Satoshi Yokoyama – författare

This book examines social and natural environmental changes in present-day Laos and presents a new research framework for environmental studies from an interdisciplinary point of view. In Laos, after the Lao version of perestroika, Chintanakaan Mai, in 1986, for better or worse, rural development and urbanization have progressed, and people’s livelihoods are about to change significantly. Compared to those of the neighboring countries of mainland Southeast Asia, however, many traditional livelihoods such as region-specific/ethnic-specific livelihood complexes, which combined traditional rice farming with a variety of subsistence activities, have been carried over into the present in Laos. The biggest challenge this book presents is to elucidate livelihood strategies of people who cope successfully with both social and environmental changes and to illustrate how to maintain this rich social and natural environment of Laos in the future. The book includes chapters on social, cultural, and natural concerns and on ethnicity, urbanization, and regional development in Laos. All chapters are based on original data from field surveys. These data will greatly contribute not only to local studies in Laos but also to environmental studies in developing countries.

The giant Asian monsoon has formed a diverse climate and natural environment. The Asian monsoon climate manifests itself in manifold ways depending not just on the latitude or altitude of an area but also on physical conditions such as topography and vegetation and even the size of its human population. Likewise, the livelihoods of people in the affected area are diverse. This book focuses on nature and agriculture, food, and climate and culture as an excellent framework for understanding the relationship between humans and the environment in complex Monsoon Asia. Through the discussions in this book, what the authors have sought to demonstrate is that the livelihoods in Monsoon Asia demonstrate unique forms in a limited environment, while the Asian monsoon climate has one of the largest movements of any natural phenomenon on a macroscopic scale. These manifest forms are diverse both on a time scale and on a spatial scale and are extremely diversified in limited regions. Such diversity is not only due just to the effects of the natural environment but also results from social and cultural forces. In this area of Monsoon Asia, traditional and religious social norms are becoming entangled with “new” economic and political norms brought in from the outside world by globalization.

This book examines various trends in small-scale societies in Laos by linking population changes to livelihood changes. The primary research issues addressed in the book are as follows:

･ How are population dynamics and livelihood changes in small-scale societies interrelated?

･ What are the current demographic trends in rural areas of Laos?

･ How are the livelihoods of small-scale societies maintained?

･ How is the rapid population growth common in developing countries managed?

In order to investigate these issues in developing countries where statistical data are not well developed, it was necessary to collect information through detailed and distinctive fieldwork. To this end, a multidisciplinary study of geography, cultural anthropology, human ecology, and demography was conducted in three villages in Laos and compiled as an ethnography. The study included a four-generation retrospective survey of population and land use change, a two-year survey of food dairies, and a survey of the spatiotemporal distribution of residents'' daily activities using GIS and GPS, etc.

The book provides valuable information on the slowdown in the rate of population growth in contemporary rural Laos. Livelihoods, family planning and population migration are explored in the context of the decreasing population growth rate. In addition, the book describes the process of adopting modern contraceptive methods in rural areas, as well as the Lao government''s reproductive policies and villagers'' responses to them. It also illustrates rural–rural and rural–urban population migration influenced by the government''s resettlement policies, which encourages people to move from the highlands to the lowlands.