There are two broadly defined threats to the biodiversity of all of Bolikhamxay Province – hunting and habitat loss and modification.  Hunting threatens nearly all taxa of animals; species with larger body sizes are under particular threat.  Both local residents and outsiders hunt.  Some local residents are dependent on wildlife to fulfill a portion of their protein needs. This is particularly true of the rural residents of Bolikhamxay, who comprise 80% of the population. WCS works with these communities to harvest wildlife and NTFP sustainably. Other local residents hunt wildlife to sell to both national and international traders.  Southern China and Vietnam have a long tradition of consuming wildlife as a luxury item; the growing middle class of these countries has lead to a dramatic surge in the demand for wildlife.  WCS works with the Government of Lao PDR to stop this trade.

Habitat loss in Bolikhamxay Province impacts lands both inside and outside of protected areas due primarily to three causes: 1) degradation that began in the late 1980’s with the overharvest of economically valuable eagelaria, a resin used for perfume, which shifted to rose wood in the early 2000’s.  Small bands of loggers enter the forest, live off the land (including hunting wildlife) and harvest these valuable trees.  Habitat loss and degradation have been greatest in Bolikhamxay’s Provincial Protected Areas due to little or no on-the-ground law enforcement; 2) confusion over the boundaries of all the protected areas, which contributes to encroachment; and 3) landscapes surrounding protected areas have seen rapid forest eucalyptus and rubber plantation establishment, particularly over the past five years.  The majority of these plantations have been established on degraded land that was logged in the 1980’s.  Most of the plantation establishment is done by reputable companies, however this is not always the case with some plantations failing as soon as the “salvage” logging is completed. Amongst their many negative impacts, the less-reputable companies encourage local people to “poach” logs and wildlife within protected areas of Bolikhamxay Province.

An underlying indirect threat that contributes to all aspects of biodiversity loss in Laos is the low technical capacity of protected area staff and lack of resources to do the needed work.  Laos is still recovering from decades of conflict and consequently the education system in the country is still well below international standards. Over the past six years the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has addressed this issue in its approach to conservation of Bolikhamxay Province by providing formal training to all provincial staff on Protected Area management.  The Integrated Ecosystem and Wildlife Management Project (IEWMP), established through a formal MoU between WCS and the Government of Laos, defines this partnership. This project is now in its eight year. All the objectives and results delineated in this proposal to LifeWeb will be achieved through the IEWMP; therefore the majority of the activities will be implemented by Government of Lao PDR staff. << Read less

Reduce illegal hunting and illegal habitat conversion inside the six accessible Protected Areas of Bolikhamxay and the proposed new Protected Area, to raise awareness among local communities, to monitor Protected Area management effectiveness through indicator species population levels and assessments of the levels of habitat conversion.

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The biodiversity of Bolikhamxay Province is of both global and national importance.  Roughly speaking the province can be divided into two ecological areas – east and west. 
The Annamite Mountains that run along the eastern half of the province are blanketed by a unique evergreen wet forest that is home to a high number of endemic species. This distinct habitat is found only along the Annamite Mountains of Laos and Vietnam. Much of this forest remains sparsely explored, and many large mammal species have been discovered there in recent years, such as the Saola, the Large Antlered Muntjac and the Annamite Striped Rabbit. Most of the endemic wildlife is under severe threat.  This habitat type and its associated wildlife are found in its largest contiguous area in Bolikhamxay Province; the great majority of this is officially part of the Nam Chouan Protection Forest, the Nam Chat/Nam Pan Watershed Protection Forest, the Phou Chom Voy Provincial Protected Area, the Phou Sithone Endangered Species Conservation Area, and the Nam Theun Extension Biodiversity Conservation Area.  However, none of these conservation and protection forests have adequate on-the ground protection and management. Three of these protected areas, the Phou Chom Voy Provincial Protected Area, the Phou Sithone Endangered Species Conservation Area, and the Nam Theun Extension Biodiversity Conservation Area are the focus of this proposal to LifeWeb.

In addition to unique endemics, these forests of eastern Bolikhamxay are also home to several endangered primates including gibbons, douc langurs and leaf monkeys.  While we do know that gibbons, doucs and leaf monkeys are present, this area has been little explored biologically so it is therefore uncertain where these species will fall within the IUCN Vulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered categories.

