In the 2000s, Laos was one frontier of a global land rush, and experienced a rapid influx of foreign agribusiness investors. At the forefront of this rush were Chinese rubber investors who were granted over 90,000 ha of land, the vast majority of which was contracted between 2006-2008. By the 2010s, however, investors were abandoning their pursuit of direct investments in land. Various factors explain this shift, including tightening Lao state policies, Chinese state incentives, and a global price drop in rubber. As a result, Chinese rubber investors have adapted their strategies for doing business in Laos. Interestingly, while investors are no longer seeking control over land directly, they maintain their control over the rubber supply chain (and the land used to produce rubber) through other means, justified through new narratives of sustainability and development. Meanwhile, Lao state and international actors’ efforts to better govern the rubber sector are rendered less effective by their focus on land as investors let go of land to grab other levers of control.
Juliet Lu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Forest Resources Management and the School for Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia. She is a political ecologist focused on the implications of China’s growing investments in land and other resources in Southeast Asia and beyond. Dr. Lu’s research examines conflicts and governance issues around resource extraction and intensive land use. She focuses on transnational land investments, namely Chinese rubber plantations in Laos, the promotion of monoculture plantations at the expense of more biodiverse systems, and the rise of private sector sustainable governance initiatives worldwide.