Lao PDR

This video introduces how green freight approaches can provide environmental and economic win-wins for the transport sector in the GMS.

Land use is constantly changing in the Greater Mekong Subregion. At the same time, land use planning processes are often poorly informed, risking decisions that may lead to social and environmental costs that outweigh intended benefits.

Rural communities in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) are vulnerable to climate-related disasters. In 2008, tropical cyclone Nargis killed 84,500 people and impacted the livelihoods of 2.4 million people. In 2011, large-scale floods in Thailand affected 14 million people and caused $45.7 billion in damages.

The third and final workshop in CEP’s training module on integrating climate change adaptation into local planning focused on identifying and implementing adaptation options.

Information on how future development may unfold is essential for land use change modeling.

Senior environment and forestry officials from Yunnan and Guangxi met with representatives from the other five GMS countries to exchange experiences and lessons from biodiversity conservation work in transboundary landscapes.

This training workshop was the second in a series of three that aim to build the capacity of government planners in the GMS to work with communities to integrate climate change adaptation into local level development planning.

A Green Freight and Logistics Day was held as a pre-event to the 9th Better Air Quality Conference in Buson, South Korea, to highlight green freight intiatives in Asia and key lessons and opportunities for future scaling up.

Truck drivers from over 100 freight companies in Lao PDR, Thailand, and Viet Nam have undergone eco-driving training as the Green Freight Initiative tests ways to lessen the environmental impacts of freight transport in the GMS.

This workshop was the first in a series of three that aim to build the capacity of government planners in the GMS to work with communities to integrate climate change adaptation into local level development planning.

As Lao PDR continues its impressive development trajectory, the need to strategically and systematically prevent and mitigate pollution becomes increasingly urgent. Trends such as population growth and urbanization, increased consumerism, agricultural intensification, and industrial expansion are among many drivers of pollution in the country. 

With support from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the GMS Core Environment Program is strengthening regional collaboration to manage key transboundary biodiversity landscapes in the GMS.

During 2014, CEP worked with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment’s Pollution Control Department to estimate provincial industrial emissions by applying the Industrial Pollution Projection System (IPPS).  

Increasing Investments in Natural Capital in the Greater Mekong Subregion

The Natural Capital Dialogue brought together senior GMS government officials, international experts and a wide range of stakeholders to discuss the significance of natural capital in the context of inclusive and sustainable development in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS). Occurring ahead of the 4^th GMS Environment Ministers’ Meeting (EMM4), the Natural Capital Dialogue presented an important opportunity to draw public and business sector attention to the need to increase investments in the Subregion’s natural capital.

Theme: Investing in Natural Capital is Investing in Youth

Overview

As emphasized in the Future We Want outcome document from Rio+20, youth are “custodians of the future” and have an essential role in helping achieve sustainable development. If engaged and empowered, GMS youth have the potential to drive the changes needed to ensure a sustainable future for their own and future generations. 

Every three years, environment ministers from the six Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) countries gather to take stock of environment challenges and opportunities, and set the direction for regional responses under the GMS Economic Cooperation Program.

Theme: Designing mechanisms and building partnerships for the strategic planning and management of transboundary and other biodiversity landscapes

Overview

Biodiversity landscapes constitute a large proportion of the natural capital remaining in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS). They are a rich repository of globally important biodiversity, including many endemic and endangered species, and provide vital ecosystem services. This wealth of natural capital underpins the subregion’s security in terms of energy, food, and water. Seven of these landscapes cut across international borders. These transboundary biodiversity landscapes (TBLs), which are the focus of the GMS Core Environment Program, lie in juxtaposition to the GMS economic corridors, providing both challenges and opportunities for their effective management and conservation.

Theme: Investing in Natural Capital: Public Private Cooperation for Future Prosperity in the Greater Mekong Subregion

Overview

The Fourth GMS Environment Ministers’ Meeting emphasized the need to strengthen collaboration between governments, development partners, business sector, and civil society in order to find ways to maintain and enhance the region’s natural capital stocks. A key step was the need to strengthen collaboration and coordination between businesses, government, and/or civil society in ways that are demonstrably good for business, local livelihoods and for the protection and enhancement of the subregion’s natural capital. In this context the Natural Capital Business Forum engaged the businesses in their capacity as a beneficiary of public sector investments as well as the investors in economic activities associated with natural capital.

In recent years, there has been increased global recognition about the important socioeconomic contribution of ecosystem services for rural livelihoods and broader society. This has helped drive countries to make greater efforts to more sustainably manage their natural capital – forest, land, and water resources and related ecosystem services. 

