Creating poverty in Laos

CREATING POVERTY IN LAOS: THE ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK AND INDUSTRIAL TREE PLANTATIONS

Village lands being cleared for Oji Paper's industrial tree plantations, Pakkading, Bolikhamsay province, March 2006.

According to its own internal reports and a formal evaluation, the ADB’s Industrial Tree Plantation Project in Laos was a disaster. It created and increased poverty and indebtedness. It replaced forests important to the livelihoods of local communities with eucalyptus plantations that then failed. Loan funds went missing and the Bank is investing allegations of corruption. Download article.

A World Rainforest Movement briefing paper - By Chris Lang and Bruce Shoemaker, April 2006