It is with great pleasure that SawitWatch welcomes the publication of this
regional study which focuses on oil palm expansion and land tenure in several
Southeast Asian palm oil producing countries (the Philippines, Thailand,
Vietnam and Cambodia) and cross-compares their experiences with the facts
and myths, stories and lessons learned from other palm oil producing countries,
more specifically, Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea.
Depending on the national legal frameworks and implementing regulations
of the aforementioned Asian states, the expansion of the palm oil industry
and the planned cultivation of new oil palm plantations have brought about
unexpected consequences and will certainly transform land tenure systems
and foster insecurities of subsistence livelihoods, conflicts and resentments,
landlessness and evictions, re-arrangements of ownership, management,
occupation, exploitation and utilisation of land, forest, water and other natural
resources