Mainland Southeast Asia (MSA) has seen sweeping upland land use changes in the past decades, with transition from primarily subsistence shifting cultivation to annual commodity cropping. This transition holds implications for local upland communities and ecosystems.

Throughout history, conflicts have been waged over land. Confrontations over territory, border disputes, occupation of the territory of one State by another, or grievances stemming from inequitable access to land invariably have dramatic consequences for human settlements.