Coupling local perspectives with remotely sensed data to better understand small-scale tropical forest changes

Jasmin Krähenbühl , Dominic Andreas Martin, Nandee Khammeun, Chaloun Bounithiphonh, Shijuan Chen, Yilin Huang, Phonevilay Sichanthongthip, Fritz Kleinschroth

Forests are essential for climate, biodiversity and society. Conserving or increasing forest cover is the focus of many national and international policies. Yet implementing such policies at local levels remains a massive challenge, in part due to contrasting perceptions of small-scale forest cover changes and their effects on livelihoods. In this study, we couple remotely sensed forest cover changes at the village-level with local perceptions of land-use changes between 2010-2020 and their drivers. Our focus is on the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Laos) which has set a national goal of increasing forest cover to 70%. We conducted focus group discussions and walking interviews with village committees in 27 villages in the province of Vientiane and Vientiane capital. We find that remote sensing data and the perception of village committees align on negative forest cover trends at small scales. The village committees expressed that current economic, policy and socio-economic drivers are more likely to lead to the maintenance or expansion of agricultural areas, rather than to the conservation of forests. As future developments, the village committees prioritize infrastructure and socio-economic development over forest conservation. Our findings highlight the importance of a context-specific understanding of forest cover changes. More just and effective forest policies can be formulated by coupling local perspectives with remote sensing in landscape planning. Ultimately, this study illustrates that forest cover-changes are complex, contentious, and require participatory and adaptive policy responses that reflect this reality.