Nakai- Namtheun | Conservation |  Multiple Benefits

THE NAKAI - NAM THEUN NATIONAL BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION AREA (NBCA)

     Overhanging the northeastern border of the future reservoir, the Project catchment area or watershed, which will ensure long term supply of water to the Project, is mostly covered with pristine primary forest and comprises part of the Nakai - Nam Theun National Biodiversity Conservation Area (NBCA). This 4,000 km2 area of mountainous forest and rivers is recognized to be of outstanding significance in terms of its biodiversity. The Project implementation will trigger the large scale and long-term protection of the area. Without the Project – and thus the funding it allows – the NBCA would most likely continue to degrade. Indeed, there are no other projects effectively protecting the forests of Laos in such a large scale, let alone the Nam Theun area. More generally, protected Area managers worldwide desperately seek funding, and one of the most sustainable approaches is considered to be “user pays” arrangement. In the Nam Theun 2 case, not only will the Project pay for the protection of its water source, but also it will largely contribute to the long-term conservation of a unique and world-class biodiversity heritage. Such conservation commitment by NTPC and the Government represent one of the main trade-off of the Project. According to the Panel of Environmental and Social Experts “the project will by way of direct funding help to preserve a vast primary forest of great international significance which makes up the catchment, and which is presently at risk.”

Nakai - Nam Theun NBCA

The management of the area will be based on the integration of conservation objective with development activities. This means that certain areas in the NBCA are being zoned as totally protected, while other areas authorize a controlled use of lands for agriculture or other development. In addition, villagers are full participants in the management of the areas’ biodiversity and that farming and livelihood systems are in balance with the surrounding nature

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Illegal Logging

In May 2000, a World Bank logging survey mission identified some illegal logging activities in some portion of the NBCA, which triggered the decision by the Government to ban all logging activities in the NBCA and on the Nakai Plateau through the issuance of Decree from the office of the Prime Minister. A March 2002 World Bank mission to monitor logging activities on the Nakai Plateau and in the NBCA confirmed that no logging have occurred since that ban, and patrols have been continuing to ensure the implementation of the Governmental decree. Funding of the protection authority by the Project will ensure long-term respect of the logging ban.

Poaching and Biodiversity Trading

Because of human pressures and increasing value of rare species, trading of wildlife is a real threat to the rich biodiversity of Laos. The opportunities the Project gives to improve livelihoods in the NBCA through proper conservation activities are expected to provide the means to the Government to effectively put an end to such activities.

Slash and Burn Cultivation

The NBCA is home to approximately 5,200 villagers of a range of ethnic groups, living in 30 villages. Their livelihoods are based mainly on shifting cultivation and forest product collection, with some paddy cultivation. Living standards, in most villages, are low, and rice deficiency is a chronic problem. The rate of population increase in the watershed, estimated to be about 2.5% per year, suggests that shifting cultivation is not sustainable, assuming that new families seek to open new forest lands to produce rice. Thus either shifting cultivation or population growth must be controlled, or a combination of both. If swiddening was demonstrated to be rotational, then villagers may continue such practices in order to ensure rice production, but on the understanding that no new forest would be introduced into the cycle, and that the long-term aim is still to develop sustainable agriculture. Without appropriate control over such agricultural activities, the watershed and its biodiversity are likely to suffer more irreversible scars. While the NBCA management must be proactive in their support to the development of the area, such development should not encourage a higher population than the areas natural resources can sustainably cope with. On the other hand, local villagers will be presented with development options, which enable them to maintain their traditional lifestyles, as long as these do not adversely affect forests or natural resources.

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