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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Laos
Index
Expanding commercial exploitation of forests, plans for
additional hydroelectric facilities, foreign demands for
wild
animals and nonwood forest products for food and
traditional
medicines, and a growing population have brought new and
increasing
attention to the forests. Traditionally, forests have been
important sources of wild foods, herbal medicines, and
timber for
house construction. Even into the 1990s, the government
viewed the
forest as a valued reserve of natural products for
noncommercial
household consumption. Government efforts to preserve
valuable
hardwoods for commercial extraction have led to measures
to
prohibit swidden cultivation throughout the country
(see Agriculture and Forestry
, ch. 3). Further, government
restrictions
on clearing forestland for swidden cropping in the late
1980s,
along with attempts to gradually resettle upland swidden
farming
villages
(ban--see Glossary)
to lowland locations
suitable
for paddy rice cultivation, had significant effects on
upland
villages. Traditionally, villages rely on forest products
as a food
reserve during years of poor rice harvest and as a regular
source
of fruits and vegetables. By the 1990s, however, these
gathering
systems were breaking down in many areas. At the same
time,
international concern about environmental degradation and
the loss
of many wildlife species unique to Laos has also prompted
the
government to consider the implications of these
developments.
Data as of July 1994
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