Site Summary: Nam Et – Phou Louey, National Protected Area
Abstract
Nam Et – Phou Louey (NEPL) National Protected Area (NPA) supports a tiger population of international importance. The people living in and around the NPA rely on wildlife for their livelihood. Sadly, the way they consume wildlife is unsustainable which leads to large scale destruction throughout the entire biodiversity reserve which leads to a high potential of losing key species forever. Two main threats to the species are direct killing of tigers for trade and hunting tiger prey (Guar, Sambar Deer, Serow, Muntjacs and pigs) for food and trade (Johnson and etc 2008). These two threats are at such a high rate that it will be unsustainable for tigers, their prey species, and other species. The NEPL NPA and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) believe we cannot allow the destruction of the species to continue at this rate as it will lead to extinction of key global species, especially Indochinese Tiger (panther tigris). In 2007 the NEPL NPA held a stakeholders meeting to gain inputs and ideas to help reduce the threats to the species. The outcome of this meeting presented three strategies: Law Enforcement, Conservation Education and Outreach, and Ecological Monitoring. Law Enforcement helps tackle the urgent problems and mitigate large scale destruction; while Conservation Eduction and Outreach engages communities to understand the trend of the threats to species and therefore help the NPA to reduce the threat; and lastly Ecological Monitoring takes the roles to measure if two interventions work by comparing the number of species year over year. You should end on how WCS and Pride will do this.
1. Site Summary
1.1. Description of Physical Site
Definition of Site
The Lao PDR is located in the heart of the Indochina peninsular, in Southeast Asia. Latitude 14 to 23 degrees north and longitude 100 to 108 degrees east; Laos is a landlocked country. It shares a 505 km border with China to the north, 435 km of border with Cambodia to the south, 2,069 km of border with Vietnam to the east, 1,835 km of border with Thailand to the west, and a 236 km border with Myanmar to the northwest. The country stretches 1,700 km from north to south, with an east-west width of over 500 km at its widest, only 140 km at the narrowest point. The Lao PDR covers a total of 236,800 square kilometers, three-quarters of which is mountainous and plateau (http://www.un.int/lao/laos_in_brief.htm).
Google Earth coordination
E 18° 30´ 33.53´´
N 101° 40´ 54.20´´ (Google Earth)
The country has three distinct regions. The North is dominated by mountains which average 1,500 meters above sea level. The highest peak in Lao is 2,800 meter (Phou Bia in Xieng Khouang province). The Phou Luang (Annamite Chain) stretches from the southeast of the Phouane Plateau down to the Cambodian border. It has three large plateau: Phouane Plateau in Xieng Khouang province, Nakai Plateau in Khammuan province, and Boloven Plateau in southern Laos. The plains region comprises of both large and small flat areas along the Mekong River. The largest of these is the Vientiane plain, on the lower reaches of the Nam Ngum Watershed. Also significant are the Savannakhet plain, on the lower reaches of the Xe Bang Fai and Xe Bang Hieng rivers, and the Champasak plain, which is on the Mekong River, stretching between the Thai and Cambodian borders. Blessed with fertile soil, these plains represent one quarter of the total irrigable lands and are the “granaries” of the country (http://www.un.int/lao/laos_in_brief.htm)
Physical Region
The Nam Et – Phou Louey (NEPL) National Protected Area (NPA) is the largest NPA in the country, covering approximately 600,000 hectares of mixed evergreen and deciduous forest ranging from 400m to 2257m in elevation (Johnson 2009), with over 60% of land area above 1000 m and 91% of the area is along slopes greater than a 12% gradient. Annual rainfall varies from 1400-1800mm; temperatures range from 5-30° C, while March and April are hot and dry in advance of the monsoon, followed by cool dry weather from November to February. Established in 1993, the NPA is made up of two contiguous protected areas (Nam Et and Phou Louey) that include two districts in Luang Prabang province (Viengkham and Phonxay), four districts in Houaphan province (Viengthong, Huamuang, Xamneua, and Xiengkhor), and one district in Xieng Khuang province (Phoukoud). The NPA borders Vietnam on its northern boundary (Johnson 2009). 300,000 hectares is a core zone and corridor, this is prohibited zone is forests and forestland providing habitat, living and reproduction sites for animals and a wealth of plant species, where forestry activities, forest produce gathering, including the removal of animal and plant species are strictly forbidden unless specially authorized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry only (GoL).
