Lao People’s Democratic Republic

Ethnic Peoples Plan

Global Environment Facility Medium-Size Project

Developing and Demonstrating Replicable Protected Area Management Models

at Nam Et -Phou Louey National Protected Area (P113860)

June 21, 2012

IPP578

Contents:

1. Background and objective ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------11.1. Project description ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------11.2. Project components --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------21.3. Purpose of the Ethnic People’s Plan -------------------------------------------------------------------

41.4. Implementation arrangement ---------------------------------------------------------------------------5

2. Legal and institutional framework applicable to Ethnic People in Lao PDR ------------------------- 53. Affected Ethnic Peoples Communities ------------------------------------------------------------------- 7

3.1. Distribution and definition of Khmu. Hmong, iuMien and Lao Tai people --------------------- 73.2. Customary land and Natural Resource use ----------------------------------------------------------

84. Social Assessment -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 95. Process of FPIC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 126. Project Measure ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13

6.1. Participatory planning of Resource restriction----------------------------------------------------- 13

6.2. Alternative livelihood ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 136.3. Case of Sanam users ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 146.4. Infrastructure development in and near NE-PL NPA --------------------------------------------- 146.5. Physical Culture Resources ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 146.6. Safeguard compliance by co-financiers ----------------------------------------------------------- 14

7. Partnership with Current Active and on-pipeline Development Project ------------------------------- 15

8. Mechanism and benchmarks for M&E and reporting -------------------------------------------------- 15

9. Cost estimates and financing plan for EPP --------------------------------------------------------------- 1610. Grievance redress mechanism ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1611. Implementation arrangement and capacity building ---------------------------------------------------- 17

Ethnic Peoples Plan (revision as per the updated MSP document dated June 21, 2012)

1. Background and Objectives

1.1 Project Description

The project for Developing and Demonstrating Replicable Protected Area Management Models at Nam Et -Phou Louey National Protected Area (“The Project”) aims to test, in selected areas of the Nam Et-Phou Louey National Protected Area (NE-PL NPA), targeted activities for sustainable natural resource use and protection of selected species threatened by human interaction. The project is comprised of three core project components, including i) management and conservation working models, within NE-PL NPA including implementation of co-management of infrastructure in sensitive habitats, ii) working models of ecotourism for community engagement and sustainable financing, and iii) dissemination and replication working models of NE-PL NPA within Lao PDRs. The NE-PL NPA is operated under the authority of the Nam Et-Phou Louey Protected Area Management Unit (PAMU) with technical support from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) (Figure 1). The project covers the Nam Et-Phou Louey National Protected Area (NE-PL NPA) landscape in northern Lao PDR, which harbors biodiversity of national and global significance, including the only known breeding population of Indochinese Tiger in Laos, and has been managed by the PAMU since 2000.

The NPA covers 422,900 ha of mountainous terrain (Figure 2). The northern boundary of the NPA borders Vietnam and a proposed expansion of the protected area spans three provinces and seven districts including Luang Prabang Province (Viengkham and Phonxay districts), Houaphan province (Viengthong, Huamuang, Xamneua, and Xiengkhor districts), and Phoukoud district in Xieng Khuang province. Approximately 80% of the land area in Viengthong district alone is NE-PL NPA. This district is known to be one of 47 poorest in Lao PDR. Approximately a total of 30,000 people in 98 villages are known to live in and adjacent to the NPA.

The NE-PL NPA landscape has a long history of human settlement by people from three major ethno-linguistic groups, including the Lao-Tai (Tai Lao, Tai Dam, and Tai Deng), the Mon-Khmer (including Khmu), and the Hmong-Iu Mien (including Hmong and Iu Mien), who today remain largely engaged in subsistence agriculture activities with limited integration in the market economy. Rice is the staple food and is primarily produced through rotations of shifting cultivation on steep mountainous slopes. Meat and vegetables are raised or harvested from the forest.

Figure 1. Institutional Arrangements for Nam Et-Phou Louey National Protected Area (after Appleton et al. 2003).

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Research & Monitoring

Section

Enforcement Section

Ecotourism Section

Administration Section

Land Use Management

Section

WCS Technical Assistance

WCS Site Coordinator

-Finance-Equipment- Transportation & Maintenance

District Teams working in:

54 Villages37 Schools9 Military Bases

-1 Checkpoint-3 Mobile Units- 8 Forest Substations

-Tiger & Prey Monitoring -Biodiversity Monitoring / Research-Monitoring Natural Resource Use

-

-Visitor Information Center -Wildlife-based Tourism

-ADB Livestock Project -German Development Service Technical Support-World Bank projects on rural development

NPA Manager

Conservation Outreach Section

Nam Et – Phou Louey Protected Area Advisory Committee

1.2. Project components

Component 1: Management and conservation working models, within NE-PL NPA including implementation of co-management of infrastructure in sensitive habitats. (US$ 678,000).

Under this component, the project will strengthen Protected Area Management Unit (PAMU) capacity to monitor and manage harvests of managed species for sustainable use in the Controlled Use Zone within the NE-PL NPA. Activity includes a) Community Awareness Raising in 30 NPA villages aimed to raise community awareness and understanding of, and ultimately their compliance with, NPA regulations; b) Village Natural Resource Agreements with approximately 20 communities including those in the controlled use zone near the Phathi Road to map village use areas and ratify village agreements with the NPA for wildlife and land-use management; c) Monitor Change in Harvest of Wild Foods and Estimate Sustainability of Wildlife Off-take. Results of monitoring will be incorporated into campaign messages and used to adapt agreements for PA zoning and wildlife use; and d) Expand patrolling effort and ranger substations to secure Totally Protected Zone, reduce illegal/unsustainable wildlife trade, and encourage villages to graze their livestock at their village’s area rather than in the core zone. These activities will allow the Protected Area Management Unit, WCS, the Province and District to work together to ensure that access to the core zone along Phathi Road is managed and monitored.

