Assessment of the environmental and social impacts created by the VLRC industrial rubber plantation and proposed environmental and social plans

Vietnam General Rubber Corporation entered into an Authorisation and Licence Agreement with the Government of Lao PDR on the 18th of January 2005 for the development and the operation, over a period of 50 years, of a 10,000 ha rubber plantation and the establishment and operation of a rubber processing factory in Lao PDR. The area selected for the development of the plantation is the district of Bachiang. 33 villages, totaling a population of 12,644 people, have been directly impacted by the project, having lost all or part of their agricultural lands. In October 2006 8,000 ha out of the 10,000 ha had already been planted and the remaining cleared. A Feasibility Study was undertaken in June and July 2006, reviewing the technical, financial, social and environmental aspects of the project and updating the pre-feasibility study undertaken by GERUCO earlier.