Deal #261

Most Nadee villagers lost some or all their land to the rubber plantation without compensation. The company was granted a 3000 ha concession of “state land” by a local military institution (in Vientiane province) and planted rubber on 800 ha of Nadee Village’s land. However, their project was eventually cancelled when Nadee villagers used their veteran connections with the military to lodge a grievance with the central government, which revealed that the company’s project illegally overlapped with a National Protected Area (NPA).

As this project covers many areas. Nadee village is one of community who rejected this project. The company initially provided villagers with the option to work as wage labourers, but most villagers refused to work for a company that had taken their farmland.

At first, the Thai-Hua Lao Rubber Company had been granted a land concession in That and Vangmon-Neua villages (670 ha), including the permission to develop 100 ha/year and technically it would need 7 years to clear the land. However, after two years, 672 ha had been cleared already. The investor´s activities were not in compliance with the contract that had signed with the government. However, the case was not seriously solved and showing that there was no closely monitored from authority [FDI in Laos 2009]. After the National Park Council suspended the partnership contract between the Army Academy and LTR, leading to the cancellation of the 3000 ha project. However, the company was permitted to continue using land already planted with rubber, including 800 ha within Nadee village.

The company tried to propose to access Clean Development or REDD+ with its rubber plantations. "This proposal triggered a lively debate among various stakeholders (public, private, NGOs, and development projects) whether rubber companies, often singled out as responsible for massive deforestation, could also benefit from Clean Development or REDD+ mechanisms for their perceived role in increasing carbon sequestration. "

District officials, PPA (Provincial People Assembly) officials, National Park Council, Ministry of National Defense.