The national law and guidelines cannot, however, provide any similar valuation or standardized mechanism for compensating losses of livelihoods. The measurement and recording of incomes and expenditure and of labor and other resource inputs of rural households in countries without individual taxation, and especially in rural areas, is notoriously difficult, and is avoided as a basis of census or socio-‐economic survey except for specific income and expenditure surveys. In consequence, the Decree and Regulation on Compensation and Resettlement of Lao PDR state livelihoods restoration as a requirement, and as a commitment to be fulfilled by means of fact finding, consultation and negotiation between the developer and the affected people, but no detailed guidelines or measurable procedures exist for this to be standardized and budgeted. This problem is discussed in the (very good and thorough) Lao PDR Technical Guidelines on Resettlement and Compensation in Public Sector Development Projects. The Guidelines recognize that this is perhaps the least well understood and most difficult task in achieving fair compensation for the impact of public sector projects17.
16 MoNRE, Decree and Regulations on Resettlement and Compensation in Public Sector Development Projects, 2010. 17Prime Minister’s Office, Science Technology and Environment Agency (STEA) Technical Guidelines on Resettlement and Compensation, Chapter 9: Economic Rehabilitation, Nov. 2005.
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This problem of the lack of measures which would provide a statutory or technically defined basis of replacing lost livelihoods is not unique to Laos and is experienced in all developing countries. Providing detailed planning and resources for livelihoods or income restoration is, nevertheless, recognized to be a crucial requirement and of economic relevance in rural development and involuntary resettlement. It is a critical requirement both at the project level, where losses to impacted communities and production systems of vulnerable and severely affected people, including ethnic minority groups, are part of time-‐bound resettlement plans and of ethnic minority development plans, but must also be counted as reductions in project cost-‐benefit analyses. Resettlement and livelihoods restoration are recognized (as stated in the Lao PDR Technical Guidelines on Resettlement and Compensation) to require planning as development to achieve positive and lasting economic benefits to the communities resettled and to the wider society. What is less well recognized is that any effective planning for rural livelihoods replacement, in peasant farming systems as well as specifically in ethnic minority livelihoods, demands evidencebased, detailed and empirical research. SIA and RAPare based on socio-‐economic surveys, usually a 20% sample of the directly affected population and 10% of a wider population not directly impacted. These surveys are a stated requirement in the policies and guidelines for resettlement planning. This, however, leaves a wide margin for discretion as to how detailed the research is to be, and is often at the discretion not of social safeguard experts, but at of an engineering project manager. The lack of a precise and flexible methodology to apply in research, and analysis of complex and vastly variable livelihoods systems, and of societies which are detached from and independent of the mainstream economy and its institutions, is a fatal flaw in any application of research as a means of bridging this disciplinary gap. International agencies and their guidelines largely emphasize the need for SIA and RAP to adequately spell out resettled peoples and ethnic minority needs and characteristics, but the methodology, time and resources are discretionary. Social safeguard measures, livelihoods restoration, and the place of resettlement in development planning and cost-‐benefit analysis are, in consequence, made by engineering or financial project managers, defining and restricting the scope and competence of social analysis, planning and evaluation. One consequence of this lack or precision is that decisions about livelihoods restoration, and thus social safeguards in general (what is to be included in resettlement, relocation, gender action plans or ethnic minority development plans, and even in the planning and allocation of resources for the research to determine these social safeguard and economic restoration measures) has to stand up to the supposed precision of engineering and financial planning at the heart of project preparation and implementation, and usually comes a distant second best. This is seen particularly in the problems of impoverishment and social dislocation which arise in the relocation of ethnic minority communities in Laos and other countries of the region. The NUOL research indicates that the difficulty of achieving livelihoods restoration is generic to the nature of livelihoods, and particularly to rural livelihoods systems. It arises from the fact that livelihoods are derived from their environments, social systems and markets, and vary widely from location to location, community to community, and within communities between differing households. The difficulty of providing pre-‐packaged responses to loss of livelihoods also illustrates that the livelihoods systems of ethnic peoples are both complex and holistic and intricately bound up with household organization and culture and their application to the management of a varying endowment of labor, skills, natural resources and access to markets and services.
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The researchers have examined this problem in relation to the instruments employed by Lao and international safeguard agencies in an attempt to provide an evidencebased approach to livelihoods restoration in development agency safeguard practice18. The researchers have explored the systems and the approaches and actions which have been carried out to meet the requirements under Lao law19 and the contractual agreements with and guidelines for financing agencies and developers for social safeguards in the three hydropower systems. In all three dams, SIA and socio-‐economic surveys, resettlement planning and some resettlement measures had already been carried out, using methodologies which are standard and required practice for resettlement and livelihoods restoration of communities affected by public sector development. The three hydropower systems follow the Lao statutes and technical guidelines in providing consultant reports on SIA, land acquisition and resettlement, and for the transmission linea gender and ethnicpeoples development plan20 and HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention program reports. These assessments are required under Lao safeguard regulations, if the resettlement impact on ethnic people and the risk of STDs and HIV/AIDS are significant. The data for these reports is taken from the SIA and socio-‐economic survey, and from census and locally maintained data and background information where this is appropriate, for example from headmen’s village records. The project research has tested and demonstrated three more precise instruments for the analysis and review of data on livelihoods systems, and for livelihoods restoration planning, monitoring and evaluation, which are provided in Appendix 1:
• A KARE survey question schedule • A household livelihoods matrix • A village livelihoods value ranking format
All three are based on data from the standard socio-‐economic household questionnaire survey required in the Lao PDR and in international agencies, for example, ADB guidelines for the use of safeguard agencies, developers and consultants, or from community resource surveys and mapping. They have been designed so to not add significantly to the questions asked and data collected in SIA and the socio-‐economic survey. Application in routine project identification and feasibility studies would not require the level of analysis which we have attempted in this report, but do rely in specific areas on disaggregation and agro-‐ecological profiling, and generational and gender differentiation. They require careful data recording and input to the database to provide for the analysis of household livelihoods portfolios and the monitoring of project actions to sustain or replace them (the KARE methodology. In more general terms, to be effective, they would require stronger financing, better skills deployment and sustained capacity building, including the strengthened training, authority and participation of provincial and district safeguard agencies and safeguard divisions of the project line ministries and provincial agencies, and of developers and their specialists or consultants, and the greater participation of affected communities and interest groups. 18 See ADB Safeguards Policy Statement, 2009. 19 Decree and Regulations on Compensation and Resettlement in Public Sector Development Projects, 2010. 20 SIA and Resettlement Action Plan, Xekaman 1 Hydropower Dam, 2009; SIA and Resettlement Action Plan, Sekong 3 Upper Dam, 2009; Land Acquisition and Resettlement Plan, 2012, and Gender and Indigenous Peoples Development Plan, Hatxan to Pleiku transmission line Feasibility Study, ADB 2012.
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The research has also found: • The need for an institutional structure which provides some permanence to consultative entities
within and belonging to the affected communities as the basis both of economic and social continuity and restoration, and of planned development; and
• The need for project resettlement and livelihoods restoration to be integrated in and managed as part of planned inter-‐sectoral development and investment programs under the territorial administration of provincial authorities, including spatial land use planning, vocational training and health planning, including that for HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention.
4.2 Public sector and international institutional structures
The institutional structure for resettlement of communities impacted or displaced by hydropower dams and reservoirs and by the transmission lines is based on the Lao PDR statutory requirements for the management of resettlement and compensation in public sectordevelopment projects21.These include a number of organizations: Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE), Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF), Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM), and their provincial and district line departments and offices, and may also include other concerned provincial departments, such as the Ministry of Health in respect of HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness, and the Ministry of Education in respect of vocational training. With appointment by the GoL, a Resettlement Committee (RC) has been established within the Attapeu provincial governmentstructurefor each project after MoNRE certification of approval and before implementation. The RC will operate in relation to all hydropower dams and transmission lines, individually or collectively, as need arises. Members of the RC include: Governor of Attapeu Province as a chairperson; Vice-‐governor of Attapeu Province as a vice-‐chairperson; Governor of Xanxai District, heads of other Attapeu provincial and district offices; the Secretary Unit Manager and members; and representative of the development company.Together with the RC, its Secretariat Unit (SU) was also established with its main responsibility being the implementation of each project. The SU is chaired by the head of the responsible department under MEM.District and village authorities are also included in the institutional structure in the forms ofDistrict Work Groups (DWGs) comprising representatives of district line agencies; and a Village Development Committee (VDCs) comprising the head of the village, village authorities, representatives from village organizations, representatives of ethnic groups and affected people. A Grievance Redress Committee is established by each RC comprised of representative of the District Authority, head of village, representative of village organizations, representatives of affected people, and representatives of the developer company. In parallel with government committees and units, the developer company also establishes its own Resettlement Environmental Management Office (REMO) responsible for both environmental and social mitigationand monitoring and to support and work in collaboration with relevant governmental agencies.
21 Decree and Regulations on Resettlement and Compensation in Public Sector Development Projects, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, 2010
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4.3 Knowledge and communication systems
The research was conducted on the premise that resettlement and livelihoods restoration are based on a knowledge system which reaches beyond the formal institutional structure for social safeguard management and beyond the hydropower project system and its formal management of the resettlement process. To be effective, the system would embrace local knowledge and communication systems. This would require integration and embedding both in the government structure, including responsibilities and resources in the routine and developmental activities of provincial government, and in the community. It would require connectivity between provincial and district governments, specific line energy and safeguard agencies, and other technical departments of health, agriculture, education, planning and investment. Local communities and interests and generational and gender groups, would on the evidence of our research, need to be directly involved in these processes, but also in separate and independent capacities, both at the community level and through representation by national and provincial interest groups such as the Lao Women’s Union and Lao Youth Union, and in the participation of specialist non-‐governmental agencies, including HIV/AIDS awareness, mother-‐child health care and micro-‐credit agencies. The formal structures called for in the national statutes and in draft international project agreements are described for the transmission line, which ADB has identified as the core project in the power generation and supply system, and for Xekaman 1, the first, and largest of the dams. Sekong 3 Upper and Lower dams, and all other dams have similar institutional structures to that of Xekaman 1. 4.4International, bilateral and commercial frameworks and project structures
The research indicates that the project system followed in hydropower (and other public sector rural infrastructure) financing and development may, in crucial areas of social and environmental safeguards planning and management, operate in ways which are inimical to the interests of vulnerable people, specifically ethnic minority communities and women.
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Chapter V Knowledge, attitudes and response to and experience(KARE) This chapter deals with the knowledge systems and social safeguard procedures and institutions of the concerned hydropower stakeholder agencies and of the ethnic peoples. The report examines the knowledge of the affected people of the hydropower project and their attitudes towards the project to their planned resettlement, compensation or replacement of land, and restoration or improvement of livelihoods and community assets. Using KARE in this research provides an evaluation of the knowledge, attitudes to, responses and experience of affected ethnic peoples to the hydropower system and to the planned resettlement of impacted communities, including relocation and livelihoods restoration. It was designed to determine:
• Whether affected people have a knowledge of the planned developments and their impact and of planned compensation and resettlement, including the restoration of impacted livelihoods, which reflects the information recorded as provided to them during project preparation and implementation by the responsible agencies;
• Whether the attitudes of affected people to the project and to resettlement measures demonstrates a sufficient knowledge and understanding of project impact and of the intended mitigation of impact and of asset and livelihoods restoration;
• Where resettlement has already taken place, whether their attitudes to the process and to intended benefits are positive and reflect accurately the measures taken and their outcome;
• In the case of already resettled people, whethertheir experience has borne out the intended outcomes of planned resettlement and related measures, including the retention or restoration of their community structures and cultural systems;
• Whether in the view of affected people the facilities and resources provided to them adequately recognize and provide for the utilization of their skill and knowledge in the restoration or improvement of their livelihoods, management of natural resources, and the planning and implementation of the hydropower project.
The main approach used is a knowledge, attitude, response and experience (KARE) survey. The survey forms part of a wider household socio-‐economic questionnaire survey of a total of 11 villages affected by the transmission line and three hydropower dams, Xekaman 1, Xekaman Xanxai and Sekong 3 Upper Dam, which includes 389 households. The KARE survey asks:
• What knowledge do the separate affected groups have of the hydropower project being undertaken in the locality of their community;
• What impact it will have; • How will they be compensated for any loss or damage to their property and livelihoods; • What is their attitude and response to the impact, and where impact has already taken place
what has been their experience; and • What were their concerns and their ranking of concerns about specific aspects of
hydropower impact and of resettlement.
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5.1 KARE of affected communities
5.1.1 KARE of affected communities by transmission line
The resultsindicate that most respondents have a very low knowledge about the project. It is the most striking crucial feature of the evaluation. A very high number of the respondents living in the transmission line project area said they did not know about the project or its impact and of planned resettlement, proposed compensation or asset restoration. As shown in Table 5.1, 183 out of 250 households in the sample of villages in the path of the transmission line(73.2%) responded that they did not know about the transmission line project . This was despite the information programs, including meetings in each village, distribution of an explanatory brochure and explanations to village leaders during 2009 to 2011 recorded in the transmission line Land Acquisition and Resettlement Plan (LARAP). The methods of information recorded in the Land Acquisition and Resettlement Plan included meetings in each of the villages, the distribution of a brochure and its display on village notice boards during the conduct of a socio-‐economic survey and inventory of losses in March 2011. The consultants also held a number of meetings with village headmen in successive visits in 2009, 2010 and 2011, and the placing of the Land Acquisition and Resettlement Plan in the office of the Sub-‐District Officer at Somboun and in the District Office at Xanxai (Table 5.1). Table 5.1. Knowledge of affected people about the project
Villages
No Yes Total N % N %
Hatxanh 89 78.1 25 21.9 114 Namxuan 15 68.2 7 31.8 22 Phouyang 5 41.7 7 58.3 12 Phoukeua 9 50.0 9 50.0 18 Somboune 65 77.4 19 22.6 84 Total 183 73.2 67 26.8 250 Among communities in the wider corridor of the transmission line, the affected people who were interviewed in three villages (Phouyang, Phoukeua, Namxuan; where the line is in the forest distant from any permanently held agricultural land) thought, wrongly, that they would lose land to the line construction, and would be compensated for land lost, while 25 households were not sure whether they would lose their land or not. Data in Table 5.3 shows 75% of respondents in Namxuan, and 100% in Phouyang and Phoukeua thought that they would lose their land, and 80% thought that they will be compensated for land lost ( see Table 5.2).
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Table 5.2. Percentage of the families who feel the project will affect their families
Villages Percentage Total
No Yes
Don’t know not sure
Hatxanh 25.4 43.9 30.7 114 Namxuan 18.2 36.4 45.5 22 Phouyang 33.3 25.0 41.7 12 Phoukeua 27.8 16.7 55.6 18 Somboune 46.4 23.8 29.8 84 Total 32.4 33.6 34.0 250 Misunderstanding about the effect on housing is also clearly reflected, while in reality the transmission line alignment, passing through or near five villages in the Ho Chi Minh Trail, is nowhere nearer than a kilometer from village housing, but 30 % of respondents thought erroneously they would have to move their houses and 32.8% were not sure whether they would have to move as shown in Table 5.4.There is no house loss recorded in any of the five villages whose forest or other land is in the path of the transmission line, and no provision is made in the Land Acquisition and Resettlement Plan for compensation for relocation. However many interviewees responded that they ‘think’ or ‘are not sure’ that their houses will be moved. 78.7% expressed their great concern about having their houses relocated and expect compensation (Tables 5.3, 5.4). Table 5.3. Percentage of families who think they will lose their land
Villages
Percentage Total
No Yes Don’t know not sure
Hatxanh 6.0 80.0 14.0 50 Namxuan 0.0 75.0 25.0 8 Phouyang 0.0 100.0 0.0 3 Phoukeua 0.0 100.0 0.0 3 Somboune 35.0 65.0 0.0 20 Total 11.9 77.4 10.7 84 Table 5.4. Number and percentage of families who expect to resettle due to the project
Villages No Yes Don’t know
not sure Total N % N % N %
Hatxanh 31 27.2 42 36.8 41 36.0 114 Namxuan 9 40.9 3 13.6 10 45.5 22 Phouyang 3 25.0 5 41.7 4 33.3 12 Phoukeua 11 61.1 2 11.1 5 27.8 18 Somboune 39 46.4 23 27.4 22 26.2 84 Total 93 37.2 75 30.0 82 32.8 250
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The set of data shown in Tables 5.1-‐5.4 revealed the erroneous understanding, inaccurate information and thus the low level of knowledge of ethnic people who are impacted by the transmission.The low level of present awareness and knowledge of the transmission line can be attributed to a number of factors, the most probable ones being that:
• Information about the project and about resettlement proposals reached only people who attended meetings or received a copy of the brochure; which is usually only the headsof villages and heads of households, and thus women, who have a very limited opportunities to attend meetings, are not in the flow of information.
• From the absence of most villagers, and especially for womenduring the consultation process and knowledge transferring , they probably have very little understanding or conception of the transmission line. This is reflected in a finding of this research that the socio-‐economic survey conducted by the company and development agencies is insufficient and reaches a limited number of the households.
• Information provided about the transmission line may have been lost in the traffic of other information and experience of the more immediate and severe impact of mining, rubber plantations and village consolidation. These developments projects have had major impact on the population during a period of 2009 to 2013.
