Carbon emissions from land acquisitions in Laos
Large-scale land acquisitions repeatedly fall short of their acclaimed socioeconomic benefits and are associated with unintended social, economic, and ecological costs. In Laos, the government has started to question its own “Turning Land into Capital” policy, and reviews land acquisitions or conces...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Resilience Alliance
2022-09-01
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| Series: | Ecology and Society |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol27/iss3/art45/ |
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| author | Sonja Bauernschuster Melanie Pichler Vong Nanhthavong Rasso Bernhard Michael Epprecht Simone Gingrich |
| author_facet | Sonja Bauernschuster Melanie Pichler Vong Nanhthavong Rasso Bernhard Michael Epprecht Simone Gingrich |
| author_sort | Sonja Bauernschuster |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Large-scale land acquisitions repeatedly fall short of their acclaimed socioeconomic benefits and are associated with unintended social, economic, and ecological costs. In Laos, the government has started to question its own “Turning Land into Capital” policy, and reviews land acquisitions or concessions with regard to their socioeconomic impacts. Empirical investigations of environmental impacts of land concessions, however, remain underrepresented. We link the nation-wide concession development between 2001 and 2017 with associated land use changes and quantify related land use change-induced emissions. Results show that land acquisitions for agriculture, forestry, and mining affect mainly forests and land previously used for shifting cultivation and permanent agriculture; e.g., rice paddies. Consequently, land conversions caused by concessions resulted in net carbon emissions of 4.9 Mt CO2e yr-1 on average in 2001–2017, which amounted to 34% of total emissions from land conversions. Even tree plantations that are meant to serve as net carbon sinks caused net emissions, but those data are the least robust. The relatively low carbon emission intensity of shifting cultivation compared to the high carbon emission intensity of concessions challenges the dominant narrative of shifting cultivation as a causal factor for forest degradation. Political means of fostering sustainable development include the reduction of land acquisitions because of their emissions intensity, and minimization of emissions and social conflict induced by granted concessions, for example, by allocating land with low carbon densities and obtaining consent of local land users. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T01:39:50Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b1b3dd06aad84eeca9b898068a8e195b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1708-3087 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T01:39:50Z |
| publishDate | 2022-09-01 |
| publisher | Resilience Alliance |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecology and Society |
| spelling | doaj.art-b1b3dd06aad84eeca9b898068a8e195b2022-12-22T03:53:14ZengResilience AllianceEcology and Society1708-30872022-09-012734510.5751/ES-13395-27034513395Carbon emissions from land acquisitions in LaosSonja Bauernschuster0Melanie Pichler1Vong Nanhthavong2Rasso Bernhard3Michael Epprecht4Simone Gingrich5University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Department of Economics and Social Sciences (WiSo), Institute of Social Ecology (SEC)Institute of Social Ecology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, AustriaCentre for Development and Environment (CDE), University of BernUniversity of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Department of Economics and Social Sciences (WiSo), Institute of Social Ecology (SEC)Centre for Development and Environment (CDE), University of BernUniversity of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Department of Economics and Social Sciences (WiSo), Institute of Social Ecology (SEC)Large-scale land acquisitions repeatedly fall short of their acclaimed socioeconomic benefits and are associated with unintended social, economic, and ecological costs. In Laos, the government has started to question its own “Turning Land into Capital” policy, and reviews land acquisitions or concessions with regard to their socioeconomic impacts. Empirical investigations of environmental impacts of land concessions, however, remain underrepresented. We link the nation-wide concession development between 2001 and 2017 with associated land use changes and quantify related land use change-induced emissions. Results show that land acquisitions for agriculture, forestry, and mining affect mainly forests and land previously used for shifting cultivation and permanent agriculture; e.g., rice paddies. Consequently, land conversions caused by concessions resulted in net carbon emissions of 4.9 Mt CO2e yr-1 on average in 2001–2017, which amounted to 34% of total emissions from land conversions. Even tree plantations that are meant to serve as net carbon sinks caused net emissions, but those data are the least robust. The relatively low carbon emission intensity of shifting cultivation compared to the high carbon emission intensity of concessions challenges the dominant narrative of shifting cultivation as a causal factor for forest degradation. Political means of fostering sustainable development include the reduction of land acquisitions because of their emissions intensity, and minimization of emissions and social conflict induced by granted concessions, for example, by allocating land with low carbon densities and obtaining consent of local land users.https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol27/iss3/art45/climate impactconcessionsemissions of land usegreen growthtree plantations |
| spellingShingle | Sonja Bauernschuster Melanie Pichler Vong Nanhthavong Rasso Bernhard Michael Epprecht Simone Gingrich Carbon emissions from land acquisitions in Laos Ecology and Society climate impact concessions emissions of land use green growth tree plantations |
| title | Carbon emissions from land acquisitions in Laos |
| title_full | Carbon emissions from land acquisitions in Laos |
| title_fullStr | Carbon emissions from land acquisitions in Laos |
| title_full_unstemmed | Carbon emissions from land acquisitions in Laos |
| title_short | Carbon emissions from land acquisitions in Laos |
| title_sort | carbon emissions from land acquisitions in laos |
| topic | climate impact concessions emissions of land use green growth tree plantations |
| url | https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol27/iss3/art45/ |
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