GMSARN INTERNATIONAL JOURNALPublished by the GREATER MEKONG SUBREGION ACADEMIC AND RESEARCH NETWORK c/o Asian Institute of Technology P.O. Box 4, Klong Luang, Pathumthani …

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GREATER MEKONG SUBREGION ACADEMICAND RESEARCH NETWORK c/o Asian Institute of TechnologyP.O. Box 4, Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand

GMSARN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL Vol. 7 No. 4 December 2013

GREATER MEKONG SUBREGION ACADEMIC

Asian Institute of Technology P.O. Box 4, Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand

SARN INTERNATIONAL JOURNALINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL

ISSN 1905-9094

GMSARN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL

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GMSARN International Journal

Volume 7, Number 4, December 2013

CONTENTS Khuda Ki Basti, Lahore – NGO Initiative in Low-Income Housing ........................................................................ 115

Muhammad Haroon Siddique

Land Use Movement of Villagers in Ban Baw Kaew, Khon San District, Chaiyaphum

Province ......................................................................................................................................................... 121

Sukanya Aimimtham

Southeast Asia’s New High Rollers ......................................................................................................................... 127

Gianluca Bonanno

The Application of Geographic Information System (GIS) to Assess the Risk Area of Rice Bug (Leptocorisa oratorius (Fabricius)) Outbreak in Amphoe Paphayom and Amphoe Khuankanun, Phatthalung Province ................................................................................................ 133

Tharnsawat Pimsen, Anisara Pensuk Tibkaew and Wigunda Rattahapan

Consequences of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) on Thailand Agricultural Situation and Food Security of Southern Thailand ........................................................................................ 139

Supaluk Sujatanond, Anisara Pensuk Tibkaew, and Paiboon Pramojanee

New Direction towards Sustainable Society in Japan after the Nuclear Crisis ......................................................... 145

Yuka Hayakawa, Hidefumi Imura, and Masazumi Ao

Economic Rent from Hydropower Development in the Case of Lao PDR ............................................................... 151

Chansaveng Boungnong and Daovong Phonekeo

Discussion of the technical papers published in this issue is open until December 2013 for publication in the Journal. The Editor and the Publisher are not responsible for any statement made or opinion expressed by the authors in the Journal. No part of the publication may be reproduced in any form without written permission from GMSARN. All correspondences related to manuscript submission, discussions, permission to reprint, advertising, or change of address should be sent to: The Editor, GMSARN International Journal, GMSARN/AIT, P.O. Box 4, Klong Luang, Pathumthani, 12120, Thailand. Fax: (66-2) 524-6589; E-mail: [email protected].

M. H. Siddique / GMSARN International Journal 7 (2013) 115 - 120

115

Abstract— Khuda Ki Basti, Lahore (KKB4) is found to be another success story efficiently providing housing facility to the target group without compromising on policies. A comparison of KKB4 with KKB1(Khuda Ki Basti, Hyderabad) suggests that it is not merely a true replication rather it is running at a rather faster pace. Efficient on-site transport is a real challenge. Keywords— Khuda-Ki-Basti, KKB, NGO, Low-Income Housing.

1. LOW-INCOME HOUSING ISSUES

Khuda Ki Basti, Lahore (KKB4) project is 8th successful replication of the concept initiated in Hyderabad, Pakistan. The concept was conferred upon Aga Khan Award of Architecture 1995 [1]. ‘Almost everywhere in the world squatter settlements tend to be located in the areas of second choice, e.g. in riverbeds, and at the periphery of the cities‘ [2]. Since the land cannot be utilized for other productive purposes like the construction of offices, hotels and apartment buildings or the construction of roads, which although in themselves not productive, are a necessary prerequisite for the satisfactory functioning of the production process [3]. KMC [4] mentions necessity for people’s participation in any katchi abadi regularization and improvement programme as one of the vital lessons it has learnt from recent experiences. High infant mortality rates and widespread disease are characteristics of people with bad living conditions throughout the world [5]. Yap [6] rightly says that execution of the policy would require continuous and careful monitoring.

2. NATION WIDE LOW-INCOME HOUSING DILEMMA

‘[ H]ouse is a building for human habitation‘ [7]. In the economic perspective, problems related with housing are stratified for various income levels where people have to make choices out of the available commodities and services according to the sources of income they access to as well as the ideas they have got for things in their perspectives [8]. How much can people pay for housing? How much the authorities should be expected to pay? What priorities does each of us attach to housing costs, tenure, dwelling type and size, location and so on? These are some personal questions but of central concern to policy-makers [9]. Housing or shelter is one of the basic human needs whose importance in improving the quality

Muhammad Haroon Siddique lectures at National University of

Science and Technology, Islamabad. He studied PhD in Development at Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) Thailand. E-mal: [email protected].

of human life cannot be ignored [10]. According to Zaman and Ara [11], about 33% of the total population of Pakistan is presently living in urban areas. Housing and construction has been categorized as a priority industry eligible for prescribed concessions under this category [12]. In Pakistan total number of housing units is 19.3 million throughout the country; out of which 67.7% housing is in rural and 32.3% in urban areas; 39% of the total housing stock are kuchha houses, 40% semi-pukka and 21% pukka. The housing backlog of 4.3 million units is increasing by another 270,000 units annually as only 300,000 units are added annually to the stock against a demand of 570,000 units annually. To make up the shortfall 500,000 housing units need to be built annually for the next 20 years [13]. Zaidi [14] classifies housing problems as two broad categories: quantitative and qualitative. National Housing Policies (1992 and 2001) set yardsticks.

According to the 1987 satellite image, 37 per cent of the population of Karachi lived in squatter settlements; 34 per cent in semi-permanent high density housing; 7 per cent in semi-permanent houses on small plots in planned areas; 13 per cent in permanent houses on medium size plots in planned areas; 6 per cent in large bungalows and 3 per cent in apartments [15]. Katchi Abadis have been another interesting aspect in the low-income housing scenario in Karachi. The table hereafter gives a bird’s eye view of the same:

Table 1: Chronical Status of Katchi abadis

‘70s (1978) x 103

’80 (1985) x 103

Most recent (1988) x 103

‘2000 (Projection)

x 103

Katchi abadi population

2,000 2,600 3,400 7,070

No.of Katchi abadi Households

227 356 465 960

Source: Hasan et al [16] Development of Lahore is influenced by the changes at the federal level [17].

Muhammad Haroon Siddique

Khuda Ki Basti, Lahore – NGO Initiative in Low-Inc ome Housing

116

3. KHUDA-KI- BASTI (KKB): THE NEW CONCEPT

KKB is a new experiment in low-income housing where people progressively constructed their houses on selfhelp basis. KKB clearly establishes the concept of incremental development of housing and the services in an affordable cost-effective manner. KKB encthe people to undertake immediate construction of houses and then develop other infrastructure on an incremental basis: this is an important distinguishing element of the project [18]. People – Land Infrastructure was the approach. Given security of tenure, the families build their houses and provide infrastructure incrementally, as resources become available. The incremental development scheme is entirely self-financing. Materials are available locally. Each group of four houses is served by a septic tank linked to a pumping station. 20 District Management Group (DMG) probationers paid a threeKarachi and stayed in KKB3 to study how the acute problem of housing for the low-income people can be resolved. The sequence of development is that the poor allottees were given land at the price they could afford on minimal monthly installments and civic facilities developed after their accommodation. The land ownership rights instill confidence in them to start developing their own locality. On the other hand, communities residing in illegal housing societies do not develop a sense of ownership and development on selfhelp basis does not materialize. NGOs had given a role model to the government. This was how the government had initiated a low-cost housing project Sasti Basti on the pattern of KKB. This basti had schools, a mobile dispensary, basic health unit, hospital, ambulance service, 11 private clinics, two maternity homes, a library, community center, vocational training centewomen, eight parks, mosques, a church and an Imam Bargah. The probationers were also told that as a government servant, they would find ample opportunity to develop an understanding about real issues so the visit will benefit them to understand district management issues. The DMG probationary officers who included six women were divided into three groups to give them an opportunity to share their observations about the settlement. They said that their visit helped them understand the issues of poor people at the grassroots level [19].

4. KKB4: A PROFILE

According to the introductory board displayed outside the site office incremental housing development scheme (Khuda-Ki-Basti 4) is meant exclusively for the destitute homeless families. All the available plots will be allotted to the destitute applicants on first come first served basis after completion of the necessary official proceedings. KKB4 is located 0.5 kilometer off the Grand Trunk (G.T.) Road on the southern side of the Grand Truk (GT) Road, near Kala Shah Kaku industrial area. The site is 14 kilometers from Yadgar Chowk and 7 kilometers from Shahdara. The location is not far away for the residences of workers in Lahore. The location is well elaborated in

M. H. Siddique / GMSARN International Journal

BASTI (KKB): THE NEW

income housing where people progressively constructed their houses on self -help basis. KKB clearly establishes the concept of incremental development of housing and the services in

effective manner. KKB encourages construction of

houses and then develop other infrastructure on an incremental basis: this is an important distinguishing

Land – Housing -- ven security of

tenure, the families build their houses and provide infrastructure incrementally, as resources become available. The incremental development scheme is

financing. Materials are available locally. rved by a septic tank

linked to a pumping station. 20 District Management Group (DMG) probationers paid a three-days visit to Karachi and stayed in KKB3 to study how the acute

income people can be velopment is that the poor

allottees were given land at the price they could afford on minimal monthly installments and civic facilities developed after their accommodation. The land ownership rights instill confidence in them to start

locality. On the other hand, communities residing in illegal housing societies do not develop a sense of ownership and development on self-help basis does not materialize. NGOs had given a role model to the government. This was how the government

cost housing project Sasti Basti on the pattern of KKB. This basti had schools, a mobile dispensary, basic health unit, hospital, ambulance service, 11 private clinics, two maternity homes, a library, community center, vocational training center for women, eight parks, mosques, a church and an Imam Bargah. The probationers were also told that as a government servant, they would find ample opportunity to develop an understanding about real issues so the visit

ict management issues. The DMG probationary officers who included six women were divided into three groups to give them an opportunity to share their observations about the settlement. They said that their visit helped them

ople at the grassroots

According to the introductory board displayed outside ncremental housing development scheme

Basti 4) is meant exclusively for the destitute homeless families. All the available plots will be allotted

first come first served basis ial proceedings.

KKB4 is located 0.5 kilometer off the Grand Trunk (G.T.) Road on the southern side of the Grand Truk (GT) Road, near Kala Shah Kaku industrial area. The site is 14 kilometers from Yadgar Chowk and 7 kilometers from

s not far away for the residences of workers in Lahore. The location is well elaborated in

the site plan:

Plot size is 24’*34’ throughout the scheme over an

areaof 191.52 kanals (except where location demanded off-sizing). Assuming average household size to be 6, KKB4 that has 460 plots in all, is supposed to house 2,760 persons. Table 2 shows detail of the la

Table 2: Landuse division at KKB4

Sr. No. Land-Use 1 Residential 90.112 Open Spaces 16.173 Commercial 4 Public Buildings 5 Graveyards 6 Roads 70.58

Total 191.52

/ GMSARN International Journal 7 (2013) 115 - 120

Plot size is 24’*34’ throughout the scheme over an areaof 191.52 kanals (except where location demanded

sizing). Assuming average household size to be 6, plots in all, is supposed to house

2,760 persons. Table 2 shows detail of the landuses:

Table 2: Landuse division at KKB4 Area Percentage 90.11 47.05 16.17 8.44 3.18 1.66 7.64 3.99 3.84 2.01 70.58 36.85 191.52 100.00


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A successful applicant pays non-refundable twenty thousand rupees at the preliminary approval of the application followed by another non-refundable twenty thousand rupees on plot acquisition. Remaining payment is made in forty equal monthly installments of one thousand rupees each. The administration has also provided the facility of built houses in collaboration with the House Building Finance Corporation (HBFC). In which case seventy-five thousnd rupees is the down payment followed by monthly installments up to twenty years. Gas connection charges are not included in the price of the plot. Every allottee will have to pay Rs. 200 as maintenance charges for water supply and sewage and cleanliness etc. The prospective applicant comes to the reception area along with his family and the household belongings. Here the Saiban staff provides them temporary shelter after verifying the household and household belongings. Here the staff issues them the application form as well. Saiban staff issues the second challan form after verifying the continuous presence of the family at the reception camp. Field officer issues a provisional allotment letter in the name of the allottee after receiving the bank receipt and approval from the allotment committee. This is a proof of provisional ownership of the plot on which the allottee has to ensure the family presence. Field officer hands over the plot acquisition to the allottee for house construction without any delay. Allotment is provisional for the initial five years. The allottee has to ensure his presence on the plot for five years in order to be given permanent ownership and transfer. After five years the plot ownership will be transferred in the name of the applicant if s/he fulfills all the terms and conditions [20].

Table 3 below shows composite index of satisfaction

Sr. No.

Category Satisfied Dissatisfied Indifferent

1 Regarding House Ownership

100% 0 0

2 Location of Site 25% 50% 25% 3 Transport

Provision at Site 0 92% 8%

4 Arranging Self-Help Activities’ Support

92% 0 8%

5 Community Organization’s Attitude

83% 0 17%

6 Awareness and Advertisement Scheme

8% 67% 25%

Total (Adjusted for all 6)

51.34% 34.83% 13.83%

Source: Field survey 2007

5. KKB4 – AN EVALUATION

KKB4 was established in the second half of 2006. Till July 2007 it was observed that 31 plots had got houses built on them, out of which 5 provided temporary housing to the newcomers until they built their own house; and for another 26 scrutiny had been done and the families were about to make the first payment after

which they will built house within a month. So by the month of August 2007, 57 houses would be there on the site housing families in them: this is a wonderful achievement out of 460 plots [20].

Table 4: Construction Status Sr. No. Category Frequency Percentage

1 Plots housing families

57 12.4

2 Plots awaiting Families

403 87.6

Total 460 100 Source: Field Survey 2007

1. It is observed that the enforcement mechanism is in

place. For instance, according to clauses 2 and 3 of ‘Terms and Conditions’:

2. Ensuring continuous presence on the plot will be must to get permanent allotment. The allotment will be deemed cancelled automatically in case of a continuous absence of 3 months from the plot without any reason. The building erect on the plot along with all the payments made so far will be held by the organization and the allotment will be made to some other applicant.

3. If an allottee is found defaulter for three continuous monthly installments, his plot will be allotted to another applicant after serving him a notice for fifteen days.

It practically happened in case of plot number 392 that was cancelled from the first allottee and is presently with Mr. Naveed.

In response to the question put regarding knowledge about KKB4, 100 percent response was that friends/relatives informed about it. Regarding movement to KKB4, 50 percent response was about two months before, 33 percent respondents told that they moved in four months before whereas 17 percent respondents moved in one month before the survey. About the work place, two-thirds of the respondents told that they worked in northern Lahore whereas half of the remaining worked in inner Lahore and within KKB4 equally. About 83% respondents commuted to work by bus whereas the remaining got to work at their own; they later-mentioned were actually those who worked within KKB4. 41 % of the respondents had their relatives’ abode in Lahore, 25% had their relatives living in different other parts of Punjab province, 17% respondents had their relatives living in northern Lahore/Kala Shah Kaku and the remaining 17% had their relatives living in other provinces. Household size was reported to be 3 to 4 members for 58% respondents. 25% households had a size of above 4 whereas 17% households had a size of up to 2 members. Monthly household income was reported to be between Rs. 5001 and Rs. 7000 in case of 50% households. 42% households earned up to Rs. 5000 per month whereas only 8% households earned above Rs. 7000 per month. Interestingly spending on traveling was found to be a major head where 50 percent respondents spent more than PKR 1000 per month on traveling. Thirty-three percent respondents spent between PKR 501 and PKR 1,000 monthly on household traveling whereas the figure was up to PKR 500 per month for 17 percent respondent households. Previous living was reported to


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be in the inner Lahore for two thirds of the respondents. Seventeen percent respondents lived in the northern Lahore previously. Out of the remaining eight percent each lived in different other cities of the province and other provinces.

Regarding house ownership, 100 percent of the respondents were satisfied. Location of site was dissatisfactory for half of the respondents whereas out of the remaining half, half were satisfied and the other half were indifferent about the location. 92 percent respondents demanded transport provision at the site whereas eight percent were indifferent about the issue. Ninety-two percent respondents were satisfied about the community organization’s arrangements for self-help activities’ support whereas eight percent were just indifferent about it. As many as 83 percent response was satisfactory regarding community organization’s attitude whereas 17 percent was indifferent. Awareness and advertisement scheme for the project was dissatisfactory according to two thirds of the respondents where as one fourth of the respondents were indifferent about it; only 8% respondents deemed it to be satisfactory [20].

The following suggestions came forward by the respondents for improvement of KKB4:

Table 5: Suggestions for Improvement

Sr. No.

Category Percentage

1 Road Construction 9 2 School starting 6 3 Public Transport 24 4 Kitchen Construction 16 5 Shops starting 23 6 Mosque construction 13 7 Graveyard marking 9

Total 100 Source: Field Survey 2007

6. A COMPARISON WITH KHUDA-KI-BASTI HYDERABAD

A very interesting picture comes forward when we

compare the ‘Khuda-Ki-Basti’, Kala Shah Kaku, Lahore Metropolitan Area (KKB4) with the very first Khuda-Ki-Basti Hyderabad (KKB1):

Table 6:

Sr KKB1 KKB4 1 2 3 4

KKB1 started in 1986 KKB1 was a part of the 5,500 acres Gulshan-e-Shahbaz KKB1 houses almost 2,800 families KKB1 offered a plot of 80 square yards (720 square feet) plot to a family

KKB4 started in the later half of 2006 KKB4 is an independent scheme on 191.52 kanals KKB4 is planned for 460 families KKB4 offers 816 square feet plot to a family

5 6 7 8 9

10

11

12

13

14

15

In KKB1 water was supplied through water tankers At KKB1 the in-coming families are provided with reception area where they can stay up to 6 weeks until their own house is ready for living At KKB1 prospective resident had to pay Rs. 1,000 that covered the full cost of the plot In KKB1 a plot is repossessed if found unoccupied In KKB1 location is a disadvantage; it is located at about half an hour distance by public transport from the nearest big city KKB1 has the advantage of being close to the nearby industrial area wherefrom the residents can earn their daily wages The residents are experienced to spend a substantial budget on transportation for one reason or the other About 18,000 persons live in KKB1 (@over 6 persons per household) Some 2,500 families (84.7% of total) settled in KKB1 during the first three years after its establishment and 2,800 families had settled within 8 years The resident families fall in the income bracket of Rs 500-1,500 ($25-75 then) in KKB1 A strong community organization and community spirit is found

In KKB4 ground water is available for every house; however, for better quality drinking water, there is a plan to drill down and supply households through pipelines soon At KKB4 also the in-coming families are provided with reception area where they can stay up to 6 weeks until their own house is ready for living. At KKB4 the prospective resident pays Rs. 20,000 at the start and another Rs. 60,000 subsequently to cover the full cost of plot as Rs. 80,000 in all In KKB4 also a plot is repossessed if found unoccupied In KKB4 also location is a disadvantage; this is also located at about half an hour distance by public transport from the nearest big city KKB4 also has the advantage of being close to the nearby industrial area wherefrom the residents can earn their daily wages The residents are experienced to spend a substantial budget on transportation for one reason or the other 2,760 is the target population for KKB4 (@ 6 persons per household) 57 houses (12.4 % of total) serve the families in KKB4 in less than a year of its establishment The resident families fall in the income bracket of Rs. 3,000 –10,000 ($50-160) in KKB4 A strong community organization and community spirit is found


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16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

in KKB1 KKB1is financially viable Over 35% of the inhabitants obtained their plots from actors other than HDA in KKB1 A vast majority of the inhabitants supports cancellation of vacant plots/houses in KKB1 No rural urban migration has been experienced in KKB1; that is a positive aspect Land open to the sky is found in KKB1 more than the requirement; in the form of open spaces as well as roads/streets; this is perhaps due to the reason that the scheme had to be within the available standards; however, a better utilization of the land was possible with more planning expertise Smaller building blocks and semipublic spaces have enhanced the community cohesion KKB1 was initiated by HDA and was handed over to an NGO Saiban KKB1 was followed by seven similar replications throughout the country KKB1 was provided at the public land After 8 years of inception it was found that at KKB1: 5 doctors provided health services. A permanent health care unit of Family Planning Association of Pakistan operated.

also in KKB4 KKB4 is also financially viable All the inhabitants are to obtain their plots through non- governmental agency in KKB4 A vast majority of the inhabitants also supports cancellation of vacant plots/houses in KKB4 No rural urban migration has been experienced in either KKB4; that is again a positive aspect Land open to the sky is found in KKB4 also more than the requirement; in the form of open spaces as well as roads/streets; this is perhaps due to the reason that the schemes had to be within the available standards; however, a better utilization of the land was possible with more planning expertise In KKB4 also smaller building blocks and semipublic spaces have enhanced the community cohesion KKB4 was solely initiated and run by Saiban Whereas KKB4 is itself a replication of KKB1 although it is also followed by some 3 more replications after its inception Whereas the KKB4 is developed on the land purchased from private owners Whereas it is too early for these aspects to appear in KKB4 (all of these are, however, expected and awaited here too at a proper stage)

Private buses plied every 30 minutes. 110 shops served the daily needs of the inhabitants. More than 247 carpet-looms provided jobs to at least 600 persons. Residents collected and spent some 5 million rupees in water supply, sewerage and electrification. All allottees occupied their plots, built houses and resided. Loans ranging between Rs. 2,500-25,000 were disbursed without any collateral for family enterprises.

