"The Mekong Region Land Governance (MRLG) project and the Land Portal co-facilitated an online dialogue on "Responsible Large -Scale Agricultural Investments in the Mekong Region" between 09th and 27th October 2017...The Mekong Region Land Governance (MRLG) project and the Land Portal co - facilitated an online dialogue on "Responsible Large - Scale Agricultural Investments in the Mekong Region" between 09th and 27th October 2017. Full online dialogue available on Land Portal website here Rationale Since the 1990s, a new wave of large - scale land acquisitions for agricultural investments has emerged world - wide and in the Mekong region, in particular. Land grants for agro - industrial concessions are not new and can be traced back to the colonial era. However, the convergence of the food, financial and energy crises in the mid - 2000s has intensified interest in large - scale forms of agriculture to unprecedented levels. In the Mekong region, significant areas of land have been granted to companies for agro - industrial investments, ie in Cambodia (2.1 M ha), Myanmar (2 M ha), Laos (0.4 M ha) and Viet Nam (0.25 M ha). This has been expected to generate Foreign Direct Investment in the agricultural sector, boost productivity and spur modernisation, and increase government revenues in countries that were thought to be ? land - abundant. ” In reality, the trend has proved problematic, principally due to impacts on smallholder farming systems, limited return to local economies, and overlaps of land claims leading to conflicts and evictions. Government, investors and international and national organisations have been increasingly involved in designing and implementing mechanisms to limit large - scale land acquisitions and better regulate agro - industrial investments. In the case of Cambodia and Lao PDR, governments established moratoria on large concessions..."