Thoughts on fieldwork in Laos 21.2–15.3.2012

The atmosphere was excited and somewhat anxious on February 21, when we first landed on hot and sunny Vientiane. Still the mission of our trip was clear in our heads. After spending a good part of the winter familiarising ourselves with the focus group discussions already collected in the FFRC's INES project, we had now come to Laos for a month to gather further data for our Master's theses. The theses are written as part of the INES project and, in line with its objectives, they address the interlinkages between energy and livelihoods. More specifically, one concentrates on the adaptation and resilience of livelihoods towards environmental changes, considering also whether access to electricity can enhance adaptation capacity. As for the other, it examines how electricity is adapted as part of people's energy and livelihood related knowledge system. To help us answer these questions, we interviewed experts from several organizations and conducted a week of fieldwork in the rural district of Fuang in Vientiane Province, a 3-hour ride from the nation's capital.

Fishing in the Nam Lik reservoire.

During the fieldwork we visited five villages within a 20 km radius of the district capital where we stayed. Two of them were located along the river Nam Lik and were affected by a nearby dam. In the third village lived people who were resettled there after Nam Ngum II dam project forced them to leave their previous homes. The last two villages were located in the mountains and were inhabited by Hmongs, one of the numerous ethnic minorities in Laos. On our field trip we were accompanied by Mr. Saithong Phommavong, who served not only as an interpreter but also as an invaluable guide to the region.

In each of the villages four interview sessions were arranged: one with the village head man, one with a focus group of 4–6 persons and two with individuals of different backgrounds. The themes of the interviews were livelihoods, environmental change, energy and future development. The interviewees were reached through the village head man and a district official, who chose suitable people according to our criteria. We were particularly interested in hearing the views of women and people who defined their livelihood as poor or sufficient. In addition to interviewing, data was gathered through ethnographic observation.

Though the data we collected in the villages is waiting to be analysed in detail, some observations can already be stated. Concerning environmental change, we noted that the Nam Lik dam had not affected people’s livelihoods as extensively as we expected. Still the quality of the water had deteriorated and it could not be used for bathing or household purposes anymore. The smell of the water was striking. The quality of fish was worse, too. Moreover, most of the villages had already experienced frequent unseasonal weather conditions in past years and were worried about storms. In the resettlement village we also saw some of the effects that environmental change in the form of a major dam project can have on people’s lives. Some people had adapted their occupations to the new conditions but others trying to go on with only rice cultivation were more unfortunate.

Regarding energy and livelihoods, all of the villages we visited were connected to a grid. Even the poorest in the villages had access to electricity. If they did not have their own meter, they shared one with their neighbour. From the livelihood point of view, electricity proved to be most widely utilised in activities located at home, such as in weaving and in cooking. We did, however, also come across some less popular but interesting uses of electricity, such as fish raising. The most common service provided by electricity was, by far, lighting.

Focus group in the Hmong village of Nong Por.

All in all, the fieldwork was an educating experience. We got to explore rural Laos, gain new insights on our research themes and learn research skills that can only be acquired through practice. We are truly grateful to FFRC and especially the Mekong team for providing us with this wonderful opportunity. Last but not least, we would like to thank all the people we met during our fieldwork for the kindness that they received us with.

Heidi Tuhkanen and Riikka Yliluoma

COOL dissemination workshop in Phnom Penh, 28 Feb 2012

A research project Adequacy of Climate Change Mitigation Initiatives in Laos and Cambodia: Comparing Options and Analysing Obstacles in Local Context (COOL) investigated the implementation of four climate initiatives in Cambodia and Laos. The initiatives were Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), Reduction of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD), Voluntary Carbon Markets, and Energy and Environment Partnership (EEP).

Dissemination of the research results were organized in Laos and Cambodia in February 2012. The second of the COOL workshops took place on the 28th of February at the Sunway Hotel in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Registration for the event started at 7.30am!! It was organized together by the Climate Change Office of the Ministry of Environment of Cambodia and Finland Futures Research Centre’s team. It gathered a large audience as a bit more than 150 people attended the seminar.

We were also honoured to have welcome remarks from H.E. Mark Gooding, Ambassador of the UK to Cambodia, on behalf of the European Union. Opening remarks were given by H.E. Dr. Mok Mareth, Senior Minister of Environment. There was a real big world feeling to the event with camera’s flashing and professional video-recorders and TV-cameras being moved around the room during the first remarks. We felt like this would probably be the first high-level event for the new logo of FFRC (check it out from the bottom of www.mekong.fi). However, as usual, our honoured guests had other commitments and had to leave after their remarks. Most of the reporters left with them. Luckily the other participants stayed, so I think they were honestly interested in what we had to say.

The first half of the day consisted of presentations on the CoP-17 in Durban: what had been agreed on, what was Cambodia’s position in the negotiations, how EU and Oxfam felt about the outcome, and what will happen next. However, after the lunch break our team finally got to work.

Hanna Kaisti started with an overview of the COOL project, introducing the team, scope of the research, and its objectives. Try Thuon and Otto Bruun started presenting the actual case studies with a look into REDD+ in Cambodia and Laos. The topic seemed to of interest to the audience and many questions followed after their presentation. After that Visa Tuominen (that’s me) was up with a presentation on the Energy and Environment Partnership, which was followed by the last coffee break of the day.

In the last session Hanna Kaisti gave her presentation on Voluntary Carbon Market’s. Even though the day had been long, interesting questions and comments were voiced. A comment from the audience pointed out that some NGOs find themselves in a difficult situation. On the other hand donors are not willing to provide official development assistance (ODA) for getting a certification which can bring in hundreds of thousands of euros for the organisations. But neither private investors are making the investments as they lack the tools to evaluate these kind of projects.

This is not a thoroughly thought idea, only from the top of my head: perhaps financing for these kind of risk-investments, that in the best case scenario mitigate climate change while bringing sustainable development and results for poverty reduction, could be provided by multilateral development finance institutions. They have the sufficient know-how on both climate change mitigation and development cooperation. They also have knowledge on suitable finance mechanisms and funds combined with the capability to make risk-assessments on these kind of projects. And, they have the mandate both for development finance and climate finance. Still, another really interesting question is: how well do climate change mitigation and pro-poor development go hand-in-hand?

But now I’m just getting carried away. Our successful event was given a good end by Mira Käkönen’s presentation on CDM and CDM projects in the region. Overall, I have to say we did quite well. The event also managed to gain visibility in the local press. On the right you can find the story published in The Cambodian Daily. Click on the image to enlarge.

The presentations are available on our website.