• The percentages in Table 5.5 show that nearly 80% of the villagers know the information from local officers or village authorities . It could be that the socio-‐economic survey and consultation did not reach individual households. This finding is strongly supported and approved by qualitative data from in-‐depth interviews and group discussions, for example, “SIA is not SIA,it is HAIA” in the full term it is not Socio-‐Impact Assessment but Head and Authority Impact Assessment”. This information might be an important factor influencing the erroneous or limited knowledge of the villagers regarding hydropower development and its impact on their communities and thus the inadequate knowledge of livelihoods systemsamong developer companies. The most concrete is the case of Hatxanh. Land loss reported at this village is thought most likely related to actual land loss already suffered, not to the transmission line, but to the rubber plantation created in 2010/2011. A concession agreement between the Lao government and a Vietnam developer led to more than 1,100 ha given to the Vietnamese rubber company. This was previously regarded as the forest of Brao people at Hatxanh, including hunting and swidden agricultural areas. About 30 Brao households at Hatxanh had their houses along National Highway 18A demolished to make way for the rubber plantation. Table 5.5. Sources of information about the project
Villages
Sources of Information
Total From local officer From neighbor From local officer and neighbor
N % N % N %
Hatxanh 14 56.0 10 40.0 1 4.0 25 Namxuan 7 100.0 0 0 0 0 7 Phouyang 7 100.0 0 0 0 0 7 Phoukeua 8 88.9 1 11.1 0 0 9 Somboune 17 89.4 2 10.5 0 0 19 Total 53 79.1 13 19.4 1 1.5 67
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A principle misunderstanding is that households whose mainly forest lands are in the path of the transmission line will lose land (residential or agricultural, including tree crop or swidden land). The number of households in the sample saying they would lose land at Somboun, where impact on the land of 23 households was recorded in the ADB inventory of losses, may be accurate, and relate to small crop areas and teak plantations being affected by tower footings (Table 5.6,5.7). Table 5.6. The number and percentage of families expecting compensation for land lost
Villages Don't know Yes
Total N % N %
Hatxanh 9 22.5 31 77.5 40 Namxuan 0 0.0 6 100.0 6 Phouyang 1 33.3 2 66.7 3 Phoukeua 1 33.3 2 66.7 3 Somboune 2 15.4 11 84.6 13 Total 13 20.0 52 80.0 65 Table 5.7. Knowledge of mode of compensation for land lost
Villages
Knowledge of mode of compensation
Total
Don’t know Cash Land No detail Cash and
land Cash and No
detail N % N % N % N % N % N %
Hatxanh 1 3.1 4 12.5 11 34.4 7 21.9 8 25.0 1 3.1 32 Namxuan 0 0.0 1 16.7 3 50.0 0 0.0 2 33.3 0 0.0 6 Phouyang 1 50.0 0 0.0 1 50.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 2 Phoukeua 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 1 50.0 1 50.0 0 0.0 2 Somboune 1 10.0 2 20.0 4 40.0 0 0.0 3 30.0 0 0.0 10 Total 3 5.8 7 13.5 19 36.5 8 15.4 14 26.9 1 1.9 52 There were no house losses recorded in any the five villages whose forest or other land is in the path of the transmission line, and no provision is made in the Land Acquisition and Resettlement Plan for compensation for relocation. However, 75 households, about 30% (Table 5.4), responded that they think their houses will be moved, 80% of sampled households think they will have their houses relocated andwill be compensated (Table 5.6), and 56.4% expressed great concern about place of living and or residence (Table 5.8,5.9). Table 5.8. Number and percentage of families who think they will be compensated for resettlement
Villages No Yes
Total N % N %
Hatxanh 15 35.7 27 64.3 42 Namxuan 0 0.0 3 100.0 3 Phouyang 0 0.0 5 100.0 5 Phoukeua 0 0.0 2 100.0 2 Somboune 1 4.3 22 95.7 23 Total 16 21.3 59 78.7 75
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Table 5.9. Knowledge about mode of compensation for resettlement
Villages
Cash
Material
Not detail
House
Cash and Material
N % N % N % N % N %
Hardxanh 8 29.6 4 14.8 3 11.1 0 0.0 8 29.6
Namxuan 2 66.7 1 33.3 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0
Phouyang 4 80.0 1 20.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0
Phoukeua 0 0.00 2 100.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0
Somboune 4 18.2 9 40.9 1 4.5 2 9.0 5 22.7
Total 18 30.5 17 28.8 4 6.7 2 3.4 13 22.0 By contrast, the level of knowledge of impending or already started dam construction and its impact in the form of land loss and relocation in villages impacted by the Sekong 3 Upper Dam and the Xekaman1/Xanxai Dams were more accurate. A principal reason for this was that villagers’ recall reflected recent actual losses and actual relocation. The more accurate responses of the communities affected by the Sekong 3 Upper Dam may also reflect the recent strengthening of the Lao safeguard system in public sector development projects, the creation in 2011 of a Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to take over the responsibilities of WREA in the Prime Minister’s Office. This was seen especially in the strengthened role of the Provincial Departments of Natural Resources and Environment in Attapeu and Sekong, and their recent undertaking of a stronger role in monitoring consultations with hydropower affected communities, notably those affected by Sekong 3 Upper and Lower dams, including the compliance and environmental quality monitoring by establishing the Self-‐Party Monitoring done by developers and Second Party Monitoring done by relevant public sector agencies.
5.1.2 KARE of affected communities by Xekaman 1/Xanxai and Sekong 3 Upper Dams
The two dams, Xekaman 1 and Sekong 3 Upper share some similarities in terms of the process of changing created by hydropower development and other economic development project implemented in the area.The basic similarity is that both Xekaman 1 and Sekong 3 Upper are concessions to Songda Co. Ltd. a Vietnamese company.Xekaman 1 was about 40% at the time of the study, while Sekong 3 was in the initiate stage of construction. Donkhen and Hindam are in the area affected by the construction of Xekaman 1. Four villages namely Navasene North , Navasene South , Navasene and Navakang form a group of villages called Grand Nava following resettlement in 2009. Knowledge of hydropower of the affected people is more accurate among people in Xekaman 1 andSejong 3 comparedthose in thetransmission linearea. The planning of resettlement, choice of relocation site, responses and participation of the affected communities are significantly different between the two hydropower projects and between villages. Within each group of villages, those affected by Xekaman 1/Xanxai Dam and those affected by Sekong 3 Upper, there are individual villages (one in each group) which have not accepted the dam site proposed by the developer or the government, and have indicated a preference for a site which they have chosen for themselves. The villages are Navakang, impacted by the Sekong 3 Upper, and Donkhen affected by Xekaman 1/Xanxai dam.These differences of response and experience may have made a difference to
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the responses which are recorded below. In the case of Donkhen and Navakang, the communities have declined to accept the relocation site proposed by the developer and the government. Both have proposed alternative sites of their own choosing. In Donkhen, they were awaiting a decision on relocation, since the dam construction is currently on hold. Villagers have proposed a site one kilometer away from the site chosen by the developer and the Provincial Resettlement Committee at Houay Dum. Their reasons are:
• An unwillingness, as a small Yeh speaking group, to share a village site with other ethnic and language groups, and
• A reluctance to be relocated in a site which is adjacent to the Vietnamese administered rubber plantation.
In Navakang, villagers have already moved to a site of their own choosing. Their reasons, which were clearly stated in an interview with the one of key informants (transcript is provided in Appendix 1) include:
• The inadequacy of the forest and agricultural land provided at the proposed relocation site; and • Failure to carry out the appropriate rites and sacrifices needed to ensure the future prosperity
and safety of the community at the chosen site. Households were asked about the impact of the dam22, or the reservoir on their livelihoods, resources and wellbeing. The households included in the survey in the four affected villages reported that they had been relocated and had lost land. Fifty-‐one of 55 reported losing their residential and settled agricultural land (Table 5. 10 and Table 5.23). Among them, 15 households reported that they had not been and would not be compensated (Table 5.13). Thirty-‐six thought that they would be compensated with land and construction materials. Of 51 households who reported that they must resettle , only 35 know how they will be compensated.Responses regarding compensation were inaccurate in respect of provisions in the RP.The RP provides for cash or replacement of land, cash in respect of transition costs, and housing to be provided to all affected households. Table 5.10. Number and percentage of families who think the project will effect families: Sekong 3
Villages No Yes Don’t know or No
answer Total N % N % N %
Navasene North 9 52.9 8 47.1 0 0.0 17 Navajatsan 8 27.6 21 72.4 0 0.0 29 Navakang 9 39.1 14 60.9 0 0.0 23 Navasene South 7 35.0 12 60.0 1 5.0 20 Total 33 37.1 55 61.8 1 1.1 89
22 In questioning the villagers affected by Sekong 3 Upper dam, researchers omitted the question “Do you know about the dam?” since relocation had already taken place there.
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Table 5.11. The number and percentage of families who think they will lose land: Sekong 3
Villages
No Yes Don’t know or no answer Total
N % N % N % Navasene North 1 12.5 7 87.5 0 0.0 8 Navajatsan 0 0.0 20 100.0 0 0.0 20 Navakang 1 7.1 13 92.9 0 0.0 14 Navasene South 0 0.0 11 84.6 2 15.4 13 Total 2 3.6 51 92.8 2 3.6 55 Table 5.12. The number and percentage of families who think they will be compensated for land lost: Sekong 3
Villages
No Yes No idea N % N % N %
Navasene North 1 14.3 6 85.7 0 0.0 7 Navajatsan 3 15.8 16 84.2 0 0.0 19 Navakang 7 53.8 6 46.1 0 0.0 13 Navasene South 4 33.3 7 58.3 1 8.3 12 Total 15 29.4 35 68.6 1 1.9 51 Table 5.13. Knowledge of mode of compensation for land lost: Sekong 3
Villages
Knowledge of types of compensation
Total Land Cash Construction material
Land and construction material
N % N % N % N % Navasene North 0 0.0 0 16.7 1 16.7 4 66.7 6 Navajatsan 1 6.2 1 6.2 8 50.0 6 37.5 16 Navakang 1 16.7 0 0.0 3 50.0 2 33.3 6 Navasene South 0 0.0 0 28.6 1 14.3 4 57.1 7 Total 2 5.7 1 11.4 13 37.1 16 45.7 35 Table 5.14. Number and percentage of families who know they will move: Sekong 3
Villages No Yes No idea
N % N % N % Navasene North 1 12.5 7 87.5 0 0.0 8 Navajatsan 0 0.0 20 100.0 0 0.0 20 Navakang 1 7.1 13 92.8 0 0.0 14 Navasene South 0 0.0 11 84.6 2 15.4 13 Total 2 3.6 51 92.7 2 3.6 55
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Table 5.15. Number and percentage of families who think they will be compensated for resettlement: Sekong 3
Villages No Yes No idea
Total N % N % N %
Navasene North 1 14.3 6 85.7 0 0.0 7
Navajatsan 3 15.8 16 84.2 0 0.0 19
Navakang 7 53.8 6 46.1 0 0.0 13
Navasene South 4 33.3 7 58.3 1 8.3 12
Total 15 29.4 35 68.6 1 1.9 51 Table 5.16. Knowledge of affected people about the project: Xekaman 1
Villages Knowledge of affected people about the project
Total No Yes N % N %
Hindam 0 0.0 32 100.0 32 Donkhen 4 22.2 14 77.8 18 Total 4 8.0 46 92.0 50 Table 5.17. Sources of information: Xekaman 1
Villages Local officer Neighbor District officer Local officer and
neighbor Total
N % N % N % N % Hindam 27 84.4 1 3.1 3 9.4 1 3.1 32 Donkhen 10 71.4 2 14.3 1 7.1 1 7.1 14 Total 37 80.4 3 6.5 4 8.7 2 4.3 46 Table 5.18. Number and percentage of families who think the project will affect their families: Xekaman 1
Villages No Yes Don’t know/Not sure
Total N % N % N %
Hindam 4 12.5 27 84.4 1 3.1 32
Donkhen 5 27.8 12 66.7 1 5.6 18
Total 9 18.0 39 78.0 2 4.0 50
Table 5.19. Number and percentage of families who think they will lose land: Xekaman 1
Villages No Yes
Total N % N %
Hindam 1 3.7 26 96.3 27 Donkhen 0 0.0 12 100.0 12
Total 1 2.6 38 97.4 39
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Table 5.20. The number and percentage of families who think they will be compensated for land lost: Xekaman 1
Villages No Yes Total
N % N % Hindam 13 50.0 13 50 26 Donkhen 3 25.0 9 75 12 Total 16 42.1 22 28.9 38 Table 5.21. Knowledge of mode of compensation for land lost: Xekaman 1
Villages
Knowledge about types of land lost compensation (in %)
Total Land Cash Construction
material Made house
Land & cash
Land &construction
material
Land, cash& construction material
Hindam 7.7 0.0 46.2 7.7 23.1 7.7 7.7 13 Donkhen 0.0 33.3 33.3 0.0 0.0 33.3 0.0 9 Total 4.5 13.6 40.9 4.5 13.6 18.2 4.5 22
Table 5.22. Number and percentage of families who know they will move: Xekaman 1
Villages No Yes Not sure Total
N % N % N % Hindam 4 12.5 27 84.4 1 3.1 32 Donkhen 5 27.8 12 66.7 1 5.6 18 Total 9 18.0 39 78.0 2 4.0 50 Table 5.23. The number and percentage of families who think they will be compensated for resettlement: Xekaman 1
Villages No Yes Not sure
Total N % N % N %
Hindam 1 3.45 20 68.97 8 27.59 29 Donkhen 2 20.00 8 80.00 0 0.00 10 Total 3 7.69 28 71.79 8 20.51 39 5.2 Concerns about impact and long-‐term effects of relocation
The previous sections have reported on knowledge of project impacts on and compensation to the affected populations in all impacted communities.. Many responses, especially of households affected by the transmission line, were poorly informed and inaccurate.By contrast, the surveyed households, in the villages affected by the transmission line and in those affected by the two dams, tended to be certain about their specific concerns about:
• resettlement, relocation and livelihoods retention or restoration, • impact on and loss of cultural elements in their family and community livelihoods based on
swidden farming, fishing and forest, and • impact on their social values and networks.
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The impact of the transmission line is relatively small, and nowhere causes significant loss of land or any impact on residential land or housing because the line passes mainly a kilometer or more away from village housing and agricultural land.Concerns expressed by the affected communities in or near the path of the transmission line were less well informed about expected land losses and impact on houses.
5.2.1 Concerns about Impact and resettlement
Transmission line villages The levels of concern regarding residence are shown in Table 5.24. The majority of respondents (excepts for Namxuan)said that they have great concerns about their residence and living place in the future: 75% of respondents in Phouyang, 57% in Hatxanh, 56% in Somboune and 55% in Phoukeua (Table 24). Table 5.24. Level of concern about residence
Villages Level of concern (in %) Total
No concern Minor concern Medium concern Great concern (%) No. Hatxanh 15.8 5.3 21.1 57.9 100 114 Namxuan 40.9 0.0 18.2 40.9 100 22 Phouyang 8.3 8.3 8.3 75.0 100 12 Phoukeua 33.3 11.1 0.0 55.6 100 18 Somboune 17.9 9.5 16.7 56.0 100 84 Total 19.6 6.8 17.2 56.4 100 250 Villagers in transmission line villages had many concerns related to residence such as: house style and size, construction material and location of the village and their house, for example, 201 of 250 respondents said that they were concerned about the change of village location and 196 respondents had said that they were concerned about the house size and style, lack of construction material or location (Tables 5.25, 5.26). Table 5.25. Issues of concern raised by households of all villages
Concern Villages
Total Hatxanh Namxuan Phouyang Phoukeua Somboune N % N % N % N % N % N %
Relocation 96 47.8 13 6.44 11 5.42 12 5.88 69 33.7 201 100 House size, style,lack of construction material or location
91 46.43 13 6.63 11 5.61 12 6.12 69 35.2 196 100
Other impact of project 5 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 100
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Table 5.26. Specific concerns over house style, lack of construction materials or house location
Concern Villages
Total Hatxanh Namxuan Phouyang Phoukeua Somboune
The total number of concerns about the house size, style, lack of construction material or location of respondents
89 12 11 12 67 191
Lack of construction material 18 0 4 2 9 33 Construction material, far from hospital and school 7 2 3 0 6 18
House size 5 1 0 3 7 16 House size and construction material, far from hospital and school 12 0 1 0 3 16
Construction material and far from hospital 8 0 0 0 7 15
House size and construction material 7 2 0 0 5 14 Far from hospital and school 5 0 1 1 5 12 House style, size and construction material 1 3 0 0 7 11
House size, far from hospital and school 6 0 0 0 4 10
Far from hospital 2 0 1 3 2 8 Changing of house style 4 0 0 1 2 7 House style, size and construction material, far from hospital and school 2 2 0 0 1 5
Far from school 4 0 0 1 0 5 House style, far from hospital and school 3 0 0 0 1 4
House size, construction material and far from hospital 0 1 0 1 2 4
House style, construction material, far from hospital and school 1 1 1 0 1 4
House size, far from hospital 1 0 0 0 1 2 House style and size, far from hospital and school 1 0 0 0 1 2
Changing house style and size 0 0 0 0 1 1 House size, far from school 0 0 0 0 1 1 House style and size, far from hospital 1 0 0 0 0 1 House size and construction, project 1 0 0 0 0 1 House style, size and construction material, far from hospital 0 0 0 0 1 1
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Sekong 3 Upper Dam affected villages According to the responses of the 89 villagers in Sekong 3 Upper Dam Affected Villages on their future residence and place of living, 53 said that they have great concern, 15 have medium concern, 3 have minor concern and only 16 said they have no concern about the residence and living place (Table 5.27, 5.28). Table 5.27. Level of concern regarding residence
Villages No concern Minor concern
Medium concern Great concern No idea Total
Navasene North 2 1 1 13 0 17 Navajatsan 9 2 6 10 2 29 Navakang 1 0 5 17 0 23 Navasene South 4 0 3 13 0 20 Total 16 3 15 53 2 89 Table 5.28. Issues of concern
Issue
Villages Total Navasene
North Navajatsan Navakang Navasene South
Contruction material 4 8 2 6 20 House style, house size 5 1 2 4 12 House style, construction material, far from hospital 2 0 4 1 7
House style 0 0 6 0 6 House size, construction material, far from hospital, far from school 1 0 2 2 5
House size, construction material, far from hospital 1 0 2 0 3
House size 1 2 0 0 3 House style, house size, construction material, far from hospital, far from school
0 0 2 0 2
House style, house size, far from hospital 0 2 0 0 2
House style, construction material 1 1 0 0 2 Contraction material, far from hospital 0 1 0 1 2
House style, house size, construction material, far from hospital 0 0 0 1 1
House style, house size, and construction material 0 1 0 0 1
House size, construction material 0 0 1 0 1 Contraction material, far from hospital, far from school 0 0 1 0 1
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Xekaman 1/Xanxai dam affected villages InXekaman1(Xanxai district) affected villages, 37 of 50 respondents said that they have great concern, 7 have medium concern, 2 have minor concern and only 3 said that they have no concern about the place of residence (Table 5.29, 5.30). Table 5.29. Concerns about place of residence
Villages No concern Minor concern Medium
concern Great concern Don’t know Total
Hindam 2 1 2 26 1 32 Donkhen 1 1 5 11 0 18 Total 3 2 7 37 1 50 Table 5.30. Concerns about living site
Concern Villages Total
Hindam Donkhen House style, house size, construction material 9 1 10 Construction material 2 3 5 House style, house size, construction material, far from hospital, an far from school 3 2 5
House style, house size 3 1 4 House size, construction material, far from hospital, far from school 4 0 4
House style, house size, far from hospital 0 3 3 Construction material, far from hospital, far from school 0 3 3 House size, construction material 0 2 2 Far from hospital, far from school 1 1 2 House style 1 0 1 House size 1 0 1 House style, construction material 1 0 1 House style, house size, far from school 1 0 1 House style, construction material, far from school 0 1 1 House style, house size, far from hospital, far from school 1 0 1 House style, construction material, far from hospital, far from school 1 0 1
No answer 1 0 1 Total 29 17 46
5.2.2 Concerns regarding the area as source of food
A more immediate and existing concern expressed by households in the vicinity of the transmission line was that of insufficient land as a source of food. This appears to be related not only to relocation or impact of the transmission line but rather the general shortage of land and resulting food shortages which were recorded for these villages. Chronic land shortage was reported both in this research and in the socio-‐economic study done for the ADB Land Acquisition and Resettlement Plan.