Due to their uniqueness, these evergreen forests of eastern Bolikhamxay Province are globally irreplaceable and an ecological priority for the Laos national protected area system. Due to their size and contiguity, they hold the best chance for the long-term viability of its endemic wildlife.  They are connected through thin corridors to smaller patches of this forest type further south and to the mixed forest types of western Bolikhamxay through a variety of corridors, some of which are in good shape and others which are highly degraded.  None of these corridors to the west are currently under protection. Partnering with the government of Lao PDR, WCS is currently engaged with a private sector partner in the Nam Gnouang South Protection Forest.  This location plays an important strategic corridor role in eastern Bolikhamxay linking three conservation forests including Phou Chom Voy PPA, Phou Sithone ESCA, and Nam Kading National Protected Area.  The expansion and integration of activities throughout this forest complex in eastern Bolikhamxay is the second focus of this proposal to LifeWeb.

The mixed semi-tropical forests of western Bolikhamxay are largely of a type that was historically found fairly widely in Indochina with species such as elephant and clouded leopard.  Much of this habitat has been converted for agriculture, logging and plantations. However, several protected areas, the Nam Kading National Protected Area in particular, have largely escaped this conversion and thus are of national and regional importance.  The Nam Kading National Protected Area is over 1,600 square kilometers, and can likely support viable populations of many medium sized mammals including at least four Critically Endangered and Endangered primate species. These include the Northern White-cheeked Gibbon, the Southern White-cheeked Gibbon, Red-shanked Douc Langur and one or possibly two Leaf-monkey species in the taxonomically unclear (but clearly highly threatened) Trachypithecus complex.  The Nam Kading National Protected Area is not a focus of this proposal to LifeWeb, however it will benefit from the proposed work described here. << Read less

The majority of forests in Bolikhamxay Province are Tropical Moist Forests, with an estimated biomass of 216 tonnes/hectare. More accurate data collection is underway as part of an initial carbon assessment for the landscape, following Tier 3 standards as described in the IPCC 2003 Good Practice Guidance for Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry and 2006 Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories for Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Uses. This process should be complete by March 2010. The project will protect forest carbon through working with local stakeholders on land-use management and law enforcement efforts to tackle the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation: habitat conversion for swidden agriculture and plantations in the buffer zone areas, illegal logging and illegal encroachment inside protected areas. In addition, the project will investigate reforestation on lands that have previously been deforested, where appropriate. << Read less

Counterpart funding and Institutional Commitment
The Government of Laos contributes to this effort primarily through paying the salaries of approximately 40 staff.  In 2013-2015, the Theun-Hinboun Power Company, who is planning construction of a second dam in the province, will contribute approximately $200,000 to strengthening provincial protected area management.  Bolikhamxay Province and the northern Annamite Mountains is a long-term priority for the WCS, and thus WCS will continue to provide resources towards their conservation through funding of senior managerial and technical staff.  WCS has also raised $200,000 from the Save Our Species Fund for 2013-2014, primarily focused on the management of the Phou Sithone Endangered Species Conservation Area.  WCS is committed to raising additional funds for the conservation of this area.  In the past WCS has received funds for IEWMP work from the Global Environment Facility, the Critical Ecosystems Partnership Fund and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. 

Sustainable Financing Mechanisms
WCS and the Government of Laos have developed several pilot sustainable financing projects in Bolikhamxay Province. These include village level fish conservation zones (no-take zones along several rivers that act as source sites for sustainable fishing in other regions of the river), sustainable harvest of certain non-timber forest products which are then sold at increased prices through provincial government sponsors, and village level rice banks.  These projects are still in early stages and thus they may be significantly altered as the Integrated Ecosystem and Wildlife Management Project (IEWMP, the formal entity under which WCS works with the Government of Laos in Bolikhamxay Province) discovers what works best, but it is this category of activity that WCS and the Government of Laos would pursue in eastern Bolikhamxay with funding from LifeWeb.  