Furthermore, this component will demonstrate best practices to mitigate anticipated impacts from the use of Phathi Road through supporting the implementation of the Co-Management Plan which includes awareness raising on the use of Phathi road; establishing a lock gate and check point at the two ends of the road; establishing one substation along the road and financing permanent staff at the two check points and substation to carry out patrolling activity; establishing access monitoring system; conducting training staff on

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patrolling along the road; supporting land use planning in the villages near to the road; and supporting the development of long term Phathi road management plan.

This component will include developing alternative community livelihoods within and near the NE-PL NPA to help local villagers including ethnic minorities minimize their dependency on wild meat consumption and collection of NTFPs and mitigate potential short-term negative impact following the introduction of restricted access to natural and forest resources under the GEF project. Two co-financiers will provide the financing for to the development of alternative community livelihood. KfW/GiZ funded Climate Protection through Avoided Deforestation Project (CliPAD) will support the Participatory Land Use Planning (PLUP) in all 30 target villages, and develop alternative community livelihood in 15 of them through providing training and demonstration as well as the provision of in-kind inputs. PLUP will help target villagers demarcate various categories of land based on the existing land use patterns. Based on the results, villagers will be assisted identifying and developing alternative community livelihoods. Initial expectation is that the livelihood support would center on increasing small and large livestock productivity within the allocated areas. The World Bank financed Poverty Reduction Fund (PRF), through its Livelihood Opportunity and Nutrition Gain (LONG) component, will support alternative community livelihoods in the other 15 target villages where CliPAD will conducts PLUP but will not provide subsequent livelihood support. Specifically, LONG will provide training, technical support and block grant for groups of affected villagers to start up and implement their livelihood activities that will be identified through participatory processes. All these livelihood activities, and the implementation arrangement and timeframes jointly identified between PRF and villagers, will be documented in the Village Development Plan (VDP) and are formalized in the Village Natural Resource Agreement (VNRA).

Component 2: Working models of ecotourism for community engagement and sustainable financing. (US$130,000)

Component 2 will build capacity of the NPA MU and local communities to diversify revenue for forest and wildlife management by generating alternative income through ecotourism-based activity. It aims to Operationalize Feasible Ecotourism Products in NE-PL NPA and Establish Mechanisms for Making the Revenues Directly Available for the Management of the PA. Activity includes a) development of guidelines and regulations on the development of ecotourism activity in NE-PL NPA; b) organize village structure to manage and run ecotourism activity in their village area; c) support the establishment of ecotourism based facility such as tourism camping station and trekking route etc.

Component 3: Dissemination and replication working models of NE-PL NPA within Lao PDR. (US$33,795)

Under the Component 3, a NE-PL NPA management model will be produced, and disseminated to practitioners from the protected areas in Lao. Activity includes a) TA to Synthesize the lessons from NE-PL NPA, on: (i) sustainable natural resource use by villages inside a protected area; (ii) tiger conservation; (iii) ecotourism based livelihoods for local communities; and (iv) management of infrastructure, particularly roads in sensitive habitats in multiple use protected areas; and b) Incorporation of the protected area management model into a curriculum to train at the National University of Lao (NUOL) and disseminate it through workshops with DFRM and related agencies.

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Component 4: Project management. (US$37,205)

This component will support the implementation of entire project components. Activities will include the management of staff; implementation of activities under the three core components; the management of stakeholder relations; the management of project finances and procurement; and support for the needs of WCS to work with the NE-PL PAMU and NE-PL PAMAC.

1.3. Purpose of the Ethnic People’s Plan

This plan is prepared to ensure that this project will be implemented in a way that will fully respects the dignity, human rights, economies and cultures of Ethnic Peoples, who would be among the project target beneficiaries following the World Bank’s policy on indigenous peoples (OP 4.10).1 The policy requires the project executors to engage in a process of free, prior and informed consultation, resulting in broad community support to the project by the affected Ethnic Peoples. Ethnic Peoples should receive benefits that are culturally appropriate and gender and intergenerationally inclusive; potentially adverse effects on the communities should be avoided or at least mitigated. This aim is consistent with GoL national policies that promote a multi-ethnic society, and seek to ensure the full participation of ethnic groups in the country’s development.

The EPP will be implemented together with the Process Framework prepared for the project to address potential impacts from restrictions of access to natural resources as per the Bank’s policy on involuntary resettlement (OP 4.12).

Specifically, this Ethnic Peoples Plan aims to achieve the following objectives:a) to provide free, prior and informed consultation with, ascertain broad support by

and allow informed participation of, ethnic minorities;b) to avoid, minimize or mitigate potentially adverse effects of new restrictions to,

and increased enforcement of, access to natural resources; andc) to ensure and enhance project benefits to the ethnic minority communities.

The principles laid out to meet these objectives include:

i) Broad-based community support, based on free, prior and informed consultation, to changes in the protected area boundaries, new restrictions, and increased enforcement in Nam Et Phou Louey NPA. This will be based on biophysical as well as socio-economic considerations as indicated in the Process Framework. The latter will include an assessment of potentially adverse impacts of such decisions on affected people (for details, please refer to the Process Framework);

ii) The EPP and the project will be implemented through informed participation of all villages, in the form of consultations and agreements reached between the affected people and the respective local and project authorities. Agreements will be formalized in the Village Natural Resource Agreements in about 20 villages where restriction of access would occur, as per the project Process Framework;

iii) restrictions of access to resources that will adversely affect the livelihood of affected people will be mitigated by the project in order to ensure that affected people will be able to at least maintain, if not improve, their livelihoods. This is

1 The GoL does not refer to the people living in Lao as indigenous peoples but rather as ethnic peoples, ethnic groups or ethnic minorities.