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Transmission lineaffected villages From interviews with 250 villagers in the transmission line affected villagesit has found that 46% have great concern, 25.6% have medium concern, 9.6% have minor concern, and only 18.8% said that they have no concern about the area as source of food in the future (Table 5.31). Table 5.31. Concerns regarding the area as source of food
Villages
Concerns (in %) Total
No concern Minor concern Medium concern Great concern % N
Hatxanh 6.1 7.0 22.8 64.0 100 114 Namxuan 45.5 18.2 36.4 0.0 100 22 Phouyang 16.7 0.0 33.3 50.0 100 12 Phoukeua 33.3 11.1 16.7 38.9 100 18 Somboune 26.2 11.9 27.4 34.5 100 84 Total 18.8 9.6 25.6 46.0 100 250
There were several concerns regarding the area as source of food supply such as the source of food will be far away from the living site, infertile land, land scarcity, and land would be occupied by project or outsiders (Table 5.32). Table 5.32. Issues of concern related to sources of food
Concerns
Villages Total Hatxanh Namxuan Phouyang Phoukeua Somboune
Land scarcity 39 7 1 3 8 58 Far from living site, land scarcity 17 0 3 1 11 32
Poor quality land, land scarcity 14 2 3 0 10 29
Far from living site 15 2 2 1 5 25 Poor quality land 3 0 1 6 9 19 Far from living site, poor quality land, land scarcity 9 0 0 0 8 17
Do not know 2 0 0 1 4 7 Project 6 1 0 0 0 7 Far from living site, poor quality land 0 0 0 0 6 6
Land scarcity, project 1 0 0 0 1 2 Far from living site, poor quality land, land scarcity, project
1 0 0 0 0 1
Total 107 12 10 12 62 203
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Sekong 3 Upper Dam affected villages From interviews with 89 villagers in Sekong 3 Upper Dam Affected Villages, it was found that 56 have great concern, 17 have medium concern, 4 have minor concern about the losing future source of food, and only 11 have no concerns about this issue (Table 5.33). Table 5.33. Level of concern about source of food
Villages No concern Minor concern
Medium concern Great concern No idea Total
Navasene North 0 0 2 15 0 17 Navajatsan 5 0 7 17 0 29 Navakang 3 2 5 12 1 23 Navasene South 3 2 3 12 0 20 Total 11 4 17 56 1 89 The villagers in Sekong 3 Upper Dam Affected Villages have some specific issues of the concern about the loss of their source of food supply in the future, such as: it will be far away from living site, losing of fertilized land, land getting scarce and it will be occupied by project. For more detail please see the Table 5.34, 5.35). Table 5.34. Issues of concern related to source of food
Issue
Villages Total Navasene
North Navajatsan Navakang Navasene South
Far from living site, poor quality land land scarcity 5 7 3 7 22
Land scarcity 2 9 5 3 19 Far from living site 1 2 4 1 8 Poor quality land , land scarcity 4 0 2 2 8 Far from living site, land scarcity 2 2 1 2 7 Far from living site, poor quality land 1 1 2 1 5 Poor quality land 2 1 0 1 4 Do not know 0 2 2 0 4 Total 17 24 19 17 77 Xekaman 1 Dam affected villages In Xekaman 1 affected villages, 25 of 43 respondents said that they have concerns about the farming land in the future such as it will be far away from their living site and of poor quality (Table 5.35).
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Table 5.35. Concerns about farming
Concern Villages
Total Hindam Donkhen
Far from living site, poor quality land, land scarcity 18 7 25 Poor quality land, land scarcity 1 4 5 Far from living site 2 2 4 Land getting scarce 2 1 3 Far from living site, Poor qualityland 3 0 3 Far from living site, land scarcity 1 1 2 Do not know 1 0 1 Total 28 15 43
5.2.3 Concerns regarding the NTFPs
A scarcity of available forest land, seizure of forest areas by external people or agencies, distance of travel to the forest, and loss of fertility of the forest were the main reasons for medium or great concern expressed by the majority of the surveyed households. They also expressed concern regarding the expected lack of access to non-‐timber forest products, to medicinal plants and to hunting. The importance of non-‐timber forest products as food supply and income are significant and are reported in detail in the report on livelihoods of the affected ethnic groups. Similarly, the importance of hunting to individual households is mainly related to the dependency of a small but significant minority of male household heads and younger men for whom this is a principal source of income. Earnings are from wild game sold by traders in Attapeu or Sekong markets or at Poukeua village to Vietnamese buyers from across the border. Night hunting of rats within the locality of the village and swidden fields is more general to all households among young males. The importance given to perceived losses of access to forest food products and to hunting tallies with the figures for dependency on forest products and hunting found in the general survey. The lesser but still significant concern about a loss of access to medicinal plants reflects that this is a specialist activity undertaken by some individuals who are usually traditional healers. For women, selling medicinal plants in Attapeu or Sekong markets or to traders in urban markets including Vientiane, this is an important source of income. In Hartxan village, loss of access to the forest and to forest products is the result of loss of land to rubber plantation development in 2010 and preceding years rather than to any expected loss to the transmission lineor to the Hartxan substation. Transmission line affected villages Concerns about non-‐timber forest products in the transmission lineaffected villagers is shown in Table 5.36. Forty percent of respondents said that they have great concern, 28.8% have medium concern, 14% have minor concern, and 17.2% said that they have no concern (Table 36).
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Table 5.36. Level of concern about non-‐timber forest products
Villages
Level of concern (in %) Total
No concern Minor concern Medium concern Great concern
Hatxanh 8.8 13.2 27.2 50.9 114 Namxuan 22.7 36.4 31.8 9.1 22 Phouyang 25.0 8.3 16.7 50.0 12 Phoukeua 22.2 0.0 27.8 50.0 18 Somboune 25.0 13.1 32.1 29.8 84 Total 17.2 14.0 28.8 40.0 250 The specific concerns about NTFPsare the source will be far away from their living site, poor quality forest, land scarcity, and the forest will be seized by external people(Table 5.37). Table 5.37. Concerns related to NTFP collection
Concern Villages Total Hatxanh Namxuan Phouyang Phoukeua Somboune
Degraded forest 6 4 0 10 10 30 Forest seized by external people 11 5 0 1 4 21 Land scarcity 15 0 0 1 3 19 Degraded forest, land scarcity 13 0 1 0 5 19 Far from living site, land scarcity 7 1 1 0 9 18 Far from living site, degraded forest, land scarcity 5 2 1 0 8 16
Far from living site 4 2 3 2 4 15 Degraded forest, forest seized by external people 5 1 2 0 4 12
Degraded forest, land scarcity and forest seized by external people 7 0 1 0 2 10
Far from living site, degraded forest, land scarcity, forest seized by external people
8 0 0 0 2 10
Far from living site, degraded forest 3 0 0 0 7 10
Land scarcity, forest seized by external people 8 1 0 0 0 9
Far from living site, land scarcity, forest seized by external people 6 1 0 0 2 9
Far from living site, forest seized by external people 3 0 0 0 1 4
Far from living site, degraded forest, forest seized by external people
2 0 0 0 2 4
Forest seized by external people, project 1 0 0 0 0 1
Total 104 17 9 14 63 207
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Sekong 3 Upper dam affected villages Levels of concern aboutnon-‐timber forest productsin the future of the Sekong 3 Upper Dam affected villagers is shown Tables 5.38). Thirty-‐five of 89 respondents said that they have great concern, 27 have medium concern, 12 have minor concern, and 13 said that they have no concern (Table 38). Table 5.38. Level of concern about finding NTFPs
Villages No concern minor concern
Medium concern Great concern No idea Total
Navasene North 0 1 7 9 0 17 Navajatsan 8 2 5 12 2 29 Navakang 2 8 6 7 0 23 Navasene South 3 1 9 7 0 20 Total 13 12 27 35 2 89 The specific concerns about NTFPsare the source will be far from their living site, degraded forest, Land scarcity, and forest will be seized by external people (Table 5.39). Table 5.39. Concerns related to NTFPs
Concern
Villages
Total
Navasen
e North
Navajatsa
n
Navakan
g
Navasen
e So
uth
Degraded land, getting scarce 5 2 1 5 13 Far from living site, degraded land, land getting scarce, forest seized by external people
3 1 2 3 9
Far from living site 1 3 2 2 8 Far from living site, degraded land, forest seized by external people 0 3 3 2 8 Land getting scarce 1 2 1 2 6 Far from living site, and degraded land 1 2 2 1 6 Far from living site, and land getting scarce 1 1 2 1 5 Far from living site,land getting scarce, forest seized by external people
1 2 2 0 5
Degraded land 1 0 2 0 3 Degraded land, forest seized by external people 2 0 1 0 3
Far from living site, forest seized by external people 1 0 1 0 2
Far from living site,land getting scarce, forest seized by external people external
0 1 1 0 2
Forest caught by external 0 0 1 0 1 Land getting scarce, forest seized by external people 0 1 0 0 1
Degraded land, land getting scarce, forest seized by external people 0 0 0 1 1 Total 17 19 21 17 74
78
Xekaman 1 affected villages In Xekaman 1 dam affected villages,33 of 50 respondents have great concern, 8 have medium concern, 4 have minor concern, and 3 said that they have no concern (Table 5.40). Table 5.40. Level of concern about NTFPs
Villages No concern Minor concern Medium
concern Great concern Don’t know
or no answer
Total
Hindam 1 3 3 23 2 32 Donkhen 2 1 5 10 0 18 Total 3 4 8 33 2 50 Specific concerns are the source will be far away from the living site, degraded forest, land getting scarce, and forest seized by external people (Table 5.41). Table 5.41. Concerns about NTFPs
Concern Villages
Total Hindam Donkhen
Far from living site, degraded land, land getting scare, forest seized by external people 14 4 18
Land getting scare, forest seized by external people 3 5 8 Far from living site 4 3 7 Far from living site 2 0 2 Far from living site, degraded land, land getting scare 1 1 2 Far from living site, land getting scare, and forest seized by external 1 1 2
Degraded land, land getting scare, forest seized by external people 1 1 2 Forest seized by external people 0 1 1 Degraded land, land getting scare 1 0 1 Degraded land, forest seized by external people 1 0 1 Far from living site, degraded land, forest seized by external people 1 0 1
Total 29 16 45
5.2.4 Concerns regarding sources of traditional medicine
Transmission lineaffected villages Concerns about the source of traditional medicine in the future intransmission line affected villages is shown in Table 5.42 where 9.6 respondents said that they have great concern, 10.4% have medium concern, 15.6% have minor concern, and 64.4% said that they have no concern (Table 5.42, 5.43).
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Table 5.42. Concerns regarding traditional medicine
Villages Level of concern (in %) Total
No concern Minor concern Medium
concern Great concern % N
Hatxanh 50.9 21.1 12.3 15.8 100 114 Namxuan 95.5 4.5 0.0 0.0 100 22 Phouyang 66.7 8.3 25.0 0.0 100 12 Phoukeua 83.3 5.6 0.0 11.1 100 18 Somboune 70.2 14.3 10.7 4.8 100 84 Total 64.4 15.6 10.4 9.6 100 250 The specific concerns are the decline of herbal medicine plants in the forest, forest getting scarce, and forest area seized by external people (Table 5.43). Table 5.43. Concern related to traditional medicine
Concern Villages
Total Hatxanh Namxuan Phouyang Phoukeua Somboune
Decline of herbal medicine plants in the forest 18 1 0 3 11 33
Decline of herbal medicine plants in the forest, forest getting scarce 8 0 0 0 8 16
Forest getting scarce 6 0 2 0 2 10 Decline of herbal medicine plants in the forest, forest getting scarce, forest seized by external people
9 0 0 0 1 10
Forest seized by external people 5 0 2 0 0 7 Decline of herbal medicine plants in the forest, forest seized by external people
5 0 0 0 1 6
Forest getting scarce, forest seized by external people 2 0 0 0 0 2
Total 56 1 4 3 25 89 Sekong 3 Upper dam affected villages Concerns about the source of traditional medicine in the future of the Sekong 3 Upper Dam Affected Villages is shown in Table 5.44. Five of 89 respondents said that they have great concern, 19 have medium concern, 9 have minor concern, 6 have no idea, and 50 said that they have no concern. These figures suggest that the majority are not overly concerned about losing the source of their NTFPs, since they depending more now on modern medicine and few villagers know much about the traditional medicine anymore (Table 5.44).
80
Table 5.44. Level of concern regarding traditional medicine
Villages No concern Minor concern
Medium concern Great concern No idea Total
Navasene North 9 2 4 2 0 17 Navajatsan 19 2 4 0 4 29 Navakang 13 2 4 2 2 23 Navasene South 9 3 7 1 0 20 Total 50 9 19 5 6 89 Specific concernsare the decline of herbal medicines in the forest, forest scarcity, and forest area seized by external people (Table 5.45). Table 5.45. Concerns related to traditional medicine
Concern Villages
Total Navasene North Navajatsan Navakang Navasene
South Decline of herbal medicines in the forest 6 5 3 8 22
Decline of herbal medicines in the forest, forest scarcity 0 0 3 1 4
Decline of herbal medicines in the forest, forest seized by external people 1 0 1 1 3
Decline of herbal medicines in the forest, forest scarcity, forest seized by external people
1 0 1 1 3
No idea 0 1 0 0 1 Total 8 6 8 11 33 Xekaman 1affected villages The study found that 9 of 50 villagers said that they have great concern, 10 have medium concern, 8 have minor concern, 2 have no idea, and 21 said that they have no concern. These figures suggestthat almost half the respondents have no concern about losing the source of their NTFPs, possible as more people are now using modern medicine and very few villagers know much about traditional medicine anymore (Table 5.46). Table 5.46. Concerns about traditional medicine sources
Villages No concern Minor concern Medium
concern Great concern Don’t know Total
Hindam 16 5 2 7 2 32 Donkhen 5 3 8 2 0 18 Total 21 8 10 9 2 50 Specific concerns are the decline in herbal medicines in the forest, forest scarcity and forest area seized by external people (Table 5.47).
81
Table 5.47. Concerns about traditional medicine collection
Concern Villages
Total Hindam Donkhen
Decline of herbal medicines in the forest, forest scarcity 3 4 7 Decline of herbal medicines in the forest, forest seized by external people 4 2 6
Decline of herbal medicines in the forest 2 2 4 Forest scarcity 3 0 3 Forest scarcity, forest seized by external people 0 2 2 Decline of herbal medicines in the forest, forest scarcity, forest seized by external people 1 1 2
Don’t know 1 0 1 Forest seized by external people 0 1 1 Too far 0 1 1 Total 14 13 27
5.2.5 Concerns regarding hunting
Transmission lineaffected villages The study found that, 26.4 of respondents in transmission line affected villagers have great concern, 20.0% have medium concern, 13.2% have minor concern, and 40.4%said that they have no concern. The figures suggest that the majority of the respondents have concerns about losing the source of their hunting (Table 5.48). Table 5.48. Concerns about hunting
Villages
Concern level (in %) Total
No concern Minor concern Medium concern Great concern
% N Hatxanh 40.4 14.9 22.8 21.9 100 114 Namxuan 45.5 27.3 27.3 0.0 100 22 Phouyang 33.3 0.0 8.3 58.3 100 12 Phoukeua 38.9 0.0 22.2 38.9 100 18 Somboune 40.5 11.9 15.5 32.1 100 84 Total 40.4 13.2 20.0 26.4 100 250 The specific concerns are the hunting area will be far from the living site, hunting area is getting scarce, wild animalsare caught by external people, wild animal populations are declining, and more modern hunting tools are being used (Table 5.49).