WCS and the Government of Laos are also currently exploring several other approaches to sustainable financing of protected areas in Bolikhamxay.  WCS is also exploring ecotourism in Bolikhamxay Province, particularly as tourism in general is a growing industry in Laos.  However at its maximum ecotourism will likely generate only a relatively small amount of the overall revenue needed to sustain the protected areas and contribute to local economies.  WCS is also currently developing models of sustained financing mechanisms with private industry in Lao PDR.  Specifically in Bolikhamxay WCS is engaged with the hydropower sector to develop conservation and natural resources management initiatives funded by revenues from power production.

There is also scope for lands in the province to benefit from REDD+ based funding. Laos is a recipient of both Forest Carbon Partnership Facility  (FCPF) and Forest Investment Program (FIP) funds as well as donor funds to support Laos during its REDD Readiness stage. This includes funds for establishing the necessary institutions, frameworks and strategies at the national level, but also to implement field based activities that reduce the impact of drivers of forest loss locally. Currently, WCS is supporting the government of Laos to establish a jurisdictional based REDD+ project in Houaphan province from which we expect to transfer lessons learned to Bolikhamxay province for the benefit of PAs. << Read less

This project will support the continuation of the full and effective participation, as well as equitable sharing of costs and benefits, with indigenous and local communities, that characterizes IEWMP’s ongoing work. For example, IEWMP will undertake joint land-use zoning with villages adjacent to protected areas to determine the locations within protected areas of core-zones, in which no wildlife of any type may be hunted, and management zones, in which species such as wild pigs designated as “managed species” under Lao law can be legally hunted for consumption, but not for sale. 

As with WCS’ ongoing work in the Nam Et-Phou Louey National Protected Area and in our earlier work through the IEWMP in Bolikhamxay Province, equitable sharing of costs and benefits will be sought in all relevant aspects of the proposed work. Costs include the changed nature of access to natural resources in the Protected Areas by local communities, which the IEWMP will strive to ensure is managed fairly. The IEWMP will continue to ensure that benefits are shared equitably, for example, by continuing to create fish harvesting zones that are accessible to all villagers.  At a larger scale, WCS will draw upon our experience in Cambodia and Madagascar to design mechanisms of equitable distribution of REDD+ revenues should these materialize. << Read less

Lao PDR completed the Initial PoWPA Analysis and Priority Setting in December 2007, which identified three core areas for necessary action to move Lao PDR towards a more effective NPA system.  These three areas are: 1) Sustainable financing; 2) Capacity development; and, 3) improved governance.  The activities described in this proposal address each of these core areas.  Furthermore the activities of the IEWMP in Bolikhamxay are held as a national model for protected area management (as demonstrated by the use of the Nam Kading NPA Management Plan as model for other National Protected Areas) in the country and thus advances made with funds from LifeWeb will impact protected areas at a national level.

The activities in this proposal will help the GoL meet objectives for Protected Area management set forth in the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action plan (2004) , National Forestry Strategy to 2020 (2005)  and National Growth and Poverty Elevation Plan (2004) .  In Lao PDR, the seventh Five-year National Socio-Economic Development Plan places a strong focus on boosting rural development and poverty reduction, in particular by integrating economic development with socio-cultural development and environment protection.

  Laos Government (2004). National Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 and Action Plan to 2010. Science Technology and Environment Agency, Vientiane : 1-46.
2 Department of Forestry (2005). Forestry strategy to the year 2020 (FS 2020) of the Lao PDR, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry: 1-108.
3 Government of Lao PDR (2004). National Growth and Poverty Eradication strategy. Vientiane: 1-250. << Read less

Goal 1.1: To establish and strengthen national and regional systems of protected areas integrated into a global network as a contribution to globally agreed goals
Goal 1.2: To integrate protected areas into broader land- and seascapes and sectors so as to maintain ecological structure and function
Goal 1.4: To substantially improve site-based protected area planning and management
Goal 1.5: To prevent and mitigate the negative impacts of key threats to protected areas
Goal 2.1: To promote equity and benefit-sharing
Goal 2.2: To enhance and secure involvement of indigenous and local communities and relevant stakeholders
Goal 3.2: To build capacity for the planning, establishment and management of protected areas
Goal 3.4: To ensure financial sustainability of protected areas and national and regional systems of protected areas
Goal 3.5: To strengthen communication, education and public awareness
Goal 4.1 - To develop and adopt minimum standards and best practices for national and regional protected area systems
Goal 4.3: To assess and monitor protected area status and trends
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