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especially true for wildlife that is sold to meet cash needs (for details, please see the Process Framework);

iv) wildlife conservation interventions will respect ethnic peoples belief systems; andv) ethnic minorities communities will be facilitated and strengthened to ensure that

they are continually informed based on a free, prior and informed consultation and in a participatory manner throughout the implementation of the EMDP and the PF.

This Plan provides an overall outline of the principles and processes to be followed and the types of measures to be taken during implementation. It does not spell out the specific activities for each individual community in the NPA. Such details will be worked out during project implementation, through the participatory processes for the implementation of the Pathi Road Management Plan, and the protected area management plans, buffer-zone management plans, and village development plans that will be developed in accordance with the Ethnic Peoples Plan based upon the villagers’ needs and priorities.

1.4. Implementation Arrangement

The responsibility for the implementation of the Ethnic Peoples Plan lies with the executing NGO, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which will work closely with the relevant local government agencies and communities. Government mass-based organizations such as the Lao Front National Construction (LFNC) and the Lao Women Union (LWU) will be involved in the project implementation. LFNC will assist ethnic minority consultations and mobilizations as specified in the Ethnic People Plan while the LWU will help facilitate and promote village women’s participation in the project. WCS will ensure the relevant expertise are mobilized to implement the Plan, including activities that strengthen the participation of ethnic minorities (e.g. training and capacity building), as well as to be able to oversee its implementation.

A series of safeguard training and implementation support will be jointly provided for the project staff by the Bank safeguard specialists and MoNRE. Exchange workshops or visits to similar NPA projects in Lao such as NT2 watershed, Namkading NPA conservation projects and in neighboring countries would also be organized for the implementing agencies for the purpose of networking and knowledge sharing.

There are two co-financiers to this project. The Bank funded Poverty Reduction Fund (PRF) project, using grant financing from the Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF), will provide a parallel financing of $640,000 for participative livelihood development in some target villages. The KfW funded Climate Protection Through Avoided Deforestation Project (CliPAD) will also provide a co-financing of 700,000 to the project. Funds will be provided to relevant district officials (e.g. District Agricultural and Forest Office) to implement project activities as well as to WCS to develop the capacity of relevant district officials. Activities related to this project that are funded by the Poverty Reduction Fund (PRF) project, using grant financing from the Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF) or by CliPAD, will be conducted as per provisions of this EPP. The NE-PL Management Unit (PAMU) will coordinate and monitor project implementation.

2. Legal and institutional framework applicable to Ethnic Peoples in Lao PDR

According to the 1991 Constitution, Lao PDR is defined as a multi-ethnic state, with “equality among all ethnic groups.” Article 8 of the Constitution reads:

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“The State pursues the policy of promoting unity and equality among all ethnic groups. All ethnic groups have the rights to protect, preserve and promote the fine customs and cultures of their own tribes and of the nation. All acts of creating division and discrimination among ethnic groups are forbidden. The State implements every measure to gradually develop and upgrade the economic and social level of all ethnic groups.”

The 1992 ethnic minority policy, Resolution of the Party Central Organization Concerning Ethnic Minority Affairs in the New Era, focuses on gradually improving the lives of ethnic minorities, while promoting their ethnic identity and cultural heritage. It is the cornerstone of current national ethnic minority policy. The general policy of the Party concerning ethnic minorities can be summarized as follows:

Build national sentiment (national identity). Realize equality between ethnic minorities. Increase the level of solidarity among ethnic minorities as members of the greater Lao

family. Resolve problems of inflexible and vengeful thinking, as well as economic and cultural

inequality. Improve the living conditions of the ethnic minorities step by step. Expand, to the greatest extent possible, the good and beautiful heritage and ethnic

identity of each group as well as their capacity to participate in the affairs of the nation.

The Ethnic Minorities Committee under the National Assembly is charged with the responsibility to draft and evaluate proposed legislation concerning ethnic minorities, lobby for its implementation as well as implementation of socioeconomic development plans. Ethnic minority research is the responsibility of the Institute for Cultural Research under the Ministry of Information and Culture. The lead institution for ethnic affairs is the mass (political) organization, the Lao National Front for Construction (LNFC), which has an Ethnic Affairs Department.

Lao PDR has basic regulations aiming to address negative social impacts arising from development projects. The Compensation and Resettlement Decree 192, Article 8, provides that any people whose access to community resources are affected by development projects are entitled to sustainable income restoration measures, in addition to their entitlement for compensation and other allowances, enabling them to attain at a minimum pre-project livelihood levels. The Article 12 of the Decree 192 stipulates that “The project owners shall implement the resettlement program in a participatory manner ensuring that APs, local authorities and other stakeholders are fully informed and consulted and their concerns are taken into account at all stages of the project cycle, particularly during the planning and implementation phases of the land acquisition, valuation and resettlement process”. Although these decrees do not explicitly require broad community support to be established or specifically oblige developers to conduct free, prior and informed consultations, they nonetheless require that meaningful consultations be carried out prior to project implementation and that their concerns be addressed in project design. Gaps often occur due rather to weak implementation and poor monitoring – some developers may not fully engage in meaningful consultations or address concerns of affected people but relevant government officials often fail take remedial actions due to limited budget, lack of monitoring or absence of follow up actions.

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3. Affected Ethnic Peoples Communities

Because of the varied and changing contexts in which ethnic peoples are found, no single definition can capture their diversity. In particular geographical areas, ethnic minorities would be defined under the World Bank Indigenous Policy (OP/BP4.10) based on the following four criteria:

(a)self-identification as members of a distinct indigenous cultural group and recognition of this identity by others;

(b)collective attachment to geographically distinct habitats or ancestral territories in the project area and to the natural resources in these habitats and territories;

(c) customary cultural, economic, social, or political institutions that are separate from those of the dominant society and culture; and

(d)an indigenous language, often different from the official language of the country or region” (OP 4.10, paragraph 4).

