Assessing Land Investment Quality: A methodology to assess the quality of land concessions and leases in the Lao PDR

ABSTRACTED FROM SUMMARY: Foreign investment in land and natural resources in Laos is on the rise. The past decade has seen a 50-fold increase in the number of concession and lease projects, mainly in mining, tree plantations, agricultural commodities, and hydropower. However, the lack of accurate and publicly available information on these projects makes policy making difficult, and global and national evidence points towards the negative impacts these land deals have had on local livelihoods and the environment. Nonetheless, some investments have had positive social impacts and only limited negative environmental impacts. While a number of case studies show the differentiated impacts of certain land investments, there is little data enabling a comparative evaluation of the quality of land deals across the whole country. Generating such information will provide the Government of Laos (GoL) with the foundations to analyse, regulate, and improve the outcome of investments in the country’s natural resources. The GoL and the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE) of the University of Bern, Switzerland, have developed a methodology to systematically assess the quality of existing land concessions and leases. The work was carried out within the scope of the Lao DECIDE info project mandated by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). This quality of investment (QI) methodology enables assessment of the environmental, economic, and social impacts, as well as how existing land concessions and leases comply with international standards and Lao law. The methodology is outlined in detail in this booklet, which is aimed at as wide a readership as possible – and we hope it will be of particular use to development partners and organizations working on land concession and land lease issues. Our methodology was developed in Laos, but can be adapted for use elsewhere.

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