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Table 5.49. Concerns related to hunting
Concern
Villages
Total
Hatxanh
Nam
xuan
Phouyang
Phoukeua
Somboune
Wild animal populations declining 9 2 0 5 8 24 Hunting area getting scarce, Wild animal populations declining 12 1 1 1 3 18 Far from living site, Hunting area getting scarce, Wild animal populations declining 5 1 1 0 7 14
Far from living site 2 2 0 1 4 9 Far from living site,Wild animal populations declining 1 0 2 1 5 9 Hunting area getting scarce 3 0 1 2 1 7 Forest area seized by external people,Wild animal populations declining 2 1 0 0 4 7
Far from living site, Hunting area getting scarce, Forest area seized by external people,Wild animal populations declining 6 0 0 0 1 7
Wild animal populations declining, Illegal hunting by external people 3 1 0 0 1 5 Hunting area getting scarce, Forest area seized by external people, Wild animal populations declining 5 0 0 0 0 5
Far from living site,Forest area seized by external people 0 0 0 0 4 4 Hunting area getting scarce, Wild animal populations declining, Modern hunting tools used 1 0 0 0 3 4
Forest area seized by external people 1 1 0 0 1 3 Far from living site and Hunting area getting scarce 0 0 0 0 2 2 Forest area seized by external people, Illegal hunting by external people 1 0 0 0 1 2
Forest area seized by external , Modern hunting tools used 2 0 0 0 0 2 Wild animal populations declining, Modern hunting tools used 2 0 0 0 0 2 Hunting area getting scarce, Forest area seized by external people,Illegal hunting by external people 2 0 0 0 0 2
Hunting area getting scarce, Wild animal populations declining, and Illegal hunting by external people 2 0 0 0 0 2
Wild animal populations declining, Illegal hunting by external people, Modern hunting tools used 0 2 0 0 0 2
Hunting area getting scarce, Forest area seized by external people, Wild animal populations declining, and Modern hunting tools used 1 0 0 0 1 2
Illegal hunting by external people 1 0 0 0 0 1 Modern hunting tools used 0 0 0 1 0 1 Far from living site,Illegal hunting by external people 0 0 0 0 1 1 Hunting area getting scarce,Forest area seized by external people 1 0 0 0 0 1 Hunting area getting scarce, Illegal hunting by external people 0 0 0 0 1 1 Illegal hunting by external people, Modern hunting tools used 0 0 1 0 0 1 Far from living site, Hunting area getting scarce,Forest area seizedby 0 0 0 0 1 1
83
external people Far from living site, Forest area seized by external people, Wild animal populations declining 1 0 0 0 0 1
Far from living site, Wild animal populations declining, Illegal hunting by external people 0 1 0 0 0 1
Hunting area getting scarce, Illegal hunting by external people, Modern hunting tools used 0 0 1 0 0 1
Forest area seized by external people, Illegal hunting by external people, Modern hunting tools used 0 0 1 0 0 1
Far from living site, Hunting area getting scarce, Forest area seized by external people, Modern hunting tools used 1 0 0 0 0 1
Far from living site, Hunting area getting scarce, Wild animal populations declining, and Modern hunting tools used 1 0 0 0 0 1
Far from living site, Wild animal populations declining, Illegal hunting by external people, Modern hunting tools used 0 0 0 0 1 1
Hunting area getting scarce, Forest area seized by external people, Wild animal populations declining, Illegal hunting by external people 1 0 0 0 0 1
Far from living site, Hunting area getting scarce, Forest area seized by external people, Wild animal populations declining, Illegal hunting by external people
1 0 0 0 0 1
Far from living site, Hunting area getting scarce, Forest area seized by external people, Wild animal populations declining, and Modern hunting tools used
1 0 0 0 0 1
Total 68 12 8 11 50 149 Sekong 3 affected villages The study have found that, 26.4 of respondents in Sekong 3 affected villagers 8 of 89 respondents expressed that they have great concern, 17 have medium, 7 have minor concern, 7 have no idea and 50 said that they have no concern. The figures have indicated that more than half of the respondents have not concerned about the losing the source of their hunting (Table 5.50). Table 5.50. Concerns about hunting
Villages No concern Minor concern
Medium concern Great concern No idea Total
Navasene North 6 2 5 4 0 17 Navajatsan 22 1 2 0 4 29 Navakang 13 2 6 2 0 23 Navasene South 9 2 4 2 3 20 Total 50 7 17 8 7 89 The specific issues about the concerning on the source of hunting which expressed by villagers in Sekong 3 dam affected villages are: the hunting area will be far from living site, hunting area getting scarce, wild animal area caught by external people, wild animal decreased and modern hunting tools used, as shown in Table 5.51.
84
Table 5.51. Issues of concern related to hunting
Issue
Villages
Total
Navasen
e North
Navajatsan
Navakan
g
Navasen
e So
uth
Hunting area getting scarce, wild animal populations declining 1 0 3 0 4 Far from living site 1 0 0 2 3 Far from living site, hunting area getting scarce, wild animal populations declining, illegal hunting by external people 2 0 0 1 3
Hunting area getting scarce 2 0 0 0 2 Hunting area getting scarce, illegal hunting by external people 2 0 0 0 2 Far from living site, hunting area getting scarce, wild animal populations declining 1 0 1 0 2
Hunting area getting scarce, wild animal populations declining, illegal hunting by external people 0 0 1 1 2
wild animal populations declining 0 0 1 0 1 Illegal hunting by external people 0 0 0 1 1 Far from living site, illegal hunting by external people 0 1 0 0 1 Hunting area getting scarce, illegal hunting by external people 0 0 0 1 1 Far from living site, illegal hunting by external people, wild animal populations declining 1 0 0 0 1
Far from living site, wild animal populations declining, illegal hunting by external people 0 1 0 0 1
Hunting area getting scarce, wild animal area caught by external, and wild animal decreased 0 0 0 1 1
Hunting area getting scarce, wild animal populations declining, illegal hunting by external people 0 0 1 0 1
Far from living site, hunting area getting scarce, wild animal populations declining, illegal hunting by external people 0 0 0 1 1
Far from living site, hunting area getting scarce, wild animal populations declining, modern hunting tools used 0 0 1 0 1
Far from living site, hunting area getting scarce, wild animal populations declining, illegal hunting by external people, modern hunting tools used
0 0 1 0 1
Far from living site, forest seized by external people, wild animal populations declining, illegal hunting by external people, modern hunting tools used
1 0 0 0 1
Far from living site, hunting area getting scarce, forest seized by external people, wild animal populations declining, illegal hunting by external people, modern hunting tools used
0 0 1 0 1
Total 11 3 10 8 32
85
Xekaman 1 affected villages The study have found that, 24 out of 50 respondents in Xekaman 1 affected villagers expressed that they have great concern, 12 have medium, 2 have minor concern, 4 have no idea and 8 said that they have no concern. The figures have indicated that the majority of the respondents have concerned about the losing the source of their hunting (Table 5.52). Table 5.52. Concerns about hunting
Villages No concern Minor concern Medium
concern Great concern Don’t know Total
Hindam 5 1 6 17 3 32 Donkhen 3 1 6 7 1 18 Total 8 2 12 24 4 50 As the villagers in Sekong 3 dam affected villages, the specific issues about the concerning on the source of hunting which expressed by villagers in Xekaman 1 dam affected villages are: the hunting area will be far from their living site, hunting area getting scarce, wild animal area caught by external people, wild animal decreased and modern hunting tools used(Table 5.53). Table 5.53. Concerns about hunting
Concerns Villages
Total Hindam Donkhen
Far from living site, hunting area getting scarce, wild animal area seized by external people, wild animal populations declining
6 3 9
Far from living site, hunting area getting scarce, wild animal populations declining 2 1 3
Far from living site, hunting area getting scarce, wild animal area seized by external people, wild animal populations declining
3 0 3
Far from living site 2 0 2 Far from living site, wild animal populations declining 2 0 2 Wild animal area seized by external people, illegal hunting by external people 0 2 2
Wild animal area seized by external people, wild animal populations declining, illegal hunting by external people 0 2 2
Far from living site, hunting area getting scarce 0 1 1 Far from living site, wild animal area seized by external people 0 1 1
Hunting area getting scarce, wild animal area seized by external people 0 1 1
Wild animal area seized by external people, wild animal populations declining 1 0 1
Far from living site, wild animal area seized by external people, and wild animal populations declining 1 0 1
Far from living site, wild animal populations declining, modern 1 0 1
86
hunting tools used Hunting area getting scarce, wild animal area seized by external people, wild animal populations declining 1 0 1
Hunting area getting scarce, wild animal area seized by external people, illegal hunting by external people 0 1 1
Hunting area getting scarce, wild animal populations declining, modern hunting tools used 0 1 1
Wild animal area seized by external people, illegal hunting by external people, modern hunting tools used 0 1 1
Far from living site, hunting area getting scarce, wild animal area seized by external people, illegal hunting by external people
1 0 1
Far from living site, hunting area getting scarce, wild animal populations declining, modern hunting tools used 1 0 1
Hunting area getting scarce, wild animal populations declining, illegal hunting by external people, modern hunting tools used 1 0 1
Far from living site, hunting area getting scarce, illegal hunting by external people, modern hunting tools used 1 0 1
Far from living site, hunting area getting scarce, wild animal area seized by external people, wild animal populations declining, illegal hunting by external people, modern hunting tools used
1 0 1
Total 24 14 38
5.2.6 Concerns about impacts on water sources
Impact on drinking water sources was a concern for 167 of 250 households, some two-‐thirds of all surveyed households. Sixty-‐seven out of 84 households at Somboun expressed concern about impacts on sources of water. This reflects the existing water pollution from gold mining, rather than expectations of any impact from thetransmission line. Gold mines are mainly in the hill areas adjoining the creek, which runs north-‐south along the line of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and a recently constructed road between the main Brao villages.23 Pollution in the affected streams is clearly visible, and has during 2010 to 2013 led to the cessation of fishing in these streams, and so to an important source of food supply to the community and of clean water. Discussions with local officials led to a suggestion from the Somboun village chief and elders that one stream should be protected to provide clean water to the village. The request illustrates the capacity and willingness of the community to compromise in response to developments taking place around them. This survey found that the most respondents have medium to great concern about the future of water sources in their communities. Transmission lineaffected villages The study found that, 47.2% of respondents in transmission line affected villagers said that they have great concern, 19.6% have medium concern, 9.2% have minor concern, and 24%said that they have no
23 Villagers at Hindam, impacted by the Xakhaman1/Xanxai dam, also complained about the loss of income, especially of women, from gold mining because of small-‐scale mining concessions to Vietnamese miners in the Dong Amphanh NPA.
87
concern. The figures suggest t the majority of the respondents have concerns about losing their sources of water, especially in Somboune village where 53.6% of respondents expressed ‘great concern’ (Table 5.54). Table 5.54. Concerns about drinking water sources
Villages
Concern level (in %) Total
No concern Minor concern
Medium concern Great concern
Hatxanh 23.7 8.8 19.3 48.2 114 Namxuan 36.4 13.6 18.2 31.8 22 Phouyang 25.0 8.3 16.7 50.0 12 Phoukeua 44.4 27.8 0.0 27.8 18 Somboune 16.7 4.8 25.0 53.6 84 Total 24.0 9.2 19.6 47.2 250 The specific issues are: the source of water will be far away from their living sites, water pollution and shortage of water (Table 5.55). Table 5.55. Concerns related to water
Concern
Villages
Total
Hatxanh
Nam
xuan
Phouyang
Phoukeua
Somboune
Shortage of water 12 2 1 3 14 32 Water pollution 10 0 3 0 9 22 Far from living site, shortage of water 5 4 0 0 9 18 Far from living site, water pollution, shortage of water 7 0 3 0 6 16 Water pollution, shortage of water 5 2 0 0 8 15 Water pollution, shortage of water 10 1 0 1 2 14 Far from living site 5 0 0 0 6 11 Water pollution, shortage of water 3 3 0 0 4 10 Far from living site, water pollution, shortage of water 4 2 0 0 4 10 Water pollution 7 0 0 0 2 9 Muddy water 4 0 0 2 3 9 Far from living site, water pollution, shortage of water 6 0 0 0 0 6 Far from living site, water pollution 2 0 1 0 1 4 Far from living site, water pollution 2 0 0 0 2 4 Far from living site, water pollution 1 0 1 1 0 3 Far from living site, water pollution 1 0 1 1 0 3 No own water source 1 0 0 0 0 1 Total 87 14 9 10 70 190
88
Sekong 3 affected villages In Sekong 3 affected villages, 51 out of 89 respondents said that they have great concern, 26 have medium concern, 9 have minor concern, and 3 have no concern. The figures suggest that the majority of respondents have concerns about losing their source of water (Table 5.56). Table 5.56. Concern about water source
Villages No concern Minor concern Medium concern Great concern Total
Navasene North 0 1 3 13 17 Navajatsan 2 3 8 16 29 Navakang 0 3 7 13 23 Navasene South 1 2 8 9 20 Total 3 9 26 51 89 Specific concerns are the source of water will be far away from their living sites, muddy water, water pollution and shortage of water (Table 5.57). Table 5.57. Concerns about water source
Concern
Villages
Total
Navasen
e North
Navajatsan
Navakan
g
Navasen
e So
uth
Water pollution, Muddy water, Shortage of water 6 2 1 6 15 Far from living site, Muddy water 0 6 4 0 10 Far from living site, Water pollution, Muddy water, and Shortage water 0 4 2 3 9
Far from living site, and Shortage water 0 1 5 2 8 Muddy water, and Shortage water 3 1 2 2 8 Far from living site, Water pollution, and Muddy water 3 0 2 2 7 Far from living site 0 3 3 0 6 Far from living site, and Water pollution 0 3 0 1 4 Water pollution, and Muddy water 1 1 1 1 4 Far from living site, Muddy water, and Shortage water 2 1 1 0 4 No idea 0 2 0 1 3 Muddy water 1 0 0 1 2 Shortage water 0 1 1 0 2 Far from living site, Water pollution, and Shortage water 1 0 1 0 2 Waste ground water 0 1 0 0 1 Far from living site, and Waste ground water 0 1 0 0 1 Total 17 27 23 19 86
89
khaman 1affected villages In Xekaman 1 affected village, the study have found that, 31 out of 50 respondents expressed that they have great concern, 9 have medium concern, 1 have minor concern, 7 said that they have no concern and 2 have no idea. The figures have indicated that the majority of the respondents have concerned about the losing the source of water for using and drinking in their communities, as shown in Table 5.58. Table 5.58. Concern level about using and drinking water source
Villages No concern Minor concern Medium
concern Great concern Don't know Total
Hindam 2 1 9 18 2 32 Donkhen 5 0 0 13 0 18 Total 7 1 9 31 2 50 Similar totransmission line and Sekong 3 affected villagers, the specific issues about the concerning on the source of water which expressed by villagers in Xekaman 1 affected village are: the source of water will be far away from their living sites, muddy water, water pollution and shortage of water, as shown in Table 5.59. Table 5.59. Concerns about using and drinking water
Concern Villages
Total Hindam Donkhen
Water pollution, muddy water, and shorted water 5 5 10 Far from living site, muddy water, and shorted water 5 0 5 Far from living site, water pollution, muddy water, and shorted water 4 1 5
Far from living site 2 0 2 Far from living site, water pollution 1 1 2 Far from living site, muddy water 1 1 2 Far from living site, muddy water 1 1 2 Far from living site, shorted water 0 2 2 Water pollution, muddy water 2 0 2 Water pollution, shorted water 2 0 2 Muddy water, shortage of water 1 1 2 Far from living site, water pollution, shortage of water 2 0 2 Don’t know 1 0 1 Water pollution 0 1 1 Muddy water 1 0 1 Shortage of water 0 1 1 Far from living site, water pollution, muddy water 1 0 1 Total 28 13 41
5.2.7 Concerns about food shortages
A concern with the shortage of food was expressed as a medium or great concern by 184 households out of 250(75% of households in all five villages) and 80% of households at Hatxanh. This reflects the shortage of available land and the recent loss of land to rubber plantations at Hatxanh rather than any loss of land due to the transmission line.Reports of food shortage are borne out by data on rice deficits
90
in all communities, generally for from 3 to 4 months of the year. During this period the community becomes dependent on rice bought at markets or on forest food products, notably bamboo shoots, mushrooms and wild fruits, which are collected in substantial quantities, and also on crickets, snails, frogs, and deer and other wild game such as pangolins, turtles and snakes. Transmission lineaffected villages The study found that 43.6% of respondents in transmission line affected villagers said that they have great concern, 30.0% have medium concern, 12.8% have minor concern, 12.8% said that they have no concern, and 1.2% have no idea. These figures suggest that the majority of respondents have concerns about the shortage of food for their families and communities, especially in Hatxanh village where 52.6% of respondents expressed their great concern about the shortage of food (Table 5.60). Table 5.60. Concern level about shortage of food
Villages
Concern level (in %) Total No concern Minor
concern Medium concern Great concern
Don’t know or no answer
Hatxanh 7.0 9.6 29.8 52.6 0.9 114 Namxuan 13.6 40.9 36.4 9.1 0.0 22 Phouyang 25.0 0.0 41.7 33.3 0.0 12 Phoukeua 22.2 16.7 16.7 44.4 0.0 18 Somboune 15.5 10.7 29.8 41.7 2.4 84 Total 12.4 12.8 30.0 43.6 1.2 250 Sekong 3 affected villages The study found that 61 out of 89 respondents in Sekong 3 affected villagessaid that they have great concern, 21 have medium concern, 6 have minor concern, and only 1 respondent has no concern. These figures suggest that the majority of respondents have some concerns about the shortage of food, especially in Navasene North village where 82.35% of respondents, and Hatxanh village where 78.26% of respondents expressed ‘great concern’ about the shortage of food (Table 5.61).
Table 5.61. Concern level about shortage of food
Villages No concern Minor concern Medium concern Great concern Total
Navasene North 0 0 3 14 17 Navajatsan 1 3 8 17 29 Navakang 0 0 5 18 23 Navasene South 0 3 5 12 20 Total 1 6 21 61 89 Xekaman 1 affected villages In Xekaman 1 affected villages, the study found that 39 out of 50 respondents said that they have great concern, 3 have medium concern, 3 have minor concern, and 5 have no concern (Table 5.62).
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Table 5.62. Concern level about shortage of food
Villages Minor concern Medium concern Great concern Don’t know Total
Hindam 1 3 24 4 32 Donkhen 2 0 15 1 18 Total 3 3 39 5 50
5.2.8 Concerns about health
Concern with disease and health treatment also reflects current difficulties rather than any health impact of the transmission lineand hydroelectric power project affected villages. The highest levels of concern were those regarding a lack of money for treatment and a lack of health facilities. The problem of payment for health treatment was found in focus group discussions and informant interviews to be linked to a wider problem of dependency on borrowing to pay for serious health problems. Borrowing at high interest rates from informal money lenders often leads to chronic indebtedness and sometimes to land loss of to repay debts. The problem of contamination of water in the villages, malaria, dengue, child diarrhea, skin and infectious diseases, were seen as a more real health hazard than any perceived impact of the transmission line. Transmission line affected villages The study found that 53.2% said that they have great concern, 24.8% have medium concern, 10.0% have minor concern, 10.4% said that they have no concern, and 1.6% have no idea. These figures suggest that the majority of respondents have concerns about the health of their family members, especially in Hatxanh village where 59.6% of respondents expressed great concern about health (Table 5.63). Table 5.63. Concern level about household members’ health
Name of villages
Concern level (in %) Total
No concern Minor concern
Medium concern Great concern
Don’t know or no answer
Hatxanh 6.1 9.6 22.8 59.6 1.8 114 Namxuan 9.1 18.2 45.5 27.3 0.0 22 Phouyang 16.7 0.0 33.3 50.0 0.0 12 Phoukeua 16.7 16.7 27.8 38.9 0.0 18 Somboune 14.3 8.3 20.2 54.8 2.4 84 Total 10.4 10.0 24.8 53.2 1.6 250 Specific concerns are disease outbreak, lack of medical treatment, lack of money for treatment and fear of diseased animals (Table 5.64).