Using these characteristics it has been determined that the World Bank's policy OP 4.10 will apply to ethnic groups belonging to the ethno-linguistic groups of Mon-Khmer including Khmu and Hmong-Iu-Mien including Hmong and Iu-Mien present in the NE-PL project area.

3.1 Distribution and definition of Khmu, Hmong, Iu-Mien and Lao-Tai peopleThe NE-PL NPA has a long history of human settlement, including during the first and second Indochinese wars. Evidence of settlements still remains today in the patches of secondary forest, stands of bamboo and anthropogenic grasslands that were traditionally burned for hunting and cattle grazing. There are 34 villages inside the NPA controlled use zone and 64 villages near the NPA boundary, with the mean population of 313 people per village (Schlemmer 2002). About 20 of the 30 villages where project activities would be implemented, including four at one end of the Phathi road2, are located within the controlled use zone.

The Hmong are one of the primary groups inhabiting the higher elevations of NE-PL NPA in the past. Of the three ethnic minority groups the Hmong historically have been more engaged in hunting. They grow rice and corn using the swidden agriculture system, raise livestock and have limited paddy fields in the valleys. The Hmong speak a language in the Hmong-Iu-Mien family.

The Khmu people traditionally lived on the mountain slopes and to some extent along the rivers of NE-PL NPA. The Khmu have traditionally been swidden farmers, who practice shifting upland paddy cultivation, hunting and gathering NTFPs in the lands near their communities. Fishing is a common practice for the Khmu people. These people speak a language in the Austro-Asiatic language group of the Mon-Khmer family.

The very smallest ethnic group represented in NE-PL NPA area is the Iu-Mien people, or “Yao” people. These colorful people utilize land in a similar way to other groups specializing in shifting cultivation. In years with low production the villages often rely on hunting and gathering NTFPs for their subsistence. These people speak a language from the Sino-Tibetan ethno-linguistic family and are distantly related to the Hmong language.

2 The four villages at the other end of the Phathi road are located near the NPA boundary.

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The Lao Tai ethnic group establish communities along rivers flowing from the NE-PL NPA and base agriculture production on paddy rice primarily in low land with swidden upland second. Rice cultivation in low paddy land normally gives a higher yield than that in upland or on steep mountainous slopes. The majority of Lao Tai people are able to better cope with socio-economic developments and integration to the market economy with their more marketing knowledge and skills as compared to the three ethnic minorities: Khmu, Hmong and Iu-Mien. They speak languages categorized in the Tai-Kadai family, which is predominantly used as the official language. They have dominated Laos numerically, politically and economically for centuries. While the Lao are a significant portion of the population living in the controlled use zone of the NPA and around the periphery, they would not be considered as IP in this EPP for the above reasons. All these ethnic groups have a close association with the forest for their subsistence. However since the Indo-Chinese conflict, the Lao government has encouraged sedentary villages, preferably along roads with easy access. Many villagers were relocated during the war and years following the war.

3.2. Customary Land and Natural Resource Use Most families in and around the NE-PL NPA are engaged in subsistence activities with little integration in the market economy. Rice is the staple food and is primarily produced through rotations of shifting cultivation on steep mountainous slopes. Meat and vegetables are raised or harvested from the forest. Although Laos has over 40% forest cover and less than 24 people per km2 (ICEM, 2003), hunting and fishing techniques are diverse and extensive, including traps, snares, bows and guns that are used to capture a wide range of animals (Duckworth et al., 1999). In a 2005 village survey in NE-PL, squirrels, deer, fish, pigs, pheasants and partridges were reported the most commonly eaten on a monthly basis (A. Johnson; unpubl.data). Another study estimated that each household in the NPA annually consumed 141kg of wild meat of which 20% was deer and pigs (ICEM, 2003). Given an average of 35 households per village in the 98 villages in or near the NPA, this is a minimum estimated off take of 96,000kg of ungulates annually.

Schlemmer (2002) recorded livestock as the main source of income for most villages with cattle being sold outside the district or province since the 1980’s. Additional income (~$US100 per household) was reported from sale of NTFPs such as cardamom, sugar palm, rattan, mulberry, bamboo. This does not take into account unrecorded income from illegal activities including opium cultivation and wildlife trade. Villages have reported weekly commerce in wildlife products with Vietnamese traders (Davidson, 1998) with gaur gall bladders and sambar deer antlers among products commonly sold (Vongkhamheng, 2002). Since 2005, NPA enforcement teams have recorded illegal trade of tiger, bear species, East Asian porcupine, pangolin, impressed tortoise, big-headed turtle and orchid species (NE-PL NPA, unpublished data).

Customary rights and responsibilities, as related to biodiversity conservation and natural resources management, are acknowledged in the national regulative framework including Land Law (2003), Forest Law (2007) and Resettlement Decree (2005). Article 17 in the Constitution of Lao PDR (1991) states that “all organizations and citizens must protect the environment and natural resources: land, underground, forest, fauna, water sources and atmosphere”. Article 30 of the Forestry Law 1996 addresses customary use of the forest and forest land. It defines customary use as practices that have gone on for a ‘long period’ and that are recognized by society or law. Collection of non-prohibited wood, forest product, hunting and fishing for household consumption and custom are allowed. But customary use should not damage the forest or affect the right of others. It goes on to say that forest resource

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use must be done in accordance with village regulations. MAF Regulation 0524 (2001) describes the user rights available to villagers in each zone, in addition to describing how NPAs should be zoned and providing the updated list of protected species in Lao PDR. MAF Order 0076 (2002) restates the conditionality of harvesting wildlife and emphasizes the restrictions on trade of wildlife to third countries as a prerequisite to CITES.

