Border-oriented Processes And Characteristics Of Agricultural Expansion And Intensification In The National Borders Of Mainland Southeast Asia Based On The SERVIR-Mekong Products

Geopolitics and geo-economy have become the driving mechanisms that promotes socio-economic development and land use changes in the national land borders.According to the “national hierarchy” theory of Saul B.Cohen,Vietnam and Thailand are the second-tier countries in mainland Southeast Asia(MSEA)and continuously exert geopolitical and geo-economic influences on their neighbors of Cambodia,Laos and Myanmar in MSEA.Important geopolitical events such as Vietnam's “reform and opening up” in 1986,Thailand's “Turning the battlefields into marketplaces” in 1988,and the 1991 Cambodia Peace Agreement prompted the transition from political barriers to economic cooperation among the countries in MSEA.The national border areas(especially the border crossings)become the right region for holding series of geo-economic cooperation which further trigger land cover/use changes.In view of the development level of the five countries in MSEA,cross-border agricultural and/or forestry planting and border crossings upgrading are the main incentives for land use/cover changes.Utilizing the land cover products of the SERVIR-Mekong project of the United States Agency for International Development from 1988 to 2018,based on GIS spatial analysis,the border-oriented or off-border processes and convergence or divergence characteristics of agricultural expansion and intensification and its related changes in forest and mixed forest were quantitatively studied and nationally compared in three groups of borders.The first refers to the borders with 30-km on both sides of the border of Vietnam-Cambodia and Vietnam-Laos generally under the Vietnamese influence.The second includes Thailand-Laos and Thailand-Cambodia typically under the Thai influence.The final consists of the borders between the three least developed countries(Cambodia,Laos,and Myanmar)as the reference group due to their weak geo-influence.The main conclusions were given as follows:(1)In the past 30 years,the main land cover changes in the border areas of MSEA were the transformation of natural forests(including forests and mixed forests)into agricultural expansion(or the increment of farmland/paddy fields)and intensive production(or the increase of orchards/plantations),or intensification.Specifically,except for the Viet-Cambodia border(including paddy fields),the main land cover types in the remaining border areas are forests,orchards(including plantations),evergreen broad-leaved forests,mixed forests and farmland.The growth rates of agricultural expansion from 1988 to 2018 was 50%,50%,25%,29%,87% and 82% in Thai-Lao,Vietnamese-Lao,Thai-Cambodian,Vietnamese-Cambodian,Lao-Myanmar and Lao-Cambodian borders,respectively.The increases in intensive production were 275%,29%,89%,112%,95% and 176% accordingly in the same order of the borders.(2)From 1988 to 2018,the natural forest changes in the border areas of MSEA due to agricultural expansion and intensive production were mainly distributed in regions near the border crossings and national administrative centers,as well as the triangle area(or the junction of three countries).Among them,agricultural expansion was mostly seen in the "Golden Triangle" of Thailand,Laos and Myanmar because of alternative planting,Nong Khai(especially the border crossings of Corridor)and Bung Gan(especially the border crossings of Bung Kan)in the northeast borderlands of Thailand,the provinces of Houaphan,Xiangkhoang and Bolikhamxai in Laos,and the adjacent area of Gia Lai and Dak Lak provinces in Vietnam as well as the junction of Thailand,Laos and Cambodia in particular Champasak(Lao)and Preah Vihear Province(Cambodia).Similarly,intensive production was intensively observed in the "Golden Triangle" area,the borderlands of Vientiane,Bolikhamxai(especially Pakxan border crossings),Khammouan,and Savannakhet provinces in Laos,and those of Quang Binh,Quang Tri,Thua Thien-Hue in Vietnam,especially Binh Phuoc Province,and Battambang,Preah Vihear and Kompong Cham Provinces in Cambodia.(3)From 1988 to 1998,as far as Cambodia is concerned,the changes in agricultural expansion and intensification in the Thai-Cambodia border showed a stronger border-prone trend than that in the Viet-Cambodia border,and the intensity of geo-economic cooperation was significantly higher than those among other countries.During the same period,agricultural expansion on both sides of Thai-Lao and Viet-Lao borders developed in the same direction showing an off-border trend.Similarly,farmland/paddy expansion on the two sides of Thai-Cambodian and Viet-Cambodian borders moved in a border-prone manner showing strong convergences.In contrast,both Lao-Burmese and Lao-Cambodian borders displayed obviously border-oriented and off-border development trends.Regarding agricultural intensification,the expanding trends were divergent and border-oriented in Lao-Burmese and Lao-Cambodian borders,followed by strong divergence within the Thai-Cambodia border,a border-prone along the Thai-Laos border with more evident in Thai side than that in Lao side.Among the entire bilateral borders in MSEA,the expansion of agriculture within Thai-Cambodian border was the most significant with the ratio of forest and mixed forest to agricultural expansion up to over 6:1.In contrast,national borders such as Thai-Lao,Thai-Cambodian,Viet-Cambodian and Lao-Cambodian were characterized by intensive production due to forest transformation,while agricultural intensification within Viet-Lao and Lao-Burmese borders was featured by transforming mixed forests.(4)From 1998 to 2008,the agricultural expansion and intensification within the borders(Thai-Laos and Thai-Cambodia)under the geo-influence of Thailand showed divergence and convergence,respectively,while the degree of geo-economic cooperation between Thailand and Laos was stronger than those among other countries.During the same period,agricultural expansion displayed reversed divergence and off-border trend on both sides of Thai-Lao and Viet-Lao borders,strong convergence on both sides of Thai-Cambodian and Viet-Cambodian borders,and obviously reversed divergence and convergence on both sides of Lao-Burmese and Lao-Cambodian borders.In contrast,intensive production tended to converge and deviate within Thai-Lao and Viet-Lao borders,move in a border-oriented way within the borders of Thailand-Cambodia,Vietnam-Cambodia,Laos-Myanmar and Laos-Cambodia with their expansion in the same direction.In comparison,the change scale of agricultural expansion and intensive production in the Thai-Laos border between 1998 and 2008 were relatively stronger.Among them,the quantity of agricultural expansion was three times more than those in other borders,for example,over six times of agricultural expansion than that within Viet-Lao border within a distance of 30-km from the national borders.(5)From 2008 to 2018,the degree of geo-economic cooperation Thailand-Laos and Thailand-Cambodia were much stronger,and the agricultural expansion and intensification within the borders(Vietnam-Laos and Vietnam-Cambodia)under the geo-influence of Vietnam all showed off-border characteristics,while those within the Thai-Lao and Thai-Cambodian borders under the influence of Thailand were all in the same direction.During the same period,agricultural expansion displayed bilateral increase in the same direction within Thai-Lao and Thai-Cambodian borders,and off-border trends within both sides of Viet-Lao,Viet-Cambodian borders,the Burmese side of Laos-Myanmar border and the Laotian side of Laos-Cambodia border.Regarding intensive production,it showed convergence and off-border trend in the borderland of Thailand-Laos,Vietnam-Laos,respectively,strong border-prone features within the borderlands of Thailand-Cambodia,Vietnam-Cambodia,and the Laotian side of Lao-Burmese border,and strong divergence on both sides of Lao-Cambodian border.In comparison,the expansion of agriculture in the borderlands of Thailand-Laos,Thailand-Cambodia,and Vietnam-Cambodia were more significant,for example,the transformation from forests was five times more than of mixed forests in the Thai-Laos borders.In contrast,the Thai-Lao border had the largest quantity of intensive production showing a strong border-prone trend,in particular in the ranging of two to 14 km from the border line range).