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Table 5.64. Concerns related to health status
Concern
Villages
Total
Hatxanh
Nam
xuan
Phou
yang
Phou
keua
Sombo
une
Lack of money for treatment 26 9 3 5 20 63 Disease outbreak, lack of money for treatment 17 1 1 1 8 28 Disease outbreak, lack of medical treatment, lack of money for treatment 10 4 2 0 10 26
Disease outbreak 11 0 0 5 7 23 Lack of medical treatment, lack of money for treatment 6 3 0 0 14 23 Lack of medical treatment 5 1 1 2 2 11 Disease outbreak, lack of medical treatment 6 0 0 0 4 10 Disease outbreak, lack of medical treatment 6 0 0 0 4 10 Lack of money for treatment, fear of diseased animals 6 1 1 0 1 9 Disease outbreak, lack of money for treatment,fear of diseased animals 5 0 2 0 2 9
Disease outbreak, fear of diseased animals 6 0 0 0 1 7 Disease outbreak, fear of diseased animals 6 0 0 0 1 7 Disease outbreak, fear of diseased animals 6 0 0 0 1 7 Fear of diseased animals 2 1 0 0 1 4 Disease outbreak, lack of medical treatment, lack of money for treatment, fear of diseased animals 4 0 0 0 0 4
Lack of medical treatment, fear of diseased animals 1 0 0 1 0 2 Lack of medical treatment, lack of money for treatment, fear of diseased animals 0 0 0 0 1 1
Total 107 20 10 15 72 224 Sekong 3 affected villages The study have found that 54 out of 89 respondents have great concern, 25 have medium concern, 7 have minor concern, and only 3 said that they have no concern. These figures suggest that the majority of respondents have concerns about the health of their family members, especially in Navasene North village where 14 out of 17 (82.35%) expressed great concern about the health of their family members (Table 5.65). Table 5.65. Concern level household members’ health
Villages No concern Minor concern Medium concern Great concern Total
Navasene North 0 1 2 14 17 Navajatsan 2 4 11 12 29 Navakang 0 0 6 17 23 Navasene South 1 2 6 11 20 Total 3 7 25 54 89
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Similar to the case of transmission line affected villages, the concerns in Sekong 3 are disease outbreak, lack of medical treatment, lack of money for treatment and fear of diseased animals (Table 5.66). Table 5.66. Concerns related to health status
Concerns
Village
Total
Navasen
e North
Navajatsan
Navakan
g
Navasen
e So
uth
Disease outbreak, lack of money for treatment 5 6 13 7 31 Disease outbreak, lack of medical treatment, lack of money for treatment , fear of diseased animals 1 5 1 5 12
Lack of money for treatment, fear of diseased animals 5 2 2 2 11 Lack of money for treatment 2 5 2 0 9 Lack of medical treatment, and lack of money for treatment 2 2 1 2 7 Lack of medical treatment, and lack of money for treatment 2 2 1 2 7 Disease outbreak, lack of medical treatment , and lack of money for treatment 2 2 1 1 6
Lack of medical treatment 0 2 2 0 4 No idea 0 3 0 1 4 Disease outbreak 0 0 1 1 2 Total 17 27 23 19 86 Xekaman 1affected villages The study found that 44 out of 45 respondents have some concerns about the health of their family members, such as disease outbreak, lack of medical treatment, lack of money for treatment and fear of diseased animals (Table 5.67). Table 5.67. Concerns about household health
Concern Villages
Total Hindam Donkhen
Disease outbreak, lack of medical treatment, and lack of mony for treatment 8 3 11
Lack of mony for treatment 6 4 10 Disease outbreak, and lack of mony for treatment 7 3 10 Lack of medical treatment, and lack of mony for treatment 4 6 10 Don’t know 1 0 1 Disease outbreak 1 0 1 Lack of mony for treatment, fear of diseased animals 1 0 1 Disease outbreak, lack of mony for treatment, fear of diseased animals 1 0 1
Total 29 16 45
94
5.2.9 Concerns about wood for house construction
Wood for house construction is important for villagers. The study found that 44.4% of respondents in the transmission line, 55.59% in Sekong 3 and 64.00% in Xekaman 1 villages expressed great concern. More than half of the respondents have great concern about a source of wood for house construction in the future since forests are being reduced by development projects and natural disasters (Table 5.68). Specific concerns are wood is hard to find, lack of suitable wood, afraid of controlson wood cutting, and wood is getting expensive (Table 5.68-‐5.73). Table 5.68. Concern levels about materials for construction in transmission line affected villages
Villages
Concern level (in %) Total
No concern Minor concern
Medium concern Great concern
Don’t know or no answer % N
Hatxanh 7.9 5.3 34.2 50.9 1.8 100 114 Namxuan 40.9 13.6 22.7 22.7 0.0 100 22 Phouyang 16.7 8.3 50.0 25.0 0.0 100 12 Phoukeua 11.1 33.3 5.6 50.0 0.0 100 18 Somboune 21.4 9.5 26.2 42.9 0.0 100 84 Total 16.0 9.6 29.2 44.4 0.8 100 250 Table 5.69. Issues of concern related to materials for construction in transmission line affected villages
Concern Hatxanh
Nam
xuan
Phou
yang
Phou
keua
Sombo
un
Hard to find wood 34 3 3 11 19 70 Hard to find wood, wood getting expensive 22 3 2 0 21 48 Hard to find wood, afraid of controls on wood cutting 16 0 3 0 2 21 Hard to find wood, lack of suitable wood, wood getting expensive 7 2 0 0 8 17 Wood getting expensive 3 3 0 2 4 12 Hard to find wood, lack of suitable wood 6 0 0 0 5 11 Hard to find wood, afraid of controls on wood cutting, wood getting expensive 4 0 1 0 1 6
Hard to find wood, lack of suitable wood, afraid of controls on wood cutting, wood getting expensive 3 1 0 1 1 6
Afraid of wood cutting control 4 0 0 0 1 5 Afraid of controls on wood cutting, wood getting expensive 1 0 1 0 2 4 Lack of suitable wood 1 0 0 1 1 3 Lack of suitable wood, wood getting expensive 1 0 0 0 1 2 Hard to find wood, lack of suitable wood, afraid of controls on wood cutting 1 0 0 0 0 1
Lack of suitable wood, afraid of controls on wood cutting, wood getting expensive 1 0 0 0 0 1
Total 105 13 10 16 66 210
95
Table 5.70. Concern levels about materials for construction n Sekong 3 affected villages Villages
No concern Minor concern Medium concern Great concern Total
N % N % N % N % N % Navasene North 1 5.88 0 00 4 23.53 12 70.59 17 100 Navajatsan 4 13.79 2 6.90 9 31.03 14 48.28 29 100 Navakang 0 00 1 4.35 5 21.74 17 73.91 23 100 Navasene South 0 00 2 8.70 8 34.78 10 43.48 20 100 Total 5 5.62 5 5.62 26 29.21 53 59.55 89 100 Table 5.71. Concerns related to materials for construction in Sekong 3 affected villages
Concern Village
Total Navasene North Navajatsan Navakang Navasene
South Hard to find wood, wood getting expensive 4 5 9 6 24
Hard to find wood, fewer trees for cutting, wood getting expensive 2 4 6 4 16
Hard to find wood 1 7 0 4 12 Hard to find wood, fewer trees for cutting 0 4 4 1 9
Hard to find wood, lack of suitable wood, fewer trees for cutting, wood getting expensive
4 0 1 3 8
Wood getting expensive 0 2 2 1 5 Hard to find wood, lack of suitable wood, wood getting expensive 3 0 0 1 4
Hard to find wood, lack of suitable wood, fewer trees for cutting 1 1 1 0 3
Hard to find wood, lack of suitable wood 0 1 0 0 1
Lack of suitable wood, wood getting expensive 1 0 0 0 1
Total 16 25 23 8 84 Table 5.72. Concern levels about construction materials in Xekaman 1 affected villages
Villages No concern Minor
concern Medium concern Great concern Don't
know Total
N % N % N % N % N % N % Hindam 3 9.32 2 6.25 3 9.38 20 62.50 4 12.50 32 100 Donkhen 4 22.22 2 11.11 0 0.0 12 66.67 0 0.0 18 100 Total 7 14.0 4 8.0 3 6.0 32 64.0 4 8.0 50 100
96
Table 5.73. Concerns about construction materials in Xekaman 1 affected villages
Concern Villages
Total Hindam Donkhen
Hard to findwood, wood getting expensive 7 3 10 Hard to find wood 5 4 9 Hard to findwood, fewer trees for cutting 5 2 7 Fewer trees for cutting 3 3 6 Hard to find wood, fewer trees for cutting, wood getting expensive 2 1 3
Don’t know 1 0 1 Hard to find wood, and unsuitable wood 1 0 1 Hard to find wood, unsuitable wood, fewer trees for cutting 1 0 1 Hard to find wood, unsuitable wood, fewer trees for cutting, wood getting expensive 0 1 1
Total 25 14 39
5.2.10 Concerns about main sources of income
Concerns about income levels and sources of income are reported both in the NUOL research and in ADB transmission line preparation reports24. Poverty appears to be linked to population increases and consequent land shortages rather than any specific problems caused by the transmission line. Loss of forest for rubber plantation is the biggest measurable loss of production capacity and natural resources, mainly to the Hatxanh community. The rubber plantation also offers the prospect, not necessarily welcomed, of wage labor. All communitiesreport getting work, mainly employing women, as labor for land clearing in the development of the rubber plantations, and some at Hatxanh of getting work as longerterm plantation workers. Present livelihoods are shown in the detailed data from the NUOL survey to be for all villages, in order of importance, swidden, hill rice and other crop production, gardening, fishing, non-‐timber forest products and paddy or other settled rice cultivation. The greatest threat to the livelihoods and incomes of all the affected communities is that of enforced resettlement or relocation which involves the suppression of swidden agriculture. The second threat to livelihoods is the loss of access to fishing and to the collection of food and other non-‐timber forest products.
24 ADB Hatxanh to Pleiku transmission line Land Acquisition and Resettlement Plan, PPTA Final Report, 2012.
97
Table 5.74. Concern levels about finding work and keeping current sources of income
Villages Concern level (in %)
Total No concern Minor
concern Medium concern
Great concern
Don’t know or no answer
Hatxanh 16.7 17.5 21.9 43.0 0.9 114 Namxuan 54.5 22.7 13.6 9.1 0.0 22 Phouyang 25.0 8.3 33.3 33.3 0.0 12 Phoukeua 16.7 22.2 16.7 44.4 0.0 18 Somboune 39.3 17.9 14.3 26.2 2.4 84 Total 28.0 18.0 18.8 34.0 1.2 250 Discussions with households and focus groups show that labor availability is a generational issue. Most farm labor is provided by the household head and spouse, and by adult sons and daughters, but that the latter are increasingly engaged in or wish to obtain work away from the farm or away from the community. Migrantlabor is not frowned on by the community, but does put an increasing burden on the household head and spouse that can result inless of food production. This is an issue particularly in the context of the creation of rubber plantations in former forest areas, so that both the natural resource, including swidden lands and NTFP and labor are taken away from the traditional household production system (Tables 5.75-‐5.82). Table 5.75. Concerns over loss or lack of household labor
Villages
Concern level (in %) Total
No concern Minor concern
Medium concern Great concern
Don’t know or no answer
Hatxanh 17.5 13.2 29.8 36.8 2.6 114 Namxuan 9.1 22.7 36.4 31.8 0.0 22 Phouyang 25.0 8.3 41.7 25.0 0.0 12 Phoukeua 50.0 27.8 5.6 16.7 0.0 18 Somboune 29.8 6.0 28.6 33.3 2.4 84 Total 23.6 12.4 28.8 33.2 2.0 250 Table 5.76. Concern levels about labor for work
Villages No concern Minor concern
Medium concern Great concern No idea Total
Navasene North 1 6 7 3 0 17 Navajatsan 5 3 11 10 0 29 Navakang 2 8 8 5 0 23 Navasene South 3 3 6 7 1 20 Total 11 20 32 25 1 89
98
Table 5.77. Concern levels about labor force in household
Villages No concern Minor concern Medium concern Great concern Total
Navasene North 1 3 3 10 17 Navajatsan 6 2 8 13 29 Navakang 0 5 7 11 23 Navasene South 2 5 3 10 20 Total 9 15 21 44 89 Table 5.78. Concern levels about labor used to work
Villages No concern Minor concern Medium
concern Great concern Don't know Total
Hindam 2 1 12 16 1 32 Donkhen 2 2 6 8 0 18 Total 4 3 18 24 1 50 Table 5.79. Concern levels about labor force in household
Villages No concern Minor concern Medium concern Great concern Total
Hindam 1 3 9 19 32 Donkhen 1 3 5 9 18 Total 2 6 14 28 50 Table 5.80. Concern levels about finding new sources of income
Name of villages
Concern level (in %) Total
No concern Minor concern
Medium concern Great concern
Don’t know or no answer
Hatxanh 14.0 21.9 24.6 37.7 1.8 114 Namxuan 36.4 22.7 22.7 18.2 0.0 22 Phouyang 25.0 25.0 8.3 41.7 0.0 12 Phoukeua 50.0 11.1 22.2 16.7 0.0 18 Somboune 38.1 13.1 23.8 22.6 2.4 84 Total 27.2 18.4 23.2 29.6 1.6 250 Table 5.81. Concern levels about performance of new livelihoods Villages No concern Minor
concern Medium concern Great concern No idea Total
Navasene North 0 3 4 8 2 17 Navajatsan 3 2 10 13 1 29 Navakang 1 3 9 8 2 23 Navasene South 2 4 5 6 3 20 Total 6 12 28 35 8 89
99
Table 5.82. Concern levels about earning a living in the relocation area
Villages No concern Minor concern
Medium concern Great concern
Don’t know or no answer
Total
Hindam 0 3 4 21 4 32 Donkhen 3 0 2 13 0 18 Total 3 3 6 34 4 50
5.2.11 Housing, social and religious life
Housing and sleeping, eating and child care arrangements are based on traditional practices and supported by beliefs and observance of family and house rituals and beliefs in the presence and needs of house spirits. A majority of the surveyed households are to some extent modernized by the use of modern materials or changing life styles, but still respect traditional gender and marital divisions. House design is related to practical issues of shelter and protection from heat and rain, and to the provision of space for agricultural equipment and crop storage, and to animal shelter. The provision of standardized resettlement housing, or rubber estate housing was raised in discussions with focus groups and elicited two issues:
• the financial and labor advantage of having ready-‐made housing provided for every household; and
• the inadequacy of uniform size and style of house for households of differing sizes and composition.
Concern was expressed in focus group discussions about the lack of room for expansion in the uniform design of relocation housing. Ethnic group housing is traditionally designed to be expanded to provide for family increases. A further factor was the difference of knowledge of relocation or estate housing of men and women. Only older men and the village representative of the Lao Women’s Association at Hindan, for example, had been taken by the developers and district administration to see existing estate housing at Houay Doum on which the planned relocation site housing would be based. None of the women of the community, whom housing arrangements and design would affect most strongly, had seen the housing (Table 5.83-‐5.85). Table 5.83. Concern levels about impact on traditional housing practices and beliefs
Villages
Concern level (in %) Total
No concern Minor concern Medium concern Great concern
Hatxanh 48.2 10.5 12.3 28.9 114 Namxuan 72.7 22.7 4.5 0.0 22 Phouyang 16.7 0.0 8.3 75.0 12 Phoukeua 55.6 5.6 5.6 33.3 18 Somboune 47.6 13.1 15.5 23.8 84 Total 49.2 11.6 12.0 27.2 250
100
Table 5.84. Concern levels about housing and village spirits
Villages No concern Minor concern
Medium concern Great concern No idea Total
Navasene North 11 0 2 3 1 17 Navajatsan 11 4 10 3 1 29 Navakang 10 2 5 5 1 23 Navasene South 8 3 6 1 2 20 Total 40 9 23 12 5 89 Table 5.85. Concern levels about housing and village sprits
Villages No concern Minor concern Medium
concern Great concern Don't know Total
Hindam 8 1 9 12 2 32 Donkhen 16 2 0 0 0 18 Total 24 3 9 12 2 50 The use of the forest is, in all of the ethnic peoples studied, based on respect due to the spirits of the forest and of its plant and animal life. Individual spirits are, for example, present in particular fruit bearing trees and bee hives. Other religious observances relate to the changing seasons and changing access to the forest. Others are concerned with the start and completion of agricultural activities, and others with the family life cycle. These beliefs and practices emerge in the study as underlying rational and practical aspects of the management and conservation of forest resources, and the responsibilities of the community which owns or has stewardship of the forest. Concerns about “spirit forests” are based in material concerns both for forest resources and for safeguarding and rational use. The most important of the concerns expressed by the surveyed communities are based in fears over food security, in which forest products were shown in the study to play an important part; and in concerns over the socialization of children and changes in the family composition, marked traditionally by rites related to birth, maturation, marriages, funerals and observances of the role of ancestors (Tables 5.86-‐5.88).
