End of September, the GIZ Laos biodiversity conservation project in the Hin Nam No region, together with its partners from province and district level, has reviewed the current set-up and progress of the co-management approach and has further discussed and endorsed the official co-management agreement.
The co-management approach is an innovative approach in Laos. Villages form co-management committees which have a mandate to protect and manage the natural resources in and around Hin Nam No National Protected Area in accordance with an approved co-management plan. The co-management committee is elected on village level and has no activities that are involved in politics, but the duty to assist the Lao government and local administrative authorities in terms of monitoring and managing the areas of Hin Nam No park that are allocated to them. Between May and July 2014 the different communities and the district administration have jointly drafted a mutual agreement. The joint workshop was supposed to finally agree on them.
At the end of the workshop, all participants indeed agreed on ratifying the co-management agreement. According to the provincial governor, it is now the duty of the district governor to sign and endorse the co-management agreement for the Hin Nam No National Protected Area. The main reason given is that Boualapha district is a pilot district of the province to develop a three-built district (sam-sang) and the ownership of the project and implementation of activities must be decentralised to the local level. Mr. Bouahpanh Phantavong, Deputy-Director General of the Department of Forest Resource Management and representative of the Ministry of Natural Resources, told the participants that he would like this co-management model to be piloted for at least 2 years with the possibility to extend it to other areas in Laos if the results are positive.
To spread the good news of the approval for the Hin Nam No co-management agreement, GIZ’s ProCEEd project, focused on environmental education, helped by conducting radio interviews with relevant stakeholders. The Hin Nam No project also interviewed villagers to capture their thoughts. The results of these radio productions and the views of all the stakeholders on the co-management process will be summarised soon.
Further Information
Project description of Hin Nam No project
http://www.giz.de/en/worldwide/17453.html
More publications of Hin Nam No project (tab ‘natural resources & climate change’)
http://www.giz.de/en/worldwide/26758.html