People, Environment and Landuse Systems in Mainland Southeast Asia

本研究旨在确定粮食充足和环境保护能够协调一致的生产力水平，并提出适当的措施，以实现东南亚大陆，特别是越南北部山区、老挝北部和泰国东北部的这一生产力水平。在对森林-高地-低地复合体生态经济进行全面调查的基础上，选择了越南北部山区3个、老挝北部4个、泰国东北部1个集约化研究点，对这些研究点的环境保护、土地利用、农业技术与生产力、农业经济和粮食平衡进行了调查。我们还组织了三次研讨会，第二年在万象和河内举行，第三年在清迈举行，目的不仅是在包括同行在内的项目导师之间，也在有相似兴趣的当地研究人员和政策制定者之间交流信息和想法。结果表明：1)粮食生产与环境保护在决策层面是矛盾的，但在农户层面是相互依存的。这意味着自然资源管理的持续权力下放基本上是适当的；2)现金经济正在迅速蔓延到农村地区，使农业经济从以粮食为基础转变为以现金为基础；3)赋予社区权力似乎是成功管理自然资源的关键问题。

The present study aims at identifying the productivity level under which food sufficiency and environmental protection can be harmonized and proposing the appropriate measures to achieve this productivity level in Mainland Southeast Asia, particularly in the northern mountain regions of Vietnam, the northern part of Laos and the northeastern part of Thailand. After general survey of ecology and economy of the forest-upland-lowland complex in the study, the intensive study sites including three in the northern mountain regions of Vietnam, four in the northern part of Laos and one in the northeastern part of Thailand were selected, and environmental protection, landuse, agricultural technology and productivity, farm economy and food balance were investigated in these sites. We also organized three times workshops, Vientiane and Hanoi in the second year and Chiang Mai in the third year, in order to exchange information and ideas not only among project mentors including counterparts but also local researchers and policy-makers who have similar interests. The major outcomes are, 1) food production and environmental protection are contradictory at the policy-making level, but they are interdependent at the farm level. This implies on-going decentralization of natural resources management are basically appropriate, 2) cash economy is rapidly spreading into rural areas which drastically changes farm economy from food -based one to cash-based one, and 3) empowerment of community seems to be a key issue for the successful natural resources management.