This follow-up, assessment and coordination mission was intended to review how the “river-to-river cooperation” MAEE project has progressed with the authorities of the Water Resources and Environment Office (WREO) in Luang Prabang and other project partners who provide scientific and technical expertise. This project is itself part of the decentralised cooperation of the Centre Region with the Province of Luang Prabang, for which the Val de Loire Mission provides technical support.
Mission team
-
Val de Loire Mission
:
- Vincent Rotgé, International Activities Manager and
Expert in Regional Development,
- Simon Hardy, Project Management Assistant,
-
Loire-Anjou-Touraine Regional Nature
Park (PNR LAT):
- Guillaume Delaunay, Natural Heritage Policy Officer
-
IRD
(Research Institute for Development) and CIRAD (French
agricultural research centre working for international
development)
Highlights
The mission participants met Mr Chanthavong, Director of the
WREO in Luang Prabang, who confirmed the interest of his
institution in the
"Eco-valley" programme - the focus of the Centre Region-Luang
Prabang Province partnership - of which the Laos section of the
"river-to-river cooperation" MAEE project is part.
He
expressed his interest in
an integrated initiative for developing and protecting the
valley's nature spots.
Guillaume Delaunay's
presentation of the PNR LAT captured the full attention of
the WREO partners, who also expressed interest in the
experience of Thai parks reported by volunteers of the
Centre Region-Luang Prabang Province/WREO progress after a seminar
in Thailand in September 2008.
The mission also comprised
field trips to the village of Houay Yen in Nam Khan Valley,
and a meeting with Tara Gujadur, TENRI, cofounder of an
ethnographical museum in Luang Prabang.
Main conclusions
Objectives for the project's next stages:
-
Obtain tangible and direct results in the improvement of
the populations' standard of living, through activities:
- underseeding test crops
- commercial sectors
- halieutic sector - fish farming
-
Capitalise on the work carried out during the Eco-valley
Programme for several years now, including the MAEE
Project for two years
- Some of these initiatives have a scientific focus and may
be published in specialist reviews
-
Organise a series of thematic workshops for the
MAEE Project running until the end of 2010, each designed in two
parts:
- (1) expert group for identifying lessons and trends, as
well as specific development proposals,
- (2) raising awareness of and discussion with Laos-based
stakeholders: MPs, local government departments and villagers,
of these proposals.
Lastly, it seems that
the PNR LAT may play a useful role in putting together
guidelines for the integrated development of the sector between
the buffer zone and National Biodiversity Conservation Areas
(NBCA).
Regional management and preservation of the heritage of river corridors