All ethnic groups in and around NE-PL practice swidden agriculture to some extent. Many families also raise buffalo and cattle for cash income. The swidden fields and livestock grazing areas are primarily located in the controlled use zone of the villages as defined by the government policies in place. In 1995 the government of Lao developed a nationwide system of land and forest allocation. This program was created with the intent to help communities in managing their lands. The process allocated forest and agricultural lands to the communities for domestic use. Communities saw benefits to their forest and paddy lands as it helped to define the village boundaries and giving some land tenure to the communities. However the swidden areas became problematic in many areas. Some communities were accustomed to a 7-9 year rotation while the allocation process reduced it to 5-7 years. Many communities found this to be unacceptable and returned to their former ways.

4. Social assessment

A social assessment that consists of various socio-economic and biodiversity surveys, participatory land and forest use planning, outreach activities and inclusive consultations, has been undertaken in all target villages within and adjacent to the NEPL NPA by WCS, PAMU and the World Bank Task Team. This included baseline studies to determine current wildlife and NTFP use, cultural and monetary value of natural resources. In addition, at national and provincial workshops and other meetings conducted during project preparation, organizations such as the Lao Women’s Union and Lao Front for National Construction (LFNC) participated in discussions on how to promote broad-based community participation in, and sharing of benefits from the project.

During project preparation, consultation meetings were conducted in 56 villages including four out of the eight villages affected by the rehabilitation of the Phathi road. During the consultation meetings, which were organized in the community’s local language and based on an FPIC methodology, the project objective and activities, as well as expected project benefits and potential negative impacts especially due to restrictions on access to natural resources, were explained and the views of participants collected. These consultations allowed the NEPL NPA team to learn more about the community’s needs and views regarding the access to natural resources, livelihood development, and ways in which the communities can benefit from NEPL management. These assessments and consultations conducted before and during the project preparation confirmed the broad community support by the ethnic communities in the NEPL NPA, including that 4 villages that are affected by the Phathi road, to the activities planned under the current project proposal. The field visit conducted under the appraisal mission, jointly conducted by the Bank task team and WCS, also found that villagers in the NEPL NPA are well aware of and knowledgeable about the project and support the activities planned under the project, indicating that the consultations had been conducted properly. Communities in NEPL NPA, including the eight villages affected by the Phathi road, will be further consulted for and participate in project activities

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during project implementation including the finalization and execution of the co-management plan for the villagers near the Phathi road3.

The social assessment and consultation meetings found the following:

Primary project stakeholders are the 30,000 multi-ethnic people living in 98 villages in the project area, of which 34 are located within the controlled use zone and 64 villages near the NPA. These include 8 villages that are located around both ends of Phathi road and who would be affected by the road rehabilitation. Among other stakeholders, those who live in 30 priority villages would receive project support to raise community awareness, understanding and compliance with natural resource management agreements and PA regulations. Of the 30 priority villages, 8 villages would be directly affected by the Phati road development.

Other project stakeholders include a) NEPL NPA Management Unit (PAMU) and WCS as co-implementing agencies, b) district and provincial authorities and concerned line agencies which provides various degrees of support, c) people living in district town, surrounding districts and provinces, d) local, Chinese and Vietnamese traders who buy NTFPs and agricultural products from these villages inside and near the NPA, e) local and overseas visitors and tourists who visit ecological and archeological sight-seeing places in and near the NPA, f) private investors, consultants and contractors hired to undertake surveys and assessments and renovate the Phathi road, and g) on-going donor-supported development projects including the Bank-financed PRF Additional Financing and CliPAD KfW/GiZ rural developmprojects which seek to strengthen alternative livelihoods of local population in and near NEPL NPA.

The expected negative impact of the project includes reduction in access to natural resources as the source of food and income, resulting in loss of livelihood, nutrition and income. Implementation of Phathi road management plan and access control may also lead to inconvenience and increased time spent on security check and possible increase in transport cost as a result of fee charged for access control and road maintenance.

Ethnic people in NEPL NPA are found to have limited knowledge, skills and confidence. With the language barrier and their heavy reliance on natural resources as the source of livelihood, ethnic minorities in NPA may find it difficult to participate in and receive equal benefits from the project in a culturally sensitive manner without an active project support for their informed participation and transformation of their traditional livelihood.

The district governments encourage sedentary lifestyles near the main roads and rivers. The national policy encourages communities to merge and prosper close to the most developed areas as possible.

Five (5) villages with the population of about 2,000 within the NEPL NPA were found to have developed crop plantation or paddy fields outside their villages locally called as ‘Sanams’ within the totally protected zone. They have also built their own cottages and granaries to stay for several months during the growing season to look

3 Preliminary consultations with local population to both discuss detailed actions necessary to implement the Phathi road co-management plan and also to consult the updated draft EA, EPP and RPF already started in eight villages near both ends of the Phathi road. EA, EPP and RPF may be updated during implementation based on the comments and feedbacks received. Consultations of the earlier versions of EA, EPP and RPF had already been conducted.

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after their crops and their livestock freely grazing around the area. Many of them claimed that they had established their Sanams in this area before the official establishment of the NE-PL NPAs in 1993. These villagers received agriculture land within their village boundaries through the IUCN and WCS supported land use planning, however, the land distributed is reportedly insufficient and the soil is relatively poor. The district government expressed the intention to relocate all the Sanams out from the TPZ to more suitable land elsewhere for these people. The district authority also plans to move one of the ethnic villages, namely Houai Tun located in the controlled use zone, to a low land area outside the NPAs, where there is potential for irrigation development. The government proposed this irrigation project to the Bank’s mission for financial support.

Most communities around the NE-PL NPA are “rice sufficient” throughout the year. Only when weather patterns or economic drivers interrupt their traditional planting do the communities suffer rice shortages. Rice is often sold to meet cash needs.

All communities living around the NE-PL NPA rely heavily on the NTFPs for their daily subsistence.

