As a contribution to the Dialogue on Water, Food and the Environment, the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (FAORAP) and the World Conservation Union (IUCN) initiated a collaborative field study to investigate the relationships between living aquatic resources, rice agriculture and rural livelihoods.
The goal of the Dialogue on Water, Food and the Environment is to:
Improve water resources management by bridging the gap between the food and environmental sectors.
Improve the links between the sectoral approaches that dominate policy making and implementation, particularly at the national level.
The Dialogue is intended to provide a mechanism by which the differing objectives of water-for-food and water-for-nature can be reconciled. However, there is a further dimension: the function of water and wetlands (aquatic environments) as a source of food. In this respect, the objectives of water-for-food and conservation are inextricably linked. Fishing and foraging for aquatic animals are often an integral part of rural food strategies and are as much about the management of water and aquatic environments as they are about the management of land. Rural people may have water management strategies that seek not only to ensure agricultural yields, but also to ensure the production of associated aquatic flora and fauna. There is a concern that development planning does not appreciate the ecological and livelihood functions and values of rice fields and adjoining wetlands. This study illustrates the importance of both aquatic resources and rice-based agriculture in rural livelihoods in Southeast Asia, and highlights the need for integrated water resource management.
The four-week field study was conducted in Attapeu Province, the Lao Peoples’ Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) and involved local stakeholders in participatory assessment of the role of and nutritional value of aquatic resources in the livelihoods of rural people. This initiative complements the UNDP/GEF/IUCN/MRC Mekong River Basin Wetland Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Use Programme that works in partnership with governments and local people to improve policies and mechanisms for developing and managing wetlands in a sustainable manner. The study further complements a number of regional initiatives that are concerned with the role of aquatic resources and their management in the livelihoods of rural people in Asia (Friend & Funge-Smith, 2003).
There is a concern that development planning does not appreciate the ecological and livelihood functions and values of rice fields and adjoining wetlands.
Attapeu Province is located in the southeastern part of Lao PDR, bordering Viet Nam and Cambodia. The province covers 1 012 000 hectares of land, 70 percent of which is still forested. Attapeu straddles the Se Kong River and its tributaries the Se Kamon, and Se Pian. Sixty percent of the land area is mountainous and the remainder consists of river valleys and lowlands. The province consists of five districts and has a population of just over 200 000 consisting of 14 ethnic groups. A team consisting of an expert on participatory assessment, a nutritionist, and members of local agriculture and public health authorities conducted a series of village and household level activities in selected villages in Attapeu Province during two missions in November and December, 2002 (four weeks in total).
