Agricultural commercialization in borderlands: Capturing the transformation of a tropical forest frontier through participatory mapping
Forest-frontier landscapes in the humid tropics display distinct land use change dynamics compared to other world regions, providing useful examples of current global environmental and development challenges. In northwestern Laos, part of the former Golden Triangle region, investments in value chain...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2022.1048470/full |
| _version_ | 1797955308752994304 |
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| author | Phokham Latthachack Phokham Latthachack Jorge C. Llopis Jorge C. Llopis Andreas Heinimann Andreas Heinimann Sithong Thongmanivong Thoumthone Vongvisouk Peter Messerli Peter Messerli Peter Messerli Julie G. Zaehringer Julie G. Zaehringer Julie G. Zaehringer |
| author_facet | Phokham Latthachack Phokham Latthachack Jorge C. Llopis Jorge C. Llopis Andreas Heinimann Andreas Heinimann Sithong Thongmanivong Thoumthone Vongvisouk Peter Messerli Peter Messerli Peter Messerli Julie G. Zaehringer Julie G. Zaehringer Julie G. Zaehringer |
| author_sort | Phokham Latthachack |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Forest-frontier landscapes in the humid tropics display distinct land use change dynamics compared to other world regions, providing useful examples of current global environmental and development challenges. In northwestern Laos, part of the former Golden Triangle region, investments in value chains for commercial crops—mainly to fulfill Chinese market demands—have triggered various land use changes and put increasing pressure on remaining biodiverse forest areas. Capturing the existing land use change trajectories is a key initial step toward further studies assessing land use change impacts. However, methodological challenges arise when conducting spatially-explicit change assessments in these regions, given the high temporal variability of land use at the plot level, compounded by the paucity of good quality satellite imagery. Thus, we applied a novel approach combining analysis of very high-resolution (VHR) satellite imagery with participatory mapping. This enabled joint collection of annual land use information for the last 17 years together with local land users, shedding light on temporally dense land system dynamics. For decades, the government of Laos has sought to halt shifting cultivation, labeling it environmentally degrading, and to reduce poverty through promotion of permanent commodity-oriented commercial agriculture. Among other things, this gave rise to a boom in banana and rubber investments in Luang Namtha province in order to satisfy growing Chinese demand for these commodities. The present paper investigates the impact of these cash crop booms on land use transitions and whether they reduced pressure on forest-frontier areas, as ostensibly desired by government authorities. Our study is among the first to demonstrate in a spatially-explicit manner that subsistence agriculture—in less than two decades—has virtually disappeared in northern Laos due to diverse cash-crop production and agricultural commercialization initiatives linked to Chinese investments. As subsistence-focused cultivation systems are being replaced by land uses solely aimed at commercial production for export, a telecoupled land system is being developed in northwestern Laos with potentially manifold impacts for sustainable development. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T23:31:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c3e206cfcc0742e8a32c1e49c56b2a32 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2571-581X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T23:31:03Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems |
| spelling | doaj.art-c3e206cfcc0742e8a32c1e49c56b2a322023-01-12T06:38:42ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems2571-581X2023-01-01610.3389/fsufs.2022.10484701048470Agricultural commercialization in borderlands: Capturing the transformation of a tropical forest frontier through participatory mappingPhokham Latthachack0Phokham Latthachack1Jorge C. Llopis2Jorge C. Llopis3Andreas Heinimann4Andreas Heinimann5Sithong Thongmanivong6Thoumthone Vongvisouk7Peter Messerli8Peter Messerli9Peter Messerli10Julie G. Zaehringer11Julie G. Zaehringer12Julie G. Zaehringer13Centre for Development and Environment (CDE), University of Bern, Bern, SwitzerlandFaculty of Environmental Sciences, National University of Laos, Vientiane, LaosCentre for Development and Environment (CDE), University of Bern, Bern, SwitzerlandSchool of Natural Sciences, Bangor University, Bangor, United KingdomInstitute of Geography, University of Bern, Bern, SwitzerlandWyss