The Nakay-Nam Theun National Biodiversity Conservation Area

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The Contested Landscapes of the Nam Theun, Lao PDR
Australian Mekong Resource Centre

The Nakay-Nam Theun NBCA (NNT NBCA) consists of primary forests that rise gradually from the Nakay Plateau lying at approximately 500 to 600m above sea level into the Annamite mountain range bordering with Vietnam, peaking at almost 2300m. Originally identified by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as an area of high biodiversity value of global significance which included the Nakay Plateau. The NNT NBCA received official recognition in October 1993 when Prime Ministerial Decree 167 defined the status and location of 18 NBCAs (now 20 areas) throughout the country.

However, under the decree the proposed inundation area of Nam Theun 2 was excised from the IUCN proposed NNT NBCA. However, the NNT NBCA is still the largest of Laos' 20 NBCAs.

     Photo: Satoru Matsumoto

     Among the rare and endangered mammals found in
     the NNT NBCA is the Saola, an Ungulate previously
     thought to exist only on the Vietnamese side of the
     Annamite Range where it is also endangered. In 1996,
     this specimen was captured in the NNT NBCA and
     held captive in the BPKP zoo at Lak Sao where it
     later died in captivity.

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), a US based conservation NGO which has received consultancies from NTEC to survey the NBCA, has confirmed the existence of at least 14 globally endangered large mammals including the Saola (also known as the Vu Quang Ox). Of 390 species of birds, 8 are globally endangered and another 20 are globally near-endangered.

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Nam Theun 2 set a precedent for the funding of hydro watershed conservation in Laos. The principle, yet to be seen in contractual terms, is that 1% per annum of the hydro revenues would be set aside for watershed conservation measures. This funding model has now been adopted for other Lao hydropower schemes like the Nam Leuk, Xe Pian/Xe Namnoy developments. Private hydro developers claim that their hydro developments are a way in which the Lao government can fund the conservation of its watersheds. Yet conservation funding from bilateral sources, particularly from Scandinavia, was

always available to the Lao government for important watersheds like the NNT NBCA before the advent of private hydro, after which all these sources withdrew their offers. Fundamentally there is a shift from traditional modes of conservation funding to a reliance on the private sector to provide for a service that once was the preserve of governments and multilateral agencies.

Private hydro developers play down the fact that their hydro developments also serve to open up previously non-accessible regions, through the provisioning of new all-weather roads, and encourages new settlements around the shores of the reservoir. Increased accessibility and populations lead to the risk of increased exploitation of resources within the watersheds. The NNT NBCA conservation plans have proposed new management structures based on foreign park management concepts (eg. the use of 'rangers' to patrol the NBCA; buffer zones to control land use) to manage such an eventuality, ignoring existing traditional management structures and practices of local communities. Such an approach is highly questionable in terms of its appropriateness and sustainability.