Transboundary biodiversity landscapes in the GMS are rich in natural capital, but are increasingly under threat from development and climate change pressures, leading to environmental degradation and more vulnerable local communities.

Growing demand for energy goes hand-in-hand with rapid economic development. Since 2005, GDP per capita in the GMS has increased 260% while electricity consumption has nearly doubled. As their economies continue to rapidly grow, all six countries need to utilize additional energy resources to meet increasing domestic demand.  In addition, Lao PDR and Myanmar view energy exports as a major economic opportunity. 

This series of posters show how inefficient freight truck fleets in the GMS are impacting the environment, why greener trucks will benefit both businesses and environment, and how this will be achieved...

Development planning in the GMS is often fragmented, with ministries and sectors lacking the capacity, tools, or incentives to work together to meet sustainable development goals. When competing for the same natural resources, implementing one sector plan is often to the detriment of another. As a result, resource allocation can become inefficient, costly, and ultimately unsustainable.

This animation describes the work of CEP in securing natural capital in the GMS.

This paper presents the results of CEP-funded research conducted during 2011 and 2012  to assess increases in carbon dioxide caused by deforestation and emissions in Savannakhet Province in Lao PD...

Lao PDR is developing a decree and guidelines for strategic environmental assessment (SEA) in an effort to mainstream SEA in the country's development planning processes.

The industrial sectors of Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Myanmar are rapidly growing and are helping drive economic development. For example, in Lao PDR, industry has doubled its proportion of national Gross Domestic Product during the past decade (12% to 25%). While the expansion of pulp industries including paper mills, cement factories, food processing and garment manufacturing, are providing new jobs and economic benefits, there are increasing concerns over industrial pollution, particularly on water and land quality.

This report presents the methodology and lessons from a climate change adaptation study conducted by the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Core Environment Program. The study yielded a framework and metho...

ADB’s Sanath Ranawana (and CEP project officer) was a panelist at the Forests Asia Summit on May 6 2014 in Jakarta, Indonesia. During the ‘Investing in Landscapes for Green Returns’ panel, he discussed the role of public financing to support environmentally friendly private sector investments in Asia’s landscapes (3:35–13:25).

Overview

This training is a five-day intensive program designed to enhance understanding of energy and transport practitioners on issues and challenges which arise from climate change. It is a collaborative learning program in partnership with GMS Phnom Penh Plan (PPP) for Development Management.

The freight sector in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) is emerging as a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions, driven in part by regional economic cooperation and the associated development of economic corridors. In order to test interventions that could mitigate increases in emissions from freight transport, pilot projects are being implemented in Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam through the GMS Green Freight Initiative .

This animation describes the work of CEP in securing natural capital in the GMS.

This three-day conference held in Chiang Rai was organized by the Asia-Pacific Adaptation Network to facilitate discussion and share lessons about climate change adaptation, resilience and urban biodiversity in Southeast Asia.

ADB  SPEECH- 4 December 2013

Welcome remarks by ADB President Takehiko Nakao at the Second Asian Judges Symposium on Environment:
Natural Capital and the Rule of Law held in Manila, Philippines on 2 December 2013

An Asian Judges Network on Environment was officially launched at the Second Asian Judges Symposium on Environment to be held in Manila, 2 to 5 December.

This animation produced by the James Hutton Institute explains why Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) schemes are attracting increasing interest as policy mechanisms to improve conservation and achieve sustainable development outcomes. PES initiatives aim to reach mutually beneficial agreements between providers and users of ecosystem services, entailing a reward mechanism for ecosystem managers for maintaining or improving the provision of the services valued by beneficiaries.

Chief justices from the region met last week to explore legal responses to pressing environment issues such as cross border threats from climate change, pollution, deforestation and the illegal trade in wildlife and timber.

This ADB book provides an energy outlook for the region up to the year 2035 to help identify policy, social, infrastructure, and technology issues that must be addressed to meet future energy needs of ...

The GMS Working Group on Environment (WGE) met on 30 October 2013 in Champasak, Lao PDR, to review CEP implementation progress and endorse the 2014 work-plan. Also discussed were the GMS Regional Investment Framework environment pipeline and preliminary concept and preparatory work for the 4th GMS Environment Ministers’ Meeting. 

The ADB annual Asian Development Outlook, generally launched in April, presents an analysis of developing Asia’s recent economic performance plus its prospects for the next 2 years. This Update s...

The Asia Low Emissions Development Strategies (LEDS) Forum aims to facilitate regional coordination; share tools, models, approaches, and best practices; and increase capacity and readiness of practitioners to lead and implement LEDS and green growth initiatives. Policymakers, donors, practitioners, and other experts involved in developing low-emission strategies in Asia will attend the annual event.

