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Degraded forest, degraded land and the development of industrial tree plantations in L aos
Author(s) -
Baird Ian G.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
singapore journal of tropical geography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.538
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1467-9493
pISSN - 0129-7619
DOI - 10.1111/sjtg.12076
Subject(s) - spatialization , tree (set theory) , government (linguistics) , forestry , scale (ratio) , narrative , geography , agroforestry , sociology , environmental science , anthropology , mathematics , art , mathematical analysis , linguistics , philosophy , cartography , literature
The concepts of degraded forest ( pa mai xout xom ) and degraded land ( din seuam xom ) have been variously applied in official Lao government policy narratives and law over the last couple of decades. In this article I focus on the concepts of degraded forest and land, and the relationship with industrial tree plantations, using two examples from southern L aos. I argue that the concepts have been significant in both facilitating and obstructing the development of large‐scale industrial tree plantations in different times and spaces, thus significantly influencing access and exclusion, as well as the spatialization of tree plantations. I provide a tentative genealogy regarding the emergence of these concepts in land and forestry policy in L aos, and briefly explain the links between degradation and ‘the land rush’ presently affecting L aos.