PLUP, stands for Participatory Land Use Planning, is an approach for planning land use and allocating land & forest land by engaging with relevant sectors, local authorities and villagers. This can be flexible depending on specific context and conditions in the target villages by having an obvious timeframe and certain principles. The implementation of PLUP is to establish references & directions for villagers to be granted land/forest use rights including land titling in the future under relevant laws and regulations.
FALUPAM is an iterative approach for land use planning at the village and village cluster level. It is a set of tools that provides Lao Government (GoL) agencies, investors, donor partners and NGOs the ability to carry out integrated resource planning and monitoring of forests and agricultural lands in an inclusive way, by engaging and working together with local authorities and villagers. The approach is based on the recognition of traditional livelihoods of the uplands and designed in order to contribute to the stabilization of shifting cultivation landscapes, promote long-fallowing and to increase of forest cover. The overall goal of FALUPAM is to ensure the sustainable and equitable use of agriculture and forest land by and for local land users. Based on this it has three primary objectives: To develop forest and agricultural land zonation and management plans that reflect local needs and priorities and are owned and implemented by local villagers To develop forest and agricultural land zonation and management plans that meet government requirements and can be approved at local and national level To develop forest and agricultural land zonation and management plans that ensure the sustainable use of local resources and Agro-Biodiversity.
MicroLUP is an approach used to demarcate land, identifying land use types, developing management plans for land protection, land development and land use at the micro level by researching, discussing, and collecting data alongside with the unity among local authorities to assemble all relevant data into a land use plan at the village/village cluster levels. This land use plan is proposed by DONRE and approved by its district governor.
Land allocation is an approach to determine land demarcation, land use types at the national level with its objectives to achieve the optimization of land use, land management, and land development for social-economic development as well as national defense and security. Land allocation can be divided into different levels: the national, provincial, Vientiane capital, district, town, village cluster and village levels. Each level of the land allocation plan has identified its own responsibilities and land demarcation clearly.
Objectives of Village Participatory Land Use Planning 1. To disseminate government policies related to participatory land use planning at the village level. 2. To explain formats, stages, steps, and regulations used in the implementation of participatory agricultural land use planning at the village level - appropriately based on actual contexts and conditions. 3. To provide an explanation on rights, duties, roles, and responsibilities among relevant partners in order to further implement the participatory agricultural land plan successfully at the village level. 4. To advise on directions, and participatory coordination between participatory agricultural land planning, and land registration and titling components in rural areas. 5. To provide knowledge and technical capacity, in the matter of participatory agricultural land planning, to district, provincial and project staff across the country.
Village Forest Management Planning is done as sectoral forest planning based on an existing PLUP. The Village forest boundaries are delineated and demarcated and a detailed village forest map is produced. Followed by a Participatory Forest Resources Assessment (PFRA) and Basic Forest Inventory which leads to the preparation of a 5-year Village Forest Management Plan (VFMP). Additionally, annual plans of Operation are produced and a Village Forest Management Agreement. The implementation of the plan is monitored and evaluated.
For more information on the different land use planning approaches you can download the manuals and guidelines in the download section under guideline/toolbox