This workshop brought together government representatives and development partners to share experiences on measuring greenhouse gases from the transport sector. Naeeda Crishna Morgado, Climate Change M...

Rural households and communities in the GMS employ a wide range of strategies to minimize the impact of climatic shocks. These include crop and labor diversification, personal savings, investments in semi-liquid assets such as livestock, and informal risk pooling arrangements among peers.

The freight and logistics sector in the GMS plays a pivotal role in supporting the expansion of trade, and in turn, economic growth. A 2010 Core Environment Program study of the GMS East-West Economic Corridor – connecting Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam - found that promoting green freight through improved logistics management and fuel efficiency measures could reduce GHG emissions and lower freight company fuel costs.

Forests in the GMS are important carbon sinks, provide valuable eco-system services, contain extensive and unique biodiversity, and are an important source of livelihood for millions of local people, many of whom live in poverty. The on-going destruction and damage to natural forests in the GMS through over-exploitation has long been one of the major environmental challenges facing the subregion. In response, GMS countries are engaging in REDD+ (“Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation”).

As part of a round of planning missions to GMS countries, CEP held a scoping mission to Lao PDR to consult with stakeholders on the program’s Phase II strategic planning, safeguards, and monitoring activities. 

This ADB paper examines the role of international trade in employment growth in micro- and small enterprises using a representative sample of manufacturing firms in six Southeast Asian countries

This ADB energy sector assessments, strategies, and road map document updates development issues, needs, and priorities of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) for ADB assistance in the...

This ADB report examines prospects for ADB to ramp up efforts in the region for greater utilization of demand-side energy efficiency, the most cost-effective source of energy supply. The report further...

This ADB transport sector assessment, strategy, and road map highlights development issues, needs and strategic assistance priorities of the Government of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and...

Cross-sector collaboration is central to the long-term success of the GMS Economic Cooperation Program, particularly among inter-dependent sectors such agriculture and environment.

This brochure overviews the Core Environment Program; covering the development context, history of the program, areas of work and some major program results. Please find the brochure in Burmese, Chines...

One of the major successes of CEP Phase I was the scaling up of its biodiversity conservation corridor pilot work.  In 2011, ADB approved grants and loans worth $69 million for Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Viet Nam under a new project to further engage local communities in the sustainable management of important biodiversity landscapes.  

Rural communities in the GMS are particularly vulnerable to climate change. While there is considerable indigenous knowledge within communities on managing climate-related risks, understanding how a community’s vulnerability profile will change from climate and non-climate risks is essential for empowering local people to develop strategies for a climate-resilient future.

In recent years, the border region around the Golden Quadrangle, involving PR China, Lao PDR, and Thailand, has received attention for potential tourism development. There is increased tourism development in the Xishuangbanna area and in Northern Lao PDR (both ecotourism and cultural tourism) and this area has been designated as a key development priority under the GMS Tourism Sector Strategy.

With support from ADB, ‘economic corridors’ are being developed across the GMS to improve transport connectivity and facilitate trade.  An upsurge in traffic and development along these corridors is leading to increased greenhouse gas emissions and environmental changes. These need to be carefully managed to ensure environmental sustainability.

This biodiversity conservation corridor pilot sire in the south of Lao PDR covers a 32,000 hectare strip of land in Champasak Province, between the Dong Hua Sao and Xe Pian national protected areas.

A report documenting the achievements of the Biodiversity Conservation Corridors Initiative (BCI) from 2006-2011. It includes impacts and lessons learned, coverage of the eight pilot sites in Cambodia,...

29 November 2011

A training seminar was jointly organized by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and Ministry of Energy and Mines, supported by EOC. The training showcased strategic environmental assessment (SEA) best practice from the GMS and demonstrated SEA as a planning tool in support of energy planning in the Lao PDR.

Produced by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) with support from CEP, the paper for Lao PDR reviews the state of the forestry sector and the need for political commitment...

The forest of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) nurture a remarkable biodiversity and provide resources vital to human welfare and the region's economic prosperity. But these same forests are fragmenting and disappearing under pressure from rapid economic development, land conversion, and overuse.

Conserving our Natural Heritage introduces the GMS Core Environment program, a joint action plan by Mekong countries to improve environmental management and promote sustainable development across the region.

A 2007 status report on six pilot sites of the Biodiversity Conservation Corridors Initiative (BCI) implemented by the Core Environment Program (CEP). The report covers background information on each o...

A report on the first environmental performance assessment (EPA) conducted in Lao PDR.  The assessment covers eight environmental concerns: forest resources, water resources, fish resources, threa...