BrunoGiordano asked:
But some Laotian farmers are losing their ancestral lands or being forced to become wage workers on what were once their fields. Chinese companies are accused of getting rubber concessions from officials and not compensating farmers. They are also accused of violating laws, human rights and the environment, under conditions described by experts as “anarchic.”
“The Chinese companies in the north are a bunch of thugs,” says Charles Alton, a consultant in agronomy for international agencies in Laos. However, Alton says, the “unpoliced, unregulated situation” in northern Laos is ripe for exploitation.