Reuniting Agriculture and Nature in Lao PDR
A practical pathway to rural prosperity, nutritious food and living landscapes
Reuniting Agriculture and Nature in Lao PDR explores how the country could build a more integrated model of agricultural development that strengthens rural livelihoods while restoring the ecological systems on which food production depends.
The essay argues that Lao PDR does not lack policies, strategies or development initiatives. The greater challenge is policy coherence: aligning agriculture, nutrition, biodiversity, climate, finance and rural development around shared outcomes and translating them into coordinated action at landscape and community levels.
It proposes a Lao Living Food Landscapes approach built around five connected outcomes: stronger rural livelihoods, nutritious food, resilience to shocks, biodiversity, and healthy ecosystem function. It also examines practical leverage points including public procurement, agroforestry, farmer-managed regeneration, community rights, payments for ecosystem services, biodiversity and climate budget tagging, green finance and Responsible Agricultural Investment.
The central message is simple: agricultural modernisation does not have to mean ecological simplification. By treating nature as productive infrastructure and aligning policy, finance and markets around living landscapes, Lao PDR has an opportunity to develop a more resilient, regenerative and distinctly Lao food-system pathway.
You can download and read the full essay at the link provided below. I welcome your comments, reflections and ideas on how this kind of approach might be strengthened and applied in practice.
Written by Robert Doddridge Steele / Systainability Asia
14 September 2026
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