101
Table 5.86. Concerns related to traditional beliefs
Concern
Village
Total
Hatxanh
Nam
xuan
Phou
yang
Phou
keua
Sombo
une
Dissatisfaction of village and forest spirits regarding encroachment 17 3 2 6 8 36
Dissatisfaction of village and forest spirits regarding migration 14 2 2 2 15 35 Dissatisfaction of village and forest spirits regarding encroachment, dissatisfaction of village and forest spirits regarding migration
12 0 4 0 10 26
Decreased sacredness of village and forest spirits 3 1 2 0 4 10 Spirits in new village less sacred 1 0 0 0 3 4 Decreased sacredness of village and forest spirits 3 0 0 0 1 4 Dissatisfaction of village and forest spirits regarding encroachment, decreased sacredness of village and forest spirits
0 0 0 0 3 3
Dissatisfaction of village and forest spirits regarding migration, and spirits in new village less sacred 3 0 0 0 0 3
Dissatisfaction of village and forest spirits regarding encroachment, spirits in new village less sacred 1 0 0 0 0 1
Dissatisfaction of village and forest spirits regarding encroachment, decreased sacredness of village and forest spirits, dissatisfaction of village and forest spirits regarding migration
1 0 0 0 0 1
Dissatisfaction of village and forest spirits regarding encroachment, dissatisfaction of village and forest spirits regarding migration, spirits in new village less sacred
1 0 0 0 0 1
Total 59 6 10 8 44 127 Table 5.87. Concerns related to spirits and beliefs
Concern
Village
Total
Navasen
e no
rth
Navajatsan
Navakan
g
Navasen
e south
Dissatisfaction of village and forest spirits regarding enroachment 3 3 3 7 16 Decrease in village and housing spirits 1 3 3 0 7 Dissatisfaction of village and forest spirits regarding migration 0 4 1 0 5 Dissatisfaction of village and forest spirits regarding enroachment, dissatisfaction of village and forest spirits regarding migration 0 0 3 0 3
Spirit less of village ghost in new village 0 2 0 0 2 Dissatisfaction of village and forest spirits regarding enroachment, 0 1 1 0 2
102
decrease in village and housing spirits, dissatisfaction of village and forest spirits regarding migration Dissatisfaction of village and forest spirits regarding enroachment, decrease in village and housing spirits 0 1 0 0 1
Decrease in village and housing spirits, dissatisfaction of village and forest spirits regarding migration 0 0 1 0 1
Dissatisfaction of village and forest spirits regarding enroachment, dissatisfaction of village, spirit less of village ghost in new village 0 1 0 0 1
Total 5 18 12 9 44 Table 5.88. Concerns about household and village spirits
Concern Villages
Total Hindam Donkhen
Dissatisfaction of village and forest spirits regarding encroachment, dissatisfaction of village and forest spirits regarding migration 6 0 6
Dissatisfaction of village and forest spirits regarding encroachment 4 0 4 Dissatisfaction of village and forest spirits regarding encroachment, decrease in village and housing spirits, dissatisfaction of village and forest spirits regarding migration
4 0 4
Decrease in village and housing spirits 2 1 3 Don’t know 1 1 2 Dissatisfaction of village and forest spirits regarding migration 2 0 2 Dissatisfaction of village and forest spirits regarding encroachment, decrease in village and housing spirits, and spirit less of village ghost in new village 2 0 2
Dissatisfaction of village and forest spirits regarding encroachment, decrease in village and housing spirits 1 0 1
Total 22 2 24 Among the respondents, 138 out of 250 regarded the prospect of a changed life style as being of moderate or severe concern. A slightly higher proportion thought that the changed basis of socialization of children and young people, and the preservation of their traditional culture, were a significant concern. These concerns were most frequently expressed by the community at Hatxanh, which is located on the National Highway 18 close to Attapeu. It has a high proportion of Lao Loum households and has suffered the greatest impact in the loss of its forest to rubber plantation development (Table 5.89-‐5.91). Table 5.89. Level of concern about changing of lifestyles in the community
Villages
Level of concern (in %) Total
No concern Minor concern
Medium concern Great concern Don’t know
or no reply Hatxanh 19.3 21.1 27.2 30.7 1.8 114 Namxuan 18.2 27.3 27.3 27.3 0.0 22 Phouyang 41.7 16.7 25.0 16.7 0.0 12 Phoukeua 11.1 22.2 22.2 38.9 5.6 18 Somboune 31.0 16.7 21.4 31.0 0.0 84 Total 23.6 20.0 24.8 30.4 1.2 250
103
Table 5.90. Concerns about socializing and preserving traditional culture
Villages
Concerns (in %) Total
No concern Minor concern Medium concern Great concern
Hatxanh 16.7 20.2 29.8 33.3 114 Namxuan 45.5 18.2 18.2 18.2 22 Phouyang 8.3 0.0 50.0 41.7 12 Phoukeua 16.7 11.1 27.8 44.4 18 Somboune 34.5 10.7 27.4 27.4 84 Total 24.8 15.2 28.8 31.2 250 Table 1Table 5.91. Concerns about socializing and preserving traditional culture
Villages No concern Minor concern Medium concern Great concern Total
Navasene North 4 1 5 7 17 Navajatsan 7 6 9 7 29 Navakang 1 2 11 9 23 Navasene South 2 5 3 10 20 Total 14 14 28 33 89 Concerns were raised about being able to achieve a sustained basis of social and economic stability after relocation, loss of forest resources, or other aspects of resettlement. These expectations may be unrealized for the majority of the villagers impacted by the transmission line. Concerns about changes to the social system and way of life are most evident in fears about child care and care of the elderly, and in their basis in family and community solidarity and social networks. The highest levels of concern are about child obedience, their observance of traditional festivals or rituals, and their adoption of a modern life style. In practice, village heads and elders said that they would accept that young men and women would go away to work, so that this is a concern which may be tempered by acceptance of the reality, that young people may not continue to participate in a traditional way of life (Tables 5.92-‐5.100).
104
Table 5.92. Concerns related to child socialization and upbringing
Concern
Villages
Total
Hatxanh
Nam
xuan
Phou
yang
Phou
keua
Sombo
une
Children are not obedient 22 5 6 8 12 53 Children are not obedient, lifestyle changes due to modernization 24 2 4 2 11 43 Children are not obedient, children do not take part in traditional festivals and lifestyle changes due to modernization 12 3 0 0 14 29
Lifestyle changes due to modernization 14 0 0 3 2 19 Children do not take part in traditional festivals 9 0 0 2 7 18 Children are not obedient, children do not take part in traditional festivals 7 1 1 0 7 16
Children do not take part in traditional festivals, lifestyle changes due to modernization 5 1 0 0 2 8
Total 95 12 11 15 55 188 Table 5.93. Concerns related to child socialization
Concern
Villages
Total Navasen
e no
rth
Navajatsan
Navakan
g
Navasen
e south
Children are not obedient 6 11 13 7 37 Children are not obedient, lifestyle changes due to modernization 2 2 3 3 10
Children are not obedient, children do not take part in traditional festivals, lifestyle changes due to modernization 2 3 1 4 10
Children are not obedient, children do not take part in traditional festivals 1 2 5 1 9
Lifestyle changes due to modernization 2 0 0 2 4 Total 13 22 22 18 75 Table 5.94. Concerns about raising awareness and educating children to conserve
Villages No concern Minor concern Medium
concern Great concern Don’t
know or no answer
Total
Hindam 6 3 8 14 1 32 Donkhen 3 2 7 6 0 18 Total 9 5 15 20 1 50
105
Table 5.95. Concerns related to spirits and beliefs
Concern
Villages
Total
Navasen
e no
rth
Navajatsan
Navakan
g
Navasen
e south
Dissatisfaction of village and forest spirits regarding enroachment 3 3 3 7 16
Decrease in village and housing spirits 1 3 3 0 7 Dissatisfaction of village and forest spirits regarding migration 0 4 1 0 5
Dissatisfaction of village and forest spirits regarding enroachment, dissatisfaction of village and forest spirits regarding migration
0 0 3 0 3
Spirit less of village ghost in new village 0 2 0 0 2 Dissatisfaction of village and forest spirits regarding enroachment, decrease in village and housing spirits, dissatisfaction of village and forest spirits regarding migration, spirit less of village ghost in new village
0 1 1 0 2
Dissatisfaction of village and forest spirits regarding enroachment, decrease in village and housing spirits 0 1 0 0 1
Decrease in village and housing spirits, dissatisfaction of village and forest spirits regarding migration 0 0 1 0 1
Dissatisfaction of village and forest spirits regarding enroachment, dissatisfaction of village sprits, spirit less of village ghost in new village housing ghost on migration, spirit less of village ghost in new village
0 1 0 0 1
Total 5 18 12 9 44 Table 5.96. Concern levels about living in a new community
Villages No concern Minor concern Medium concern Great concern Total
Navasene North 4 2 8 3 17 Navajatsan 8 8 6 7 29 Navakang 7 8 3 5 23 Navasene South 7 3 5 5 20 Total 26 21 22 20 89 Table 5.97. Concern levels about living in a new community
Villages No concern Minor concern Medium
concern Great concern Don’t know Total
Hindam 4 2 6 18 2 32 Donkhen 4 5 4 5 0 18 Total 8 7 10 23 2 50
106
Table 5.98. Concerns about socializing and preserving traditional culture
Villages No concern Minor concern Medium concern Great concern Total
Navasene North 4 1 5 7 17 Navajatsan 7 6 9 7 29 Navakang 1 2 11 9 23 Navasene South 2 5 3 10 20 Total 14 14 28 33 89 Table 5.99. Concerns related to socialization
Concern
Villages
Total
Navasen
e no
rth
Navajatsan
Navakan
g
Navasen
e south
Children are not obedient 6 11 13 7 37 Lifestyle changes due to modernization 2 0 0 2 4 Children are not obedient, children do not take part in traditional festivals 1 2 5 1 9
Children are not obedient, lifestyle changes due to modernization 2 2 3 3 10 Children are not obedient, children do not take part in traditional festivals, and lifestyle changes due to modernization 2 3 1 4 10
Total 13 22 22 18 75 Table 5.100. Concerns about child socialization
Concern Villages
Total Hindam Donkhen
Don’t know 1 0 1 Children are not obedient 5 10 15 lifestyle changes due to modernization 1 0 1 Children are not obedient, Children do not take part in traditional festivals 3 0 3
Children are not obedient, lifestyle changes due to modernization 3 4 7 Children are not obedient, Children do not take part in traditional festivals, and lifestyle changes due to modernization 12 1 13
Total 25 15 40 The situation of aged or elderly people was a major concern of respondents. There appear to be two aspects of this concern:
• the care of the elderly will be affected during and as a result of the move, as a matter of responsibility of young and active people; and
• the move may be harmful to aged or elderly people, who will not be able to adapt to a changed situation or to participate easily in family and community life (Tables 5.101-‐5.103).
107
Table 5.101. Concern levels about looking after elderly people
Villages
Concern level (in %) Total No concern Minor
concern Medium concern Great concern
Don’t know or no answer
Hatxanh 14.9 20.2 23.7 40.4 0.9 114 Namxuan 18.2 18.2 27.3 36.4 0.0 22 Phouyang 0.0 25.0 25.0 50.0 0.0 12 Phoukeua 50.0 11.1 16.7 22.2 0.0 18 Somboune 11.9 20.2 27.4 40.5 0.0 84 Total 16.0 19.6 24.8 39.2 0.4 250 Table 5.102. Concern levels about looking after elderly people
Villages No concern Minor concern Medium concern Great concern Total
Navasene North 1 2 5 9 17 Navajatsan 11 4 9 5 29 Navakang 2 7 7 7 23 Navasene South 0 6 5 9 20 Total 14 19 26 30 89
Table 5.103. Concern levels about looking after elderly people
Villages No concern Minor concern Medium concern Great concern Total
Hindam 5 6 7 14 32 Donkhen 3 4 4 7 18 Total 8 10 11 21 50 A similar concern was expressed about child care. More than three-‐quarters of the respondents are concerned about the management of child care in new surroundings (Tables 5.104-‐5.106). Table 5.104. Concern levels about child care
Villages
Concern levels (in %) Total No concern Minor
concern Medium concern Great concern Don’t know
or no reply Hatxanh 7.0 9.6 36.0 45.6 1.8 114 Namxuan 9.1 9.1 31.8 50.0 0.0 22 Phouyang 0.0 16.7 25.0 58.3 0.0 12 Phoukeua 16.7 27.8 11.1 44.4 0.0 18 Somboune 4.8 17.9 21.4 56.0 0.0 84 Total 6.8 14.0 28.4 50.0 0.8 250
108
Table 5.105. Concern levels about child care
Villages No concern Minor concern Medium concern Great concern Total
Navasene North 4 1 4 8 17 Navajatsan 7 3 8 11 29 Navakang 1 1 12 9 23 Navasene South 2 3 4 11 20 Total 14 8 28 39 89 Table 5.106. Concern levels about child care
Villages No concern Minor concern Medium
concern Great concern Don’t know or no reply
Total
Hindam 1 2 10 18 1 32 Donkhen 1 2 2 13 0 18 Total 2 4 12 31 1 50 A major concern, also expressed by more than 80% of respondents, is the disruption of the normal close interaction and relationship with kinsfolk. The economic exchange of labor and food which takes place in all the affected villages is maintained by physical closeness among households of a wider family group built close to each other. This is thought to be less achievable in the linear alignment of housing seen on relocation sites and rubber estate housing (Tables 5.107-‐5.109). Table 5.107. Concern levels about not living closely with relatives
Villages
Concern level(in %) Total
No concern Minor concern
Medium concern Great concern Don’t know
or no reply Hatxanh 14.9 14.9 21.1 48.2 0.9 114 Namxuan 13.6 27.3 9.1 50.0 0.0 22 Phouyang 25.0 0.0 25.0 50.0 0.0 12 Phoukeua 50.0 11.1 16.7 22.2 0.0 18 Somboune 16.7 11.9 10.7 60.7 0.0 84 Total 18.4 14.0 16.4 50.8 0.4 250 Table 5.108. Concern levels about not living closely with relatives
Villages No concern Minor concern Medium concern Great concern Total
Navasene North 3 6 1 7 17 Navajatsan 13 4 6 6 29 Navakang 5 8 5 5 23 Navasene South 2 8 4 6 20 Total 23 26 16 24 89
109
Table 5.109. Concern levels about not living closely with relatives
Villages No concern Minor concern Medium
concern Great concern Don't know Total
Hindam 3 7 5 16 1 32 Donkhen 3 0 4 11 0 18 Total 6 7 9 27 1 50 A particular concern was of being able to care for relatives duringfestivals and exchange of visits which forms part of traditional life. While this may seem an incidental matter in relation to resettlement, the perception of a majority of the surveyed people is that material aspects of resettlement need to based on traditional aspects of family and community life (Tables 5.110-‐5.112). Table 5.110. Concern levels about hospitality of relatives
Villages
Level of concern (in %) Total
No concern Minor concern
Medium concern Great concern Don’t know
or no reply Hatxanh 18.4 16.7 14.0 50.0 0.9 114 Namxuan 4.5 40.9 4.5 50.0 0.0 22 Phouyang 25.0 0.0 16.7 58.3 0.0 12 Phoukeua 38.9 33.3 5.6 22.2 0.0 18 Somboune 13.1 16.7 9.5 60.7 0.0 84 Total 17.2 19.2 11.2 52.0 0.4 250 Table 5.111. Concern levels about hospitality of relatives
Villages No concern Minor concern Medium concern Great concern Total
Navasene North 3 4 3 7 17 Navajatsan 10 6 7 6 29 Navakang 3 11 5 4 23 Navasene South 2 7 4 7 20 Total 18 28 19 24 89 Table 5.112. Concern levels about hospitality of relatives
Villages No concern Minor concern Medium
concern Great concern Don't know Total
Hindam 3 9 1 17 2 32 Donkhen 2 1 4 11 0 18 Total 5 10 5 28 2 50 Summary of findings and recommendations
The affected ethnic groups have substantial capacities to manage their own resettlement, based on their knowledge of natural resources and livelihoods systems and of traditional relocation. Evidence from the NUOL CPWF research has shown that:
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• Both surveyed villages affected by the Xekaman 1/Xanxai dams had previously relocated to make way for the Xekaman 1 dam during 2003 to 2006 and had done so successfully without compensation or other assistance.
• Two of the surveyed villages, Donkhen in the impact area of Xekaman 1, and Navakang in the impact area of Sekong 3 Upper Dam, declined to be moved to the relocation sites proposed by the government and development agencies because these sites had insufficient resources or for other reasons which have been accepted by MoNRE and the developers.
• Navakang has moved of its own accord to a relocation site of its own choosing, without compensation or assistance. It is now supported by MoNRE and the Resettlement Committee as a focal development village.
MoNRE/Resettlement Committee is recommended to include provision for affected ethnic groups to be allowed to make their own choice of relocation site in consultation with and with the support of developers and government. It is recommended that the government or developer assists in self-‐relocation through the same standards and provisions as those for all relocated villages. This provision should be included in resettlement plans and resettlement frameworks, and in the technical guidelines and terms of reference provided to developers and consultants. All surveyed communities continue to practice and depend on swidden agriculture for their main food supply:
• Swidden farming by the affected groups has minimal impact on forest resources by comparison with the overall use of the forest areas impacted by hydropower.
• There is great difficulty for the concerned ethnic groups to change food production and livelihoods systems away from present use of the forest.
• The affected communities would adopt settled agricultural if land and water are available, but in no instance in the surveyed relocation sites is government able to provide more than minimal areas for paddy or other settled agriculture.
• Forced prevention of swidden systems would lead to the severe loss of food security and livelihoods by the affected groups, and to social dislocation.
It is recommended that MoNRE/Resettlement Committeereexamines the use of forest for swidden farming and related regeneration of forest with a view to use resource efficient management by the groups themselves and that this is included in resettlement guidelines. Current systems of social impact assessment and socio-‐economic surveys for purposes of resettlement planning in hydropower and other rural infrastructural development are poorly resourced and insufficiently financed:
• They are conducted without sufficient time for technically well directed fieldwork. • They are not undertaken on a timely basis in the hydropower planning and resettlement
cycle. • They do not sufficiently make use of Lao professional resources, notably in recording existing
livelihoods systems and their retention, restoration and replacement. • They do not give adequate recognition of cultural and gender factors in resettlement and
income restoration.
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It is recommended that MoNRE review improvements which might be introduced in methodology, time and resource allocation and use of local expertise in improving the research basis of resettlement planning for and especially relocation and livelihoods restoration of affected ethnic groups. Consultation with and information to affected ethnic groups about hydropower development, its impact and resettlement are inadequate and do not permit the participation which is called for in Lao statutory requirements for compensation and resettlement in public sector development:
• Consultation with and information to the surveyed groups has been restricted or prevented on the grounds that they would not be able to understand the expected project impact or contribute positively to impact alleviation or resettlement.
• Consultation has been conducted by foreign consultants with little or no use of the local language or of local Lao-‐speaking members of the community.