In the light of the afore-mentioned points, it seems

quite justified to say that KKB4 is a true replication of the KKB1 and is on the right track to reap the benefits in due course of time.

7. CONCLUSION

Concluding, unanimously all the resident families responded that they were feeling happy due to a feeling of ownership. On a composite index of satisfaction, 51.34% of the overall response was about satisfaction. Literature and records are not readily available for the public or research use regarding Lahore due to many reasons, so a true picture could hardly be obtained in our particular endeavor. 83 % of the residents commuted to their work places by bus. Provision of public transport at the site and shopping facilities were the most demanded suggestions by the residents. Two-thirds of the residents had moved from inner parts of Lahore to KKB4 whereas some had moved from different other cities and even other provinces. 50% of the residents earned between Rs. 5000 and Rs. 7000 per month whereas 42% earned less than Rs. 5,000. Expense on traveling was a common element for all the residents. 58% of the residents were 3-4 member families. The site is remote for most of the target group that is why they are reluctant to get there. Awareness campaign about the project is very weak that has resulted in a situation where people hardly know about it. The staff appointed by the executing agency, Saiban, is neither adequate in number nor is well trained on the requirements of the project. Similarly, some responsible staff members who could really make the project a success are over-burdened by some other responsibilities on them other than the project. As reported, some new sites have been allocated in Mian Channu and Islamabad for similar replications and proceedings for procurement of land in Haripur are on as well [21]. Mian Channu will be another replication within the province whereas Haripur will open up avenues of replication in another province i.e. NWFP.


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KKB1 demanded people to reside there for long to retain their ownership whereas KKB4 demands the residents to ensure their residence at the allotted plot for 5 years; both limits seem to be unrealistic. An in-between duration of 30 years is recommended that is normally the active working life for a generation. Micro-finance activities should also be started at KKB4 as were done in KKB1 or some other replications of the same. It will on one hand enhance interest of the resident families and the on-coming families and on the other hand will help the members contribute towards family expenses. The Saiban staff appointed for the project should include some personnel who have already worked on some previous KKB project so that in the light of their experience over other places, they may replicate the present project in real sense. When going for replication, a proper consideration be given to the aspect that on one hand it is utmost important to appoint staff which has already gone through the endeavor elsewhere and on the other hand some local staff should also be engaged that is aware of the local needs as well as the appropriate ways to meet those needs in accordance with the local customs and traditions. Collective house building approach that was practiced in Building Together Project of Thailand may also go a long way where people build houses together and through balloting they are allotted one of the 10 houses built by their collective labour. However, in spite of blocks, bricks are a viable solution in KKB4 case due to atmospheric conditions.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Dr. Muhammad Imran has been the main source of inspiration behind this paper, many thanks to him. Planner Mohammad Azhar Khan, the originator of the KKB concept, has been providing valuable information and support during the course of research for which many thanks to him. Planner Qamar-ul-Islam and Mr. Jawad Aslam have also been very helpful during the endeavor. Last but not least gratitude to Dr. Mokbul Morshed Ahmad and Mrs. Naveed Khalid being sources of inspiration at desk and home respectively.

REFERENCES

[1] Khan, M. A. 2006. Personal Interview, Islamabad. [2] Schoorl, J. W., Linden, J. J. V. and Yap, K. S. 1983.

Between Basti Dwellers and Bureaucrats, Pergamon Press, Oxford.

[3] Meyerink, H. 1983. Between Basti Dwellers and Bureaucrats, Pergamon Press, Oxford.

[4] KMC 1977. An Improvement Policy for Sub-standard Urban Areas, Karachi, Karachi Metropolitan Corporation.

[5] Pickford, J. 1983. Between Basti Dwellers and Bureaucrats, Pergamon Press, Oxford.

[6] Yap, K. S. 1983. Between Basti Dwellers and Bureaucrats, Pergamon Press, Oxford.

[7] Whittick, A. 1972. Encyclopedia of Urban Planning, McGraw Hill, London, p. 341.

[8] Siddique, M. H. and Shah, Z. 1996. Provision of Housing Finance for Government Employees: A Case Study of Multan, Bachelors’ Thesis in City

and Regional Planning, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan.

[9] Cherry G. E. 1974. Urban Planning Problem, Leonard Hill, London.

[10] Pakistan Administrative Staff College 1997. Urban Housing Problem in Punjab, Lahore.

[11] Zaman, A. and Ara, I. 2002. Rising Urbanization in Pakistan: Some Facts and Suggestions, The Journal, vol. 7, no. 3, Karachi, pp. 31-46.

[12] Government of Pakistan 2001. National Housing Policy, Ministry of Housing and Works, Islamabad.

[13] Census of Pakistan 1998. Census Report, Islamabad. [14] Zaidi, S. S. H. 2006. Housing Issues in Pakistan and

a Way Forward, Paper Published in Pakistan Engineering Council’s Housing and Construction Seminar Proceedings, Pearl Continental Hotel, Lahore, August 09, 2006.

[15] Hasan, A. 1992. Seven Reports on Housing, OPP-RTI, Karachi.

[16] Hasan, A., Zaidi, A. and Younus, M. Understanding Karachi, URC, Karachi.

[17] Alvi, I. 1997. The Informal Sector in Urban Economy: Low Income Housing in Lahore; Oxford University Press, Karachi.

[18] UNCHS (HABITAT) 1991. The Incremental Development Scheme – A Case Study of Khuda-Ki-Basti in Hyderabad, Pakistan, United Nations Centre for Human Settlements.

[19] Ali, S. H. 2006. Karachi: DMG thinks about the poor, Dawn, Karachi, November 19.

[20] Siddique, M. H. 2007. An Evaluation of ‘Khuda-Ki-Basti‘, Kala Shah Kaku, Lahore Metropolitan Area, Masters’ Thesis in City and Regional Planning, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan.

[21] Aslam, J. 2007. Interview at the KKB4 site office, Lahore, August.

S. Aimimtham / GMSARN International Journal 7 (2013) 121 - 126

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Abstract— Land Management has a major impact on natural resources. Since 1750, the major effect has been deforestation of temperate regions. In Northeastern Thailand, to identify land-use expectations to secure the maintenance of ecosystem and the villagers’ traditional way of life is important including the understanding of its conditions. Ban Baw Kaew, situated in the northern most districts, Amphoe Khon San of Chaiyaphum Province has been chosen as the study area due to its enormous range of land use purposes. In 1973, the Royal Forestry Department (RFD) designated 290,000 rai of land in Tambon Thung Pra as reserve forest and gave a concession of 20,000 rai to the Forest Industry Organization (FIO) in 1978 despite the fact that more than 100 households claimed to have been living and working on the land for decades. As a consequence, Community Land Title has been considered a self-defined issue to manage land and resources. Becoming the legal reference of land use matters most taken into account most, the Community Land Title or Chanod Chumchun has been the target of the villagers’ movement so as to define ownership. The current process of Baw Kaew community to reach their ultimate goal is in action regardless of the trouble they have engaged for years. Keywords— Ban Baw Kaew, community forest, community land title (Chanod Chumchon), land use movement, Royal Forestry Department.

1. INTRODUCTION

Land management practices have a major impact on natural resources including water, soil, nutrients, plants and animals. Land use information can be used to develop solutions for natural resource management issues such as salinity and water quality. For instance, water bodies in a region that has been deforested or having erosion will have different water quality than those in areas that are forested. The major effect of land use on land cover since 1970 has been deforestation of temperate regions. More recent significant effects of land use include urban sprawl, soil erosion, soil degradation, and desertification.

Land-use changes, together with the use of fossil fuels, are major anthropogenic sources of carbon dioxide, a dominant greenhouse gas.

According to a report by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization, land degradation has been exacerbated where there has been an absence of any land use planning, or of its orderly execution, or the existence of financial or legal incentives that have led to wrong land use decisions, or one-sided central planning leading to over-utilization of the land resources - for instance for

Associate Professor Sukanya Aimimtham, Ph.D. is with the Faculty

of Humanities and Social Sciences, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand. Phone: 66-43-204-537; Fax: 66-43-204-536; E-mail: [email protected].

I owe gratitude in this endeaver to Khon Kaen University particularly to the President, Associate Professor Dr. Kittichai Triratanasirichai who on behalf of the institution provides partial financial support which makes my attending the GMSARN 2012 International Conference possible. I am also very much obliged to the Asian Institute of Technology for supporting fees and providing accommodation.

immediate production at all costs. As a consequence the result has often been misery for large segments of the local population and destruction of valuable ecosystems. Such narrow approaches should be replaced by a technique for the planning and management of land resources that is integrated and holistic and where land users are central. This will ensure the long-term quality of the land for human use, the prevention or resolution of social conflicts related to land use, and the conservation of ecosystems of high biodiversity value.

The conversion of land from natural vegetation forest in many cases to agricultural land uses is often perceived as environmentally degrading, especially in terms of rapidly declining soil quality. Claims are being made that intensively used agricultural areas cannot buffer the adverse effects of agriculture on the environment (Islam and Weil, 2000). However, the need to secure and increase land productivity in order to survive is crucial for many people in rural areas, especially in the developing world, which therefore need to expand — and subsequently develop — agricultural areas in order to secure their livelihoods (Brookfield, 2001). Pressure on the land inevitably leads to changes in land use, basically triggered by the need to achieve higher agricultural production (Nielsen and Zoebisch, 2001; Zoebisch and de Pauw, 2002). Land-use changes are typically characterized in terms of changes of crops, land husbandry practices, and inputs used, such as capital, labour, fertilizers, and pesticides (Pulleman et al., 2000). Such conversion of natural landscapes to agricultural land is particularly evident in the tropics where the farmers usually practice low-external-input agriculture. Estimates of the global extent of conversion of natural to agricultural ecosystems over three centuries (1700-2000) showed that the study of land use is one of the most important factors for planning and managing activities

Sukanya Aimimtham

Land Use Movement of Villagers in Ban Baw Kaew, Khon San District, Chaiyaphum Province


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concerning the use of land surface where almost all countries, the state and the regional/local authorities are engaged in long term broad land use planning. Detailed local planning procedures also exist in order to promote balanced changes in land use and then to appropriately guide the spatial organization of different activities. However, very seldom has spatial planning helped in maintaining forest cover and usually caused biodiversity or other ecological losses.

In Southeast Asia, land use (e.g. swidden cultivation) and land cover (e.g. secondary vegetation) have remained stable and the minor amount of land-use change that has occurred has been a change from swidden to monocultural cash crops. In this region, two forces will increasingly determine land-use systems. First, national land tenure policies: the nationalization of forest lands and efforts to increase control over upland resources by central governments that will provide a push factor making it increasingly difficult for farmers to maintain their traditional swidden land-use practices. Second, market pressures: the commercialization of subsistence resources and the substitution of commercial crops for subsistence crops that will provide a pull factor encouraging farmers to engage in new and different forms of commercial agriculture (Fox & Vogler, 2005).

Land use of Thailand can be classified into 6 major classes; forest area, agriculture area, built-up/urban areas, grass land/old clearing area, open land/bare land, and water bodies. Roughly two-fifths of Thailand is covered by mountains and hills, the steepness of which generally precludes cultivation. Nevertheless, perhaps as much as a tenth of this area might also be converted to agricultural purposes in the near future as Thailand became more active in world trade and the international community. As it made the transition from less developed country to industrialized state, the traditional practice of measuring status by the extent of landholdings became less meaningful. Although the royal family remained the largest landholders, their wealth was often surpassed by that of members of the business community and the bureaucracy (including the military), who derived their growing affluence from diverse sources.

Nineteenth-century legislation set a four-hectare limit on freely acquirable agricultural land and acted as a major deterrent to the accumulation of land into large estates. But statistical data on tenancy in the mid-twentieth century varied considerably. A problem of classification concerning whether the fairly numerous part owner-part tenant arrangements should be included with owners or tenants also led to different conclusions. The part owner-part tenant group consisted largely of farmers who owned small plots but also worked as tenants on other larger farms. The Thai farmer's ability to adapt to changing market conditions contributed to the country's agricultural success, but even more important was the availability of large areas of virgin land for cultivation.

Agriculture was dominated by smallholders, most of whom had either outright title to the land or effective possession of it; tenancy was significant only in parts of the central plain. In the Northeast, the generally infertile soil required larger holdings to meet subsistence needs.

Over half the farms had between 2.4 and 7.2 hectares, and the typical farm had an area of about 4 hectares. In the early 1980s, about 40 percent of the country's agricultural households lived in this region whereas commercial rice farms outside the cities averaged over ten hectares.

For many years, Northeastern Thailand has had the largest rural population growth and is known to have the greatest agricultural development potential for Thailand. The optimizing of land use for agriculture systems, which have been developed on marginal sandy soils within an undulating landscape, and for other purposes has been identified as a very important requirement for the achievement of economic and social benefits. As a result, the extent of forest clearing for cropland has increased significantly since 1950 (Myers, 1996).

It has commonly been observed that clearing and cultivation of forest land leads to a deterioration of the physical, chemical, and biological properties of soils and that reforestation measures gradually restore soil quality (Islam and Weil, 2000). However, with appropriate land-use technologies that are suited to the location-specific needs of an area, even under continued permanent agricultural land use, soil quality can be maintained and improved (Kotto-Same et al., 1997).In Northeastern Thailand as mentioned previously, the intercropping of maize with legumes, such as spineless mimosa (Mimosa invisa) or pigeon pea ( Cajanus cajan) resulted in higher grain yields than the conventional continuous monocropping of maize and led to a better protection of the soil against erosion and an overall improvement of the soil quality (Suwanarit et al., 1999). Similar positive effects on soil quality have been found with sequential cropping systems, contour tillage, and contour-strip and hedgerow cultivation methods (Poudel et al., 2000; Thapa et al., 2001).

With increasing pressure on the land, changes in land use that lead to higher land productivity appear to be unavoidable. The rain-fed farming areas of northeastern Thailand are typical examples of rapid land-use changes prompted by the rapid increases in productivity needs and expectations of the land users. In order to identify land-use technologies that match productivity expectations with environmental concerns and to secure the maintenance of soil quality, it is important to understand the conditions that lead to changes in land use.

2. OBJECTIVE

The research aims to find out the land use movement of the villagers in Ban Baw Kaew and its phenomena on both the physical environment and people’s way of practice. The Study covers June 2011 – December 2012.

3. STUDY AREA AND ITS BACKGROUBD

Ban Baw Kaew, Tambon Thung Pra is focused as the study area due to its enormous diversity of land use purposes, for instance; rice growing, non-chemical plantation, mono-crop agriculture and residental area. This paper is a primary review of such a study of which

S. Aimimtham / GMSARN International Journal

the full report will be completed by end of December, 2012.

Situated in the Northeast region of Thailand known as Isaan, Chaiyaphum Province is divided into 16 districts, of which Khon San is the northernmost. In the early of the Rattanakosin era at the end of the 18Phumi led the people from Mueang Nakhon Thai, a subordinate of Phitsanulok, to establish their new town in the area. He was the town leader who sent tribute to KinRama 1 and he was later promoted governor position of Khon San later. The town was downgraded to be a tambon of Phu Khiao district and it was official upgraded to a full district on December 10,1959.

Neighboring districts of Khon San arand Chum Pae of Khon Kaen Pronvince, Phu Khiao, Kaset Sombun and Nong Bua Daeng of Chaiyaphum Province and Mueang Phetchabun, Lom Sak and Nam Nao of Phetchabun Province. The Southern area connects to Phu Khiao Wildlife Sanctuary. Tambon Thung Pra, Khon San district occupies 82 Square kilometers with 9 villages and locates 500 meters above sea level. There are 5,451 peoplehouseholds whose major occupations are farmers.

Fig. 1. Amphoe Khon San location in Chaiyaphum Coordinate: 16°°°°36′′′′48″″″″N 101°°°°55′′′′11″″″″E

4. FINDINGS

In 1973, the Royal Forestry Department (RFD) designated 290,000 rai of land in the Thung Phra SubDistrict as Reserve Forest land. From this 290,000 rai, the RFD gave a concession of 20,000 rai to the FoIndustry Organization (FIO) in 1978. Despite the fact that more than 100 households claim to have been living


the full report will be completed by end of December,

Situated in the Northeast region of Thailand known as Isaan, Chaiyaphum Province is divided into 16 districts,

northernmost. In the early part of the Rattanakosin era at the end of the 18th century, Mr. Phumi led the people from Mueang Nakhon Thai, a subordinate of Phitsanulok, to establish their new town in the area. He was the town leader who sent tribute to King

promoted to be the first governor position of Khon San later. The town was downgraded to be a tambon of Phu Khiao district and it

a full district on December 10,

Neighboring districts of Khon San are Phu Pha Man and Chum Pae of Khon Kaen Pronvince, Phu Khiao,

and Nong Bua Daeng of Chaiyaphum Province and Mueang Phetchabun, Lom Sak and Nam Nao of Phetchabun Province. The Southern area

to Phu Khiao Wildlife Sanctuary. Tambon g Pra, Khon San district occupies 82 Square

kilometers with 9 villages and locates 500 meters above eople residing in 1,088

households whose major occupations are farmers.

Amphoe Khon San location in Chaiyaphum province

Forestry Department (RFD) designated 290,000 rai of land in the Thung Phra Sub-District as Reserve Forest land. From this 290,000 rai, the RFD gave a concession of 20,000 rai to the Forest Industry Organization (FIO) in 1978. Despite the fact that more than 100 households claim to have been living

and working on the land for decades, the FIO designated 4,401 rai of this concession as the Kon San Forest Project. The 4,401 rai that make uProject borders the Pha Phung Wildlife Reserve, which covers an area of almost 120,000 rai. (Lohmann, 1991).