Large livestock (buffalo/cattle) are used as a “family savings account” rather than a source of protein for the family to consume. Livestock contributes to the cash economy. The local government does not approve of livestock being raised in the totally protected zone.

Communities recognize their dependence on the natural resources around them but often cannot manage the resources themselves. Outsiders come into their village areas and utilize resources without permission. This is particularly true for aquatic resources or fixed resources such as bamboo shoots, honey combs, and wild fruits. Communities have begun to establish fish conservation zones to prevent illegal fishing.

Illegal wildlife trade is reducing the abundance of wildlife available for communities to consume. In many cases the hunter receives very little cash while the middlemen reap the cash benefits at the community’s long term expense.

Management of natural resources is still not seen as “rural development” even though the Hmong and Khmu communities recognize that without these resources they would be much worse off than they are today.

Assisting all communities better manage their resources within the village use areas, provided to them by the government, will reduce their vulnerability to the fluctuating climatic and economic situations.

Communities living in the controlled use zone and around the NPA consider it is important that the government provides them secure right to use the land which will give them confidence to explore new livelihood options with support from various development projects (described in paragraph 6.2) through the process of participatory land use planning and allocation.

In the Xon Nuea area there is immediate need for family planning. The population of many villages is 50% under 12 years of age. This growth rate is putting increased pressure on the lands in the near future.

If people in the 5 above mentioned villages wish to stay on in their Sanams, the project needs to ensure that they will be able to stay on in Sanams, by carrying out participatory

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land use and livelihood planning processes and facilitating the implementation of the Village Development Plans (VDP), thereby improving their livelihood.

Additional data necessary to establish the impacts of any potential access restrictions will be collected during project implementation. These assessments will build upon data available and collected to date during project preparation by the NE-PL NPA. The further assessments aim to: (a) identify specific needs of PAPs especially the ethnic minorities and additional measures and support that should be provided; (b) characterize in detail the different user groups in relation to the NPA; c) provide detailed mapping of user access rights; (d) detail current and customary land and resource use of local communities and assess their sustainability if deemed necessary; (e) determine more specifically the contribution wildlife and NTFP’s make to rural protein and cash needs; (f) update changes and trends in the broad socio-economic and socio-political composition of the villages bordering the NPA. These activities will be done in order to assess possible impacts of project activities mainly from resource use restrictions on the local communities. These assessments will feed into most other activities of the project, in particular to the education and awareness and buffer-zone management sub-components as well as the development of the Village Natural Resource Agreements and of any mitigation measures needed.

5. Process of Free, Prior, and Informed Consultations with and participation by project beneficiaries during the implementation phase.

A process of free, prior, and informed consultation (FPIC) with local communities has been and will continue to be an important part of this EPP and the Process Framework. It is employed as a vehicle to help a) establish broad community support for the project, b) discuss potential impacts and mitigation measures; c) determine the various land use boundaries within the NPA; and d) develop and agree on resource use restrictions in which the affected ethnic people would be willing to participate, knowingly and without loss in livelihood. Decisions affecting public access and resource use will be made with the participation of the affected communities, with the aim of achieving consensus. Conclusions will be documented in Village Natural Resource Agreements (VNRA) that will be developed between respective villages and the NPA.

In order to ensure that meaningful consultation and participation would continue to be carried out during implementation, several mechanisms will be put in place. These include:

information dissemination will be, as needed, in the local languages and/or will be based on visual, oral and other appropriate means of communication in communities with limited literacy and/or Lao language skills;

acknowledged ethnic minority leaders and organizations will be consulted; as far as needed ethnic minority communities and their leaders will receive

additional support and training to enable them to participate fully in decision making processes; and,

culturally appropriate participatory processes and a sufficient time frame will be established to allow adequate gender and generational representation to express their views and preferences.

Specifically, a community/household survey, community wildlife use survey and a community resource use survey would be conducted, and participatory consultations would be carried out to seek opinions of, and allow participation by, affected ethnic communities in

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the process of developing access restrictions, which will culminate in the development of VNRA.

6. Project measures to avoid or minimize adverse impacts on ethnic minorities and project strategy to ensure that they receive culturally appropriate benefits under the project.

6.1. Participatory planning of resource restriction

The project activities, particularly the land and forest use zoning and management as well as their enforcement may result in the restriction of ethnic communities’ access to natural resources: swidden agricultural land, forest and NTFPs, which they heavily depend on for their livelihood. A series of planning consultations and feasibility studies with the affected villages will be undertaken in all 30 target villages to raise conservation awareness, agree on conservation regulations and alternative livelihood priorities aiming at conservation and sustainable natural resource management at the beginning of the project implementation.

Outcomes from the consultations will be documented and formalized in two documents namely the Natural Resource Management Agreement (NRMA) and the Village Development Plan (VDP). The project will partner with the on-going and pipeline rural and livelihood development projects described in the following sections to mobilize their support and resources to implement the NRMA and VDPs.

To enhance ethnic community participation and their receiving benefits from the project in a culturally appropriate manner, the participatory planning process currently applied by the on-going PRF project financed by the Bank will be employed by the executing agencies. A set of IEC and visualized materials will be developed and used for consultations to help those ethnic villagers who have communication and language difficulty to better understand and articulate their needs and concerns. Local interpreters or tribal leaders will be encouraged to help with translation between ethnic and Lao languages. In addition, the project will also collaborate with the Lao Front for National Construction (LFNC) and Lao Women Union (LFNC), government mass organizations which are officially mandated to support and advocate ethnic minorities and promote women participation in development respectively. These mass-organizations are staffed with representatives of diverse ethnic groups who could help with communication and mobilization of ethnic minority’s villagers and women to participate in the project.