Academy for Nature, University of Bern, Bern, SwitzerlandFaculty of Forest Science, National University of Laos, Vientiane, LaosFaculty of Forest Science, National University of Laos, Vientiane, LaosCentre for Development and Environment (CDE), University of Bern, Bern, SwitzerlandInstitute of Geography, University of Bern, Bern, SwitzerlandWyss Academy for Nature, University of Bern, Bern, SwitzerlandCentre for Development and Environment (CDE), University of Bern, Bern, SwitzerlandInstitute of Geography, University of Bern, Bern, SwitzerlandWyss Academy for Nature, University of Bern, Bern, SwitzerlandForest-frontier landscapes in the humid tropics display distinct land use change dynamics compared to other world regions, providing useful examples of current global environmental and development challenges. In northwestern Laos, part of the former Golden Triangle region, investments in value chains for commercial crops—mainly to fulfill Chinese market demands—have triggered various land use changes and put increasing pressure on remaining biodiverse forest areas. Capturing the existing land use change trajectories is a key initial step toward further studies assessing land use change impacts. However, methodological challenges arise when conducting spatially-explicit change assessments in these regions, given the high temporal variability of land use at the plot level, compounded by the paucity of good quality satellite imagery. Thus, we applied a novel approach combining analysis of very high-resolution (VHR) satellite imagery with participatory mapping. This enabled joint collection of annual land use information for the last 17 years together with local land users, shedding light on temporally dense land system dynamics. For decades, the government of Laos has sought to halt shifting cultivation, labeling it environmentally degrading, and to reduce poverty through promotion of permanent commodity-oriented commercial agriculture. Among other things, this gave rise to a boom in banana and rubber investments in Luang Namtha province in order to satisfy growing Chinese demand for these commodities. The present paper investigates the impact of these cash crop booms on land use transitions and whether they reduced pressure on forest-frontier areas, as ostensibly desired by government authorities. Our study is among the first to demonstrate in a spatially-explicit manner that subsistence agriculture—in less than two decades—has virtually disappeared in northern Laos due to diverse cash-crop production and agricultural commercialization initiatives linked to Chinese investments. As subsistence-focused cultivation systems are being replaced by land uses solely aimed at commercial production for export, a telecoupled land system is being developed in northwestern Laos with potentially manifold impacts for sustainable development.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2022.1048470/fullland use changecash cropsforest frontierparticipatory mappingremote sensingshifting cultivation |
| spellingShingle | Phokham Latthachack Phokham Latthachack Jorge C. Llopis Jorge C. Llopis Andreas Heinimann Andreas Heinimann Sithong Thongmanivong Thoumthone Vongvisouk Peter Messerli Peter Messerli Peter Messerli Julie G. Zaehringer Julie G. Zaehringer Julie G. Zaehringer Agricultural commercialization in borderlands: Capturing the transformation of a tropical forest frontier through participatory mapping Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems land use change cash crops forest frontier participatory mapping remote sensing shifting cultivation |
| title | Agricultural commercialization in borderlands: Capturing the transformation of a tropical forest frontier through participatory mapping |
| title_full | Agricultural commercialization in borderlands: Capturing the transformation of a tropical forest frontier through participatory mapping |
| title_fullStr | Agricultural commercialization in borderlands: Capturing the transformation of a tropical forest frontier through participatory mapping |
| title_full_unstemmed | Agricultural commercialization in borderlands: Capturing the transformation of a tropical forest frontier through participatory mapping |
| title_short | Agricultural commercialization in borderlands: Capturing the transformation of a tropical forest frontier through participatory mapping |
| title_sort | agricultural commercialization in borderlands capturing the transformation of a tropical forest frontier through participatory mapping |
| topic | land use change cash crops forest frontier participatory mapping remote sensing shifting cultivation |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2022.1048470/full |
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