LAUNCHING WORKSHOP STATE OF LAND IN THE MEKONG REGION

LAUNCHING WORKSHOP
State of the Land in the Mekong Region
Pan Pacific Hotel in Hanoi, 8 November 2019

The launch of the The State of Land in the Mekong Region (SoL) Report was attended by members of the Central Party, National Committees, representatives from local and international NGOs, and members of the research community. Ms Vu Thi Bich Hop, Chair of SRD’s BoT and Executive Director was invited to be panellist together with Government representatives and Oxfam.

Attendees at the launching workshop. Photo: SRD

Coordinated by the Centre for Development and Environment (GRET) and the Mekong Region Land Governance (MRLG), the SoL Report is the result of extensive research and consultation from across the Mekong Region and around the world, framed around five areas: land-dependent people; land resource base; distribution of land resources across society; recognition and formalisation of smallholder land rights; and land governance and administration.
Ms Hop represented CSOs amongst a panel of experts which included; Dr. Dang Kim Son, Former Director of IPSARD; Mr. Pham Quang Tu, Deputy Country Director, Oxfam in Vietnam; and Dr. Nguyen Dinh Tho, Head of Department of Economy and Land Fund Development, General Department of Land Administration, at the roundtable discussion on; what the Vietnamese Government should do for the protection and security of tenure rights of smallholder farmers.

                                                                                               Panellist in the panel discussion. Photo: SRD
Given the experience of SRD with FLEGT and REDD+ Program, Ms Hop shared her perspective on issues relating to gender and land governance/tenure. She mentioned that there are 1,5 millions households (HHs) with total areas of 1,6 millions ha of planting forests. According to the survey that SRD conducted in 2018 with 500 HHs in 4 provinces, about 16,4% HHs had no evidence of legal forest land. Additionally, 25% of interviewed households had land use right certificates (LURCs) in name of both husband and wife, while 64% had LURCs in name of husband only. This places women at high risk being excluded from getting access to capital, training insurance and signing in business contracts.

Mrs. Vu Thi Bich Hop made a speech at the panel discussion. Photo: SRD

The event offered a great opportunity for Government officials, academia and development workers, and media working on environmental, social, forest, land and economic issues to discuss how key land issues in Vietnam are addressed in policies and practices.

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