National Assembly members yesterday debated the weak points of the current forestry law that have resulted in the continuous decline of the country's forests for several decades.
But members remained undecided on whether to continue the government's policy of giving timber quotas to poor villagers and officials to build houses, as part of poverty reduction efforts.
NA member for Vientiane Prof Dr Bountieme Phissamay said the policy should be scrapped in accordance with the current economic situation, and that the government should instead consider providing monetary assistance to the poor.
The policy had been enforced since 1996, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
His proposal was made to address the ongoing problem that poor people who were given quotas often sold the timber to business owners.
Prof Dr Bountieme said the timber quotas should only be given to those who did something to protect the country's forests, such as villagers who maintained forest areas near their homes.
However, NA member for Savannakhet province Dr Khampheui Phanthachone disagreed with the suggestion to end timber quotas, saying this would only further disadvantage poor people.
He said that to address the problem, the government should set up a monitoring committee to decide which people should be given timber quotas.
NA member for Luang Prabang province Mr Singkham Phommalat agreed that timber quotas for poor villagers should be continued, and that quota volumes should be increased from th e current 5 cubic metres per family to 10 cubic metres.
Mr Singkham said he was following up on the complaints of some villagers who claimed that once their allocated timber was processed at the sawmill, the end result for certain types of wood was far less timber than was needed to build a house.
However, the majority of members agreed that villagers should be encouraged to process the timber themselves, instead of using a sawmill, as this would leave them with more wood to build houses.
Concerning the issue of government-employed loggers, many members agreed that this sector should not be government-owned, and should form part of the business sector instead. The government already oversees the sector, and carrying out the logging activities it is monitoring is inappropriate, members said.
Some commented that the sector should be more involved in planting trees, rather than simply cutting them down. They also said the new law should highlight the important relationship between villagers and forests.
Laos is positioning itself to become the ‘battery of Asia' and critics said this goal would be impossible unless the country's forests are preserved because forests are essential for the water that feeds the rivers on which dams are constructed.
Enforcing any laws seems to be the huge challenge for the LPRP. Having provincials officials running their own things in their part of the province is a huge problem for the country. I can't imagine they can't enforce it, after all aren't they communist? it shouldn't be hard. Soviet did it, China doing it, why can't LPRP do it?
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"Because I criticized Laos government and it policies, it does not mean I want Laos to remain poor nor do I think Lao people are lazy or uneducated."