, while 300,000 hectares is a village use area is forest areas or forestland adjoining or neighboring restricted areas, which the population may make limited use in wood exploitation, gathering of forestry produces and hunting. The population previously inhabiting the reserve forests may carry out different activities and use forest resources in accordance with the rules and regulations, management plans and specific rules aiming at ensuring the sustainable use of forestry resources in such areas and the efficient preservation of reserve forests (GoL). The landscape has a long history of human settlement that is characterized by patches of secondary forest, stands of bamboo and anthropogenic grasslands that are regularly burned for hunting and cattle grazing (Johnson 2009).
Infrastructure around Site
The NEPL NPA covers seven districts in three provinces: Sam Nue, Et, Hua Muang, and Viengthong Districts, Huaphanh Province; Phonexay and Viengkham Districts, Luang Prabang Province; and lastly Phou Khoud District, Xieng Khuang Province.
There are 98 villages (approximately 10,000 people) living along the perimeter of the core zone boundary (Schlemmer 2002). NEPL NPA head office is in Viengthong District, there are four simple questhouses in this town; three in Viengkham District; and 2 in Hua Muang. Only some villages have access to primarily schools, grade 1 to grade 5, only most of the villages consist primary schools between grade 1 to grade 5. There is only one lower and upper secondary school in each district near the site. There is one national road through the NPA and several dirt roads connecting from this national through villages, other provinces and Vietnam. Electricity is available 24 hours/day only during the rainy season, 2-5 hour/day during dry season.
1.2 Socio-Economic Characteristics of Site
Site/Park History
The government of Laos recognized that the forest is critically important to the country for long term and sustainable development. Because Laos is a developing country, most of its people rely on the natural resource around them. The adventage of this is that it helps ensure its citizens have food by using the natural resources. Sadly, the way people consume the natural resources is unsustainable. To helped mitigate large scale destruction of natural resources 20 National Protected Areas were established in 1993. The NEPL NPA was one of the 20 NPAs.
Land Use/Land Tenure
The NPA is divided into two zones, a 3,000 hectares core zone where access and harvest is prohibited, and a 300,000 hectares village use area, where pre-existing villages are allocated land for subsistence (Johnson 2009). Land is solely property of Laos National, managed by NPA management. Land and Forestry Laws of Laos state that local community members have the right to use the land in appropriate method under the management of NPA management. NPA management provides the land to local communties by allocation where they are able to use and where is prohibited. There are several villages living in inside the NPA around the core zone because the NPA was established after villages settlement in the site.
Main Livelihoods and Incomes
Most families are largely focused on subsistence with little integration into the market economy. The villagers earn their income by collecting Non-Timber Forest Products, use area is limited to smaller highly fecund species with guidelines on gear and seasons for harvest. Rice is the staple food. Meat and vegetables are raised or harvested from the forest. Livestock are the main source of income for most villages with cattle being sold outside the district or province since the 1980’s (Johnson 2009).
Rice is the staple food of all people concerned in this research. This is expressed through the general word for 'eating', which translates literally in "to eat rice" for all ethnic groups. Rice is mostly for human consumption, but pigs, poultry and dogs will also eat it. It is also used as a sacrifice to spirits. To be poor is to lack rice. Having to eat corn or cassava is considered to be suffering from famine, although this is less the case in Hmong villages. Rice is the most important pillar of the local economy. The two main ways to plant rice are through paddy or wet rice cultivation in 'lowland fields' or shifting cultivation in upland fields (Schlemmer 2002).
Most of the people living in the National Park practice shifting cultivation. Shifting cultivation is high lands agriculture by slash burn forest to grow grow rice, corn, etc. Families who only have paddy fields form a small minority while almost a third of the Viengthong district families only practice shifting cultivation (Schlemmer 2002).