6.2. Alternative livelihood For villages that are affected by increased enforcement of access restrictions and limited wild meat harvest, this project will develop alternative community livelihoods, without regard to overall project impact, so as to help them develop sustainable alternative livelihood and mitigate negative impacts, where unavoidable. Measures to develop alternative community livelihood will be identified with the participation of the affected communities, which will center on establishing alternative livelihood activities that are environmentally sustainable and culturally appropriate. Local authorities and other donor-assisted projects will be consulted as needed to provide for the most effective alternative livelihood measures. It is the responsibility of WCS and the NE-PL NPA Management Unit to ensure that affected communities, I particular Ethnic Peoples receive adequate mitigation measures as necessary as provided for in this Process Framework. No restrictions of access will take place without a prior commitment of providing timely and adequate alternative livelihood sources from a series of pre-identified sources. The VDP and VNRA will clearly spell out the sources of funds to implement mitigation measures.

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6.3. Case of Sanam usersWith respect to the land and forest use zoning to be supported under the project, support will be provided to Sanam users to stay on in Sanams, if they so wish, through carrying out participatory land use and livelihood planning processes and facilitating the implementation of the Village Development Plans (VDP) with the objective of improving the livelihood of those who wish to retain their Sanams and ensuring sustainable natural resources practices. If they choose to retain their Sanams in the PA, the Project will partner and mobilize support from other on-going development projects to implement the VDP and improve the sustainability of natural resource use in PA. Thus the livelihood planning process to be supported under the Project will be closely coordinated with on-going development projects including the Bank-financed PRF Additional Financing KfW/GiZ projects.

6.4. Infrastructure development in and near NEPL NPA Some infrastructure development is under way or is planned by the government within and near the NE-PL NPAs. These include on-going road maintenance including the recently identified development of Phathi road, mining exploration and initial survey of potential hydropower development. EIA and SIA are to be carried out for such projects by respective project developers and the findings would be documented. Mitigation measures would also be identified as part of EIA and SIA to address the possible impacts or issues associated with the development activities. Any on-going and future development projects within and adjacent to the NE-PL NPAs shall be consulted with the NE-PL NPAs management unit, local communities and concerned stakeholders. Even if these investments are not related to or financed under the project, the project team would support NE-PL NPA to ensure any infrastructure development projects follow requirements on EIA and SIA, and that necessary mitigation measures are included in the NPA management plan. The World Bank would strongly discourage involuntary resettlement of local people or dispossession of their assets in and near the NE-PL NPA as a result of any possible development projects even if they are not related to and financed through this project. If minor land acquisition or relocation of the local people is unavoidable, the Bank suggests that the project developer follows the government policy on SIA described in the EIA Decree No 112 and Resettlement Decree 192. If involuntary resettlement is found to be unavoidable under any World Bank financed project that is implemented in or near NEPL NPA, the OP 4.12 would apply to such infrastructure development and the resettlement plans applicable to respective projects will be used to mitigate impacts. No land acquisition or involuntary resettlement is anticipated under the project.

6.5. Physical and Cultural Resources The VDP will be developed taking into consideration the local cultural values of each village and each ethnic group. Thus, areas that are important to local people, such as sacred forest areas, burial grounds, or spirit trees, will be designated on the plans, and will be managed according to customary practices (e.g. as protected areas). Villagers will further develop local rules to govern how such areas will be managed. The rule will be endorsed by the PAMU and district authority. Other project activities that may affect local ethnic communities, such as tourism activities, will also be developed in consultation with them so that they are able to participate and share the benefit from the tourism activities.

6.6. Safeguard compliance by co-financiersAs mentioned above, there will be two co-financiers to the project, besides in-kind contribution from the NE-PL PAMU. These co-financiers will conduct project activities as per provisions of this EPP and ensure free, prior and informed consultations are conducted

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leading to broad community support, and mitigate negative impacts that may arise from their activities. They have sufficient capacity and experience in place to identify and implement project activities with full participation of affected community members. Nonetheless, NE-PL PAMU will monitor activities conducted by the co-financiers closely to ensure that they comply with the existing regulations. The project will develop the capacity of NE-PL PAMU in safeguard monitoring, and hire a consultant who will support the NE-PL PAMU in monitoring activities conducted within NE-PL NPA, including those funded by co-financiers to the project. Sufficient budget is also allocated for monitoring. The task team will also carefully monitor and advise NE-PL PAMU on any issues related to safeguards.

7. Partnership with Currently Active and On-pipeline Development Projects

Currently, only three NPAs in the country have reasonable levels of site management. These comprise the Nakai Nam Theun National Protected Area managed by the Watershed Management and Protection Authority with funds generated from the Nam Theun 2 Hydropower Project, as well as NE-PL NPA and Nam Kading NPAs managed by WCS and several partner organizations. The project will build on the extensive experience of WCS in protected area, species and tourism management within these two sites. The project also benefits from the lessons learned from (i) the GEF 3-financed Integrated Ecosystem and Wildlife Management Project (IEWMP) executed by WCS in Bolikhamxay Province and (ii) WCS’s program (1996-2006) in Nam Ha NPA in Luang Namtha in the Northwest of NE-PL. Several key lessons learned from Bolikhamxay Province are being applied to the design of this project, in particular the proposed project will (a) follow and expand the work done on a social marketing campaign, (b) utilize the established community outreach methods to manage wildlife use in the management zone but also expand the work with communities to monitor the sustainability of the resource use; (c) benefit from, and build on, the business model (management system and fee structure) of the research-based tourism piloted in Bolikhamxay; and (d) incorporate training material developed in Bolikhamxay to develop an institutionalized training program for Lao PAs offered through the National University. Further to this, the WCS experience in wildlife monitoring and management in collaboration with the World Bank and the Nam Theun 2 hydropower project in central Laos will contribute to the proposed project. The proposed project further complements ongoing and planned activities under the GEF/UNDP’s program on Supporting Country Action on the CBD Programme of Work on PAs by providing tangible examples on the ground for financing PAs and building human capacity through training.

