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It is important to note that while part of the Nakai Plateau would be flooded by the creation of the NT2 reservoir, the adjacent Nakai-Nam Theun National Protected Area (NNT-NPA) and two forest corridors linking it to adjacent NPAs—together nine times the size of the reservoir—would be conserved as an offset for the inundation of natural habitats on the plateau. The protected forests have globally significant biodiversity value and are among the most important in southeast Asia for conservation.
The project would provide about $1 million per year for 31 years for the management and protection of this forest. This should be viewed against the approximately $15,000 the government of Lao PDR is currently able to allocate to its entire protected area system annually. A conservation management plan (which includes detailed arrangements for livelihood development and for appropriate approaches for the ethnic minorities in the project area) has been developed for the NNT-NPA.. The execution of this conservation plan will be subject to external monitoring.
Successful long-term management of these areas and the corresponding critical natural habitats they will protect will ensure continued existence of habitat that all wildlife dependent on these areas need for survival. The success of this offset and compensation scheme depends on the Government’s ability to protect the biodiversity of the NPA and its corridors. The Government has demonstrated a commitment to conservation of the NPA by eliminating logging in the protected area (since 2001) and establishing the corridors and the Watershed Management Protection Authority, the government body set up to protect the area, as outlined in the safeguard document known as the SEMFOP -- the Social and Environmental Management Framework and Operational Plan.
In addition to securing the financing to manage the watershed through the Concession Agreement, a number of measures are being undertaken to help ensure protection of this area as part of the SEMFOP, including agreement on a shared vision for conservation and protection of the NNT-NPA that prohibits commercial activities in the NPA and implementing livelihood models that are environmentally compatible for the 31 enclave villages. The SEMFOP document has been developed directly with GoL and will be endorsed by GoL with a supporting legal framework. Activities such as physical demarcation of the area, baseline surveys of biodiversity, and strengthened patrolling with a focus on cross-border wildlife trade have already begun--and a program to build capacity within the WMPA will also begin shortly.
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