Between 90 and 98 per cent of households have access to agricultural land. The average landholding size is smallest in Houaphan (1.09 ha per household), slightly larger in Xieng Khouang (1.38 ha) and larger again in Luang Prabang Province (1.76 ha per household). This notwithstanding, a higher proportion (over half) of households in Houaphan and Xieng Khouang have access to irrigated land, and own cattle and buffalo. The incidence of slash and burn agriculture is significantly higher than the national average in Houaphan (76 per cent of villages) and Luang Prabang (89 per cent of villages). Poverty, measured in terms of household access to the basic food and non food items deemed necessary for a minimum standard of living, is widespread throughout Houaphan, Luang Prabang and Xieng Khouang provinces. The Northern Region is the poorest part of Lao PDR (UNDP 2002); poverty is highest in Houaphan Province, where three quarters of the population were classified as poor in 1998, and where there has been little reduction in poverty over recent years. Per capita GDP is below the national mean in all three provinces, and is only just over half of the average for Lao PDR in Houaphan. Other socio-economic indicators —such as infant mortality rate and access to safe water and medical facilities — underline the lack of basic services and infrastructure (Schlemmer 2002).
Site population and neighbours
There are 98 villages (approximately 10,000 people) living along the perimeter of the core zone boundary. They are Tai-Kadai (including Tai Lao, Tai Dam, and Tai Deng), Mon-Khmer (including Khm’u and Lao Khaa), and Hmong-Mien (including Hmong, Hmu, and Iu Mien) (Schlemmer 2002). The villagers living in these 98 villages are all potential target audiences. However, base on the time we will focus on 50 communities during the Pride Campaign.
1.3 Main Factors Affecting the Site
Known Threats to Local Biodiversity
Indochinese Tiger is classified as Endangered species in IUCN Red List (IUCN). The research and strategic planning indicates that tiger poaching is closely tied to cattle grazing practices in the NPA (Johnson et al., 2006, Lynam et al., 2006). We found that farmers are using semi-permanent settlements in grazing areas near and within the core zone to opportunistically kill tigers with explosives or poison in livestock carcasses and also to hunt tiger prey. In the last year, we also began uncovering reports of tigers being snared with large metal “bear claw” traps and shot with semi-automatic guns. There are up to five military-issued guns held by government-assigned village militia in each village. Ammunition for hunting wildlife with these weapons is illegally obtained from any one of the five military camps along the NPA border (Johnson an et 2008).
Prey are killed by villagers and the military using guns (home made and military issue) across the NPA throughout the year. Muntjacs, pigs, and macaques are eaten for subsistence. One study estimated that each household in the NPA annually consumed 141kg of wild meat of which 20% was deer and pigs (ICEM 2003). Given an average of 35 households/village in 98 NPA villages (Schlemmer 2002), this is a minimum estimated offtake of 96,000kg of ungulates annually (28.4 kg/km2), not including offtake by outside hunters or animals traded commercially. In 2005, 42% of respondents in a survey of NPA villages indicated that outsiders also hunt in village areas (A. Johnson; unpubl.data). Wildlife trade has been on the increase since 1998. Villages reported weekly commerce in wildlife products with Vietnamese traders (Davidson 1998) with gaur gall bladders and sambar deer antlers among products commonly sold (Vongkhamheng 2002). Today, sambar, muntjac, and pig meat are traded and transported on buses or by truck along a single asphalt road for sale in urban restaurants and markets that are 2-12 hours away from the NPA. Small prey are transported live on motorbikes along a new road leading linking the NPA to wildlife farms in north Vietnam and restaurants in Hanoi (Johnson an et 2008).
1. Conservation Issues
Biodiversity of Site
NEPL supports a tiger population of international importance, as well as at least 17 other key large mammal species of conservation concern. There are sizeable numbers of Gaur (Bos gaurus), Banteng (Bos javanicus), the goat-like black muntjac (a species new to science), various medium-size cats such as Golden cat (Catopuma temmincki) and Clouded Leopard (Neofelis nebulosa), two species of bears including Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus), at least six species of primate, including the White-cheeked gibbon (Hylobates leucogenys), at least three bat species previously unrecorded in Lao PDR and one species of bat unrecorded anywhere else. Nearly 300 bird species have been recorded, 35 of which are key species of conservation concern (Table 1) (Schlemmer 2002).