Fig. 2. Map of Tambon Thung Pra, Khon San(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khon_San_District

At the time of the evictions, the villagers lived and

worked on the land as farmers. Most of the villagers grew rice, corn, and red beans to sell. They also hunted small game and gathered mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and medicinal herbs in the forest. Dependifamily, they grew and collected between 70 and 100 percent of the food they consumed (ESCR Mobilization Project, 2010).

In order to protest their evictions and spread awareness, 169 villagers representing the nine villages moved into Baw Kaew Vithe villagers), Saun Pah subdistrict, on July 17, 2009. The village has been built amongst the FIO’s rows of eucalyptus trees. The village consists of one main dirt road lined with wooden huts on both sides. It sits less than 500 meters from a pond that supplies the villagers with water for bathing and cooking, but resources are limited and villagers must buy their own drinking water. After more than four months of residing in the village, the villagers are still investing in ihave planted banana trees, herbs, and corn between rows of eucalyptus trees, but the limited space to grow crops cannot supply adequate foodarea.

Although the eucalyptus pulp industry in Thailand was first established by private farmers and commercial businesses, the FIO began concessions soon after the tree’s introduction to Thailand. Because Isaan is dominated by agriculture, little untouched land exists on which to cultivateucalyptus. Consequently, the State adopted land reappropriation strategies to create space for this new industry. Legislation such as the 1964 Forest Reserve Act was drafted to enable the State’s annexation of land for economic exploitation. In order tcontrol over the new industry, private companies were

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and working on the land for decades, the FIO designated 4,401 rai of this concession as the Kon San Forest Project. The 4,401 rai that make up the Kon San Forest Project borders the Pha Phung Wildlife Reserve, which covers an area of almost 120,000 rai. (Lohmann, 1991).

Map of Tambon Thung Pra, Khon San

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khon_San_District )

At the time of the evictions, the villagers lived and worked on the land as farmers. Most of the villagers grew rice, corn, and red beans to sell. They also hunted small game and gathered mushrooms, bamboo shoots,

herbs in the forest. Depending on the family, they grew and collected between 70 and 100 percent of the food they consumed (ESCR Mobilization

In order to protest their evictions and spread awareness, 169 villagers representing the nine villages

Vi llage (unofficially named by ), Saun Pah subdistrict, on July 17, 2009.

The village has been built amongst the FIO’s rows of eucalyptus trees. The village consists of one main dirt road lined with wooden huts on both sides. It sits less

500 meters from a pond that supplies the villagers with water for bathing and cooking, but resources are limited and villagers must buy their own drinking water. After more than four months of residing in the village, the villagers are still investing in its infrastructure. They have planted banana trees, herbs, and corn between rows of eucalyptus trees, but the limited space to grow crops

adequate food for the villagers within the

Although the eucalyptus pulp industry in Thailand was irst established by private farmers and commercial

businesses, the FIO began taking control of the land concessions soon after the tree’s introduction to Thailand. Because Isaan is dominated by agriculture, little untouched land exists on which to cultivate eucalyptus. Consequently, the State adopted land re-appropriation strategies to create space for this new industry. Legislation such as the 1964 Forest Reserve Act was drafted to enable the State’s annexation of land for economic exploitation. In order to guarantee State control over the new industry, private companies were


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allowed to operate only through State-granted concessions (Pye, 2005).

The social impacts of eucalyptus expansion are highly contested. Redistribution of land for State enterprises displaced many villagers from their land. By using a rights based approach, the communities gained national recognition leading to a Cabinet resolution that required the FIO to remove the plantations and return the land to the villagers. (Pye, 2005) As such the Baw Kaew Community in Khon San District has adopted similar grassroots strategies to challenge their marginalization and demand their rights on land use.

Even though the villagers are currently living on the land illegally, they hope that through the legal process they will receive a Community Land Title in the future. The community has rallied behind the 31 members who are facing a lawsuit brought by the FIO. If the villagers are acquitted, their right to the land will be affirmed and they will reclaim their property. Legal references regarding land use in this sudy is referring to Land Titles or Chanod when the Forest Reserve Act was passed in 1964, legal titles existed for less than 20 percent of land across the country.

The rights provided by different types of land titles in Thailand vary in strength. Chanod, the most secure, entitles the holder to legal ownership and the right to apply for mortgages and loans. Land held with Naw Saw 3 demonstrates legal ownership but may lack explicitly defined borders. A less secure classification, Saw Kaw 1 is an official record of possession and use. Paw Baw Taw 5 and Paw Baw Taw 6 are not recognized as proof of legal ownership; rather they are proof of tax payment on a plot of land.

Community Forest

The National Legislative Assembly passed the Community Forest Bill in November 2007. The bill aims to promote sustainable resource use by giving communities the legal right to manage nearby forests. To receive approval for forest administration, a community must have been living in the area for more than ten years. Additionally, community forests must be situated outside of protected zones. Resources collected from the forest area must be used for the domestic purposes of the community only. (Christopher, 2008)

Community Land Title or Chanod Chumchon

A Community Land Title allows a self-defined community to manage and control community land. By embodying tenets of the 2007 Thai constitution which stipulate that a people should maintain control of their resources, the title recognizes these truths and provides a vehicle for their realization. The legislation aims to protect the land and its natural resources in a sustainable fashion and places the power in the hands of those directly invested in the lands’ continued fertility and viability. Rules and regulations are expected to vary across communities based on the traditions and culture of each community. In its current form, there is a 30-year cap on the tenure of the land title. (National Economic and Social Advisory Council, 2009). In April 2009, the Sub-Committee on Land and Reserved Forests

recommended the Khon San Reserve Forest as a test project area for Community Land Title implementation.

Of 103 households evicted from their land in the Thung Phra Sub-District, 38 held Paw Baw Taw 6, 18 held Paw Baw Taw 5, and one held a Saw Kaw 1 title. The remaining 46 have only illegal land occupation by the Thailand Department of Lands’ definition. The villagers’ movement for their community land title or Chanod Chumchon is still on track to accomplish the ultimate goal that demonstrates their rights to cultivate plants and legally use of the disputed Community Forest land. As a consequence, villagers who have legal title of the land will feel more secure and be more likely to earn their living successfully by the reduction of disputes and benefit from the highest land utilization.

5. CONCLUSION

The movement of villagers for land use is dynamic and complex owing to the fact that the land management scheme itself has played an important role as it impacted natural resources relevant to consumption by people. The major effect has been deforestation of temperate regions since 1750 while more recent crucial effects of land use are urban sprawl, soil erosion, soil degradation and finally desertification. There are many disputes about land use in the Northeastern part of Thailand saying the most found of all regions across the country.

The designation by the Royal Forestry Department of 290,000 rai in Tambon Thung Pra as Reserve Forest Land and giving 20,000 rai to Forest Industry Organization to invest in Eucalyptus tree growing caused enormous conflict of interest between villagers and state. In legal reference regarding land use rights, the villagers urge the government to seriously take into account the Community Land Title or Chanod Chumchon in Thai. Improving access to land and enhancing the security of land rights by the government’s appropriate titling land project will put everything in place. It also will provide effective land management through the active involvement of the stakeholders particularly the government officials. It is obvious that land administration is highly influenced by the bureaucratic system, the community, which includes society and culture.

Finally, the author would conclude that it is necessary for the government to review the titling of Community Forest Chanod Chumchon for Ban Baw Kaew villagers by formulating a policy that benefits all concerned parties. An appropriate taxation policy implementation might be one of the alternatives with relevance to this.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The 7th GMSARN International Conference 2012 on “Green Economy with Energy, Environmental & Social Responsibility” is my third participation in the GMSARN activity. I am grateful to the Board Members who endorse this important event and I have been very much obliged for the opportunity the Organizing Committee has provided for me to attend such a fruitful occasion. The GMSARN Conference is a prime mover that stabilizes the solidarity of neighboring nations from


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the greater Mekong where researchers are able to meet and exchange knowledge that I believe will enhance mutual understanding among countries within ASEAN and outside the region. Heartfelt gratitude is extended to my counterparts who participate in the GMSARN International Conference, wherever it takes place, as it is a primary step to achieve successful international tie for “AEC” that will be launched three years from now.

REFERENCES

[1] Brookfield, H. 2001. Exploring Agrodiversity. Columbia University Press, New York, USA.

[2] Christopher, C. 2008. Natural resources use with limited Tenure Property Rights. Journal of Environmental Economies and Management. 55 (1): 20-36.

[3] Fox, J. & Vogler B.J. 2005. Impact of Land use and Land-cover changes on Local Livihood in Pha-Ouden District, Bokeo Province, Lao PDR.

[4] Islam, K.R. & Weil, R.R. 2000. Land use effects on soil quality in a tropical forest ecosystem of Bangladesh. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 79: 9-16.

[5] Imaizumi, M. et al. 1996. Japanese International Research Center for Agriculture Services. Mechanism of salinization of shallow ground water in Phra Yune area, Northeast Thailand.

[6] Kotto-same, J. et al. 1997. Carbon dynamics in slasc-and-burn agriculture and land-use alternatives of the humid forest zone in Cameroon. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 65: 245-256.

[7] Lohmann, L. 1991. Who Defends Biological Diversity? The Ecologist, 21 (1): 5-13.

[8] Myers, W.B. 1996. Human Impact on the Earth. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, UK, 251 pp.

[9] Nielsen, T. & Zobisch, M.A. 2001. Multi-factorial causes of land-use change: Land-use dynamics in the agropastoral village of Im Mial, northwestern Syria. Land Degradation &Development, 12: 143-161.

[10] Poudel, D.D., et al. 2000. Farmer participatory research to minimize soil erosion on steep land vegetable systems in the Philippines. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 79: 113-127.

[11] Pulleman M.M., et al. 2000. Soil organic matter content as a function of different land use history. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 64: 689-693.

[12] Pye, O. 2005. Khor Jor Kor-Forest Politics in Thailand. Bangkok: White Lotus.

[13] Suwanarit, A., et al. 1999. A study on green manuring technique for sustainable maize production. In Sustainable Agriculture: Possibility and Direction, pp 217-228. Proceedings of the 2nd Asia-Pacific Conference on Sustainable Agriculture, 18-20 October 1999, Phitsanulok, Thailand.

[14] Thapa, B.B., et al. 2001. Animal powered tillage translocated soil affects nutrient dynamics and soil properties at Claveria, Philippines. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, 56 (1): 14-21.

[15] Zoebisch, M.A. & De Pauw, E. 2002. Soil degradation and food security on a global scale. In R. Lal, ed. Encyclopedia of Soil Science, pp 281-286. Marcel Dekker Inc., New York.

Website

[16] www.nesac.go.th (National Economic and Social Advisory Council, 2009)

[17] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khon_San_District [18] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FoodandAgriculture

Organization [19] http://www.geographic.org/wfb1987/index.html

APPENDIX

Land measurements (Rai, Ngan, Wah)

Approx.

1 Rai 4 Ngan = 1600 square meters

1 Ngan 100 Wah = 400 Square meters

1 Acre = 2.15 rai

1 Wah = 4 square meters or .0025 rai

1 Hectare = 6.25 Rai or 10,000 square meters


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G. Bonanno / GMSARN International Journal 7 (2013) 127 - 132

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Abstract— The rapid economic development in the Greater Mekong Sub-region of the last two decades has meant an equally rapid expansion of a better-off middle class. According to the generally understood law of supply and demand, the extra wealth accumulated by these people has to be promptly funnelled into the economy again. The problem in Southeast Asia, as in many other developing corners of the world, is that too many times this translates into the rise of a vicious entertainment industry. This paper analyses the situation at the borderland of Poipet – Aranyaprathet, on the Cambodian-Thai frontier. Particularly focussing on the deteriorating circumstances in Poipet, this study uncovers some of the most worrisome underworld connections between increasingly organised criminal syndicates, and the involvement, oftentimes forced, of the local population. In a country, Cambodia, were young people make up for the largest portion of the population, the consequences of the rise in the entertainment industry on the weakest and most vulnerable, the children are graphically presented. Lastly, some countermeasures to contain a further uncontrolled explosion of illegal activities are reported, in the sheer hope of seeing them sprout as quickly as some of the casinos in the area are. Keywords— Poipet, entertainment industry, unsustainable development, child labour.

1. INTRODUCTION

Backgrounds

It does not take an expert to tell that more and more people all over Southeast Asia are enjoying an unprecedented economic stability, which goes well along with a strong drive to enjoy life in all of its aspects. And in most cases, all of that comes without too many worries about the future. Saving for harsher times does not seem to be a matter of concern, particularly among the younger generations, and the preferred choice appears to be that of… spending. An increasingly thicker portion of the population living in the cities can afford lifestyles unthinkable just ten years ago, and it is conspicuously willing to show that off. The expanding economy, higher levels of urbanisation, increased mobility, and the indisputable current impossibility to control most of Southeast Asia’s intra-regional flows have favoured an almost unstoppable rise of the entertainment industry in the region. As many of those who are familiar with the region would already know, the meaning attached to the word “entertainment” in Southeast Asia is one of a most subjective nature. One that oftentimes blurs the line between legality and illegality. And the current state of the law allows for a much biased interpretation of what is legal and what is not, something too many a time confused (not rarely on purpose) with what is considered to be licit and what is instead deemed as illicit.

For that very reason, borderlands are, more than any other place in the region, perfect havens for setting up

Gianluca Bonanno is with the Centre for Southeast Asian Studies,

Kyoto University, 46 Shimoadachi-cho Yoshida, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan 606-8501. Tel: +81-(0)80-6120-4639, E-mail: [email protected].

such a business. As a matter of fact, in all of mainland Southeast Asia’s countries, most of the sectors commonly belonging to the entertainment industry are prohibited by law: gambling is so just as it is prostitution. At the same time, demand is at its historic peak and turning one’s back to rivers of easy money does not quite seem to be the preferred option. Governments and business people have thus craftily thought of a way to meet such a high demand without compromising themselves too much, and have so created some sort of no-man’s lands right across their national boundaries, where they could successfully build entertainment complexes depending almost solely on one-time tourists crossing the border for the only purpose of visiting such places.

In a region were development gaps and historical ties often dictate the way countries relate to their neighbours, it is easily understandable how such limbo-like places are being built on the Burmese, the Laotian, and the Cambodian sides of a common frontier. Lured by easy and oftentimes accountability-proof profits, the above mentioned countries’ governments too easily overlook the extremely serious and intricate chain of issues that inevitably ensues from the establishment of such complexes. The case of Poipet on the Thai – Cambodian border best explains the multi-faceted implications of such a choice.

Identification of the issue

The Poipet – Aranyaprathet is a key crossing point between Cambodia and Thailand respectively, linking Bangkok to both Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. From Phnom Penh to the border it is a 410 km, 8-hour ride on the paved and generally well-maintained National Highway 5. Transport services are increasing, but, since local demand is low, still too few. Poipet is a proper city located in Cambodia’s Banteay Meanchey Province. The

Gianluca Bonanno

Southeast Asia’s New High Rollers


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fact that the city hosts the most popular international crossing in the area has undoubtedly accelerated its development, which stands in sharp contrast against the poorer conditions of Banteay Meanchey Province in general. Its official population has doubled in the course of a decade. Border activities and trade in general provide business and job opportunities that attract people from all parts of the country, thus many inhabitants are actually internal labour migrants that have moved in from poorer areas as well as refugee camps that used to populate the same border till not long ago. General uncertainty about ongoing border disputes and a high level of disinformation among locals mean that the largest single source of employment on the Cambodian side is day labour, with eight to ten thousand people crossing the border each day to transport goods. This phenomenon jumps to the eye of even the most inexperienced, as the city’s proper urban development is almost inexistent, as inexistent is a formal industrial sector. Nonetheless, people continue to move into town and live in extremely precarious conditions on a day-by-day basis. As elsewhere in the region where the economic gap between the two sides is significant, the weaker part usually survives by reaching a compromise with itself, adjusting to a sort of limbo that allows it to prosper while vaguely controlling the situation. Poipet is unfortunately a place where it could be rather unpleasant to stay overnight at. All of its economy seems to be gravitating around a quite successful entertainment industry concentrated on a strip a land right between the two border gates. It is indeed a no-man’s land. Officially it is on Cambodian soil. Practically, Cambodians have restricted access to it. It currently hosts ten (and increasing) fully-equipped casinos and hotels that were built almost uniquely to please clientele from neighbouring Thailand. Gambling is prohibited in both countries, and being this strip literally between the gates, Thai visitors are able to reach it without going through Cambodian immigration. Being on Cambodian soil, people working at those places are almost totally Cambodian nationals, but the profits of the business do not seem to remain in Cambodia. Workers at the casinos seem to be rather sure about that, arguing about low wages and economic conditions outside the strip not improving, claiming that supplies for the casinos are clearly brought in from Thailand every morning.

Fig. 1. The Poipet casinos’ site

2. SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY

Aim of this study

The importance of this study is given by the timeliness of the issues that are being observed, and by the serious implications that such issues are having on the weaker portion of the population living in the area. The phenomenon involving the rise of the entertainment industry in Southeast Asia is by no mean unique to this border area, and there have been similar cases elsewhere, particularly along the border with China, Myanmar and Laos.

The peculiarity about the Poipet – Aranyaprathet case is the sharp increase in the incidence of crimes that are arguably related to the development of the aforementioned strip of land and the businesses that support it. This study’s main purpose is that of trying to expose the connection between the new business (and/or the way it is being promoted) and the negative social consequences that the population is experiencing,

Methodology

The events that were observed during this study are happening at the time of writing. Hence, extensive on-site visits are at the base of the results explained in this paper. The ambiguity of the legal environment around the border is such that conducting explicit research activities based on interviews and questionnaires is not only difficult, but also dangerous. The only way to get some inside information is to get superficially engaged with some of the players that are profiting from this situation. In the case of this study, a reliable connection was established within the taxi drivers’ group, particularly the sub-group that used to work privately before being forcibly incorporated into the, I would dare say, organised syndicate.

One characteristic that also helped in the gathering of information, and that to some extent made moving around the area less troublesome, is the evident presence of a large number of tourists crossing daily this border (generally from Thailand into Cambodia on their way either to the temples of Angkor Wat and Siem Reap or to the capital city of Phnom Penh). It is thus not that rare for the area to have non-Asian foreigners roaming around quite freely, most of the times unquestioned.

The third feature of the research method used for this study is the invaluable support drawn from non-governmental groups operating in the area, them, too, attracted by the worryingly high incidence of heinous crimes that are too rarely reported in the news and that, alas, many a time involve the mistreatment of children.

Thanks to the efforts of this study and, most important, the insisting pleas by some of the abovementioned civil groups, there has been a weak yet significant increase in Cambodian news reports about social problems in the Poipet – Aranyaprathet area, particularly about the condition of children.


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3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The first issue to be easily identified was corruption; undeniably rampant at all levels in Poipet. But the distinguished feature of the problem, if compared to similar cases that could be observed in other parts of the region, is that corruption in Poipet is strictly linked to the ambiguous management of land rights in the city, and to the deep involvement of law enforcers in covering up the unclear movement of people and money in and out of town. Hence, the situation provides little economic benefit to the area, as local land owners, who somehow managed not to get involved in the business, are promptly isolated and forced to give up their lands and activities. But let’s see how it works.