• Consultation and information programs most often date from several years before hydropower implementation and resettlement, so that their use in having the informed participation of the affected communities is minimal.
It is recommended that MoNRE and EDL assure that the developer makes adequate and timely provision of resources for information to and consultation with affected communities by the strengthening the regular monitoring system. Provincial DoNRE and district office staff should be required and financed as key coordinators and to participate in research, consultation and information programs, including provision for the involvement of local language speakers from the concerned communities.
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Chapter VI
Discussion and Conclusions 6.1 Community management of relocation
The research examined the social dislocation experienced from involuntary relocation, notably at Grand Nava villages impacted by the Sekong 3 Upper Dam near Sekong Town. Severe impact on health and family relations at Navajatsan and other villages relocated to make way for the Sekong 3 Upper Dam, where relocation was done by the developer were examined in the light of potential community participation in or their direct management of relocation, both in traditional settings and in relocation related to hydropower or other developments. They were particularly interested in whether relocation done by the community had achieved the social safeguard provisions required in national and international guidance and practice for social safeguards in public sector development, and specifically in hydropower projects. The research indicated that where less success in planned relocation occurred in the Sekong 3 Upper Dam program, the lack of success was linked to a systemic failure to use mechanisms for the sustainability of social systems and social relations achieved in traditional community management of relocation. These impacts were not experienced at Navakang, where traditional practices were followed by village leaders managing the relocation. This is explained in terms of traditional practice, but also in rational terms, by the village chief in an interview during fieldwork in 2013 (Appendix). The study examined the experience of three villages which had routinely relocated periodically but had also responded previously to enforced displacement, Hindam (to make way for early construction of Xekaman 1 in 2003), and Donkhen and Navakhang in response to the impact of Typhoon Ketsana. All three were or are faced with further relocation to make way for hydropower reservoirs. The research examined aspects of traditional labor use and production systems as forms of resource management which are cyclical and which support sustainability, i.e. the renewal and continuity of the seasonal management and use of natural resources, but also continuity in family reproductive and livelihoods systems. It examines the capabilities and experience of these systems to cope with shocks or with routine relocation as an aspect of traditional community and household resource management, particularly in the management associated with swidden rotations, in which the village relocates to achieve viable access to swidden areas and to other forest and fishing resources. These systemstend to emphasize risk avoidance, sustainability and continuity rather than wealth accumulation25, and results in“poor performance” of ethnic peoples as “progressive farmers”, commercially oriented agricultural development, or in providing their labor and acquiring skills for employment. These factors may explain the poor response to involuntary resettlement and to proposed new livelihoods systems planned by government agencies and developers or their consultants.
25 For a wider discussion of this approach to the analysis of rural farming household economic management, see Diepart, J.C. 2007.
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Researchers explored the reasons for social aspects of ethnic groups’ avoidance of change or dislocation as a means of risk avoidance and sustainability, their resistance towards involuntary relocation and the proposed abandonment of swidden farming, and the adoption of settled agriculture. A major reason suggested by the research findings is the impossibility, in the eyes of ethnic farmers, of not providing for the seasonal actions essential to the viability of the household that would ensure that the production system would make food available to the household throughout the production cycle. Researchers examined cultural aspects of the ethnic peoples’ knowledge of and use of their natural resources, the function of ritual as a system of information management, labor allocation, production and natural resource management and for the physical and spiritual well being of the household. The research provided insights into the difficulty which stakeholder hydropower and safeguard agencies or the concerned local authorities may have in replicating the holistic knowledge and management basis of ethnic group livelihoods systems. Findings indicate that many aspects of labor and natural resource management are not replicable in relocation managed by the stakeholder agencies, unless they involve substantial transformations of the resettled peoples’ social and economic systems, and of their belief systems and cultures, in effect an ending of their separate social and cultural identities and at an uncertain social and economic cost. Researchers also examined the evidence of the integration of ethnic community livelihoods systems with modern mainstream society and the varying reliance of ethnic communities on public sector services and on the market, including the labor market. They found a willingness for integration which would by preference, especially for the older generation, be complementary to their retention of traditional social and livelihoods systems. While these are matters of perception and attitude, the research findings demonstrate that they are founded in economic realities and in the rational economic management of resources, of access to and sustainability of land, forest and water, and on critical needs for continuity in food supply in annual and seasonal rotations. They are grounded in changing seasonal and life cycle changes in labor availability and use, the management of which is crucial to existing livelihoods and to continuity in adaptation to relocation. The research indicated that economic responses are based also in moral and spiritual systems which have a lively reality in the daily existence and knowledge of the affected ethnic communities. Cultural factors, in the form of the daily life of ancestors and spirits, and in the authority which they provide to community leadership and to its management of human and natural resources, are foremost in their concerns about displacement and resettlement. A reason for the resistance to involuntary relocation or in its conduct by “outsider”, i.e. central government or developers, is the function which relocation has in traditional life and resource management, in the face of long-‐term and cyclical depletion of forest resources or of climatic events or other shocks. The findings of our research support the view that there is on the part of these communities the sense that their own leaders and leadership structures are properly responsible for the care and decision making required in community relocation, and that responsibility is founded in traditional authority and in spiritual and cultural systems and beliefs which should be followed in any relocation.
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6.2. Household management of livelihoods
The research findings support the assumption that livelihoods analysis should be based on household portfolios and strengthens the conclusion that access to natural resources may be adversely affected by involuntary relocation, but that:
• Relocation under traditional community management is integral to its social and livelihoods maintenance and continuation, including its access to and sustainable management of their natural resources.
• The effectiveness of livelihoods restoration depends on the extent to which it maintains existing household livelihoods portfolios and their labor force management and authority structures.
• Adverse impact is lessened and may not come about if relocation is planned and managed by communities themselves.
The research has shown that villagecommunities have an important corporate function in the management of settlement and resettlement in traditional and contemporary society, that is, of the identification and choice of location and of the management of the physical and social processes of relocation of swidden farming land and of the village. This is not surprising, but its relevance to involuntary relocation is important. The procedures and knowledge involved are relevant to their participation in or responsibility for the planning and management of relocation brought about by hydropower impacts. A crucial aspect of this relevance to the participation and responsibility of the affected community is that, by employing their capacities for relocation as a customary practice conducted through their own social and organizational mechanisms, relocation does not entail or bring about social disruption.A principal element in this “endogenous” relocation is that of ensuring access of the community to land, forest and to water resources and fishing. The research indicates that increasingly, on the evidence of self-‐managed village relocations taking place in the past decade, the choice of relocation site includes recognition of the need for access to modern services and to markets. Relocation conducted as a traditional process by the community includes measures which the official program seeks to achieve, for example, of good road access and access to health and educational services and to labor and produce markets. The benefit of access to markets, services and non-‐traditional employment and income earning brought about or improved by relocation conducted by the official public sector or developer agency is reduced where existing access to natural resources and existing livelihoods systems are not maintained. There has been a generational change in ethnic group awareness and options for village location from that recorded in the 1990s and earlier, when their concern was mainly that of maintaining isolation from mainstream Lao society and administration. By the late 2000s, the researched communities were seen to be actively engaged in the conduct of planning their own relocation to renew access to fresh forest resources and to have access to markets and services while maintaining their access to and management of natural resources. The conscious process of seeking this aim on the part of community leaders was illustrated in the case studies of Hindam and Navakang villages.
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The research showed that traditional and existing systems of location choice and of relocation are supported by ritual and spiritual systems26 which are not separate from, have a management and informational function in human and natural resource management. The research indicates that, as “culture”, these cannot be replicated by external or government safeguard agencies and depend on the conduct of relocation by the community itself. Relocations managed by the community should be understood as statements of community authority and collectivity. The rituals which are seen as essential to the process should be understood as based in endogenous information and authority systems. Ancestors, for example, whose voice is asked for in ritual and sacrifice in the choice of a location, are essentially speaking for the collectivity of the community, and are based on its knowledge and judgment and on the authority of its leaders. Since this authority also applies to social organization, it follows that the stability, absence of social dislocation and the sustainability, which we observe in self-‐relocated villages such as Navakang and Hindam, also derives in important respects from this engagement of ritual observance and belief in relocation. Rather than speaking just of “active” management, the community and its institutions have, in anthropological language, the function of bringing about sustainable relocation as a holistic process. Location may change but the social and resource management systems and the institutions through which they operate remain essentially unchanged. The skills and experience of resettlement of ethnic minority communities is most often neglected in the planning and execution of involuntary resettlement, and reflects a lack of awareness of their capacities on the part of hydropower and social safeguard agencies.Baird (2008) and others have written of the primary purpose of land and forest administration in the traditional location of ethnic minorities as administrative, of asserting control and order where the administrators perceive a failure to participate in national policies and objectives of settled residence and agriculture and ordered forest management. The issue of involuntary relocation is, however, also one which relates to the economy as a whole. Our research suggests that integration of ethnic minority communities in the institutions of mainstream Lao society is not rejected by ethnic minority peoples, but is not served by relocation under knowledge and management systems which are alien to the traditional structures and belief systems of the affected ethnic community. Women bear the burden of relocation and are most impacted by social and psychological shocks in relocation. Our research indicates high levels of social impact at four villages in the construction of the Sekong 3 Upper Dam, including a high level of reported sickness and death, divorce and land disputes or landlessness. These severe impacts are linked to the disruption to relationships with spouses and to their responsibilities for the care of children and the elderly, and hospitality towards friends and family.27 This is reported in the focus group discussions with women at Nava to be directly related to separation and divorce brought about mainly by men remaining in their old location or otherwise refusing to move to the officially chosen relocation site.
26See the statement by the head of Navakang village on their traditional selection of swidden agricultural sites, App. 27 See Appendix 2: Women’s focus group report for Navakang and Navaseeng villages, and Damdouane, K., Gender in the Resettlement of Ethnic Minority Groups, NUOL CPWF MK10, Attapeu Project, November 2013.
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The evidence bears out the detailed statement of an elder at Hindam who accepted that younger men and women might adapt to changed livelihoods management at Huay Doum, but he would not be able to do so. The lack of forest there, and the distance to his present forest hunting and forest product collection grounds, would mean he had no work and no place in the relocated society. A further aspect of the impact of poor consultation with the interests of women is that housing is an important aspect of livelihoods management. Housing provided at relocation sites would need to reflect household size, family structure and expansion, and should be the subject of choice and design by the resettled household. The research indicates that these interests of individual households and of women can best be understood and upheld by strengthened community management and representation in relocation planning and management, rather than being decided primarily by planners or consultants. 6.3 Householdresource management
The researchers examined households’ management of their resource base, including labor force, land, forest and fishing resources and earnings from wage employment, as having differing values and characteristics which relate to the household composition, its environment and its access to services and markets. The makeup of livelihoods portfolios is complex and its analysis needs to be evidence based and specific to the concerned communities and to different types of household. The analysis of livelihoods systems in the eleven villages strengthened the proposition that understanding and detailing this complexity is relevant in the use of livelihoods research, and that such an approach would be needed as the basis of effective SIA and related surveys for purposes of livelihoods retention and restoration. Important elements in existing livelihoods systems were found to include:
• Upland swidden, upland rice and other crop production • Lowland rice production • Home or river bank gardens • Upland crop and tree crop production • Non-‐timber forest products • Hunting • Fishing • Small scale industrial or commercial activity • Waged or salaried employment in business or public sector employment • Migrant labor and remittances • Access to infrastructure and markets • Access to and the provision of education, health and administrative services
These sources of livelihoods were measured in terms of their importance:
Land and labor use In terms of their production in food or cash value In respect of the space they occupy in an annual calendar of livelihoods activities of the household and of its individual members
By these indicators three sources were found to be predominant among the still mainly upland ethnic communities studied if measured by priorities in household labor use: swidden farming, NTFPs and
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fishing. In the villages affected by the Xekaman 1 and Xanxai dams and by the transmission line, these are closely followed in importance by logging and hunting. While the whole household labor force engages in the production of the main sources of food and essential products, logging, hunting and other local non-‐natural resource related activities, such as gold panning or the collection of UXO, are important as cash income earners but are specialist activities for which appropriate skills and people have to be available in the household. They tend to be engaged in by most households from time to time as cash earners, mainly dependent on having labor available beyond that needed for swidden farming and NTFP collection, but, like fishing are major specialist pursuits and principal income sources for some households in areas with good forest access. Hunting and logging are contributions of younger men to the household portfolio of livelihoods. Gold panning is done by everyone, but especially in some communities by women, especially those at Hindam, Somboune and Navasjatsan, for whom it is a major source of cash income. The relatively small scale but universality of these income earning activities, except in some specialist households, indicates that they are pursued as supplements to the major subsistence activities of households, in swidden or other crop production and in NTFPs. They are deployed to provide cash for purchase of rice and other seasonal essentials, rather than as main income earners in their own right. The concession of mining rights to concession companies to exploit gold deposits in the forest areas or the researched communities has destroyed an important source of income of the women and their families, which has traditionally supported food security through access to a cash income for purchases at market and has reduced access to health services and to children’s school enrolment. The four Grand Nava villages affected by Sekong 3 Upper Dam, and particularly younger men and women’s occupations, are differently affected, reflecting their adjacency to Sekong Town, minutes away by bicycle or motorcycle, where the logging and other forest-‐based sources of income which are predominant in the upland areas of the Dong Amphanh NPA affected by the Xekaman 1 dam and reservoir, are replaced, and will increasingly be so, by urban service and laboring job opportunities. External employment, including construction, is of increasing importance and can be made more accessible by relocation but is not yet a major contributor to most households’ livelihoods systems. In existing communities, the possession of means of transportation, mainly in the form of motorcycles and of communication by telephone through individual or household possession of mobile phones, are nevertheless now significant factors in external economic activity both of trading (notably of wild game and of bamboo shoots, mushrooms, wild fruits and medicinal crops and tree bark) and of wage earning. The motorcycle and mobile phone have become universally present in most households in all the communities studied and are essential tools in seeking migrant, mainly seasonal wage labor in some households. This is especially so in households with young literate adults, both in getting work and in maintaining contact with the household during absence from the community and are likely to be of increasing importance. Youth focus group discussions28 at each of the three research locations indicated the interest of young men and women in working in service and construction industries. It also indicated the acceptance of
28 Appendix 2.
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the community and of parents that this would occur and that it would increase and widen household income. This attitude was also reflected in the concern that children should have access to schooling and the importance which appears to be attached to the creation of primary schools at the village, and to their being taught in Lao. Our research indicates that acquisition of secondary education and vocational skills are factors which will affect both ethnic minority groups and mainstream Lao-‐Tai rural communities, but that in some respects this will be in competition with an incoming Vietnamese population of hydropower construction, mining and plantation workers and followers. The evidence from Hatxanh, and to a lesser extent from other villages in the vicinity of the Xaisettha rubber plantation, indicates the changing labor relationships of ethnic mainstream Lao-‐Tai, and in-‐migrating Vietnamese (mainly Kinh Vietnamese) in the context of the combined hydropower, plantation and mining developments which have taken place, especially during the past five years from 2009 to 2013. At present, concession agreements appeared to be in response to major private and corporate investment rather than planned. As a result, concession agreements with Vietnamese government and investors in Attapeu have given rise to conflicting needs of and access to natural resources of investors and of the community. The main opportunity for wage employment has since about 2008 been that of forest clearance and related work in the creation of rubber plantations on the Hagle Xaisettha Rubber Estate. This has involved mainly women from Somboune and Namxuan in Phouvong, affected by the transmission line, and from Hindam and other villages in the reservoir areas of the Xekaman 1 and Xanxai dams. It is expected that this casual labor, for which workers are recruited by local agents on behalf of the plantation and mining companies, will lead to employment in latex tapping and to ground maintenance on a permanent basis. This currently takes place under the management of Vietnamese workers, who occupy supervisory or technical and office jobs on the estate. The evidence from settlements taking place in the context of Xekaman 1 hydropower system, at Km 52 (where there is a major logging camp and a new “pioneer” town is forming), and in formal estate housing on the Hagle Rubber Estate, is that ancillary service sector development will also be taken by Vietnamese “followers”. This will take place in a continuing process of in-‐migration and in a growing Vietnamese language based economy, rather than offering any opportunity or incentive to the affected ethnic minority communities on the fringes of this development. There is considerable concern among people and leaders of villages proposed to be relocated at the lack of sufficient farming land or forest at the Huay Doum relocation site. The Huay Doum site is at the point where the former lowland forest which was the domain of the Brao at Hatxanh meets the hardwood forest of the NPA and the uplands of the Xekaman 1 catchment. Originally intended in the planned relocation to be available for access of the resettled communities to forest products, the forest has since been entirely cleared for rubber plantation development under a concession agreement with the Vietnamese Hagle Corporation. Both the community leaders at Hindam and Donkhen, and the ADB in its resettlement due diligence audit, have drawn attention to the inadequacy of farm land and forest access at the proposed site. The latter was initially surrounded by the forest stretching between the Huay Doum area and the Sekong
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River to the north and Hatxanh village to the west, but was cleared and planted with rubber during 2009 and 2010. Lacking access to any forest, the ethnic communities relocated to sites such as that at Huay Doum, the relocation site provided for the five villages inundated by the Xekaman 1 and its subsidiary Xanxai reservoirs will, it now appears, provide a ready labor pool for work on the plantation. The research analysis of the situation of villages planned to be relocated at Huay Doum and its inadequate provision of land and natural resources suggests that this outcome was, in the view of the researchers, not an unlucky coincidence of relocation site selection and the wider separate land and forest acquisition for the rubber estate development, but systemic and a result of weaknesses in hydropower planning and in the provincial spatial planning system. The absorption of ethnic minority labor in rubber and similar plantation development may therefore be opportunist. It has direct parallels, however, with similar developments in Kontum and elsewhere in the Central Highlands over the border in Vietnam, which suggests that it is a systemic development, inevitable in the agrarian change which follows plantation replacement of forests, displacement of ethnic minority villages and in-‐migration of estate workers mainly in technical and supervisory positions. It appears evident that mitigation of the impact on villages of hydropower development needs to be comprehensive in planning for relocation and site selection at the earliest stage of development. Relocation needs to be integrated with provincial spatial land use and investment planning, which would take into account other land use developments, such as the mining and plantation development which are taking place in Attapeu in parallel with hydropower development. The situation described by villagers at Hindam and Donkhen, due to be relocated at Huay Doum (and regarded as a gap in social safeguard procedures in the ADB due diligence audit29) is also one which reflects inadequate or lack of consultation with affected villages, affecting existing livelihoods and planned livelihoods restoration. It reflects a lack of consultation and shared knowledge between Lao national and provincial authorities, its research community, its sectoral planning and safeguard agencies and its macro-‐economic planners. Planned livelihoods restoration and diversification in the context of provincial economic and social development would be by-‐passed if, as has happened in the neighboring Vietnamese provinces of Kontum and Gia Lai, most or all forest is converted to plantation crops. Such a development would dictate that the position of displaced ethnic minorities becomes that of wage labor, indentured not by contract but by the force of an economy now determined by three factors which are now becoming prevalent in Attapeu: the lack of forest, the presence of an entrepreneurial incoming population with rights to land acquisition, and the planned development of plantation agriculture and mining.30
29 ADB Hatxan to Pleiku transmission line, Feasibility Report, February 2012. 30 See World Bank …., and ADB Hatxan to Pleiku Land Acquisition and Resettlement Plan, 2102.
