Survivability and Autonomy in Southeast Asia: Perspectives from Land Use Changes and Resource Chains

In tropical Asia, monoculture plantations represented by para-rubber, eucalyptus and acacia have expanded far beyond ecologically suitable habitats. A decrease in the quantity of natural forest and a change in forest quality have influenced socio-cultural and ecological changes in the region. How have people coped with these severe changes as residents, communities and countries in tropics face new outside forces? This feasibility study addresses the challenge of clarification of proximate causes, remote causes and driving forces for land-use and resource use changes from the viewpoint of countermeasures against outside forces affecting the tropics.

Purpose of the project

Photo 1  Plantation of Tabunoki trees (Machilus spp.) in Northern Laos Local residents plant Tabunoki tree in fallow lands on a small scale.

Photo 2  Plantation of Tabunoki trees (Machilus spp.) in Southern Laos A land use like agroforestry which plants Tabunoki trees with banana and upland rice are widely seen in Lao-Vietnamese border areas.

Tropical regions have experienced a turbulent history of colonial rule by the great Western powers and Japan, and civil war and political turmoil have lasted until recent years. At present, open economic policies, globalization, and population increase are having an increasing impact on the tropics. However, the tropics endure difficult times in their own livelihood strategy and are building a new society. This FS attempts to provide a clarification of survivability and regional autonomy that contribute to earth coexistence by analyzing land-use and the resource chain in Southeast Asia, and tries to provide a future vision of the tropics.

Research approaches

This project tries to illustrate land use and resource use changes in tropical regions, focusing on Southeast Asia. New research approaches of resource chain that analysis complicated connection of produced/gathered resources caused by globalization, special indicator for relationship between human agency and land use change, and environmental decision-making process will be adopted. We would like to present concepts of “survivability” and “regional autonomy” as future possibilities in tropical and sub-tropical regions.

1) Survivability in the tropics: It seems as if the people in Southeast Asia influenced on outsiders. However, they are stronger than most people realize. It may look like an ad hoc measure to various changes, but the warm climate condition makes it possible to offer a sustainable production infrastructure. We would like to discuss their high flexibility from the viewpoint of the environmental possibilism theory.

2) Autonomy in the tropics: We would like to identify proximate factors for land use and resource use changes in the tropics by focusing on not only Western and Japanese invasions or the Chinese hegemony, but also the current subsistence strategy, which refers to decisions made by residents/communities/countries on the best way to survive.

Expected outcomes

1) Predicting levels of new production and loss of resources by providing a comprehensive picture of ongoing land use and ecosystem changes in Southeast Asia

2) Making socio-economic, ecological and political guidelines for governance of resource management (production, distribution and consumption control)

3) Creating a mechanism of distributing benefits from eco-system services to people evenly

4) Describing the people's ideas of future possibilities from the viewpoint of survivability and autonomy in Southeast Asia and feedback to other tropical regions.

Figure 1  Resource chains of Tabu-ko, wood powder made from Tabunoki trees (Machilus spp.), which is used for natural plant-based binders of incense

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