The land syndicate

Two events have marked the promising revival of the Poipet – Aranyaprathet area: the establishment of the many resorts on the Cambodian side (literally booming after 2010), and the renewal and enlargement of the Rong Klua market on the Thai side. Each of such events would have already been enough to attract a large portion of the rural population living along the border, a historically poor area in itself. The concomitance of the two occurrences, plus the already existing flow of tourists regularly crossing the frontier, has meant a remarkable influx of migrants moving into town in search of easy profits. Most of them are illiterate, and many a time they are young people sent over by their families, who would instead prefer to be left behind to look after their lands. This initial condition already categorises them into the often unclear group of unskilled labour force, a label many times going along with the terms of vulnerability, exploitability, and precariousness in general. Nonetheless, some of these people manage to buy some sort of property in the still expanding Poipet, be it a house, a shop, or, more commonly, a share of the above. Apart from a substantial minority of people who manage to set up a profitable business, the majority of such new urban dwellers are entirely dependent on daily jobs. Many of them are contracted porters for the market in Aranyaprathet. A hand-picked group of them works in the casinos zone.

Through extensive field-observations and hearings in town, this study has proved the existence of a comparatively well-organised syndicate in charge of all matters concerning the ownership and use of all sorts of land in Poipet. Although it is almost impossible at this stage to even try to identify the structure of such group, the cross-checking of the results obtained on site suggests that most of its members are Cambodian nationals, though not necessarily coming from Banteay Meanchey province (frequent were the instances of people citing differences in the dialects spoken by individuals in the syndicate). Although they appear not to be directly involved in illegal activities (intended as violent crimes), they basically act as usurers, getting a percentage of the tenants income. But it does not stop at that. The real threat to a healthy development of the town is the preferential behaviour of the syndicate towards individuals wanting to rent some property with the

explicit intent to get involved in the activities supporting the resorts, a more than certain source of income. This fuels the already uncontrollable spreading of ambiguous interactions between the local population of Poipet and the management of the entertainment industry along the border, making it more difficult for the authorities to clearly distinguish further illegalities (a preoccupation that, currently, doesn’t really seem to be up in the agenda).

Although this syndicate seems to be acting on its own and not getting involved in other facets of Poipet’s criminal underworld, it is reasonable to think that it does not act in complete isolation, and might instead be part of a more complex organisation indeed pulling the strings of the broader scene. This could be convincingly proved by this study in regard to another organised group.

The transport cartel

First and foremost, Poipet does not have adequate infrastructure. But this is hardly anything new in most of Southeast Asia’s borderlands. What is peculiar about this area is its location, en route to very popular tourist destinations in Cambodia, such as Siem Reap and Phnom Penh. The need for a larger transport industry becomes more apparent day after day. This became exponentially more necessary in the last few years, after the establishment of the casino resort and the massive inflow of Thai gamblers (one-time tourists, if you like) that every day come in from as far as Bangkok to enjoy the top-class services provided by the well-established entertainment complex. Although most of the transport is provided by Thai companies, and all of the buses heading to the casinos do not cross into Cambodia, the increased number of tourists and workers in Poipet have meant a boom in the transport industry of recent years. In the past, most of the business was somehow managed by numerous private taxi drivers and a handful of mostly local bus services departing from Poipet on to other destinations further inland. Almost concurrently with the establishment of the casinos, the influx of rural migrants, and the increase in tourist flow, brand new transport companies have made their appearance in town, substituting the myriad of private transporters that were available everywhere till not long before. Though this might well be thought to be a timely countermeasure provided by the government to adjust to the new situation (something that might arguably be considered as a first historic example of prompt governmental response in the whole of Southeast Asia), this is unfortunately not the case. This study has shown that the totality of the transport system is under the direct management of yet another syndicate. Acting similarly to the one controlling land allocations, this cartel not only extorts a fat percentage of the drivers’ income, but actively forbids any individual from setting up his own private business. As a direct consequence, prices have outrageously inflated, and although the services have become more reliable and the drivers have apparently gained some economic independence, another serious allegation seems to confirm the worries that things are slipping out of control in Poipet. Profits do not seem to go entirely to the companies either. Drivers, many of


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whom are the same people who used to do the job individually in the past, are quite talkative persons, and they do not show any hesitation in claiming that a good share of the profits goes to the police, which, in turn, allegedly “persuade” all individual drivers to join the cartel. At this point, the impression of a messy and greedy border town characterised by a rapid expansion, not paralleled by an equally rapid and organised development, and heavily suffocated by omnipresent illegal pressures is no longer an impression, it becomes a certainty.

What really strikes in the area is the flaunted corruption at all levels, a widespread cancer that pervades the whole Poipet and appears to be the rule rather than the exception. Not only the transport industry is monopolised by a cartel that, with the collaborative support of the police force, prohibits any independent exercise of the business. A different yet most probably linked syndicate manages the land allocation in town, while a third organised group seems to be in charge of the labour force, particularly that connected to the casinos’ and hotels’ industry . In a city apparently in the hands of local criminal organisations, the living conditions of its inhabitants are extremely precarious, and whilst customs officials taking small bribes and extra fees could be overlooked, more serious social offences are threatening the future of the area.

The Cambodian children’s plight

Of the good half of the population that has come in from the countryside after the establishment of the casinos and the renewal of the Rong Klua market on the Thai side, most of it is inevitably the most exposed to exploitation. Those who do not compromise and yet decide not to leave the town, have to live by half-measures. Beggars are thus everywhere to be seen, and the striking majority of them are Cambodian.

But the most serious social issue concerns the treatment of children, aggravated by the abovementioned influx of tourists and gamblers that has encouraged the entertainment industry to flourish. These overall factors, coupled with the lack of quality, inexpensive education and skill training in Cambodia, have allowed child trafficking to take a stronghold in Poipet, both for child labour and for sexual exploitation purposes.

Many times, poor families are lured into sending their children to work in Thailand, with the promise of higher wages, general better conditions and a larger number of tourists staying in Aranyaprathet before proceeding towards other locations in Cambodia. There appears to be an army of “recruiters” who are regularly deployed to rural areas sometimes tens of miles far away from the border. Once these people have gained the trust of the families, most of the times the children are eventually trafficked, forced into prostitution and get often involved in drugs, as part of a package whose results could be well observed during this study. The number of children in the streets of Poipet is astonishing high even for Cambodia, where the problem of ageing population was solved at its roots during the Pol Pot regime. This study, also borrowing from previous surveys carried out by NGOs present on the ground, has shown that most

members of the already large households in the Poipet area are children. Of these, a large majority is reported to be attending school (around 80% until 12 years old, around 60% until 18 years old, worryingly lower than 2-3% for college-age youths). Which is a surprisingly positive finding? Or is it? Unfortunately the situation appears to be far more complicated, and although children may be sent to school during the central hours of weekdays, this study has shown that the very same children are forced to work during the night and during the whole weekends.

Fig. 2. Kids on the streets of Poipet

Moreover, it is clear that many of the children living in town are not with their own families. When asked, they give different answers: they often say they are brothers, or if they look too different for that to be the truth, they’ll say they’re cousins and that their families sent them over to attend school. In rural Cambodia, as it is for most of Southeast Asia, it is extremely unlikely for parents to send their primary-school-age children to faraway towns, even if they have relatives who might look after them there.

Field-observations are particularly disturbing with regard to this point. Everybody in the area knows that trafficking is rife, yet nobody is willing to talk about it. Officers’ statements such as “there are no illegal crossings on our border”, “there is no way people can pass through immigration illegally […] because that would require a high level of corruption from both Thai and Cambodian officials”, and finally “children might be trafficked, but not on our watch”, is what Cambodian officials often repeat. Thai officials seem instead to be more realistic, or maybe just diplomatic, and say that “trafficking happens through the immigration post [and people] simply cross the border at night, when unseen”. In fact, following a pattern common to many other crossings in Southeast Asia, people go willingly and illegally across borders and rivers in the hundreds every month, with many of them thought to be under-age. Nevertheless, one farmer, who did not even want to show himself, said that he knows for sure about children been trafficked inside the vans owned by the casinos, because they are seldom checked.

Hence, most of the children who are forced to work, either at the market or at the resorts, seem to be crossing the border on a regular, clandestine basis. Numbers are


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obviously not reliable, but the many reports by local people about this unclear movement of youngsters around the border and by the casinos’ strip cannot but confirm the existence and the gravity of the issue.

A Cambodian immigration officer in Poipet said that one of his duties was to bring back the bodies of Cambodians killed in Thailand. According to him, there are several such cases every month, with many of them happening in suspicious circumstances. Because these people do not carry papers, it is extremely difficult to identify them, but many appear to be children, thus adding credibility to the abovementioned allegations.

Broader implications

The fact that so many children are involved in this dirty traffic is in itself disgusting enough, but similar stories are shared by many young men and women, who are often moved to as far as Bangkok. For this very reason, there are several road blocks in both directions, from and to the Thai capital, with police forces carrying out regular random checks. Unfortunately enforcers are overwhelmed by the incidence of such occurrences, and the business seems to be just too profitable to hope it will go out of fashion. There have been some repatriations going on, but the fact that demand is still high and controls are not yet enough means that those people who actually made it to go back to Cambodia (alive) are still at risk of being exploited by the same people who trafficked them in the first place.

Fig. 3. Illegal crossers, mostly children, being repatriated in Poipet.

The issue of Cambodian trafficked persons into

Thailand is too important and complicated to be comprehensively tackled within this study. Nor was that the original intention. Nevertheless, the facts analysed here have shown that there is a close linkage between people being exploited around the Poipet – Aranyaprathet area and the alleged increase in long-distance trans-national human trafficking between Cambodia and Thailand. In particular, this study argues that the influx of Thai one-time tourists heading to the casinos has not only encouraged the rise of the sex industry around the border, but it has dramatically been

responsible of the expansion of such business further inland into Thailand. Locals report about allegations of people, particularly children, being illegally brought into Thailand along with the groups of Thai gamblers on their way back to Bangkok. Again, although such allegations could not be independently verified, the fact that many local people mention that and the large number of disappearing children make only think that the situation could actually be even worse.

A glimmer of HOPE

Fortunately, the central authorities of the post-Pol Pot Cambodia have historically been relatively open to the support of the international community to the poor and marginalised. This has been of crucial importance because it has allowed non-governmental, not-for-profit organisations to expand their range of activities towards the neediest corners of the country. Although past years have witnessed a more focussed attention on either the cities (wealth gaps, urbanisation-related issues) or the eastern provinces (biased land allocations and broader environmental concerns), thanks to a more frequent coverage in the news and the increased accessibility to the area, the problems occurring around the Poipet – Aranyaprathet border have successfully attracted the good intentions of a diversified number of social workers, volunteers and professionals alike.

The increased presence of foreign aid personnel in the entire region has characterised the past two decades of semi-official assistance activities, and the already overwhelmed governments have all, though to sometimes very different extents, welcomed this helpful trend. Notwithstanding this significant improvement, the remarkable finding of this study is not about the success stories of the international community operating in the area, but it is about the meaningful involvement of the rural population. The first spark that fuelled this change is nonetheless credit of the numerous awareness-raising activities organised by many parties in recent years. Those, plus the rapidly deteriorating situation they had been eye-witnessing, have awaken a more collective social consciousness among the people living in Poipet, and some of them have reacted accordingly.

This is the case of the “Cambodian Hope Organisation”, one of the many religious organisations present on Cambodian soil, although this one has set its operational focus on Poipet, particularly its children. The director, a local, has drawn support not only from a number of foreign professionals and volunteers, but he has proudly managed to involve a large number of Poipet local people. The results of his activities hardly make it even to the local news, but similar glimmers of hope are shyly yet steadily starting to sprout on both sides of the national boundary, and a lot of attention is being put on the current and future condition of children.

4. CONCLUSION

This study is peculiar in the way that all of the analysed issues do not occur in the usual locations were they could be mainly observed in the past. Most of such issues, however, are not a prerogative of borderlands, and can be


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found at many other locations, oftentimes even at more serious stages. Nevertheless, in sight of the abatement of physical and non-physical barriers within the region that governments and regional organisations are aiming at, and most important, preparing for the implementation of the first stage of the propounded Southeast Asian Community, the development of trans-boundary issues along the borders provides an insightful blueprint model to identify not only the roots of the problems, but also the way they spread taking advantage of an ever increasing, and oftentimes too optimistically praised, connectivity.

Hope is definitely the word in present-times Cambodia. And it is arguably selling well. It is not only frequently used during official speeches, but it is more and more appearing in the official names of small and large organisations involved in charitable and assistance activities in the country. Notwithstanding the positive and prevalent genuine intentions behind the decision to use the term, an indiscriminate massive use of the word is plausibly going to depreciate its meaning and image over the next few years. Furthermore, in a place where semi-criminal organised groups are numerous and too weakly opposed by the authorities, such as in the Poipet – Aranyaprathet area, the possibility that the word “hope” could be somehow craftily used for fraudulent purposes is plausible, to say the least. In this scenario, most of the good efforts of the international community, as well as of local groups, might be overshadowed by the negative repercussions caused by a biased public opinion, more easily influenced by a few sensational news reports on abuses than countless, though definitely less sensational, genuine local efforts to right the wrong.

The presence of syndicates and cartels in the area is undoubtedly a worrying facet of a clearly unsustainable economic development of the area. And even though hoping that the casinos and resorts (let’s remember that they are still illegal, according to the current state of the law) will disappear some time soon would be too naïve to be realistic, an increased attention from the international community and the general populace towards the aforementioned matters will sooner or later force the authorities to implement effective containment measures first, and long-term sustainable solutions to the problems in a hopefully not too distant future. The area will then likely experience a significant improvement, but with the expanding middle class in Thailand and the badly needed strong currency in Cambodia, entertainment seems just too good a vice to quit.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author thanks, above all, the countless local people who very helpfully agreed to share their experiences, even among fears of consequent mistreatments; the persons who worked and are still working at the non-governmental and not-for-profit organisations contacted during the course of this study; the Poipet Customs and Police for their prompt understanding and support. Finally, the author wishes to thank the Japanese government for the financial support

provided for the whole length of this study.

REFERENCES

[1] Munro, P. 2012. Harbouring the illicit: borderlands and human trafficking in South East Asia. Crime, Law and Social Change 58(2): 159-177.

[2] Shimazaki, Y. 2012. Social environment and vulnerability of residens in the Poipet administrative district on the Thai-Cambodian border : with respect to human trafficking [in Japanese]. Bulletin of the College of Community and Human Services Rikkyo (St.Paull's) University 14: 53-69.

[3] Cherneva, I. 2011. Human Trafficking for Begging: Old Game, New Game. Amazon Digital Services.

[4] Gainsborough, M. 2009. On the borders of state power: Frontiers in the greater Mekong sub-region. Abingdon: Routledge.

[5] ICHRP. 2010. Irregular migration, migrant smuggling and human rights: Towards coherence. Geneva: International Council on Human Rights Policy.

[6] Sovankiry, K., Savan, L., & Naroeun, T. 2006. The trafficking of Cambodian women and children. In The Southeast Asian Consortium on Gender, Sexuality and Health (Ed.), Living on the edges: Cross-border mobility and sexual exploitation in the greater Southeast Asia sub-region. Bangkok: Mahidol University.

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Abstract— Rice is the main economic and household consumption crop of the people in Phatthalung Province and all over Thailand. Phatthalung province, especially Amphoe Phapayorm and Amphur Khuankanun are the important area of rice production in southern region of Thailand. However, rice farming has been decreasing overtime as influenced by several factors such as flood, rice price recession, diseases, insect and pests. Insects and pest always make difficulties and damages to the farmers due to the outbreaks and they destroy crop rapidly and make damage to crop product significantly. The important rice insect pest in Amphoe Phapayorm and Amphur Khuankanun is rice bug (Leptocorisa oratorius (Fabricius)). The outbreak of the bug is in the early rainy season. This study aimed to apply of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to assess the spread of rice bug in Amphoe Phapayorm and Amphoe Khuankanun in order to identify areas that are vulnerable to the spread and outbreak of rice bug to prevent yield loss and find out the prevention and the method to get rid of rice bug properly and correctly. From the study, the ideal conditions for the outbreak are weed-full area as that area can be the suitable habitat of the bug, therefore, the rubber plantation area adjacent to the rice field can be the best habitat of the rice bug. The level of rice bug out break has decresing over the distance from the rubber plantation, the severity showed the most severe in 50 m. radious, and the most light of the rice bug outbreak was found in 350 m. radious around the rubber plantation. After evaluating the area prone to be damaaged by the rice bug of the sample area – Makoknua sub-district, Khuankanun distrtct, the result showed that only 6% of rubber plantation can cause the rice bug outbreak more than half of total area, the most severe and the severe was about 16% and 25% of total area, respectively. Keywords— Geographic Information System (GIS), Phatthalung Province, rice bug, rice farming.

1. INTRODUCTION

Rice is the main source of carbohydrate for the world’s population and the grown area mostly found in Asia, as it had the suitable environment for rice production. Rice is the main crop and rice farmers are also considered as the main occupation of Phatthalung Province from the past to the present. The rice field of Amphoe Paphayom and Khuankanun occupied the area about 14,265.12 Hectare or almost 1/3 of overall rice field area of Phattalung province [1]. However, rice farming has been decreasing overtime by several factors, for example, flood, rice price recession and diseases and insect pests. Rice insect pest that make a difficult to estimate of damage to farmer. Due to the outbreaks and they destroy crop rapidly and make damage to crop product significantly. The important pest in Amphoe Phapayorm and Amphur Khuankanun is the rice bug (Leptocorisa oratorius

Tharnsawat Pimsen, Master student, Sustainable Agricultural

Resources Management Program, Faculty of Technology and Community Development, Thaksin University, Phatthalung, Thailand. 93110. Tel: +66-83-512-1306, Fax: +66-74-693-996, E-mail: [email protected].

Anisara Pensuk Tibkaew, Lecturer, Faculty of Technology and Community Development, Thaksin University, Phatthalung, Thailand 93110. Tel: +66-84-123-2268, Fax: +66-74-693-996, E-mail: [email protected].

Wigunda Rattahapan, Lecturer, Faculty of Technology and Community Development, Thaksin University, Phatthalung, Thailand 93110. Tel: +66-81-405-9511, Fax: +66-74-693-996, E-mail: [email protected].

(Fabricius)). The Larvae and mature rice bug use their mouth stabbed and suck nutrient from rice grain in milk grain stage. Moreover, they can stab to dough grain and mature grain which can make wither or poor rice grain and damage effect to decrease rice yield. The outbreak of rice bug is in the early rainy season [2].

Rice bug or Stink bug (Leptocorisa acuta (Thunberg) and Leptocorisa oratorius (Fabricius) (Hemiptera: Alydidae) (Figure 1), its mature is about 15 mm. in length, long thin shape with tentacles retracted. Its upper side of the body is brown and lower side is in green color. The bug fly when they were disturbed they fly and spray the stench from odor gland from the bottom. The mature rice bugs start looking for their food in the afternoon and evening. They do not like hot and sunny, so they rest on grass during sunny days. The females lay hundreds of eggs in a life span of about 2-3 months with 10-12 eggs laid in a row on the rice leaf surface parallel to the center line. Dark red brown egg is oval dish shaped. They stay in egg period for 7 days. The larvae are light brown green stay together in a group. The larvae suck nutrient from rice leaf first then the mature rice bugs stabbed and suck nutrient from rice grain in milk grain stage until mature grain.

