Meeting with stakeholders.

Dongyang area is seen by many conservationists as the single most important biodiversity hotspot in Vientaine. It has high levels of endemism in both plant and animal families and is known wide as one of the most important priorities facing conservationists today. The latest estimates suggest that around 35% of the original forest cover has been lost along with numerous species, many of which had never been described.

Training villages on forest management.

With extremely limited financial resources and similarly limited infrastructure for conservation, the relate line agency has struggled to manage and maintain its important natural resources whilst the pressure from a growing population constantly increases the strain. In the face of this pressing situation, the Lao government has initiated plans to devolve the power for resource management and development planning from governmental bodies to local communities, with an emphasis on participation and sustainable resource use.

Boundary villages.

In Lao, the policy of forest management of renewable natural resources, under contract, to rural communities has. The management of forests, wild fauna and flora rangeland coming within the state domain or territorial communities can thus be handed over to local entities. The law creates a regulatory framework for the (security in local resource management) contracts. Such contracts are entered into by the state along with the communicate or the base rural community.

The project proposed in this document provides a framework by which, through stakeholder participation and a resource management program, in conjunction with long-term floral and faunal research, a management plan can be devised for the local community to operate and to aid the community to sustainably manage resources.