“Stealing From The Gods”

Two centuries of colonial intervention, warfare, and economic recovery have transformed Vietnam from an area of generally low population density and sufficient natural resources into a country where the present population pressure takes its toll on environmental and natural resources. These resources are influenced by climate change and heavy utilization of soils. Landscapes have changed dramatically due to agricultural activities, deforestation, and urbanization. This is not exceptional for a country like Vietnam, but a general development for most of the countries of Southeast Asia (Bankoff 2004). The degradation of the natural environment goes hand in hand with the commodifition of land and surface waters. Different entitlements offer different sets of incentives for resource exploitation and production. Rights regimes have an impact upon social processes in terms of either social differentiation or equality. They either may create subsequent conditions for accumulation and resource concentration, or for equal distribution. The rights regimes are important in terms of defining the relative positions of men and women within communities and households.