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“ASSISTING PEOPLE IN AN ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY WAY”

“PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT IN A PEOPLE FRIENDLY WAY” Global Association for People and the Environment 2.

NEWSLETTER Vol. 3 #3 ______SPRING, 2005 Province, southern . Since then, the Editor’s note: project has expanded to include the four We are rushing to distribute this ‘Spring’ edition of the GAPE newsletter before the summer solstice. As you see from the Table of villages of Nam Ome, Lao Nya, Som Contents below, GAPE has been very active. And Souk and Houay Ko, all of which are this is not all. Look for more updates in the situated in remote parts of the district. ’Summer’ issue, coming soon. Ian Baird wrote all articles in this issue. Joost Foppes provided figure 1, and Monty Sly provided Figures 2 and 3.

p. 1 Wild Honey Fair Trade Project Progresses p. 2 Remote Village Education Support Project Video Completed p. 2 The Lao Front for National Construction and GAPE kick off new ethnicity project in Xekong Province p. 3 Canadian Private Donations Used to Provide Clean Water to Villages in Pathoumphone District Figure 1. RVES Project Officer Somphong p. 4 GAPE’s Ethnic Brao Cultural Support Bounphasy pours fair trade honey into Work Continues containers in preparation for sale in pp. 5-7 GAPE Co-sponsors Regional Fisheries Vientiane, the capital city of Laos. Forum in Northeast In March and April villagers Declaration of the Northeast from these communities supplied over Cambodia Fishery Forum 3,500 kilograms of wild honey to the marketing groups that have been Wild Honey Fair Trade Project established in each of the villages. The Progresses project is being implemented to help local people get a higher and fairer price for the wild honey that they sustainably In the Winter 2005 issue of harvest from forests near their villages GAPE’s newsletter, it was announced each year, and also to help villagers learn that the Remote Village Education more about Non-Timber Forest Product Support Project is helping to establish a (NTFP) marketing. The hope is that pilot fair trade honey project in through supporting sustainable forest- Pathoumphone District, Champasak based livelihoods, local people will have increased incentives to sustainably 2 manage forests resources in their local 2001, and GAPE hopes to use the video areas. to both provide information about In April, arrangements were GAPE’s work to those who are already made to begin marketing the honey, and supporting us, or who have supported us in early May Somphong Bounphasy, in the past, and to help raise additional who is managing this initiative for funding for the important work that GAPE, and one representative from each GAPE is continuing to support in Laos. of the four villages transported an initial If you would like a copy of the video, quantity of over 1,000 kg of honey to please contact Monty Sly at Vientiane for marketing. The group [email protected]. spent almost a week in the Capital city working to filter, bottle and label the honey, and to sell some of the honey to various restaurants and bakeries in Vientiane. So far, well over 500 kg of honey has been sold, and a number of important lessons have been learnt from this initiative. GAPE and the villagers greatly appreciate the volunteer support that Michael Billion and Noot Foppes have provided to this initiative.