8. Mechanisms and benchmarks for monitoring, evaluating, and reporting on the implementation of the EPP

The Project will have a monitoring and evaluation system. It will include village self-monitoring of their own village development projects. Villagers will also be involved in monitoring of the buffer-zone management activities. In addition, these participatory monitoring efforts will be linked to the overall project’s monitoring and evaluation program.

Other monitoring arrangements will include collecting baseline data, performing household surveys, and receiving community feedback to assess general trends in income and livelihoods to gauge possible impacts of the project on local communities. The WCS with its team based in the project site, will be responsible for progress monitoring and reporting the NEPL in collaboration with Protected Area Management Unit (PAMU). Independent studies and assessments would also be undertaken during the project implementation to provide

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required baseline data and updated socio-economic and biodiversity related information to monitor and inform the status of the project implementation. The World Bank Task Team will also be providing implementation support for the WCS and PAMU on a regular basis.

An evaluation of the implementation of the Ethnic Peoples Plan and Process Framework will be included in the independent mid-term review and post review. Any revisions to the plan, suggested by the independent review or other monitoring and evaluation exercises, will be agreed to with the World Bank.

9. Cost estimates and financing plan for the EPP Budget line Description Budget

allocation (USD)

Community/House Hold implementation survey and consultations

3.5 person-months 8,500

Community Wildlife Use Implementation Survey

15 person – months 12,000

Outreach Project Manager 12 person – months 8,000

Resource use mapping 4 months of preparation and field study in Y1 6,000

Project impact monitoring annual monitoring following protocol developed in Y1 10,000

Activities to engage the communities around NE-PL NPA, such as the consultations, and to build capacity among them and among relevant government staff, will be funded from within the project budget.

Any specific interventions to improve resource use or to introduce any alternative resource use for these communities would be covered by the Process Framework.

10. A grievance redress mechanism with accessible procedures appropriate to the project to address grievances by the affected Ethnic Peoples' communities arising from project implementation. 

It is possible that problems, complaints, and/or conflicts may arise with respect to the project as a whole, and village development activities in particular. Certain issues, relating to compliance with national and provincial laws are to be addressed through legal and regulatory provisions. In the case of disputes at a village level, normally it will be the responsibility of village mediation committee already existing in all target villages to solve the issue, but if satisfactory resolution is not obtained, then the parties can appeal to district and/or provincial authorities for assistance. The village mediation committee is chaired by respected elder person or tribal group leader (for some ethnic minorities) and includes the village head man or his deputy, village Lao Woman Union and village solders. If a problem occurs between villages, such as a dispute over village boundaries, then normally the district authorities would mediate a resolution. In the case where a problem arises between the villagers and government, such as between one or more villages and the NPA management

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unit, then the parties should have the right to mediation by a neutral third party, such as the provincial court.

However, recognizing that many conflicts arise due to difference in understanding and perceptions, a proactive approach will be adopted to avoid conflicts before they escalate. This approach will promote a common understanding through a four-pronged method, including: (a) wide-spread disclosure of project background information; (b) clarification of the criteria of eligibility for project support and types of support to be provided by the project through the CDP and VNRA under the Process Framework; (c) clarification of the duties and responsibilities of all stakeholders in the process; (d) community education and awareness regarding the value of biodiversity conservation, their customary rights, threats to the NPA, and options for mitigating these threats; (e) education of GoL and project staff regarding the customary rights and practices of local communities, including any particular issues concerning ethnic minorities.

Regarding the Process Framework, complaints will be handled as follows:

(i) As a first stage, affected or concerned persons will present, verbally but preferably in writing, their complaints to the village mediation committee to address. If the case is not resolved within one week or the resolution is not satisfactory to the claimants, their grievance applications shall be forwarded to district project staff or advisors, via Kum Ban4 staff. For those claimants, who may not be able to read and write the committee will assist in writing their message on the application. The district staff will have to provide a documented response to the claimants within fifteen days. Records on each complaint and subsequent measures taken must be sent to the Nam Et-Phou Louey NPA Management Unit in Viengthong District, Houapahn Province as an attachment to regular/monthly reports.

(ii) If the claimants are not satisfied with the decision, the case may be submitted to the WCS- Lao Project Office in Vientiane, as well as to local authorities (e.g. the Provincial authority or the Provincial court). The authorities that received complaints must record receipt of complaints and reply to the claimants within thirty days. Claimants will be exempt from any administrative or legal charges associated with pursuing

11. Implementation Arrangement and Capacity Building for Responsible AgenciesThe responsibility for the implementation of the Ethnic People’s Plan lies with the executing NGO, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which will work closely with the NE-PL NPS Management Unit, relevant local government agencies and communities. The WCS and PAMU will assign one of their staff preferably with knowledge of ethnic minorities to be responsible for social safeguards (EPP and PF) implementation, monitoring and reporting. Government mass-based organizations such as the District Lao Front National Construction (LFNC) and Lao Women Union (LWU) will be involved in the project implementation. LFNC will assist with ethnic minority consultation and mobilization while the LWU will help facilitate and promote village women’s participation in the project. The LFNC offices at district level have some staff who are from the ethnic minority groups and able to speak their ethnic languages. WCS will ensure the relevant expertise to be able to implement the safeguard instruments as well as to be able to oversee its implementation. A series of safeguard training and implementation support will be jointly provided for the project

4 Kum Ban refers to as a cluster of village which is led by a multi-sectoral team of district staff assigned by the district government

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safeguard focal staff and PAMU by the Bank safeguard specialists and MoNRE5. Exchange workshops or visits to similar NPA projects in Laos such as NT2 watershed, Namkading NPA conservation project) and in neighboring countries would also be organized for the implementing agencies for the purpose of networking and knowledge sharing.

5 Ministry of natural Resources and Environment, which is responsible for development and dissemination of environmental and social impact assessment policies including the EIA Decree and Resettlement Decree

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