Nakai-Nam Theun national park eyed as model conservation project

Nakai-Nam Theun National Park, one of the last remaining wildernesses in Southeast Asia, is being developed as a model project for the management of protected areas in Laos and the rest of the region.
The government does not intend to relocate people living in the park but instead will try to encourage them to participate in forestry protection.
The park’s Executive Director, Mr Savanh Chanthakoumane, told Vientiane Times recently that “We need to balance protection of the park and livelihood improvement with the help of people’s participation.”
“In the past we’ve focused too much on the management and conservation of protected areas without taking into account the participation of the people

who live there. If communities benefit from the protection of forests and their livelihoods are improved, they will take part in conservation activities.”
In Nakai-Nam Theun, the local community is playing an active and ownership role in protecting the park after many people realised the benefits to be gained from protecting forests.
“Now villagers take an active role in combatting wildlife hunting and illegal logging. People who enter forests without authorisation, including forestry officials, will be detained by local residents. This shows how villagers can participate in the protection of the park,” Mr Savanh said.
Designated as a national park in February last year, Nakai-Nam Theun is a global hotspot for biodiversity, with an area of 4,270 square km spanning the provinces of Khammuan and Borikhamxay in central Laos.
Its designation as a national park was intended to create awareness of the benefits of nature conservation through education, scientific research, and community-based ecotourism, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Laos has dozens of national protected areas but no scientific research is being carried out in them, except in Nakai-Nam Theun.
“We are carrying out research on various wildlife species and looking at how to give them proper scientific names,” Mr Savanh said.
In 2019, US$3.8 million was raised from three sources, including the operators of the Nam Theun 2 hydropower plant. About 30 percent of this was spent on improving the livelihoods of people living in the park and the rest is being spent on conservation activities.
Since villagers have realised they can benefit from conservation work, they have joined 41 teams that patrol the park and tackle illegal logging, wildlife hunting, and other unlawful activities. Local communities have been trained to help protect the park and village development funds have been established in 13 villages within the park.
“We will have a community action plan and community conservation agreement with villages. The fund is designed to help villagers boost their productivity, particularly with regard to animal husbandry,” Mr Savanh said. In August this year, the government approved the nomination of Nakai-Nam Theun to the IUCN’s Green List, through a resolution adopted during the 17th Nakai-Nam Theun National Park committee meeting held in Vientiane.
If accepted into the IUCN Global Green List programme, Nakai-Nam Theun will be recognised internationally and serve as a standard and reference for other protected areas in Laos. Authorities plan to create ecotourism activities in the park to generate more income for local people so they can contribute more to protection activities.

By Somsack Pongkhao
(Latest Update October 5, 2020)