The Lao Front for National Construction and GAPE kick off new ethnicity project in Xekong Province Figure 2. The finished product -- fair trade honey for sale in Vientiane Between February 7 and 11, 2005, the Indigenous Peoples’ Support Remote Village Education Project – Southern Laos, which GAPE is Support Project Video being funded to implement by the International Work Group on Indigenous Completed Affairs (IWGIA) in Denmark, conducted its first major project activity in the In February 2005, Monty Sly southern Lao province of Xekong, a five completed an English-language video day training workshop. The workshop about the Remote Village Education was attended by representatives of Support Project in Pathoumphone almost all the ethnic groups in Xekong District, Champasak Province, southern province, and by people from all the Laos. This video provides an excellent districts in the province. Senior overview of the successful work that provincial officials, including the vice- GAPE has done in Pathoumphone since 3 governor, the president and two vice- Construction in the northern Lao presidents of the Lao Front for National province of Bokeo. Construction, the main implementing The aim of the project is to organisation for the project, and a increase the amount known in Xekong number of other senior provincial Province about different ethnic groups officials also attended. and their special needs, and to reduce the amount of prejudice and conflict The participants learned about between ethnic minorities and ethnic Lao the Lao government’s official policies on people through increasing cultural and ethnic groups, which are much more ethnic rights awareness in the province. progressive and respective of ethnic Xekong Province is dominated by Mon- identities than many people, including speaking ethnic most government officials in Laos, minorities who make up over 95% of the recognise. It was, for example, pointed province’s population, the highest out during the workshop that it is not fair percentage of ethnic minorities for any for someone from one culture to pass province in Laos. judgement on the appropriateness of certain aspects of other cultures. The Canadian Private Donations participants were also requested to stop Used to Provide Clean Water to using the word “backwards” to describe Villages in Pathoumphone indigenous cultures. District The workshop also focused on using participatory methods to train the -with thanks to recent Canadian donors participants how to collect ethnicity to GAPE: Sheila Crawford (in memory oriented data about their own ethnic of Jeanne and John Sloane), Maurice groups, so as to document their own Lyttle, Russell Bergstrom, Dick Ring cultures for present and future and the Knox Men’s Club, Parksville, generations. There was even a day BC. allocated for trying the new methods out In early 2005 the Remote Village in the field. Since the completion of this Education Support Project used over successful workshop, the Lao Front for US$ 400 of funds generously donated by National Construction in Xekong private citizens in Canada to provide Province has been working with district villagers with improved access to clean officials and local people to collect drinking water. We did not simply pay detailed information about all the ethnic for the drilling of wells. Instead, the groups and sub-groups in the province. funds were used to pay for building two The idea is for people from each ethnic round 1 m diameter metal molds for group to fully participate in the lining hand dug wells with cement tubes. documentation of important aspects of We have decided to concentrate our their own cultures. Nothing like this has support on hand-dug wells because there ever been attempted before in southern are a number of problems with pump Laos, and the project is building on the wells. For one, they are generally drilled successful results of a similar project very deep, and the water often smells implemented a few years ago by GAPE and tastes bad, discouraging villagers and the Lao Front for National from using it for drinking. Secondly, pump wells are prone to breaking down, 4 and villagers often lack the skills or language and populate parts of Attapeu resources to properly repair them. and Champasak Provinces in southern However, when the water table is deep, Laos, and parts of the neighbouring as is the case in many parts of Laos, Cambodian provinces of Stung Treng pump wells are sometimes the only and Ratanakiri to the south. option for providing clean water. In February, Khampanh Fortunately, in Pathoumphone Keovilaysak, Monty Sly and Ian Baird District, many of the villages where the began working on creating a video about Remote Village and Education Support Brao culture and the capability of Brao Project is working do not have to dig people. Filming was done in Ratanakiri more than about 10 metres down to Province, northeast Cambodia, Phou reach a year round supply of clean water. Vong District, Attapeu Province, In fact, many villages are already using southern Laos, and Champasak hand dug wells, but without any sort of Province, southern Laos over an lining, or provisions for preventing the approximately two-month period. The wells from becoming contaminated from video has been prepared in Brao and Lao things that fall into them, like chicken or languages, and a version with English pig manure. Therefore, GAPE has now subtitles is also being completed. The begun using the custom built molds to aim of this video, which will mainly be upgrade old wells and establish new distributed to Brao communities in Laos ones. Already, the cement tubes for two and Cambodia, is to help the Brao feel wells in Houay Ko village have been more confident in their own cultures and made, using village labour to complete abilities, because in many cases ethnic the work, and next year, after the rainy minorities like the Brao fail to utilise season, hand dug tube wells will be their full potentials because of established in a number of other villages. inhibitions about their cultural and It is expected that the molds will be linguistic heritage. This, ultimately, available for improving access to clean limits the personal development of Brao water in many villages for many years to communities. The main themes of the come, and that they will prove to be a video are the continuing problems with valuable investment for improving the unexploded ordinance in Phou Vong health and quality of life of many District, problems with indigenous people, especially women and girls who people selling their land in Ratanakiri are the main people responsible for Province, and efforts to revive Brao gathering water. language and culture in Pathoumphone District. Monty Sly has recently completed the final video editing, and GAPE’s Ethnic Brao Cultural plans are presently being made to show Support Work Continues the completed video to Brao communities in both Cambodia and Over the last number of months, Laos, as well as other interested people. GAPE has continued its efforts to support the indigenous people of GAPE is also continuing to southern Laos, in particular the ethnic support its Brao language radio project Brao people, who speak a Mon-Khmer in Phou Vong District, Attapeu Province, 5 southern Laos, and Brao language news reports are continuing to be broadcast in the district centre twice a week. Preparations are also being made to broadcast a number of important Brao language programs about Brao culture and history in Phou Vong over the next number of months.

