Protected Area Governance and Equitable Access in the Lao PDR

This report provides eight recommendations for implementing the concept of equitable access in the governance of protected areas, particularly in the Lao PDR. First, formalize and implement meaningful roles for communities in governance of protected areas, particularly by providing them with decision-making rights in management plans. Second, create zones of community conserved areas within protected areas, referred to in the Lao context as traditional use forests (TUF), which are exclusively designed and managed by communities. Third, support the land, agricultural, forestry, and other resource use practices of protected area residents, including swidden cultivation. Fourth, reform land and forest tenure in protected areas to reflect the goals of equitable access by providing greater customary use and ownership rights to residents. Fifth, create collaborative alliances between protected area managers and residents to patrol and report illegal resource extraction activities. Sixth, constrain or prohibit large-scale commercial resource extraction activities in protected areas, especially logging, mining, and hydropower. Seventh, ensure that protected area residents have equitable access to resources and decision-making processes within the community, among all members and among men and women. Eighth, conduct additional research on co-management and participatory conservation schemes in protected areas in the Lao PDR.