The spread out of the rice bugs were usually found in early rainy season. They grown and breeding for 1-2 generation on grass weeds before migrate to rice field in flowering period. Rice bugs were found in any environment but found many in rainfed and upland rice field. The ideal conditions for the outbreak are the field that near the forest, there's a lot of weeds near rice field

Tharnsawat Pimsen, Anisara Pensuk Tibkaew and Wigunda Rattahapan

The Application of Geographic Information System (GIS) to Assess the Risk Area of Rice Bug (Leptocorisa oratorius

(Fabricius)) Outbreak in Amphoe Paphayom and Amphoe Khuankanun, Phatthalung Province

T. Pimsen, A. P. Tibkaew and W. Rattahapan

134

and grow rice in overlap period. Larvae and mature rice bug use their mouth stabbed and suck nutrient from rice grain (figure 2) in milk grain stage. Howeveralso stab to dough grain and mature grain which wither or poor rice grain and effecting to decreasing ofrice yield. Suck feeding of rice bugs don’t make a pore on the rice husk like the other bug, the damage caused bythe destruction of the rice bugs is reduced rice rather than the reduced seed weight. rice grains were broke when milling. However, we can notice the outbreak of the rice bug by its stink smell.

Fig.1. Lavae and mature rice bug [3].

Fig.2. Structure of damages

This study is the application of geographic information

systems (GIS) to identify the area where prone to be damaged by the breakout of rice bugs in Amphoe Phapayorm and Amphoe Khuankanun in order yield loss and find the appropriate methods to price from the bug.

2. THE STUDY AREA

This study was conducted at Amphoe (District) Paphayom and Amphoe Khuankanun, Phatthalung province, southern Thailand. The areas of these two districts are known as the hughest rice production area of the southern region of Thailand. However, the rubber plantation is currently encroached in this area due to the high price of rubber products. The rubber plantation, therefore considered as the important habitat of the rice bug.

T. Pimsen, A. P. Tibkaew and W. Rattahapan / GMSARN International Journal

and grow rice in overlap period. Larvae and mature rice bug use their mouth stabbed and suck nutrient from rice grain (figure 2) in milk grain stage. However, they can

and mature grain which make ing to decreasing of

rice yield. Suck feeding of rice bugs don’t make a pore amage caused by

is reduced quality of the . The damaged

However, we can notice the outbreak of the rice bug by its stink smell.

Lavae and mature rice bug [3].

This study is the application of geographic information the area where prone to be

damaged by the breakout of rice bugs in Amphoe Phapayorm and Amphoe Khuankanun in order to prevent

s to protect the

study was conducted at Amphoe (District) Khuankanun, Phatthalung

province, southern Thailand. The areas of these two districts are known as the hughest rice production area of

ern region of Thailand. However, the rubber plantation is currently encroached in this area due to the high price of rubber products. The rubber plantation, therefore considered as the important habitat of the rice

3. METHODOLOGY

Land use detection

The open source data of satellite images (Google Earth) of the study area was used to identify the land use characteristic of the study area. Three main land use types were identified, i.e. rubber plantation, paddy field and shrub area.

The GPS device was used to locate the coordinate of those three land use types in the ground and identified them in the Google Map in order to produce the land use map in KMZ format. The KMZ format files of land use types were finally converted into GIS file format (Shape file).

Fig.3. The study area

Fig.4. Research framework

Rice bug severity level evaluation

The questionnaire was use to query


he open source data of satellite images (Google Earth) of the study area was used to identify the land use

of the study area. Three main land use types were identified, i.e. rubber plantation, paddy field

used to locate the coordinate of those three land use types in the ground and identified them in the Google Map in order to produce the land use map in KMZ format. The KMZ format files of land use types were finally converted into GIS file format (Shape

The study area

. Research framework

evaluation

query the farmers whose


their rice fields located adjacent to order to identify the severity of the bugs, the distance from the rubber plantation or the shrub area were taken into consideration.

4. RESULTS

Land use characteristics of the study area

The sub-district name Makoknua, Khuankanun District was selected to investigate the landdetailed, as two major land use types appeared in this area, i.e. paddy field and rubber plantation.

The total area of Makoknua subdistrict is 3,091.46 hectare, it could be recognized that in the past, the area of Makoknua was fully covered by paddy field (Fig.5) but it was recently changed into rubber plantation. Land use area of the study area was identified in the year 2012 by the mentioned method. Most of the area (about 2,897.47 hectare covered by paddy field and rubber plantation 193.99 hectare (6.28%) of the total areapattern distribution of rubber plantation was random as the changing of land use is totally depending on the land owner (Fig.6). The major reason of changing in land use in the study area is the economic return [4]

Table 1. Land use of Makoknua subDistrict

Land use type Hectare

Paddy field 2,900.61

Rubber plantation 193.99

Total 3,094.60

Fig.5. Paddy field area of Makoknua subKhunkanun District

T. Pimsen, A. P. Tibkaew and W. Rattahapan / GMSARN International Journal 7 (2013) 133

located adjacent to rubber plantation. In order to identify the severity of the outbreak of the rice bugs, the distance from the rubber plantation or the shrub

characteristics of the study area

Makoknua, Khuankanun District was selected to investigate the land use characteristic in detailed, as two major land use types appeared in this area, i.e. paddy field and rubber plantation.

sub-district, Khunkanun , it could be recognized that in

past, the area of Makoknua was fully covered by paddy field (Fig.5) but it was recently changed into rubber plantation. Land use area of the study area was identified in the year 2012 by the mentioned method.

hectare or 93.72%) was paddy field and rubber plantation covered

of the total area (Table 1). The pattern distribution of rubber plantation was random as the changing of land use is totally depending on the land

r reason of changing in land use in the study area is the economic return [4]

Table 1. Land use of Makoknua sub-district, Khunkanun

Area

Hectare %

2,900.61 93.72

193.99 6.28

3,094.60 100.00

Makoknua sub-district,

Fig.6. Rubber plantation area ofKhunkanun District

The outbreak of rice bug in

The outbreak of rice bug was also investigated by using in dept interview to the farm owner. The results showed that the outbreak of rice bug was decreasing over the distance from the rubber plantation area (Fig.7).

The severity of rice bug outbreak duringseeding season was investigated via the field survey by using indepth interview to the rice farmers. Rice farmers responded the scale of severity from 1that the area paddy field where located near the rubber plantation area has higher sever of rice bug outbreak than the farer paddy field area. In the average, the level of severity reduced in every 100 meter of distance from rubber plantation (Fig.7).

Fig.7. The level of severity of the outbreak of rice bug and distance to rubber plantation area

133 - 138

135

. Rubber plantation area of Makoknua sub-district,

The outbreak of rice bug in of the study area

The outbreak of rice bug was also investigated by using to the farm owner. The results showed

that the outbreak of rice bug was decreasing over the distance from the rubber plantation area (Fig.7).

The severity of rice bug outbreak during the rice seeding season was investigated via the field survey by

to the rice farmers. Rice farmers responded the scale of severity from 1-10, it was found that the area paddy field where located near the rubber

higher sever of rice bug outbreak than the farer paddy field area. In the average, the level of severity reduced in every 100 meter of distance from

. The level of severity of the outbreak of rice bug and rubber plantation area


136

The risk area of rice bug outbreak of the study area

The area of rice bug outbreak according to severity levelThe extremely severe of rice bug outbreak is the paddy that close to rubber plantation when the paddy has more distance from rubber plantation the severity level been decreases.

Table 2. The area of rice bug outbreak according to severity level

Severity level

Distance from rubber plantation area (m.)

Accumulated area of rice

bug spread out(Hectares)

Extremely severe

50 494.77

Very severe 100 784.91

Severe 150 1,034.75

Intermediate 250 1,439.70

Light 350 1,728.86

The extremely sever of the outbreak was found in 50

m. radius from the rubber plantation, the area of the highly risk to the outbreak was about 494 hectares or about 16% of the total area. The very sever and severe level was found with 100 and 150 m. radius from the rubber plantation and the accumulated area of very severe and severe level was about 784 and 1,034 hectares, or 25% and 33% respectively. Whereas the intermediate and light severe level was at 250 m and 350 m. radius from rubber plantation and 1,439 and 1,728 hectare (46% and 56%), respectively.

The severity level recognized from the field survey was encoded into GIS format in order to identify the radius from the rubber plantation relationship of the severity level and the distance from rubber plantation (Fig.8).

T. Pimsen, A. P. Tibkaew and W. Rattahapan / GMSARN International Journal

of the study area

The area of rice bug outbreak according to severity level. The extremely severe of rice bug outbreak is the paddy

when the paddy has more distance from rubber plantation the severity level been

Table 2. The area of rice bug outbreak according to

Accumulated area of rice

bug spread out (Hectares)

% of total area

494.77 15.99

784.91 25.36

1,034.75 33.44

1,439.70 46.52

1,728.86 55.87

he extremely sever of the outbreak was found in 50 m. radius from the rubber plantation, the area of the

was about 494 hectares or about 16% of the total area. The very sever and severe level was found with 100 and 150 m. radius from the rubber plantation and the accumulated area of very severe and severe level was about 784 and 1,034

% respectively. Whereas the intermediate and light severe level was at 250 m and 350 m. radius from rubber plantation and 1,439 and 1,728

The severity level recognized from the field survey n order to identify the

according to relationship of the severity level and the distance from

a.


b.

c.

d.


Fig. 8. Map of severity level of rice bug outbreak(a=extremely severe, b= very d=intermediate, e=light)

5. DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

One ot the major factor causing abandoned paddy field is the cost of damages from rice insect pest, asoutbreaks and they destroy crop rapidly and make damage to crop product significantly.earlier of the factors supporting the outbreak of the pest can help protecting the damaged caused by them.

Due to the sample area of this study, the aplantation was only 6% but it consequences the outbreak of rice bug up to about 56% with the most severe and sever of totally about 25% of the total area.

In case of the outbreak of the rice bug in Phatthalung province, rubber plantation where locating near the paddy field is the major cause. However, it is impossible to stop the land owner to plant the rubber tree in their own area. Therefore, the means of protecting rice from the bug is still needed in order to prevent the loss.

The weed-full rubber plantation can be the best habitat during the rice harvested area. The suitable means to eliminate the negative effects of the rice bug is to establish the weed and pest control during the rice harvested months in order to reduce the numbers of thbug during their resting period.

6. CONCLUSION

The damages from the rice bug are very high and resulting to abandoned field. The rice bug has very particular habitat and habit as they like resting in the weed-full area and they can wait until rice start seeThe weed-full area such as rubber plantation can be their best habitat, therefore, the conversion of rice field to rubber plantation due to higher economic return not only cause food insecurity issue in the national level but also cause the unexpected outbreak of the rice bug in the local level.

T. Pimsen, A. P. Tibkaew and W. Rattahapan / GMSARN International Journal 7 (2013) 133

e.

. Map of severity level of rice bug outbreak (a=extremely severe, b= very severe, c=severe,

RECOMMENDATIONS

causing abandoned paddy field is the cost of damages from rice insect pest, as the outbreaks and they destroy crop rapidly and make damage to crop product significantly. By knowing in earlier of the factors supporting the outbreak of the pest can help protecting the damaged caused by them.

Due to the sample area of this study, the area of rubber plantation was only 6% but it consequences the outbreak

about 56% with the most severe and of the total area.

In case of the outbreak of the rice bug in Phatthalung e locating near the

paddy field is the major cause. However, it is impossible to stop the land owner to plant the rubber tree in their

. Therefore, the means of protecting rice from the bug is still needed in order to prevent the loss.

l rubber plantation can be the best habitat area. The suitable means to

eliminate the negative effects of the rice bug is to establish the weed and pest control during the rice harvested months in order to reduce the numbers of the

damages from the rice bug are very high and resulting to abandoned field. The rice bug has very particular habitat and habit as they like resting in the

full area and they can wait until rice start seeding. full area such as rubber plantation can be their

best habitat, therefore, the conversion of rice field to rubber plantation due to higher economic return not only cause food insecurity issue in the national level but also

d outbreak of the rice bug in the local

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The author would like to thank to the Graduate School, Thaksin University, Thailand who help supporting by offering the grant for this study.

REFERENCES

[1] Phatthalung Agricultural Office. Province Website.

[2] Wantana Sriratanasak. 2007. Insect Protection Elimination: The Agricultural Cooperative of Thailand. Ltd.

[3] Bureau of Rice Research and Development (BRRD).2009:29. Knowledge of rice pests: a guide for Thai farmers.

[4] Anisara, P. and R. Shrestha. 2007. Effect of Land Use Change on Rural Livelihoods: A Case Study of Phatthalung Watershed, Southern Thailand. In Proceeding of GMSARN International Conference. 12-14 December 2007. Pattaya, Chonburi, Thailand

133 - 138

137

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

to thank to the Graduate School, Thaksin University, Thailand who help supporting by

this study.

REFERENCES

Phatthalung Agricultural Office. 2010. Phatthalung

Wantana Sriratanasak. 2007. Insect – rice pest and Protection Elimination: The Agricultural Co-operative of Thailand. Ltd. Bureau of Rice Research and Development (BRRD). 2009:29. Knowledge of rice pests: a guide for Thai

Anisara, P. and R. Shrestha. 2007. Effect of Land Use Change on Rural Livelihoods: A Case Study of Phatthalung Watershed, Southern Thailand. In Proceeding of GMSARN International Conference.

14 December 2007. Pattaya, Chonburi, Thailand

T. Pimsen, A. P. Tibkaew and W. Rattahapan / GMSARN International Journal 7 (2013) 133 - 138

138

S. Sujatanond, A. P. Tibkaew, and P. Pramojanee / GMSARN International Journal 7 (2013) 139 - 144

139

Abstract— Under the Asean Economic Community (AEC), a single regional common market of Asean countries will be created by 2015. The regional integration's objective is to create a competitive market of over 600 million people in Asean countries: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. There will be free flow of goods, services, investment capital and skilled labor following the liberalization. These will include tariff reductions and streamlining of certain administrative procedures. In the process of working towards the AEC, the enhancement of competitiveness of food, agricultural and forestry products in international markets, and the empowerment of farmers through the promotion of agricultural cooperatives has become regional priorities. Emerging and cross-cutting related issues such as food security, mitigation and adaptation of climate change to the agriculture and forestry sector. This calls for an appropriate set of macro-economic policies; country’s specific economic conditions; quality education for farmers; adoption of suitable technology; and communication and marketing arrangements to enable the access by farmers to information, capitals and inputs for efficient production at reduced cost. The increase agricultural and forest production, in terms of quantity and quality that are economically and environmentally sustainable would also need to be addressed.

Land use pattern of Thailand especially in southern region mostly occupied by agricultural land. Due to the economic reason e.g. high production cost and high labour required caused the reduction of paddy field, replaced by the orchards and rubber plantation. In the near future, Thai rice must still faced with the competitive pricing in Asian such as Vietnam and Cambodia and Myanmar due to the lower price. The market share of Thai rice exporting in Asian has decreased, cannot seize from Vietnam particularly low quality rice. Furthermore, because of the government policy is taking pawns more than world price's market which the cheaper rice from neighbor such as the Cambodia gushes out to our border and when compare production per unit area.

This study aimed to investigate and evaluate the consequences of activating AEC on the agricultural activities and situation in order to establish the possible policy recommendation to avoid the adverse impacts may occur and enhancing the sustainable agriculture for southern Thailand. The increasing demand of two major economic crops, i.e. para rubber and oil palm can cause expanding area of plantation. The projected area of oil palm plantation, especially Thailand can reach up to about 1,200 hectares in 2020 by the same increasing rate reported by FAO (8.49 percent). The expanding of oil palm and rubber plantation can resulting the reduction of other crops, especially rice which can cause food insecurity in the near future. Keywords— Agricultural Situation, Asean Economic Community, food security, Southern Thailand.

1. INTRODUCTION

Asean Economic Community (AEC)

Under the Asean Economic Community (AEC), a single regional common market of Asean countries will be created by 2015. The regional integration's objective is to create a competitive market of over 600 million people in Asean countries: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,

Supaluk Sujatanond, Master student, Sustainable Agricultural

Resources Management Program, Faculty of Technology and Community Development, Thaksin University, Phatthalung, Thailand. 93110. Tel: +66-87-837-4888, Fax: +66-74-559-996, E-mail: ssujatanond @gmail.com.

Anisara Pensuk Tibkaew, Lecturer, Faculty of Technology and Community Development, Thaksin University, Phatthalung, Thailand 93110. Tel: +66-84-123-2268, Fax: +66-74-693-996, E-mail: [email protected].

Paiboon Pramojanee, Lecturer, Faculty of Technology and Community Development, Thaksin University, Phatthalung, Thailand 93110. Tel: +66-81-806-9104, Fax: +66-74-693-996, E-mail: [email protected].

Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is one of the three pillars to achieve a cohesive ASEAN Community. The other two are political security and social cultural pillars [1].

AEC Blueprint

The AEC Blueprint is a single comprehensive document which identifies the characteristics and elements of the AEC with clear implementation targets and timelines for the various economic integration measures within ASEAN. The main objectives of AEC are to create a:

a. single market and production base;

b. highly competitive economic region;

c. region of equitable economic development;

d. region fully integrated into the global economy.

There will be free flow of goods, services, investment capital and skilled labor following the liberalization. These will include tariff reductions and streamlining of certain administrative procedures. In the process of

Supaluk Sujatanond, Anisara Pensuk Tibkaew, and Paiboon Pramojanee

Consequences of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) on Thailand Agricultural Situation and Food Security of

Southern Thailand


140

working towards the AEC, the enhancement of competitiveness of food, agricultural and forestry products in international markets, and the empowerment of farmers through the promotion of agricultural cooperatives has become regional priorities. Emerging and cross-cutting related issues such as food security, mitigation and adaptation of climate change to the agriculture and forestry sector. This calls for an appropriate set of macro-economic policies; country’s specific economic conditions; quality education for farmers; adoption of suitable technology; and communication and marketing arrangements to enable the access by farmers to information, capitals and inputs for efficient production at reduced cost. The increase agricultural and forest production, in terms of quantity and quality that are economically and environmentally sustainable would also need to be addressed.

Benefits of the Asean Economic Community (AEC)

It will open more regional cooperation and will improve the scale efficiencies, dynamism and competitiveness of Asean members. AEC will enable easier movement of goods, services, investment, capital and people. Ultimately, it will offer new ways of coordinating supply chains, or access to new markets for established products.

All Asean countries are more important to foreign investors if they are considered as one node in a larger regional market of nearly 600 million people - a single market. The Asean Free Trade Agreement will be expanded to zero tariffs on almost all goods by 2015. Asean plans to remain engaged with the global economy through regional-level free trade agreements - today, Asean has such agreements with China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand.

The AEC is coming at a time when it is recognized that investment in emerging markets is more desirable than in the US and Europe. There will be no shortage of funding coming from within Asean, the Asia Pacific or even the US and Europe. These investments can bring about badly needed capital for some countries, allowing them to leapfrog from the 20th century into the 21st in terms of competition in countries such as Thailand and Malaysia.

SMEs accounted for 96% of enterprises and between 50-85% of domestic employment across Asean. integrating these SMEs and supporting them in the initial period will be a challenge throughout Asean but particularly in the lesser developed Asean countries. Recently the Singapore government fully realizes the challenge and the opportunity that the AEC will represent to SMEs and is putting both the planning talent and the resources to better support their SMEs. Vietnam and Thailand both countries are starting to verbalize and meet to develop more effective plans for SME integration and support, it is obvious that these plans are probably behind where they need to be. In countries, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar plans are even further behind and more in need of support and resources.

