Page 1 of 112 Lao Peoples Democratic Republic Peace - Independence - Democracy - Unity - Prosperity REPORT REVIEW OF THE NATIONAL PROTECTED AREA SYSTEM IN LAO PDR ______________________________________________ William Robichaud, Clive. W. Marsh, Sangthong Southammakoth and Sirivanh Khounthikoummane Division of Forest Resource Conservation Phone +856-21-916291 • Fax - 215004 (DoF) Lao-Swedish Forestry Programme June 2001 FOREWORD The Government of Sweden has provided technical assistance to the Government of Lao PDR in the Natural Resources Sector since 1977. Until the mid 1980s the assistance focused on support to the Department of Forestry and two State Forest Enterprises. From 1985 assistance was expanded to include support for the establishment of a Forestry Training Organization including the Forestry Technician School at Mouang Mai. In the late 1980’s the Lao Swedish Co-operation was further expanded to cover shifting cultivation stabilisation and nature conservation. During the first half of the 1990’s the co-operation gradually changed to institution building/strengthening of the Department of Forestry at the centre and in selected provinces. The co-operation is based on the premise that national ownership of bilateral programmes will contribute significantly to sustainability after the programmes have been completed. In more recent years the programme has addressed sustainable land use aspects in the village development context with the view that community participation in partnership with government services will enhance the potential for sustainable management of forest and agricultural resources. The Phase IV of the Lao Swedish Forestry Programme (1996- 2001) has concentrated on three aspects of institutional building; competence development, model development and research management. The development efforts have covered a process of formulating, improving and disseminating models (methods and procedures) in four main areas including Participatory Village Development and Sustainable Land Use, Participatory National Bio-diversity Conservation Area Management, Natural Resources Management, and Institution Building. Monitoring and gender mainstreaming have been incorporated as cross-cutting efforts in the model development work. The development activities have been performed in partnership with national, provincial and district administrations and with village communities in response to Lao policies. The LSFP has supported the strategy and policy development of the Government of Lao PDR and contributed to the emerging consensus on rural development that is taking place within the accepted Socio-economic Priorities of the Government of Lao PDR under which broad development policies have long been operative. Page 2 of 112 This document is one in a series of resulting documents, which have been produced in both Lao and English languages to assist and provide knowledge and ideas to personnel responsible for policy, planning, and implementation of agriculture and forestry development programmes. It contains lessons and experiences learnt during the programme. I encourage the personnel of departments and agencies to study and assess the content of the documents and apply the relevant parts depending on local conditions. I wish to commend the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) for it’s continued support during four phases of technical assistance to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, and the LSFP personnel and advisors, who have made a major contribution to this development and documentation. 20 March, 2001 Minister for Agriculture and Forestry Dr. Siene SAPHANGTHONG ABOUT THIS DOCUMENT 1. Intended Audience of this Document Policy-makers, planners and managers concerned with sustainable NBCA management. NBCA Heads and provincial and district protected area staff. Heads of Provincial Agriculture and Forestry and Provincial Forestry Offices. 2. Background to this Report In partnership with the Department of Forestry, donors and projects have been working to develop management systems in 20 protected areas in the Lao PDR. The Lao Swedish Forestry Programme initiated a review of the status of Protected Area management that was completed in April 2001. The following report is the product of the status review. 3. Purpose of the Report Briefly document the social, legal and institutional development of the NBCA system. Define the role and the goals of the NBCA system in the Lao PDR. Outline the contributions of NBCAs to national development. Describe the effectiveness of NBCAs in achieving their mandated goals. Document the lessons learned from recent NBCA management projects and to suggest options for continued progress in conservation of the NBCAs. Page 3 of 112 4. Information provided in this Document An introduction to the history and the social and economic context of the NBCA system. The current status of the NBCA system, including; the legal framework, policy framework, institutional framework, biodiversity significance of the NBCA system, economic benefits of NBCAs, pressure on NBCAs, opportunities and NBCA management. An analysis of options including; legal issues, policy issues, institutional arrangements, system coverage, management, and potential mechanisms to fund future NBCA management. Dedicated to the memory of Dr. Clive Wallis Marsh (1951 - 2000), A friend of Laos and its Protected Areas. