• woodrow wilson center
  • ecsp

New Security Beat

Subscribe:
  • mail-to
  • Who We Are
  • Topics
    • Population
    • Environment
    • Security
    • Health
    • Development
  • Columns
    • China Environment Forum
    • Choke Point
    • Dot-Mom
    • Navigating the Poles
    • New Security Broadcast
    • Reading Radar
  • Multimedia
    • Water Stories (Podcast Series)
    • Backdraft (Podcast Series)
    • Tracking the Energy Titans (Interactive)
  • Films
    • Water, Conflict, and Peacebuilding (Animated Short)
    • Paving the Way (Ethiopia)
    • Broken Landscape (India)
    • Scaling the Mountain (Nepal)
    • Healthy People, Healthy Environment (Tanzania)
  • Publications
  • Events
  • Contact Us

NewSecurityBeat

The blog of the Wilson Center's Environmental Change and Security Program
  • Guest Contributor

    Population, Natural Resource Pressures Could Ignite Human-Wildlife Conflict in Laos

    August 12, 2008 By Kimberly Suiseeya

    High population growth, limited arable land, and soaring rice prices in Lao People’s Democratic Republic mean that land access is critical for food security. At the same time, there is immense pressure to convert forests and small-scale agricultural land into commercial plantations for rubber, coffee, and other valuable crops. Together, these factors are significant threats not only to people, but to wildlife and biodiversity as well. They are also resulting in the emergence of new tensions between people and wildlife across the Lao landscape.

    While these tensions remain latent, they could lead to instability in the near future. For example, land use planning and land allocation programs have frequently been implemented too rapidly and without sufficient resources, often resulting in multiple claims to a single piece of land (see “The Effect of Village Re-location on Previous Land Allocation in Phonexay, Luang Prabang and Namo, Oudomxay” and “Hanging in the Balance: Equity in Community-Based Natural Resource Management in Asia”). The scarcity of agricultural land—exacerbated by competing claims to the same parcel—can drive people to intrude on protected areas.

    The Nam Kading National Protected Area (NPA) in central Laos’ Bolikhamxay Province is home to a herd of wild elephants. Since 2005, the elephants have increasingly encroached on Keng Bit, a village located at the edge of the NPA whose inhabitants are primarily rice farmers who also pan for gold. When the elephants enter Keng Bit during the rice-growing season, they destroy crops, endangering the village’s food security. If raiding increases in the future, the villagers could decide to kill the elephants to eliminate the threat to their crops.

    To prevent human-wildlife tensions from escalating, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is collaborating with community leaders to develop conflict prevention measures. In May 2008, I joined a WCS field team that was working with people from Keng Bit and a neighboring village to develop solutions to keep the elephants away from the fields. One project staff member told me that unless action is taken this year, the human-wildlife conflict could threaten the size of the wild elephant herd, especially as people continue to move into wildlife habitat. By addressing this potential conflict early on, the project hopes to promote food security and keep both humans and elephants safe. It also seeks to build a constituency that will understand the links between biodiversity and their own livelihoods and advocate for conservation and sustainable development.

    Nascent environmental conflicts need to be addressed before they become too difficult for local communities to resolve. In some cases, the traditional mechanisms for resolving conflict have degenerated as modern forms of governance and ownership have been introduced. Whether addressing human-wildlife conflict or human-human conflict, we must identify conflict prevention models that build bridges between traditional social networks and modern policies. Approaching environmental conflict proactively will not only serve the interests of those directly impacted by a potential conflict, but will also advance the country’s larger development and conservation goals. Laos presents an opportunity to develop and test a variety of innovative conflict prevention techniques.

    Kimberly Marion Suiseeya is a researcher based in Vientiane, Laos. She thanks the David L. Boren Graduate Fellowship for their support for her research on participatory management in Laos’ National Protected Areas. She also thanks the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Bolikhamxay Provincial Agriculture and Forestry Office for providing her with the opportunity to see a participatory project in action.

    Photo Credit: A Hmong village in Pak Ou district in Luang Prabang, with fallow upland rice fields (upper right); Looking down the Nam Kading river in the direction of Keng Bit, with “bomb boats” made out of old fuel casings. Used with permission courtesy of Kimberly Suiseeya.

    Topics: Asia, conflict, conservation, environment, Guest Contributor, population
    • http://www.blogger.com/profile/03461257939829344572 Leona

      Congratulations on a very insightful article, Kimberly! Could you tell us more about the possible threat that was mentioned by one the project staff e.g., “unless action is taken this year, the human-wildlife conflict could threaten the size of the wild elephant herd, especially as people continue to move into wildlife habitat.” This seems to imply that the villagers might kill the elephants. Or did your colleague mean something else? I have lived in Laos on-and-off for the past decade and have come to regard the Laos as a very gentle people. Perhaps they could benefit from information about how villagers in Nepal are managing to prevent elephants from raiding their crops by erecting electric fences that are solar powered. WWF-Nepal is spearheading this effort in the Terai region of Nepal that borders India.
      Best of luck !
      Leona D’Agnes

    • http://www.blogger.com/profile/16442406637883544748 Suiseeya

      Hi Leona,

      thank you for your comment and question. The project staff do worry about villagers killing the elephants if the problem becomes more severe. The herd size is relatively small, but there are a number of variables that could exacerbate the problem, leading to a conflict. For example, the Theun Hinboun Power Company (THPC) is building an expansion onto the existing hydro project, which will result in the river maintaining a higher water level year round. When this occurs, there will be no more opportunities to generate income from gold panning in Keng Bit (according to THPC staff). This means villagers will rely even more heavily on their crops, and may not be able to accept the losses they currently incur. If the elephants increase their raiding, the villagers are likely to get rid of the elephants, which, some fear, means killing them. I’m interested to hear more about the Nepal case and will share that with colleagues here.

      Thank you again for your comments.

      Kimberly

    • http://www.blogger.com/profile/00957532713455374321 Will Rogers

      For more information on the Theun Hinboun hydroelectric dam and the controversy surrounding its development, see “Laos Struggles With Dam Dilemma,” a recent Inter Press Service news story, at http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44346.

Join the Conversation

  • RSS
  • subscribe
  • facebook
  • G+
  • twitter
  • iTunes
  • podomatic
  • youtube
Tweets by NewSecurityBeat

Trending Stories

  • unfccclogo1
  • Pop at COP: Population and Family Planning at the UN Climate Negotiations

Featured Media

Backdraft Podcast

play Backdraft
Podcasts

More »

What You're Saying

  • shutterstock_1858965709 Break the Bias: Breaking Barriers to Women’s Global Health Leadership
    Sarah Ngela Ngasi: Nous souhaitons que le partenaire nous apporte son soutien technique et financier.
  • shutterstock_1858965709 Break the Bias: Breaking Barriers to Women’s Global Health Leadership
    Sarah Ngela Ngasi: Nous sommes une organisation féminine dénommée: Actions Communautaires pour le Développement de...
  • hongqiao-liu1 As China Adjusts for “True Cost” of Rare Earths, What Does It Mean for Decarbonization?
    Anthony Maw: It is just another one of those "inconvenient truths". Western defense and security analysts often...

Related Stories

No related stories.

  • woodrow
  • ecsp
  • RSS Feed
  • YouTube
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • Publications
  • Events
  • Wilson Center
  • Contact Us
  • Print Friendly Page

© Copyright 2007-2023. Environmental Change and Security Program.

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. All rights reserved.

Developed by Vico Rock Media

Environmental Change and Security Program

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center

  • One Woodrow Wilson Plaza
  • 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
  • Washington, DC 20004-3027

T 202-691-4000