Tourism opportunity. Asians travels more in the region and there are more travelers from other countries that have begun to reach out to Asia as new visitors. The

trends were evident at the recent Hub City Forum, held by the Pacific Asia Tourism Association (PATA), where more than 100 travel industry executives discussed the tourism potential, government's spending to upgrade facilities both for leisure attractions like museums; and also MICE facilities such as convention centers, reported the newspaper. MICE tourism opportunities are particularly large and hopefully countries that have the most experience in this area such as Thailand and Singapore will render their assistance to those with weak MICE experience - recent examples of Thailand and Vietnam will rendering assistance in Laos and possibly Cambodia.

Internationalization of health care under the AEC. Health care is one of the sectors to be internationalized. This is definitely a big challenge as it is more complicated than just the popularity of Singapore and Thailand's "medical tourism" that patients travel from one country to another seeking better care at lower cost. The legal and licensing frameworks are still needed to be worked out. However, it offers potentials for the free-flow of health services, etc. in the region. Recent examples here were noted in the Bangkok Post in mid-March which noted programs by Thailand's largest medical service BGH and other Thai hospital groups to step-up the pace of mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures in other AEC countries to help them a better platform to better take care of developing AEC opportunities.

The Asean Economic Community (AEC) and agriculture

The total population of AEC approximately 600 million people, or market investment will grow by 62 million people a year to 600 million after AEC activation. Hence, the need to the need of agricultural will be increasing in order to support the economic of the community and also the rising of the demand within the community.

Therefore, access to the community of ocean beach or trade liberalization of agricultural products and food will be transported through the transport mechanism freely which aims to increase trade volume and value of each country's economic growth from the agricultural and food will be sold in the markets of countries with a lower cost. The trade liberalization of agricultural products and food will be agreed to reduce trade barriers, tariff reduction and the eventual dissolution.

The liberalization of trade in agricultural products and food, farmers at all levels must be adjusted by tracking market information, consumption behavior of consumers, the production of farmers in the country to take into consideration administrative costs, optimization process in order to make a difference, important to adapt the accreditation process, standards and traceability systems. The liberalization of trade and Asean also launched a free investment will result in an investor can move financial capital or moving manufacturing base that is incurred Thailand can be invested to build processing plants for agricultural products in Asean countries such as investment business and agricultural products processed export markets (rice, tapioca plant) or


141

the agricultural investment and agricultural production phase.

Asean economies are adapting to the new equilibrium and the volume of trade increased. Country's economic growth will result in the need for agricultural labor and other skilled workers increased, skilled labor market with a growing demand in the country, wage labor within ASEAN to adapt to similar environments or have different minimum. Opportunities for agricultural workers who are foreign nationals who are in the country you are moving back to the original height.

In summary liberalization of agricultural products within the framework of the AEC for the country to benefit from a tax reduction, the broader market, raw materials to be imported, inputs cheaper, reduce the cost of production for export, create investment opportunities to expand its manufacturing base, development and innovation in products and services Vietnam and Indonesia). The impact of the agreement. Improve the quality of human labor gap in economic development, increase the purchasing power of the impact. Farmers in Thailand will affect the price could be lower when importing cheap products from other nine countries agricultural industries with low productivity may not match. Non-tariff measures will be increasingly used. ASEAN investors will invest in Thailand. Households faced with increasing competition. Thailand's skilled labor market has moved to a higher compensation.

ASEAN mostly exports of agricultural products to worldwide and between ASEAN countries themselves. The products that ASEAN exports are rice, cassava, rubber, sugar (Thailand), palm oil (Malaysia and Indonesia) and shrimp (Thailand, AEC particles found in the Mekong River Basin). The ASEAN trade increases with higher income per capita that cause to the demand for processed foods, meat, vegetables and fruit produced in ASEAN [2].

2. THE STUDY ON RUBBER AND OIL PALM MARKET

The demand of rubber products

The world production of natural rubber in recent 5 years (2005-2009) showed an increasing trend with the average the growth rate of 1.67 percent per year. On the other hands, the requirement has been also increasining with the average rate of 1.44 percent per year. According to the 5-year information of IRSG, the remaining stock has been decreasing over year with the average rate as 14.90 percent per year due to the increasing of demand (Table 1).

Natural rubber products still plays an important role for SEA countries and they are recognized as the no.1 of natural rubber producer of the world, therefore it will be considered as one of the major exported goods with high capability to stimulate the economic especially after AEC.

Table 1. Rubber product consumption and stock of the world year 2005-2009

Unit: million tons

Year Product Requirements Stock outstanding

2005 8.906 9.184 1.844

2006 9.698 9.709 1.833

2007 9.687 10.230 1.290

2008 9.877 10.088 1.079

2009 9.588 9.678 1.073

Growth Rate 1.67 1.44 -14.90 Source: [3]

The demand of oil palm products

From Table2, it can be understood that the important importers of palm oil of the world during 2004 and 2008 include China, India, USA, EU countries and the import volume has increased steadily. The import volume of palm oil of this group countries are about 4-6 thousand tons per year. Similarly, the second importer group include Pakistan; Japan, Kenya, Myanmar, South Africa, Turkey, South Korea and Saudi Arabia, the import volume is about 2-10 thousand tons per year.

The major palm oil producer countries are all in Asean countries, i.e. Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand (Table 3). Currently, Malaysia is recognized as no.1 of the world’s palm oil exporter (reported 15,413 thousand tons in 2008), the second place was Indonesia (14,470 thousand tons in 2008) and the third place was Thailand (507 thousand tons in 2008). Due to the report of Oil World Annual (1999-2008) & Oil World Weekly, about 90% of the world palm oil use was produced from the ASEAN countries. Therefore, oil palm industries are having very bright future in the world market.

Table 2. The import of palm oil in the world during 2004-2008

Unit: Thousand tons

Source: [3]


142

Table 3. Producer and exporter of palm oil in the world 2008

Countries Export volume

Thousand tons %

Indonesia 14,470 43

Malaysia 15,413 45.8

Thailand 507 1.5

Columbia 328 1.0

Papua New Guinea 395 1.2

Others 2,507 7.5

Total (world) 33,620 100.0 Source: [3]

The information indicated the ASEAN countries are

the most important palm oil exported (Table 3) and due to the rising of palm oil demand over time, therefore the area of oil palm plantation has been increasing since 1997 among SEA countries (Table 4). Average percent of increasing in area of oil palm plantation during 1997-2004 of Indonesia was the highest (11.32 percent), followed by Thailand (8.49 percent), while the increasing area of oil palm plantation no.1 palm oil exporter (Malaysia) was showed quite low (3.98 percent).

Table 4. Planted areas for the palm oil producing countries

of the world year 1997-2008 Unit: Thousand Hectares

Year Indonesia Malaysia Thailand

1997 1,622.56 2,455.04 177.44

1998 1,795.04 2,586.08 205.44

1999 1,847.04 2,775.04 215.20

2000 2,014.08 3,075.04 230.08

2001 2,200.00 3,310.08 242.88

2002 2,790.08 3,375.04 263.04

2003 3,040.00 3,260.00 287.40

2004 3,320.00 3,402.08 309.60

2005 3,690.08 3,552.00 324.16

2006 4,110.08 3,678.08 379.84

2007 4,540.00 3,740.96 426.08

2008 5,000.00 3,900.00 450.08

Percent increase

11.32 3.98 8.49

Source: [3]

3. THE FUTURE DEMAND ON RUBBER AND OIL PALM

According to the information from various trustful

economic organizations. The future demand on rubber products of the world can be projected. The result (Fig.1) showed continuously increasing. In the year 2012 the requirements of natural rubber products will be 13.998 million tons and will be 25.518 million tons in 2020.

Similarly, the future demand on palm oil is increasing, therefore, the plantation area of oil palm will be also expanding rapidly and continuously in some ASEAN countries, especially Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Fig 2 showed the projected area of oil palm plantation of Thailand 2012-2020, the result showed increasing of the plantation of oil palm in Thailand which can reached to 1,197 thousand hectares in 2020.

Fig.1. The projected demand of rubber products during 2012-2020

Fig.2. The projected area for oil palm plantation of Thailand during 2012-2020

4. CONCLUSION

Land use pattern of Thailand especially in southern region mostly occupied by agricultural land. Due to the economic reasons, paddy field can be easily replaced by the rubber or oil palm plantation. The increasing demand of natural rubber and oil palm product can result to the decreasing of paddy field. The reduction of paddy field can be implied the reduction of rice yield and food insecurity for Thailand and AEC countries. Therefore, the national policy makers should take the issue of rice farming area reduction into consideration in order to avoid the food shortage in the future.

0

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10

15

20

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2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

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2014

2015

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REFERENCES

[1] Department of Trade Negotiations; 2011; AEC FACT BOOK: 7-57.

[2] ASEAN Economic Community. AEC Blueprint. Retrieved June 4,2012 from the World Wide Web: http://www.thai-aec.com/aec-blueprint

[3] Office of The Rubber Replanting Aid Fund, 2011, Situation of Manufacturing and Marketing of rubber and oil palm.


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Y. Hayakawa, H. Imura, and M. Ao / GMSARN International Journal 7 (2013) 145 -150

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Abstract— Nowadays, many cities in Japan are undertaking initiatives aiming to create cities with high environmental performance. Climate change countermeasures are considered as a top priority on the national environmental policy agenda, and the formation of low-carbon cities is a primary theme for environmental urban planning. However, the Great East Japan Earthquake, which caused the triple disasters of an earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear accident on 11 March, 2011, cast a large shadow on the initiatives aiming to create low-carbon cities. This paper makes a brief survey on the changing public awareness and attitude regarding nuclear safety and future energy sources in Japan, and discusses new direction of sustainable societies. Keywords— Sustainable society, low-carbonisation, behaviour change, nuclear crisis.

1. INTRODUCTION

The Great East Japan Earthquake brought light the importance of local energy management not only for the creation of low-carbon cities and a green economy, but also for post-disaster recovery, which will require a stable energy supply together with a new thought on the building of disaster-resilient cities. The consequence of the failure in the Fukushima nuclear power plant has caused a dilemma of energy needs and the concerns about nuclear power across the Japanese society.

For energy aspect, the accident provided people with greater concerns about the high risk of nuclear power plants. Faced with radiation contamination, people are more careful about safety prior to cost in energy generation. On the other hand, there are concerns about economic impacts due to a shortage of electricity supply as a result of the stoppage of nuclear power plants. In fact, from July to September 2011, the government issued restriction of electricity usage for commercial-scale utility customers, and many corporations and factories were forced to take actions that led to a reduction in productivity.

Japan agreed upon the GHG emission reduction target under Kyoto Protocol, Japanese government formulated the plan and promoted measures to achieve the target. However, the previous national reduction plan was based upon the premise that the use of nuclear power will be stable or even increase. Today, Japan must fundamentally reconsider the national economic, energy and environmental policies. Meanwhile, Japanese public opinion is dramatically split on the topic of nuclear safety.

Yet under these circumstances, the desire to create low-carbon cities remains unchanged. Japanese society is

Yuka HAYAKAWA is with Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 NE-30, Okayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8552 JAPAN. Phone: +81-3-5734-2906, E-mail: [email protected].

Hidefumi IMURA and Masazumi Ao are with Yokohama City University.

approaching a mature phase today. The Japanese economy is starting to lose the dynamism and vigour that it had during its period of rapid economic growth, but people are generally satisfied with the quality of life. Moreover, the ratio of elderly people in the total population is rising, and people seem to demand safety and security rather than conspicuous economic affluence. The public is aware that the choice is not between economy and environment, but that it is possible for both to have a favourable impact each other in a positive cycle, and the public gives broad support to initiatives for low-carbon cities.

2. THE HALT OF NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS AND THE NATIONAL ENERGY POLICY

The disaster that occurred in eastern Japan on 11 March, 2011, involved an earthquake, tsunami, and an accident at a nuclear power plant, causing tremendous damage in a wide area along the coast. In total, 15,866 persons lost their lives and 2,946 persons are still missing, and many homes, buildings and workplaces were also lost (National Police Agency, 2012). The economic and social impacts were profound. The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) that caused the nuclear accident supplies electricity to the Kanto region, which is central to the Japanese economy, and covers the metropolitan area around Tokyo holding 42 million people. Immediately after the disaster, the entire Kanto region was plunged into a severe power shortage. Factories and offices had no choice but to restrict their business activities. Households also had to endure scheduled power outages in order to prevent unexpected blackout caused by electric shortage.

The Great East Japan Earthquake affected to Japanese national policy for low-carbon society vision. Before the disaster, Japanese government described the vision with 3 primary pillars for national strategy; economic growth, stable energy supply and decarbonisation. It was based on energy mix of fossil fuels, nuclear power, and renewable energy. However, people have huge concerns about security of nuclear power plant was occurred by

Yuka Hayakawa, Hidefumi Imura, and Masazumi Ao

New Direction towards Sustainable Society in Japan after the Nuclear Crisis


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the accident of Fukushima nuclear power plant, and have a question whether nuclear power generation should be the primary energy resource in Japan or not. It can be said that it is the dilemma of energy needs and the fear of nuclear power generation.

The question of how to secure a stable supply of electricity, and what should be the future mix of electricity sources are critical for the national energy, economy and environment policy. They have an enormous bearing on environmental policy. Japan has studiously prepared and implemented measures to achieve the national emission reduction targets for GHG, as agreed under the Kyoto Protocol. It was developing a plan to achieve the medium-term national target of a 25 % reduction in total GHG emissions by the year 2020, and was preparing a road map to that end. That scenario, however, was premised upon greater dependency on nuclear power as indicated by the National Energy Supply and Demand Forecast (see Table 1). Today, the assumptions underpinning that scenario have collapsed, making it extremely difficult to make future forecasts of GHG emissions.

Table 1 shows Japan’s long term energy demand and supply prospect, announced August 2009. It consists of new energy, geothermal, hydroelectric, nuclear, natural gas, coal, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and oil as possible energy source. As seen in Table 1, Japanese energy plan was highly depended on nuclear power generation. It can be seen that nuclear power was planned to be increased gradually, and expected to be one of the primary energy resource in 2030. Along with this national strategy, government estimated CO2 emission reduction and meet target of Kyoto Protocol. However, after the disaster and nuclear power plant accident in Fukushima, there have been numbers of discussions across Japan about use of nuclear power as national primary energy resource. This caused of issues on stable energy supply and low-carbonisation.

Table 1. Forecast of Primary Energy Supply in Japan Up

Until 2030

* BAU: Business as Usual Case ** Case A assumes that the current level of energy saving

effort will be continued. *** Case B assumes that the maximum level of energy

saving effort will be implemented. Source: The Energy Data and Modelling Center, “EDMC Handbook of Energy & Economic Statistics in Japan 2012”, 2012

Until now, initiatives about low-carbon cities were based upon the major premise of a comprehensive national energy strategy decided by the central government, supported by industry, and an electrical supply system premised upon nuclear dependence. Japan's electricity supply system is operated by nine power utilities that enjoy regional monopolies for a long time. Problems with the conventional electricity supply system designed with the highest priority on stability of supply were often pointed out in the past, but in the face of the enormous influence of the government and power utilities, questions and criticisms were drowned out. The power utilities have been unenthusiastic about the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) system, by which power utilities are required to purchase renewable energy such as solar, wind, and geothermal power. Although the system has been in effect since 2003, the purchase prices have been kept low based on the power utilities' assertion that the supply capacity is variable and unstable. The recent disaster, however, has created the opportunity to re-examine these longstanding issues. A shift is being considered from this RPS system, to a ‘feed-in tariff’ system, under which power utilities are expected to purchase electricity at a price fixed by the government. Higher prices of purchase will give a larger incentive to develop renewable energy power. Japanese government launched a ‘feed-in tariff’ system since July 2012 to encourage new enterprises to get into the new market of renewable energy, and to provide consumers alternative choices of energy supply.

Also, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan (METI) announced the policy to consolidate separation system of electrical power production from power distribution and transmission from 2014 for ‘electric liberalization’ by promoting various companies generating electric power by renewable energy resource. This trend leads the drastic change of Japanese energy policy and understanding of sustainable development.

3. CHANGING AWARENESS AND ATTITUDE OF CITIZEN

Since the disaster in March 2011, citizens’ aspects and behaviour towards sustainable societies have been drastically changed. Especially, local concerns and opposition are very strong regarding any plans to restart nuclear power plants that were halted for regular inspections. As of 5 May, 2012, all nuclear power plants nationwide were unable to restart operations, even those where regular inspections have been completed.

In regards to restart of nuclear power plant, there has been numbers of discussions. Asahi Shimbun’s public opinion survey by telephone held on 14 and 15 April showed that only 28% of answerers supported the central government had indicated that it was appropriate to restart Ooi nuclear power plant supplying electricity for Kansai region (Western part of Japan) which stopped as inspection, but 55% opposed government’s statement. However, the public opinion survey by Sankei Shimbun and Fuji News Network on 19 and 20 May 2012 indicates 51.5 % of answerers considered that it is appropriate to restart only power plants inspected and

1990 2005 2020 2030

BAU* Case

A**

Case

B***

BAU* Case

A**

Case

B***

Total Amount

(Million tons of Crude Oil

Equivalent)

508 588 627 596 553 637 590 515

Breakdown

by Source

(%)

Oil 52 43 36 36 34 35 35 33

LPG 4 3 3 5 3 3 3 3

Coal 17 21 20 20 19 21 20 18

Natural Gas 11 15 18 17 16 18 16 14

Nuclear 10 12 16 17 18 17 18 21

Hydropower 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 4

Geothermal 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Other New

Energy

3 3 3 4 5 5 5 7


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secured safety in case of electric shortage and 43.6 % opposed.

National energy strategy and policy also needs to be re-examined fundamentally. There was another survey, which asks respondents participating in discussion about energy mix in 2030 and to analyse their consciousness changes before and after the discussion. Figure 1 shows that almost half of citizens require 0% of nuclear to usage scenario. In addition, a national-wide public opinion survey by Kyodo News Service-affiliated group on 11 and 12 June, 2012 showed the result that 82 % of respondents insist to abandon all existing nuclear power plants in Japan immediately, to deactivate gradually from the one embarking regular inspections or to consider decommissioning as the situation of electricity demand and supply, and only 14 % approved to keep all existing plants. As above, it is split on the opinion of nuclear energy power plants among citizens and even experts.

Figure 1. Result of Public Opinion Survey about Nuclear Energy of 2012 (Source: Asahi Shimbun Public Opinion Survey, 23 Auguest 2012)

Survey procedure

Firstly, telephone survey to people above 20 years old was conducted and 6849 people answered in July 2012. Then, 285 persons out of all respondents participated in the discussion on 4 and 5 August 2012.

In this survey, government provided three options of energy mix with thermal, renewal and nuclear, and these three options* are based on how much depends on nuclear power generation in 2030 (0%, 15%, 20-25%).

*Three Options for Energy Mix in 2030

(1) 0% Nuclear (2) 15% Nuclear (3) 20-25% Nuclear

Since people experienced electric shortage crisis,

awareness raising and behaviour change of saving electricity has been enhanced throughout Japan. In summer 2011 and 2012, people were required to limit electric usage and local government called for actions and practiced the campaigns for saving electricity. It can

be regarded as opportunity to raise people’s awareness and change behaviour for saving energy not transiently but continuously.

In response to people’s opinion, the government finally announced the policy to phase out all nuclear power plants by 2030.

4. NEW DIRECTION OF SUSTAINABLE SOCIETY: “FUTURE CITY” INITIATIVE

In addition to above mentioned huge impact of the disaster, it needs to be considered trend of super-aging which numbers of cities face to for new direction of sustainable societies.