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS More than 100 people were consulted during preparation of this review. To try to name them all risks missing some. However, the following were particularly generous with their time and assistance (in alphabetical order): Rachel Dechaineux, Chris Flint, Emily Hicks, Khamphai Louanglat, Carl Mossberg, Rob Steinmetz, Latsamay Sylavong and Vilavong Vannalath. Special thanks are due to the contributors of the text boxes: Veomani Chantanivong, Dr. James Chamberlain, Rachel Dechaineux, Sharon London, Steven Schipani, Rob Steinmetz, Khamlay Sipaseuth, Latsamay Sylavong, and Rob Timmins. Emily Hicks of IUCN contributed a section on protected area funding mechanisms. Siphavanh Inthapatha, Jonas Noven and John Foster assisted with mapping and GIS analysis. Aditi Sinha of the University of Massachusetts at Boston provided some timely and helpful research assistance. James Chamberlain helped sort out the proper romanized spellings of the protected areas. The Wildlife Conservation Society's Lao Program and its staff gave assistance in many ways, in particular unbridled use of their library. Three external reviewers arranged by IUCN, R.J. Fisher, Adrian Phillips and Kishore Rao, read and gave helpful comments on drafts of the report under tight time constraints. William Robichaud thanks Carl Mossberg of the Lao-Swedish Forestry Programme, Scott Perkin of IUCN, Iain Craig, and the staff of DFRC for helping to arrange his involvement. Clive Marsh conceived and started this review, but he passed away before it could be completed. We can't know for certain whom he would have thanked for assistance to him on this project. We can guess, however, that among them would have been Dr. Phouang Parisak, Xeme Samontry, Silavanh Sawathvong, Chanthaviphone Inthavong and Mr. Sotxeun, Head of Nam Pouy NBCA. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 BACKGROUND 1 Page 4 of 112 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Brief History of the NBCA System 3 1.3 Social and Economic Context 7 1.3.1 Population density and trend 7 1.3.2 Ethnic and cultural diversity 7 1.3.3 Economics and development 8 1.3.4 Land use 8 2 CURRENT STATUS 9 2.1 Legal Framework 9 2.1.1 National instruments 9 2.1.2 International agreements 10 2.2 Policy Framework 12 2.2.1 Objectives of the NBCA system 12 2.2.2 Relationship to IUCN PA categories 12 2.2.3 Management policy 12 2.3 Institutional Framework 13 2.3.1 General institutional structure 13 2.3.2 Central level 13 2.3.3 Local level 14 2.3.4 Other GoL agencies 14 2.4 Biodiversity Significance of the NBCA System 16 2.4.1 Habitats and ecosystems 16 2.4.2 Species diversity 17 2.4.3 Human cultural diversity 19 2.5 Economic Benefits Of NBCAs 20 2.5.1 Potential development roles of NBCAs 20 2.5.2 Local economies 21 2.5.3 National economy 22 2.6 Pressures On NBCAs 24 2.6.1 Human population growth and immigration 24 2.6.2 Habitat degradation activities 24 2.6.3 Resource exploitation activities 27 Page 5 of 112 2.6.4 Internal vs. external pressures 29 2.7 Opportunities 31 2.8 NBCA Management 31 2.8.1 Baseline surveys 31 2.8.2 Management projects 32 2.8.3 Management strategies 33 2.8.4 Other projects supporting NBCA management 37 3 ANALYSIS AND OPTIONS 41 3.1 Achievements 41 3.2 Legal Issues 42 3.2.1 Implementing regulations to the Forestry Law 42 3.2.2 Zonation 42 3.2.3 NBCA boundaries 42 3.2.4 Options to clarify legal issues 43 3.3 Policy Issues 44 3.3.1 Overview 44 3.3.2 Options to clarify policy 44 3.4 Institutional Arrangements 45 3.4.1 Staffing 45 3.4.2 Interlevel communication and coordination 47 3.4.3 Balance of responsibility and authority 48 3.4.4 Vision and strategy 49 3.4.5 Institutional commitment 49 3.4.6 Options to improve institutional arrangements 50 3.5 System Design 53 3.5.1 Introduction 53 3.5.2 Subunit and habitat coverage 54 3.5.3 NBCA prioritization 56 3.5.4 Status of proposed additions to the NBCA system 60 3.5.5 Options to improve system coverage 61 3.6 Management 62 3.6.1 Management progress 62 Page 6 of 112 3.6.2 Conservation progress 67 3.6.3 Options to improve management 70 3.6.4 The search for a national management model 79 3.7 Potential Mechanisms to Fund Future NBCA Management 80 3.7.1 Introduction 80 3.7.2 National Environmental Funds 80 3.7.3 Debt swaps 81 3.7.4 Carbon offset trading 81 3.7.5 Public/private partnerships 81 REFERENCES 83 ANNEXES 93 Annex 1: ETHNIC LANDSCAPE OF LAO PDR AND THE NBCA'S 93 Annex 2: LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR NBCA'S 95 Annex 3: OTHER GOL AGENCIES CONCERNED WITH NBCA'S 98 Annex 4.