In March a study trip was organised for 11 ethnic Brao people from the five Brao villages in Pathoumphone Figure 3. Khampanh Keovilaysak delivers District where GAPE is working (Houay gongs from Cambodia to a villager in Houay Ko, Ban Na, Houay Keua, Taong and Ko village. Km 36) to travel to , northeast Cambodia in order to exchange GAPE Co-sponsors Regional cultural and development experiences Fisheries Forum in Northeast with ethnic Brao people there. This 16- Cambodia day trip involved visiting nine villages populated by a variety of ethnic Brao In February GAPE co-sponsored, sub-groups. The group learned a number together with the Sesan Protection of important lessons, including a lot Network, NGO Forum on Cambodia, about problems that Brao people in CEPA, FACT and TERRA, the Northeast Cambodia are facing with regard to the Cambodia Fishery Forum at Stung Treng selling off of community lands. They town. The forum represented an were also able to observe Brao people in important opportunity for fishers, Cambodia learning how to read and academics, researchers, NGO workers, write their own language, using a script and local government officials to discuss based on the Khmer alphabet, an activity and share their experiences and problems that is not yet allowed in Laos. regarding to natural fisheries in the Mekong River Basin. Of the During the trip, three sets of approximately 180 participants, more traditional metal gongs were purchased than half were fishers representing their and returned to Brao villagers from communities. At the end of the forum, Houay Ko, Ban Na and Km 36, so that the participants of the workshop they can revive their musical traditions. prepared a declaration, which we have All three villages previously had their decided to reprint below. own sets of gongs, but they had fallen into disrepair in recent years, and in Ban Na, for example, gong playing had Declaration of the Northeast stopped for over 20 years. The villages Cambodia Fishery Forum are now organising activities so that elders can teach young Brao people how We, the 180 representatives of riparian to play the gongs, in order to prevent communities from different regions (the their musical culture from being lost. Sesan, Srepok and Sekong Rivers as well as from the Tonle Sap Lake, coastal areas and the Upper Mekong region) 6 from Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand ! Rapid blasting for navigation came together on the 22-23 February routes in the upper Mekong 2005 to attend the NE Cambodia Basin has seriously impacted the Fishery Forum in Stung Treng. fishing and fish populations and water quality, and has caused From the two-day forum, we collectively riverbank erosion, and has agree and acknowledge that the negatively impacted riverside following problems exist: gardening along the Mekong River and its tributaries. ! The hydrological regime of the Mekong River and its tributaries Recommendations and Requests: has seriously changed in terms of both water quality and water We, therefore, would like to propose the levels during the past few years. following recommendations and requests In particular, the development of for consideration by the Mekong region hydropower dams has negatively governments and international donor impacted the agricultural agencies concerned with development production, fisheries and the issues within the Mekong Basin: livelihoods of the people living along these rivers. ! We request that the governments ! It has been noted that there has and relevant stakeholders should been a reduction in the quantity attentively consider our of fish and types of fish species in problems and help to produce the Mekong Basin. solutions. ! The construction of hydropower ! We support policies and dams has resulted in serious equitable cooperation among the changes, and poses a continued Mekong countries through the threat to the ecology, cultures promotion of people’s and customs of people living participation in all the countries along rivers in the Mekong in the Mekong Basin. Basin. ! We do not need solutions that are ! Fishery laws in Cambodia have not equitable and/or lack the not been effectively implemented participation and consultation of to stop illegal fishing activities, local communities whose socio- which continue to occur through economic, environmental and the use of illegal fishing gears. cultural rights have been ! There have been conflicts affected by development projects. between communities and the ! We request that governments illegal fishers in Cambodia. promote and support local ! Illegal fishing and the networks and help increase destruction of flooded forest solidarity with civil societies in areas have been continuing in the Mekong Basin. Cambodia. ! We request that the governments ! The Mekong Basin is becoming recognize the right of local increasingly poisoned and communities to use and protect polluted. 7

fish and other natural resources in a sustainable manner. ! We request to the governments GAPE and relevant stakeholders that (Global Association for People and the they recognize the value of Environment) cultures, customs, identities and the ways of life of indigenous Ian Baird – Executive Director peoples. GAPE BOARD OF DIRECTORS ! Natural resources in the Mekong Jennifer Crawford – President Basin are part of the ecological Monty Sly – Vice-President systems of the region and belong Richard Hackman – Secretary and Treasurer to all peoples in the Mekong Ian Baird – Member in Good Standing Jake Buhler – Member in Good Standing Basin; therefore no state or country along the river should ON-SITE STAFF have the sole authority to make Noukone Ithkeomanivong – Senior Project decisions regarding development Officer that may affect the ecosystem Bountiem Keophouvong – Senior Project Officer beyond its borders. Somphong Bounphasy – Agriculture/ Natural ! The governments should promote Resource Management Officer the participation of people in the Souvanh Bouphasavanh– Accountant/ planning, policy development Women’s Activities Officer and decision-making processes Sengphet Vannavilay –Accountant/ Women’s Activities Officer of the region. Khampanh Vilaisak – Ethnic Cultural ! The governments should Protection Officer establish a regional information Emma Townsend-Gault– RVESP coordinator and communications system, Ian Baird –(part-time) Natural Resource ensuring that the information is Management and Cultural Officer easily accessible for people CONSULTANTS living in the Mekong Basin. Dorothy Sly – newsletter editor ! The international development Doug Sly – sr. advisor and treasurer, Cdn. agencies and relevant Funds governments should be held GAPE Newsletter is produced quarterly for accountable for past destructive distribution to friends and supporters of GAPE. development activities, ensuring Look for it on our website: that timely and equitable www.gapeinternational.org. Address letters compensation is and/or donations to 576 Dalmatian Drive, Parksville, BC, Canada, V9P 1Y4 provided to all project affected peoples. Coming, in the Summer 2005 Issue of the GAPE newsletter: We, the participants of this forum, ! Update from Emma Townsend- strongly hope that the Mekong Basin Gault, RVES co-coordinator governments and other relevant ! Pictures and article on the handover of the school in Nong Ayk dedicated agencies take into consideration all of to Jeff Craig the important points mentioned above. ! More detailed information about the new Brao language video 8

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