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6.4. Ethnic group knowledge and culture in social safeguard and livelihoods
systems
The analysis of livelihoods systems shows that households manage livelihoods portfolios as an array of different uses of labor and natural resources and sources of food and income which make up the established resource system of any household. The data collected in the survey and in qualitative research also provided information on a changing cycle of labor, land and other natural resource use throughout the year, following a calendar of activities which relate to natural growth and dormancy periods, to festivals, house building and to specific agricultural and forest resource management in an annual cycle. The study also shows a systemic link between ritual and festivals and activities which are related to, or seen to depend on, spirits inhabiting or controlling natural resources which are important in the life of the household and of its individuals, and of the reproductive processes which takes place in a family life cycle: the rites of passage which accompany marriage, the birth and maturation of children, and death. What emerges from the evaluation of specific livelihoods activities and of family and community economic activities and networks, from house building to the clearance of forest, collection of honey, harvesting of rice, or relocation of swidden fields or of the community, is that the link of ritual and religious belief and livelihood activities is one which “informs” the economy and social organization of the community. This link provides a basis of authority and of responsibilities, both in the family and community social activities and in livelihoods management, labor use, and in property rights and distribution. A conclusion reached from this aspect of the study is that it would not be possible to reestablish or replace these cultural aspects of household and community economic and social organization, unless it done uninterrupted by the community, or rather as an inherent process of community development. It would not, for example, be achieved by providing an “arena” and community cultural assembly building, where, as the Sekong 3 Upper and Lower Resettlement Action Plans have provided, traditional activities could be practiced. The converse experience, which has been recorded in other relocations of ethnic communities, is the potential loss of cultural and ritual dimensions of community life and resource management, including labor management, which provide a moral and religious underpinning of the social and economic life and structure of the community. This appears to be particularly the case in respect of the role of male elders in ritual and in work and economic management, and in the role and behavior of young people, who turn to modern ways of life and dress and to economic opportunities outside the community. The results of this social separation is that those who do remain and perform traditional roles in community and household activity, mainly the women, may in relocation communities observe some aspects of traditional ritual but as in a cultural museum, as one observer has expressed it of the situation at Nam Theun 2, rather than in a living and holistic traditional social and economic system. This situation is made more acute in circumstances where relocation leaves the community without access to adequate swidden agricultural land, forest or fishing grounds, or where the most available source of livelihoods becomes detached from the traditional management of natural resources. This is
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potentially the case for villages displaced by the Xekaman1 and Xekaman Xanxai dams, for whom the proposed relocation site at Huay Doum does not have accessible forest and is adjacent to the rubber plantation which replaced Hatxanh village forest in 2010. A majority of women of these communities, and of Somboune and Hatxanh in the impact area of the transmission line, have been employed in land clearance for rubber planting, and are expected to be enlisted to provide labor for rubber production in the estate. The situation of the villages relocated from Xekaman 1 and Xekaman Xanxai, and of villages affected by the transmission line seems likely then to be similar to that of ethnic groups in Kontum province over the border in Vietnam, where consolidated villages now have no adjacent forest and where their entire source of livelihood is that of working either as small owners or as labor on the rubber and cassava plantations which surround them. 6.5 Location and access to natural resources, markets and services
The research shows that it is not location by itself which makes the difference but location plus the agro-‐ecological character of the community and its and individual household access to service and markets, to resources, and to means of communication and transportation. Forests are the main source of income, food or other resources, for example, medicinal crops sold at market, and rattan at Donkhen for making baskets and a range of fishing implements and for house construction, all of which permit the creation of a wide and diverse portfolio of livelihoods systems by individual households. The portfolio may vary substantially between households and between villages. Labor resources, access and individual specialization all play a part in differential livelihoods portfolios. Among the most detailed and significant findings from this study are those which concern the livelihood systems and sources of affected ethnic people, and the evidence the survey has provided of the community dependence on access to natural resources. Findings demonstrate the dependence of affected communities on their land, forest and fishing resources, including reliance on swidden agriculture, non-‐timber forest productsand fishing. Communities depend on these resources for sustenance. The fabric of social, economic and cultural life is determined by natural resources and their availability. One aspect of a dependency on swidden land, thus the rotational clearance of forest, and on the natural resources of the forest itself, is the separation of ethnicgroups from the mainstream Lao-‐Tai of the lowlands, as well as from one another. The distinction which they have from the mainstream society in respect of different lifestyles and different, more “tribal” ritual, is something of a fabrication, based around their dominance in numbers and in government and commerce and urban residence, since the Lao-‐Tai have possibly as rich and in many ways a similar culture and similar religious beliefs to that of the minority tribes. One aspect of this similarity is that both are highly rational farmers with similar concerns for risk avoidance in their yearly and seasonal livelihoods systems. The research employed ethnographic studies and agro-‐ecological profiling of villages to examine the interconnected relationships ethnic people have with natural resources and the environment. This relationship comprises social, cultural and economic factors that cannot be easily separated.
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The research further examined the linkage between existing livelihoods systems and social organization, cultural beliefs and practices. While modern dress is now common among the groups, differing languages and the ritual and festivals that mark the rites of passage and family life cycle, and rituals of rice, forest, hunting and fishing, recognize the presence and role of spirits and ancestors in the well being of people and the environment. Seasonal festivals differ from village to village but may last for weeks, defining and informing, in Mary Young‘s words, “the identity of the whole society which exists within each of the affected communities”. Corn and other field crops and fruit, notably bananas, for food and for sale at market are common at Somboune and Namxuan, in an area of alluvial flat land fed by the creek which runs north-‐south along the hills, but exist hardly at all at Phouyang, where there is no flat land. At Somboune and Namxuan there are also many households with no settled arable land, especially among recent arrivals, and which are that much more dependent on swidden upland rice production. They may sell part of their swidden rice production, along with hunted game and NTFPs, in exchange for bananas and corn or other vegetable crops, or the wife and children may work for cash or food on the land of better off households with farms or gardens as well as swidden. Whatever the mix, swidden rice production is the core production and subsistence farming system for all households. At Hatxanh, where paddy rice predominates and where there is a substantial population of Lao-‐Tai traditionally farming paddy rice, most Brao and many Lao-‐Tai households practice swidden as well as paddy, and swidden alone is practiced by many Brao households. The evidence is that swidden production is both the main source of food for most ethnic minority communities and closely woven into cultural practices and social organization, so that both economics and culture play a part in its place as the core of ethnic minority livelihoods systems and in almost universal resumption or retention during relocation, whether under their own management of by government and developers. 6.6 Impact of other changes in land use in Attapeu
There have been major changes to land and forest use as well as hydropower development in Attapeu Province in the five years preceding this research, mainly in mining and industrial tree plantations by Vietnamese developers under concession agreements between the two governments. Negative changes which directly affect traditional access to natural resources and to their provision of livelihoods systems are lost, mainly to the Brao at Hatxanh of the hardwood forest which stretched from some kilometers to the west of Hatxanh north of the 18B National Road as far as the Sekong River to the north and to the Dong Amphanh NPA and upland areas of the Xekaman and Xanxai catchments to the east. The forest was felled and cleared and planted as a rubber plantation during 2009 to 2010 in a concession agreement with the Vietnamese Hagle Corporation. Together with large areas to the south of the National Road, a large part of lowland Xaisettha is now rubber plantation, with mainly Vietnamese laborers and management and substantial estate housing and offices. The second development was the granting of gold mining licenses also to Vietnamese developers in the highlands surrounding the Xanxai dam and those in Xaisettha District in the vicinity of Somboune and Namxuan along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The two development projects have changed livelihoods options for the concerned ethnic communities, but involve changes of land and forest resource allocations which, formally or informally, change the land and resource and access of the ethnic groups.Loses due to these developments include those of
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artisanal gold panning, much of it traditionally done by women, and was a source of cash income until 2009/10, among the Alak at Hindam and the Brao at Somboune and Namxuan. Related losses are caused by the pollution of streams, notably at Somboune, from heavy metal used in gold extraction by the Vietnamese miners, affecting both the quality and availability of water supplies, and its effects on fishing, in which fish in particular streams of importance in the local economy, again, especially to women ceased to exist. These developments have already made substantial changes to the availability of wage employment. The main new employment opportunities which they have brought about, already involving numbers of young men at Hindam, will be as mine workers for the Vietnamese miners. A second source of income and employment, especially for women, has been as workers in the clearance of forest for the development of the Xaisettha rubber estate, mainly during 2009/10, but continuing sporadically through recruitment by agents among women villagers as new areas are cleared. Eventually it is expected that substantial numbers of the neighboring ethnic minority communities will be employed as rubber tappers and agricultural laborers. This could include labor from resettled communities from the five villages inundated by the Xekaman 1 and Xanxai reservoirs, at present intended to be relocated at Huay Doum on the banks of the Xekaman River in a two km square forest area, now enclosed by the rubber plantation. 6.7 Cyclical factors in labor availability and use
Household food production is related particularly to labor force composition. It is dependent on the stage of development of the household: from newly married couple, which may possibly form part of a wider parental group; to couple with adolescent or adult children and any of their spouses; to ageing and declining household, whose ablebodied members may have married out of the household, leaving an aged couple (the most frequent background to poverty). The community is made up of households at every stage in family life cycle development. The effects of this cyclical development of households and their labor resources can be seen in Box 1 for Donkhen village, used in this research to categorize households for purposes of analyzing the relationship of livelihoods portfolios to household labor resources: Box 1: Donkhen Vil lage The household has nine members. It has two full-‐time active members of the labor force. The male head of household is 30 years old and his wife 31. The widowed father of the household head is 50 years old and chronically ill. He is now almost entirely occupied in making baskets and woven mats. There are six children aged 9, 7, 6, 4, 3 and 1. The 9 year old and 4 year old are female and the other four male. All are Yeh (or Jeh) ethnic. The household head and his father speak Lao. The wife and children speak only Yeh, but the older children have a smattering of Lao from school. The main occupation of the household is swidden agriculture, mainly hill rice production. Important
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other food sources and tasks are gardening, mainly in the area immediately around the house and village and the adjacent stream, and gathering NTFPs from the surrounding NPA. Important other sources of cash income are basket and mat making and logging/timber sawing for sale. The 9 year old female is in school, but otherwise full-‐time engaged in care of younger children, caring for, feeding and disciplining all the children except the nursing baby, and fetching water and fuel wood. The wife cooks for all the family, fetches wood and water, and is for most of the year fully or partly occupied in farming and in gathering fuel wood and forest food and fiber products (bamboo shoots, green leaf and vine, mushrooms and berries). She also does most of the gardening, to produce corn, beans and banana for family consumption. The male head of household is fully engaged in farming throughout the year, the main tasks being swidden: clearance and burning of bush and land preparation for sewn upland rice and other crop production, weeding, harvesting rice, and threshing. He also takes part in forest food and fiber crop collection and is the sole member of the household engaged in hunting and logging. The father takes part in forest fiber collection for basket and mat production. The main uses of cash are for purchase of household items at market, medicines and medical treatment, clothes, agricultural equipment, electronic equipment, motorcycle purchase and maintenance and fuel. There are four main factors regarding livelihoods and resource management which relate to this development cycle and which are particularly relevant to our findings about livelihoods systems and their restoration:
• A newly formed household based on a married couple, perhaps with small children, may have only one main worker. They may in many cases continue to be part of the parental household, usually of the wife, so that they then make up a larger single workforce with the parents and other members of the household. We have found these factors to be at play, and particularly the presence of young adult men, for example in whether or not the household has any members engaged in logging, or others engaged in non-‐agricultural wage-‐labor.
• Status, including management responsibility and authority in resource allocation, and so decisions about livelihoods management, are determined by cyclical development, in which, for example, an aged household head may be replaced by an adult son.
• Changes of status and the assumption of responsibilities and management of resources is marked by religious and ceremonial processes, as well as by transfers of material or formal property or authority and management.
• The presence of spirits perceived to have an interest in the wellbeing of the household and its individual members are important in choices and changes in resource allocations, including both traditional and involuntary relocation and village and farming site selection.
• The occupational structure and agricultural production systems and the level of dependency on non-‐timber forest products, hunting and fishing, are closely related to the household numbers and composition, but also to location and the agro-‐ecological situation and surrounding natural resources of the community.
Swidden rice production is restricted to the annual rice needs of the household as the staple food. None is usually produced for sale at market, but may be sold or exchanged locally, or may be used to repay a debt to a merchant, often for chemical fertilizer, or to meet the cost of medical treatment. Food sources
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from swidden rice and from non-‐timber forest products are closely related requirements for household viability, together with any cash income which can be used for purchase of rice at market. An aspect of this linkage is the vital necessity for the household to maintain its existing production systems from one year to the next: thus drought or flood or any other factor which breaks the annual production cycle, including resettlement, is seen as a danger to survival of the household. The fear of the loss of a seasonal rice crop is among the greatest factors which we see in the refusal of ethnic highland groups to accept a change from swidden to settled lowland agriculture. This is seen statistically in the level and immediacy of the resumption or continued practice of swidden rice farming of farmers displaced by public or private sector and acquisition in their traditional forest and swidden areas and now having to resume farming, often in areas distant from available forest and swidden areas. 6.8 Rice deficits
Rice from swidden farming is typically available for eight to nine months of the year, but among a significant proportion of households, may be as little as four to five months. Most households have a rice shortage of 3 to 4 months, and some for as long as 8 months, and the household may then purchase rice at market if they have money from logging or mining or labor within or outside the community, or they must subsist on the collection of food from the forest. For all households, carbohydrate food sources include substantial supplies of bamboo shoots, mushrooms and berries collected seasonally from the forest. Bamboo shoots are mainly available during the rainy season when rice stocks are running out and the new rice planting or swidden production is starting. Leafy vegetables from the forest are available throughout the year and are eaten both cooked in stews or uncooked as a garnish and are a main source of roughage and vitamin C. Gardening, often of about 0.5 to 1 rai (1,600 m2), is usually practiced close to the house and to running water and provides beans and cabbages, but also bananas, which are widely planted around homes and in lowland fields, if available. They may, however be a kilometer or more distant, and may have semi-‐permanent houses where members of the household or the wider family may live, work on the farms and guard them against wild animals, and which may become permanent hamlets attached to the main village over time. Throughout the year and following natural resource availability, there is a changing cycle of labor, land and natural resource use. Communities and households follow a calendar of activities that relate to natural growth and dormant periods, to festivals, house building, planting and harvesting and to other specific agricultural, fishing and forest resource management in an annual cycle. Hunting is practiced by most households and depends on the presence of active male members of the household, but is also done by women and children. It is the main source of income to a minority of households for sales at market. Logging and timber processing for housing and for sales to the urban market are a substantial source of both income and economic security for most households in villages with access to substantial secondary forest and is mainly of permitted tree felling within legally imposed limits. The level of dependency on logging is related to the presence of one or more active male household members and possession of
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chain saws. Land shortage is the major cause of poverty and food deficits in the existing situation of affected communities. 6.9 Changes of agricultural and land use systems
At Hatxanh and at two of the villages in the lowland areas inundated by the Sekong 3 Upper Dam, settled paddy rice production has been developed as well as swidden farming. The circumstances in which paddy may replace swidden are important for the purposes of this study, but need to be judged in the light of the circumstances in which this occurs in these villages, among them the limited availability of flat arable and water sources for paddy production. We report separately on the conflict which has arisen at Grand Nava among the four villages resettled from the Sekong 3 Upper reservoir over rights to flat lands now being farmed by households, but with no clear distribution of rights, and being disputed by villagers at Navajatsan. These developments point to the need, which was recognized in the design of the research, to see options for livelihoods management and livelihoods restoration as determined by location and agro-‐ecological situation, but as we have noted, also by commercial land use developments now taking place rapidly in the affected areas. 6.10 Demographic changes
These developments will also see an influx of Vietnamese workers and their families and related service providers. This in-‐migration of workers on Vietnamese projects will, it has been estimated, increase the population of Attapeu by about 50% (from 112,000 to 170.000) over a 5 to10 year period, and will transform at least some sectors of the social systems and economy of the province31. A key factor for stakeholder agencies and for the ethnic communities who are impacted by the developments with which this influx is associated is that of competition for jobs and income, or the possibility that it will give rise to a social and economically subordinate position of local ethnic groups.32 This probability of a dramatic demographic change and associated cultural, health and administrative stresses strengthens a major finding of this study, that resettlement and livelihoods restoration from hydropower development need to planned for and implemented as development programs, in many aspects needing to be managed and planned by the provincial government, and to be the subject of holistic planning for all aspects of land use and industrial change. Particularly in respect of health, notably HIV/AIDS/STD awareness and prevention, and in education and vocational training to equip the main Lao-‐Tai as well as ethnic minority population to work on equal terms with incoming workers requires administration by the provincial governments for the whole province and to be funded accordingly, and not planned for and funded separately project-‐by-‐project as it is at present.
31 ADB Hatxan to Pleiku Transmission Line Land Acquisition and Resettlement Plan and Due Diligence Audit Report, 2102. 32 World Bank and others have identified as a negative feature of internal migration of Kinh Vietnamese and their landholding and commercial dominance in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, that this has led to the destruction of natural forest cover and the settlement of ethnic minorities in consolidated villages supplying labor to Kinh-‐owned plantations.
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