Co-creating solutions for the sustainable development of benzoin landscapes in Laos: A case study to reveal the aspirations and needs of local residents

Abstract

To stay within the planetary boundaries, a radical transformation of all economic systems is needed. This includes rural areas in the Global South, where the quest to overcome poverty all too often focusses on short-term economic growth with detrimental dis-benefits for of natural resources and biodiversity. Sustainable landscape investment is promising to operationalize transformative pathways towards sustainability as it seeks to contribute to multiple elements of landscape sustainability and human well-being: economic production, ecosystems, biodiversity, social bonds as well as financial returns. Together with local benzoin farming communities in shifting cultivation landscapes of Laos we co-developed desirable and most feasible scenarios for the future land use. We identified opportunities that facilitate, and obstacles that hinder the realization of these scenarios by use of backcasting, a transdisciplinary research method. Our study showed that benzoin farming communities see their unique heritage on sustainable benzoin resin production as key asset to reach their vision for the future. They strive for socio-economic development: They developed scenarios based on the intensification of agricultural land use and diversification of income sources through the production of agricultural commodities. Villagers had no knowledge on how to integrate the safeguarding of natural resources and biodiversity conservation into their portfolio of livelihood activities, and financial schemes for these activities had so far not been explored with them. Village communities desired investments in social infrastructure in their villages and material wealth for their families. They identified main obstacles for sustainable benzoin farming as (1) lack of technical innovation and local processing, (2) lack of government support for marketing; (3) lack of market knowledge and price negotiation power; and finally (4) lack of rule of law (theft, illegal benzoin trading). Our results and learnings provide base knowledge for the establishment of a living-lab for sustainable landscape investment in benzoin resin production landscapes of Norther Laos. They furthermore feed into current discussions in Switzerland on how to further sustainable trade of agricultural products and provide insights on potential future contributions from Swiss development cooperation for supporting just transitions in shifting cultivation areas