Responsible land-based investments in the Mekong region

Book excerpt: The recognition of customary tenure systems and responsible land-based investments that safeguard legitimate tenure rights and right holders are the interconnected main themes for mainstreaming the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT) in Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar and Viet Nam. This study aims at providing an assessment of the legal frameworks in the four countries to analyse whether safeguards for legitimate tenure rights and tenure right holders can be identified in legal provisions applicable to decisions related to land-based investments in agriculture. Theassessment also aims at informing and supporting ongoing processes of policy and legal reform in the four countries, as well as the work of organizations that provide support to these processes.