Japanese Government announced “FutureCity” Initiative which is one of the 21 National Strategic Projects of “New Growth Strategy” on 18 July 2010. It aims to tackle with issues regarding environment and super-aging societies. As seen in Figure 2, while all ages tend to decrease, only people over 65 years old will increase until 2040.

Figure 2. Japan’s Population: 1884 – 2060 (Source: The National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, 30 March 2012 )

Furthermore, one thing that people notice when

watching the local news coverage of disaster-affected areas in eastern Japan is the large proportion of elderly persons. Many of the young move to the city, leaving the elderly behind. Because the population is declining, there are fewer local physicians, making it necessary for people to travel long distances to the city for medical services.

Those situations implicate what the future may be like for Japanese society as a whole. In this respect, large cities like Yokohama are no exception, with a rising ratio of elderly persons in the suburban residential population. In the Tokyo metropolitan area, only elderly persons now live in suburban apartment complexes like Tama New Town, which was constructed during the nation's time of rapid economic growth in the 1960s. What is needed to create low-carbon cities is not only the spread of what are called smart houses and eco-houses with low energy consumption, but many new things combined together for urban development, such as improvements in transportation systems, like buses designed with the

0

15

20

26

35

38.6

30

10

65

55 50

64

0% 15% 20 - 25% Current Use

Thermal power

Renewable energy

Nuclear power

Japan’s Population：1884 - 2060million people

Total

15-64 years

0-14 years

>65years

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convenience of elderly passengers in mind, and an enhancement of nursing care and health services that capitalize on information and communication technologies to protect solitary elderly persons live alone.

Based on compelling observations such as these, the Cabinet Secretariat of Japan launched the ‘“FutureCity” Initiative’ project. Later, in response to the 2011 disaster, this initiative came to be seen as an essential concept for the recovery of the disaster-affected areas. In 2011, planning projects under the Cabinet Secretariat's budget were started in 11 cities and towns, of which six had been damaged by the disaster. In those places, while preparing for earthquakes and tsunamis that may recur someday and at the same time effectively utilising untapped local renewable energy, discussions have begun for city planning that can also contribute to measures to address climate change. It is expected that they will incorporate fresh concepts that are different from conventional initiatives in disaster-affected areas, but discussions have only just begun.

From the cases of this project, various models can be recognised as sustainable low-carbon cities. There are some common aspects between each project as following:

(1) response to the new economic, social and technological trends such as recovery and reconstruction after the great disaster, and economic revitalisation by green growth or green innovation.

(2) community-based collaboration for establishment of CO2 reduction system by including local stakeholders.

(3) developing and utilising local resources such as renewable energy resource and human resource including elder people.

(4) strong local initiative for energy generation and management within the region.

These trends can be considered as post-disaster and new direction of sustainable societies. If every local governments design their own regional plan by defining locally prior targets such as low birth rate and longevity, waste management and so on, and using local resource, whole Japan would shift to sustainable society. For transition to sustainable societies, decentralisation and dynamic social reforms are required.

5. CONCLUSION

Since the Great East Japan Earthquake, Japanese energy and environmental policy has been in disarray. Even before the damage caused by the disaster, urban planning concepts in Japan have been in the midst of dramatic change, in response to declining population, fewer children, aging of society and deceleration in economic growth. There, it is essential to promote integrated policies for the local economy, employment, welfare, and energy management. The “FutureCity” Initiative is one of response to this situation in Japan, and a few decades from now, other cities in Asia may be confronting the same issues. The initiative implies some

factors for transition to sustainable societies; technological development, institutional reform and financial mechanism. From an aspect of technology, development of green technology and operation system should be introduced. For actual operation, institutional reform of electric power industry by adopting such as feed-in tariffs is necessary. Also, sustainable business models need to be invented for continuous growth and improvement of people’s quality of life.

Last but not least, the most essential aspect is making people’s mind and behaviour more sustainable. This is a key for success of sustainable cities with appropriate social and economic system including business models and financial mechanisms. If people as responsible consumers do not accept new business model, it means that new social or business system is not sustainable. It all depends on citizens whether they accept or not. Therefore, awareness raising of new concepts of sustainable development needs to be done through some ways such as education for sustainable consumption, environmental education or education for sustainable development at schools or communities.

REFERENCES

[1] Hidefumi Imura and Miranda Schreurs (eds.)(2005): “Environmental Policy in Japan”, pp.1-424, Edward Elgar.

[2] Hidefumi Imura (2010): ‘Eco-Cities: Re-Examining Concepts and Approaches’ in “Toward Liveable and Sustainable Urban Environment, Eco-Cities in East” (eds. Lye Liang Fook and Chen Gang), pp.19-46, World Scientific Publishing., Co.

[3] Hidefumi Imura (2012): ‘The Evolution of Environmental Policy’ in “Economic and Policy Lessons from Japan to Developing Countries” (eds. Toshihisa Toyoda, Jun Nishikawa and Hiroshi Kan Sato), pp.217-235, Palgrave

[4] Asahi Shimbun Public Opinion Survey on 14-15 April, 2012 (16 April, 2012), http://www.asahi.com/national/update/0415/TKY201204150369.html?ref=reca (Accessed on 11 July, 2012)

[5] Asahi Shimbun, Public Opinion Survey in July and August (23 August, 2012), http://www.asahi.com/politics/intro/TKY201208220872.html?id1=2&id2=cabcaicd (Accessed on 22 September, 2012)

[6] Asahi Shimbun, National Public Opinion Survey on July, 4 and 5 August, 2012 (23 August, 2012), http://www.asahi.com/politics/intro/TKY201208220872.html?id1=2&id2=cabcaicd (Accessed on 19 September, 2012)

[7] Sankei Shimbun and Fuji News Network, Public Opinion Survey on 19 and 20 May 2012 (21 May, 2012), http://sankei.jp.msn.com/politics/news/120521/stt12052111540002-n1.htm (Accessed on 11 July, 2012)

[8] Kyodo News Service-affiliated group on 11-12 June, 2012 (19 June, 2012), http://www.asyura2.com/11/genpatu13/msg/120.html (Accessed on 11 July, 2012)

[9] National Police Agency (4 July, 2012)

http://www.npa.go.jp/archive/keibi/biki/higaijokyo.pdf


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(Accessed on 12 July, 2012)

[10] The National Institute of Population and Social Security Research (30 March, 2012 ), “Estimation of Future Population in Japan” as of January 2012, http://www.ipss.go.jp/syoushika/tohkei/newest04/hh2401.asp (Accessed on 22 September, 2012)


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C. Boungnong and D. Phonekeo / GMSARN International Journal 7 (2013) 151 - 160

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Abstract— Hydro Power is the backbone of the Lao economy. The rugged terrain, compounded by the fact that the Country is land locked does not provide much economic advantage to Lao PDR. Transportation costs are high and unless Lao PDR can think of certain niche products, its exports are not going to be competitive. The decision by the Lao Government to exploit its water resources for production of electricity has changed the economic scenario for Lao PDR. The mountainous and rapid rivers have made Lao PDR a natural haven for hydro power production. The neighboring countries have provided the necessary political will and the market for Lao’s power, as Thailand and Vietnam has a huge power deficit.

While electricity has provided the much needed revenue, the Lao Government has also prioritized network expansion in the Country. It is expected that by 2020, the entire Country will have access to electricity about 90%. Industrial activities are expected to increase with the commissioning of Hydroelectric Projects. There is however, a need to ensure that internal electricity tariff is kept affordable so that it becomes the main source of energy in the Country and also to stimulate industrial activities.

This paper highlights the role and importance of hydropower for social and economic development of Lao PDR and covers aspects related to planning and policy initiatives being pursued by the Hydropower sector to fulfill the national objectives. The introductory sections provide the baseline information on hydropower resources of Lao PDR, development potential and existing situation in the supply and demand of hydroelectricity. Subsequent sections cover the planning and policy interventions that the Lao Government is undertaking in order to maximize on the benefits from hydropower development. Keywords— Hydropower, public private partnership investment, concession fee, generation expansion plans, least cost.

1. INTRODUCTION

Approximately three quarters of the Laotian population has access to an electricity supply; this level is relatively low compared with China, Thailand and Vietnam, but considerably higher than the rates in Myanmar and Cambodia. Laos has a low population density and an overall small population which makes it challenging to expand electrification to the entire population.

Electricity demand in Laos has grown very significantly and steadily in the period since the year 2000. The growth is mainly due to growth of the countrys mining sector. More specifically, in the period between 2000 and 2011, total electricity consumption (in GWh) increased by 15% annually [4]. The trends of consumption in different sectors of Laos are shown in Fig. 1.

The considerable increase in electricity demand has not generally led to further problems in meeting electricity demand. Throughout the period of sustained electricity demand growth the country has enjoyed a relatively stable power supply due to power trading with neighbouring countries. Fig. 2 shows the development of

Chansaveng BOUNGNONG, Student Member of National

University of Lao People Democratic Republic. Tel: 856 21 415036; Fax: 856 21 413013; Email: [email protected].

Daovong PHONEKEO, Director General of Department of Energy Policy and Planning, Ministry of Energy and Mines, Lao PDR Tel: 856 21 415036; Fax: 856 21 413013; Email: [email protected].

annual levels of electricity generation, imports, exports and total sales, from 2000 to 2012.

Fig 1: Electricity consumption in Laos (2000 - 2012)

Fig. 2: Electricity generation, imports, exports and domestic consumption

0

5000

10000

15000

2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012

Generation

G

Chansaveng Boungnong and Daovong Phonekeo

Economic Rent from Hydropower Development in the Case of Lao PDR

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152

Without power trades with neighbouring countries, domestic system would have suffered considerable electricity supply problems because of the current limits of its power system. As a general trend, between 2000 and 2012 the volumes (in GWh) of power imported by domestic system from its neighbours has increased annually; this can be seen in contrast with the volumes of power exported by domestic system, which has generally decreased but with more year-on-year variation. One last important point to note from the data shown in Fig. 2 is that total export volumes show strong coupling with generation volumes.

2. HYDRO POWER POTENTIAL IN LAO PDR

Hydropower is the cornerstone for power development in Lao PDR. Currently, more than 99% of the powergenerated in the country corresponds to hydropower stations. The total installed hydro power generation capacity in Laos is 3,213.25 MW, of which 990 MW are for domestic electricity supply and 2,210 MW is for export purposes. The development of installed power capacity in Laos is shown in Fig.3. Details of hydropower installed (and operating) generation plant are provided in Annex-1.

Fig. 3: Existing power generation (Source: Own elaboration of EdL data 2011).

According to the World Energy Council, there is still potential to develop 18 GW of hydropower capacity in Laos, which is equivalent to around 63 TWh per year assuming a 40% capacity factor.

The absolute hydro power potential of Laos is lower than the levels in neighbouring China, Myanmar and Vietnam; however, the per capita generation potential is very significant in that it is around 30 times the size of the country current per capita consumption. This per capita potential (9,844 kWh per year) offers Laohas a small population) the opportunity to close its electrification rate gap and substantially increase its levels of electricity exports.

It is currently planned that between 2013 and 2020, 55 new power generation projects will be developed, adan approximate additional total generation capacity of 5,718 MW to existing Laos power generation capacity. The planned addition of generation plants is shown in Fig. 4: generation capacity additions are shown in terms of annual capacity added (MW/year) and in terms of cumulative total additional capacity in the period 2013 2020 are shown in the Annex-2.

C. Boungnong and D. Phonekeo / GMSARN International Journal

Without power trades with neighbouring countries, domestic system would have suffered considerable electricity supply problems because of the current limits of its power system. As a general trend, between 2000

GWh) of power imported by domestic system from its neighbours has increased annually; this can be seen in contrast with the volumes of power exported by domestic system, which has generally

year variation. One last t point to note from the data shown in Fig. 2 is

that total export volumes show strong coupling with

HYDRO POWER POTENTIAL IN LAO PDR

Hydropower is the cornerstone for power development in Lao PDR. Currently, more than 99% of the power generated in the country corresponds to hydropower

. The total installed hydro power generation capacity in Laos is 3,213.25 MW, of which 990 MW are for domestic electricity supply and 2,210 MW is for export purposes. The development of installed hydro power capacity in Laos is shown in Fig.3. Details of hydropower installed (and operating) generation plant

Fig. 3: Existing power generation (Source: Own elaboration

According to the World Energy Council, there is still potential to develop 18 GW of hydropower capacity in Laos, which is equivalent to around 63 TWh per year

The absolute hydro power potential of Laos is lower els in neighbouring China, Myanmar and

Vietnam; however, the per capita generation potential is very significant in that it is around 30 times the size of the country current per capita consumption. This per capita potential (9,844 kWh per year) offers Laos (which has a small population) the opportunity to close its

substantially increase its

It is currently planned that between 2013 and 2020, 55 new power generation projects will be developed, adding an approximate additional total generation capacity of 5,718 MW to existing Laos power generation capacity. The planned addition of generation plants is shown in Fig. 4: generation capacity additions are shown in terms

r) and in terms of cumulative total additional capacity in the period 2013 –

Fig. 4: additional capacity in the period 2013 Own elaboration of data published by EdL, 2013

The detailed plan of project developments, scheduled

for the period 2020 to 2030 (as published in the Power Development Plan 2010, formulated in August 2011) is detailed in annex 3.

Regarding the investment process for hydro power plants, developers follow a staged process which involves the agreement and signing of three key pieces of documentation, namely: the MoU, the Project Development Agreement (PDA), and the Concession Agreement (CA). The entire process, including negotiations, is due to take betweenmonths to complete.

The main fiscal arrangements for hydro power IPP projects are set out within three key pieces of legislation: the Tax Law 2011; the Investment Promotion Law; and the Enterprise Law.

In summary, IPP hydro projects arefollowing main taxes:

• Profit tax; • Salary tax; • Royalty payments; • Dividend payments; and • Customs payments.

General tax exemptions are set out in the Investment Promotion Law, based on the zone in which a projectlocated and taking into account the socioinfrastructure and geographical conditions of the country.

Projects are typically exempt from having to pay import customs for the construction of hydro plant. Royalties are always negotiated on a probasis, while profit tax and other taxes in some cases are subject to negotiation, further to what provided in the investment law, and the agreed arrangements are included in the project CA as agreed with the investment committee.

3. METHODOLOGY

One of the main objectives of the relation with hydro development is “Maximizing revenue inflows over time from export projects while still attracting high quality developers”.

This conceptual contradiction (or traderequires some numerical information in order to assess the impact that different kind of royalty policies will have on GoL revenues and investments. In order to get an initial quantitative indication


Fig. 4: additional capacity in the period 2013 – 2020 (Source: Own elaboration of data published by EdL, 2013

The detailed plan of project developments, scheduled the period 2020 to 2030 (as published in the Power

Development Plan 2010, formulated in August 2011) is

Regarding the investment process for hydro power a staged process which

involves the agreement and signing of three key pieces of documentation, namely: the MoU, the Project Development Agreement (PDA), and the Concession Agreement (CA). The entire process, including negotiations, is due to take between 6 months and 24

The main fiscal arrangements for hydro power IPP projects are set out within three key pieces of legislation: the Tax Law 2011; the Investment Promotion Law; and

, IPP hydro projects are required to pay the

General tax exemptions are set out in the Investment Promotion Law, based on the zone in which a project is located and taking into account the socio-economic infrastructure and geographical conditions of the country.

Projects are typically exempt from having to pay for the construction of hydro plant.

Royalties are always negotiated on a project by project basis, while profit tax and other taxes in some cases are subject to negotiation, further to what provided in the investment law, and the agreed arrangements are included in the project CA as agreed with the investment

One of the main objectives of the relation with hydro development is “Maximizing revenue inflows over time from export projects while still attracting high quality

This conceptual contradiction (or trade-off) in any case ome numerical information in order to assess

the impact that different kind of royalty policies will have on GoL revenues and investments. In order to get

indication of the trade-off we

C. Boungnong and D. Phonekeo / GMSARN International Journal

developed a simple model of the hydro power development aimed at estimating the impact on return on investments (specifically return on equity different royalty’s policies.

3.1 Quantitative Analysis

Base on basic information on 141 hydro sites. This information and some assumptions on finanparameters, we estimated the ROE of each project as a function of the royalty. Assuming that investors will require a minimum ROE to develop a project, the model allowed us to know the total investments and the linked GoL revenue as a function of the percentage of royalty.

We used the following assumptions

• Energy selling price: 65 USD/MWh, flat • Equity debt relationship: 30/70 • Loan interest rate: 8% • Load amortization period: 12 years • Operation and maintenance costs: 20

USD/kW/year • Concession period: 25 years • Incomes tax: 24% • Minimum ROE: 13% (real) • Calculation in real terms

The quantitative analysis on potential outcomes of taxation arrangements shows how GoL reamount of investments start to decrease when the royalty percentage overtakes certain levels, on the one side, and they emphasize the risks of reaching a nonroyalty level due to changing investment conditions and imperfect information on projects and investors, on the other.

3.2 Approach to Fiscal Options

The analysis can be divided into three main steps:

1. Mapping the Institutional background

Map the institutional background detailing all the instances in which a hydropower project must interface with government entities, in order to determine the procedure that is used in the determination of taxes and revenues sharing.

2. Link Institutions to Legal framework & enforcement

Once the institutional background has been mapped, the following activity is to assess the link between each one of the mapped instances to the corresponding Laws, decrees or regulations that enable each specific office todetermine the tax or revenue implications in the project. Under this procedure, the Consultant will be able to clearly identify the specific, corresponding binding regulation, if any.

3. Determine risks, needs and priorities

After this process, it will have a clear perspective of the relationship between institutions and regulations that is being properly determine the risks, needs and priorities from different GoL institutions

The specific project information is: installed capacity, average yearly energy production and overnight costs.


developed a simple model of the hydro power velopment aimed at estimating the impact on return on

investments (specifically return on equity - ROE) of

Base on basic information on 141 hydro sites. This assumptions on financial

parameters, we estimated the ROE of each project as a function of the royalty. Assuming that investors will require a minimum ROE to develop a project, the model allowed us to know the total investments and the linked

percentage of royalty. We used the following assumptions

Energy selling price: 65 USD/MWh, flat Equity debt relationship: 30/70

Load amortization period: 12 years Operation and maintenance costs: 20

The quantitative analysis on potential outcomes of shows how GoL revenues and the

amount of investments start to decrease when the royalty percentage overtakes certain levels, on the one side, and they emphasize the risks of reaching a non-optimal royalty level due to changing investment conditions and

on on projects and investors, on the

The analysis can be divided into three main steps:

1. Mapping the Institutional background

Map the institutional background detailing all the instances in which a hydropower project must interface

entities, in order to determine the procedure that is used in the determination of taxes and

to Legal framework & enforcement

background has been mapped, the following activity is to assess the link between each one of the mapped instances to the corresponding Laws, decrees or regulations that enable each specific office to determine the tax or revenue implications in the project. Under this procedure, the Consultant will be able to clearly identify the specific, corresponding binding

3. Determine risks, needs and priorities

have a clear perspective of the relationship between institutions and regulations that is being properly determine the risks, needs and priorities

The specific project information is: installed capacity, gy production and overnight costs.

Based on this information and assumptions, we made the calculations necessary to create the Fig. 5 This figure shows clearly that as long as the royalty increases, the number of profitable projects go down. In order to quantify the impact on GoL revenues and total investments, collection in concept of royalties and income tax (IT), as a function of the percentage of royalty. For preparing this figure we assumed that investors require a minimum ROE of 13%.

