“Tenure-Scape” Approach to Analyze the Agrarian and Environmental Transition in the Mekong Region and Its Impacts on Environmental Sustainability

Titled “Improving Governance of Tenure in Policy and Practice: Agrarian and Environment Transition in the Mekong Region and Its Impacts on Sustainability Analyzed through the ‘tenure-scape’ Approach”, the contribution was published (January 2023) in the peer-reviewed academic journal “Sustainability” together with fellow FAO colleague Louisa Jansen (lead-author).

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Why is this article relevant?

1.Analytical deep dive into the impact the Green Revolution and global commodity boom (rubber and coffee) on sustainability of the agrarian and environmental transition in the Mekong region (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Viet Nam) with transferable lessons learned for other geographic regions;

2.Introducing the “tenure-scape” approach as a new, qualitative analysis that combines integrated landscape management, transformative governance and rights-based approaches placing legitimate tenure rights at the centre (including legal and customary rights);

3.Analytically challenges the “concession model of land-based investments” model with a suggested alternative to apply the “tenure-scape” approach to:

• re-evaluate the potential contribution of small-scale producers within the wider physical and societal landscape;

• move towards a more secure and equitable future for those at risk of being excluded from effective access to use of and control over land, fishers, forests and water resources that are forming the basis for their livelihoods;

4.Illustrates how this approach is incorporated in large-scale development programs such as the “Dryland Sustainable Landscape Impact Program (DSL-IP) and Food Systems, Land Use and restoration (FOLUR-IP) financed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to accelerate action and reach impacts at scale.