Fig 5 - Investments and GoL Revenues as a function of %Royalty - Minimum ROE=13%

We repeated the analysis for a minimum ROE of 10%,

which is presented in Fig 6.

Fig 6 - Investments and GoL Revenues as a function of %Royalty - Minimum ROE=10%

This figure confirms the trend that both GoL revenues

through royalties and IT and investments have a decreasing trend when the royalty percentage increases. However a more clever strategy could increase collection and investments (that as shown in these figures closely interrelated) simultaneously. The most convenient strategy from a purely economic point of view is to assign to each investor a royalty percentage that allows achieving exactly the minimum acceptable ROE

If it were possible to use this strategy, the GoL, under the assumptions of this analysis, could collect 600 million USD annually, against 550 million in case the

153

Based on this information and assumptions, we made the calculations necessary to create the Fig. 5 This figure shows clearly that as long as the royalty increases, the number of profitable projects go down. In order to

antify the impact on GoL revenues and total investments, collection in concept of royalties and income tax (IT), as a function of the percentage of royalty. For preparing this figure we assumed that investors require a minimum ROE of 13%.

Investments and GoL Revenues as a function of

Minimum ROE=13%

the analysis for a minimum ROE of 10%,

Investments and GoL Revenues as a function of

Minimum ROE=10%

confirms the trend that both GoL revenues through royalties and IT and investments have a decreasing trend when the royalty percentage increases. However a more clever strategy could increase collection and investments (that as shown in these figures are closely interrelated) simultaneously. The most convenient strategy from a purely economic point of view is to assign to each investor a royalty percentage that allows achieving exactly the minimum acceptable

to use this strategy, the GoL, under the assumptions of this analysis, could collect 600 million USD annually, against 550 million in case the


154

fixed royalty were 5%, that which maximize revenues in Fig 5.

The present strategy, based on a project by project negotiation aims to achieve this objective. However this approach has some weak points:

• Lack of transparency, • Need to agree previously on several assumptions,

some of them managed by the developer or the developer financial institution, like financial conditions, indirect costs, etc.

• Impossibility to know the minimum ROE that the developer is willing to accept.

These drawbacks may be eliminated with a tender process awarded to the bidder that offers the highest royalty (or combination of royalty + IT). Tenders properly designed are by nature transparent, and encourage bidders to internalize in the economical offer their expected ROE. However in the Lao PDR’s context tenders faces some difficulties:

• a tender awarded based on the royalty + IT requires to know in advance the electricity price, which in the case of exports would require a previous negotiation;

• it is also necessary to have a feasibility study with a tight estimation of costs and a geological survey;

• there is no experience in the use of tenders for this type of projects yet.

Nevertheless it would be possible to identify solutions to the above problems, so tenders are an alternative that deserves to be taken into consideration.

Based on this previous and preliminarily diagnosis, we will pose a set of alternatives that will be assessed in detail. The set of alternatives to be analysed may include, but not limited to [3]:

• fixed royalties and IT; • fixed royalties and IT, with some flexibility to

consider low ROE projects; • project by project negotiation, with a more

transparent procedure; • tenders were the concession is awarded to the

bidder that offers the greater royalty; • combinations of the above.

Others form of benefits for the GoL will be analysed, as participation in the equity, obtaining of part of the energy for internal consumption, etc. However the methodology of analysis would be the same, as in all the cases the GoL participation leads to a reduction in the project ROE.

The combination of different components and the relative information needs, coordination issues, financing conditions, risks and opportunities will be analysed and clearly presented in the options paper (Fig 8.)

3.3 Optimal of Public Expenditures

How much to consume, save or invest abroad, or invest domestically? The answer to this question depends on the relative rates of return to investments, as well as on the discount rate for the future consumption (the so-

called social discount rate) [1]. If the social discount rate is higher than the domestic and international rate of return to investment, then all resource revenues should be consumed today. Otherwise, they should be invested into those activities with the highest returns

The rate of return to investment abroad depends on a country’s debt levels and its intention to borrow or pay back external debt from the resource revenues. For Laos, it is probably quite high. The rate of return on domestic investment for a developing economy with high growth rates and scarce investment may be higher than the world interest rate (indeed, Lao interest rates are higher than abroad), but it also depends on a country’s risk and its ability to implement projects and thus may be not as high in Laos as it is in an average middle-income developing country.

Assuming a 20 percent equity for projects in the pipeline, the financing needs for taking equity stakes could go up to almost $160 million a year by 2018 (Figure 7). Given the constraints in borrowing that Lao PDR is facing, a financing strategy or a change in approach would need to be taken regarding the equity stakes. There has not yet been any clear indication of the government’s IPP investment policy.

Taking equity is risky. Getting a high percentage of revenues from equity stakes rather than taxes and royalties increases the risk taken by the government in each project and could lead to losses in the future. Currently, for Laos it is projected that around half of all government revenues will come from dividends. However, equity stakes, especially if they are taken up-front when the risks of the project have not yet materialized, are the riskiest source available. Instead, shareholding based on a small free carried interest (i.e. 5 percent) could be considered to reduce risk. Moreover, it could consider requiring developers to give it the option of acquiring additional shares when a project is confirmed to be commercially attractive, instead of taking large stakes up-front in projects with potentially high risk. To ensure appropriate participation in export-oriented hydropower projects, the LHSE should be designated as the government’s shareholder in these projects (see MacGeorge et al., 2009)

Fig 7: Projected Equity Investments by theGovernment of Lao PDR in Hydropower Projects (million US$)

4. RESULT AND DISCUSSION

To evaluate the fiscal options available for Laos, we propose to adopt the classification of the existing taxation system for hydropower projects that was

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proposed in the “Lao PDR Development Report 2010” [2] by the World Bank, in which a distinction was made between Primary and Secondary taxation levels.

Primary taxation level corresponds to those taxes that affect all businesses in Laos, irrespective of their nature; they include: Corporate profit tax, Business turnover tax, Excise tax and Import-Export Duties.

Secondary taxation level corresponds to those alternatives that the Government of Laos can use to extract the economic rents from a specific project. They include: Royalties, Equity participation and/or discount electricity sales.

Within the primary taxation lever, we classify those taxes included in the Lao Tax Law. This law provides clear instructions on the application of the four types of taxes that relate to hydro power projects:

• The business turnover tax on the production of electricity turnover is 5% on domestic production.

• Excise tax applies to some 15 categories of goods and services.

• Profits from the electricity exports are subject to the profit tax. A flat rate of 24 percent applies to total annual net profit.

• Dividend tax is fixed at 10 percent

Further to the Tax Law, the key for understanding the fiscal options is in the Law on the Investment Promotion which grants project developers attractive benefits, including tax holidays on: Profit tax, import and export duties.

Taking into account that most hydropower projects in Laos are aimed to export electricity to neighboring countries, the target of the options to be analyzed below will focus on evaluating alternatives for transferring economic rents from the developer to the Government. On the contrary, when projects are aimed to supply electricity to Laos, the rent extraction process will be mainly made in the PPA tariffs to be signed between the developer and the government, apart from possible revenue sharing requirements. The projected revenue of Lao PDR in Hydropower projects are shown below

Fig 8: Projected Fiscal Revenue of Lao PDR in Hydropower Projects (million US$)

It is important to mention here that in the case of

domestic projects, as the rent extraction process is based on the PPA tariffs, the introduction of primary and / or secondary taxation levels will trigger an increase in the PPA tariff, which in practical terms mean that the electricity consumers will finance the revenue sharing requirements (introduced by primary or secondary

taxation tools). This is the reason why, in the case of domestic

projects, it is necessary to distinguish between rent extraction tools and revenue sharing tools. Unlike what happens in the case of projects dedicated to export, the pure rent extraction target should not be part of the taxation framework, but on the contrary, should be delivered by the PPA price level.

5. CONCLUSIONS

Further to the rent extraction process, equity participation in the project presents some advantages that may be interesting for the Government of Laos. A significant advantage is that the government backs the development of a strategic sector which is key for Laos, both in terms of exports and social improvement.

Also, becoming a shareholder gives the government access to voting rights and detailed cost information which can be used to benchmark the performances of their generation portfolio. Moreover BOT/BOOT projects will be transferred to the GOL after the concession period.

One additional advantage is represented by the revenue stream coming from the dividends; most probably, this flow of revenues will not directly enter into the national budget but would remain in LHSE and EdL. Under this assumption, the revenue flows could be used either to reduce electricity costs in Laos or to promote development in Laos, for instance, through the electrification of the country and further investments in the sector

Based on the Lao PDR’s fiscal profile and projections until 2030, an “optimal” fiscal strategy would allow for higher investment than the pure “permanent income strategy” but would also allow for a buildup of modest savings. Specifically, if primary expenditure was around 17 percent of GDP after the spike in 2010 and gradually was increased to 20 percent of GDP, then 1 percent of GDP could potentially be saved each year, as well as will help reduce foreign debt below the LIC threshold by 2020. Such a strategy takes into account the country’s development needs as well as the macroeconomic challenges related to managing large resource revenues.

Most importantly, the revenues need to be used effectively for poverty reduction and in public investment programs as part of the implementation of the government’s development program under the NSEDP. For example, rural infrastructure has been shown to be the single most important driver of growth in Lao PDR. Other investment options that increase growth in the long run, such as human capital (including education and health as well as professional training) also should be considered.

REFERENCES

[1] Davading, Somneuk (2010) "Lao PDR: Growth Analysis for a Small Resource-Rich Transition Economy", Background Paper for the Lao Development Report

[2] Lao PDR Development Report (2010) Natural Resource Management for Sustainable Development

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(Hydropower and Mining), World Bank, Washington DC.

[3] Options Paper on Hydropower Fiscal and Revenue Sharing for Lao PDR, World Bank 2012.

[4] Power Development Plant of Lao PDR 2010.

ABBREVIATIONS

Abbreviation Words

Lao PDR Lao People’s Democratic Republic

GOL Government of Lao

IPP Producer Independence Power

BOT Transfer Build Operate

BOOT Transfer Build Own Operate

GDP Product Gross Domestic

EDL Electricity du Laos

IT Income Tax

ROE Return on Equity

USD United State Dollar

MWh Mega Watt hour

KW Kilo Watt

Annex-1

Location Installed capacity (MW) Energy Commercial Ownership Planned market

(Province) Total Domestic Export GWh Operation date

1 Nam Dong Luangprabang 1 1 5 1970 EdL Laos2 Selabam Champasak 5 5 21 1970 EdL Laos3 Nam Ngum 1 Vientiane 155 155 1002 1971 EdL Laos / Thailand4 Xeset 1 Saravane 45 45 134 1990 EdL Laos / Thailand5 Nam Ko Oudomxay 1.5 1.5 8 1996 EdL Laos6 Theun Hinboun Bolikhamxay 210 210 1620 1998 IPP Laos / Thailand7 Houay Ho Champasak/Attapeu 152.1 2.1 150 617 1999 IPP Laos / Thailand8 Nam Leuk Vientiane 60 60 218 2000 EdL Laos / Thailand9 Nam Ngay Phongsaly 1.2 1.2 5.2 2003 EdL Laos10 Nam Mang 3 Vientiane 40 40 150 2004 EdL Laos / Thailand11 Xeset 2 Saravane 76 76 300 2009 EdL Laos / Thailand12 Nam Theun 2 Khammouane 1,088 75 1,000 6,000 2009 IPP Laos / Thailand13 Nam Lik 1-2 Vientiane 100 100 435 2010 IPP Laos14 Nam Ngum 2 Vientiane 615 615 2218 2011 IPP Thailand16 Nam Tha 3 Luangnamtha 1.25 1.25 5 2011 IPP Laos17 Nam Nhone Bokeo 3 3 12 2011 IPP Laos / Thailand18 Nam Song Vientiane 6 6 25 2012 EdL Laos19 Nam Ngum 5 Xiengkhuang 120 120 507 2012 IPP Laos20 Theun Hinboun Exp. Bolikhamxay 220 220 1440 2012 IPP Thailand21 Tad Salen Savannakhet 3.2 3.2 17 2012 IPP Laos22 Nam Gnuang Bolikhamxay 60 60 316 2012 IPP Laos23 Xe Kaman 3 Xekong 250 25 225 982 2012 IPP Laos/Vietnam

No. Project


157

Annex 2

Location Installed capacity (MW) Energy Commercial


1 Nam Long Louanamtha 5 5 30 20132 Nam Ngiep 3A Xiengkuang 44 44 145 20133 Xe Nam Noy 1 Attapeu 15 15 110 20134 Nam Kong 2 Attapeu 66 66 263 20145 Nam kong 3 Attapeu 45 45 170 20146 Xe Nam Noy 6 Champasack 5 5 40 20147 Nam Sana Vientiane 14 14 49.6 20148 Nam Phanai Vientiane 15 15 126 20159 Nam Sim Huaphan 8 8 29.4 201510 Nam Hao Huaphan 15 15 110 201511 Nam Peun 1 Huaphan 27 27 127 201512 Nam Peun 2 Huaphan 12 12 56 201513 Nam Samouay Vientiane 5 5 28 201514 Nam Khan 2 Louangprabang 130 130 558 201516 Houylamphan Xekong 85 85 452 201517 Nam Chiane Xiengkuang 104 104 448 201518 Nam Mang 1 Vientiane 64 64 224 201519 Nam Lik 1 Vientiane 60 60 249 201520 Xe Kaman 1 Attapeu 290 32 258 1096 201621 Xe Kaman Xanxay Attapeu 32 32 121 201622 Nam Beng Oudomxay 34 34 137 201623 Xe Set 3 Saravan 23 23 86 201624 Nam Khan 3 Louangprabang 60 60 240 201625 Nam Hinboun Khammouan 30 30 197 201626 Nam Ou 2 Louangprabang 120 120 546 201727 Nam Ou 5 Phongsaly 240 240 1049 201728 Nam Ou 6 Phongsaly 180 180 739 201729 Nam Ngiep 2 Xiengkuang 180 180 723 201730 Nam San 3A Xiengkuang 69 69 277 201731 Nam San 3B Xiengkuang 45 45 168 201732 Xepian-Xenamnoy Attapeu 410 40 370 1788 201833 Nam Nga 2 Oudomxay 14.5 14.5 62.5 201834 Nam Mo 2 Xiengkuang 120 20 100 503 201835 Nam Phay Vientiane 86 86 420 201836 Xayaburi Xayabury 1285 60 1225 7370 201937 Houykapeu Saravan 5 5 38 201938 Houaypo Saravan 9.5 9.5 60 201939 Xelabam Exp. Saravan 7.7 7.7 37 201940 Nam Tha 1 Bokeo 168 168 756 201941 Nam Ngiep 1 Bolikhamxay 272 272 1515 201942 Nam Ngiep reg. Bolikhamxay 18 18 105 201943 Donsahong Champasack 256 56 200 2000 201944 Nam Ngum 1 Exp. Vientiane 40 40 56 202045 Xe Set 4 Saravan 10 10 110 202046 Nam Ou 1 Louangprabang 160 160 800 202047 Nam Ou 3 Louangprabang 150 150 710 202048 Nam Ou 4 Phongsaly 116 116 570 202049 Nam Ou 7 Phongsaly 190 190 915 202050 Houaykapeu 2 Saravan 5 5 22 202051 Nam Pha Bokeo 195 195 735 202052 Nam Phoun Xayabury 60 60 280 202053 Nam Pot Xiengkuang 14.5 14.5 70 202054 Nam Phouan Vientiane 52.5 52.5 205 202055 Xe Katam Champasack 62 62 380 2020

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Annex-3

No. Project Location Energy Commercial


1 Nam Ken Vientiane 5 5 19.7 2021

2 Nam Sum1 Huaphan 94 94 323 2021

3 Nam Sum3 Huaphan 197 196 635.8 2021

4 Xanakham Vientiane 660 60 600 3696 2021

5 Pakbeng Oudomxay 921 121 800 4775 2021

6 Phou Ngoy Champasack 651 151 500 3278 2021

7 Nam Suang1 Louangprabang 90 90 167 2022

8 Xe Kaman-4A Attapeu 80 80 315.8 2022

9 Nam Phak Champasack 150 150 511 2022

10 Xe Kong 3A Attapeu 105 105 419.8 2022

11 Xe Kong 3B Attapeu 100 100 393.6 2022

12 Xepian-Houaysoy Attapeu 115 115 283 2022

13 Nam Bak1 Vientiane 160 116 744.2 2023

14 Paklay Xayabury 800 100 4476 2023

16 Louangprabang Louangprabang 1200 200 6500 2023

17 Nam Ngiep-Mouangmai Bolikhamxay 25 25 160 2023

18 Nam Mouan Bolikhamxay 124 124 524 2023

19 Xekong Downstream Attapeu 76 76 387 2023

20 Xelanong 1 Savannakhet 60 60 300 2023

21 Nam Et1 Huaphan 93 3 90 333.9 2023

22 Nam Et2 Huaphan 160 160 641 2024

23 Nam Et3 Huaphan 107 107 447 2024

24 Nam Sum4 Huaphan 40 40 170 2024

25 Xe Xou Attapeu 60 60 280 2024

26 Nam Leng Phongsaly 50 50 240 2024

27 Nam Theun1 Bolikhamxay 600 100 500 2370 2024

28 Nam Nga1 Louangprabang 100 100 420 2025

29 Xe Banghieng 2 Savannakhet 12.5 12.5 68 2025

30 Xelanong 2 Saravan 45 45 170 2025

31 Nam The Xiengkouang 12 12 50 2025

32 Nam Ngiep 2A Xiengkouang 12.55 12.55 60 2025

33 Nam Ngiep 2B Xiengkouang 8.94 8.94 31.7 2025

34 Nam Ngiep 2C Xiengkouang 14.5 14.5 44.7 2026

35 Nam Ham Xayabury 5 5 16 2026

36 Xedon Saravan 20 20 80 2026

37 Nam Boun2 Phongsaly 15 15 60 2026

38 Xepon3 Saravan 54 54 222 2026

39 Nam Ang-Tabeng Attapeu 25 25 176 2026

40 Nam Ngum 3 Vientiane 460 460 2047 2026

41 Nam Suang2 Louangprabang 96 96 442 2026

42 Nam Pui Xayabury 60 60 294 2026

43 Houay Champi Champasack 5 5 27 2026

44 Nam Ngao Bokeo 20 20 85 2026

45 Ban Khoum Champasack 1872 272 1600 8430 2026

46 Nam Ngum4 Xiengkouang 220 220 822 2026

47 Nam Mo1 Xiengkouang 55 55 222 2026

48 Xebanghieng2 Savannakhet 52 52 180 2026

49 Xetanouan Savannakhet 30 30 118 2026

50 Xekong Downstream-B Attapeu 80 80 315 2027

Installed capacity (MW)


159

51 Nam Emuen Xekong 70 70 276 2027

52 Nam Theun4 Bolikhamxay 54 54 200 2027

53 Xenea Khammouan 53 53 209 2027

54 Nam Bak2 Vientiane 40 40 205 2027

55 Xekong5 Xekong 330 330 1613 2027

56 Nam Kong1 Attapeu 75 75 469 2027

57 Xe Kong4A Xekong 153 153 670 2028

58 Xe Kong4B Xekong 258 258 1130 2028

59 Nam Neun1 Huaphan 80 80 318 2028



62 Nam Feuang Vientiane 28 28 113 2028

63 Nam Ma1 Huaphan 44 44 180 2029

64 Nam Ma1A Huaphan 39 39 156 2029

65 Nam Ma2 Huaphan 30 30 117 2029

66 Nam Ma2A Huaphan 18 18 74 2029

67 Nam Ma3 Huaphan 18 18 76 2029


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