Collaborative governance improves management effectiveness of hin nam no national protected area in central LAO PDR

Abstract

This paper examines the multi-level collaborative governance system in Hin Nam No National Protected Area in central Lao PDR. The paper assesses the governance and management system’s potential as an exemplar to protected areas practitioners, and discusses how such a system might be initiated and replicated elsewhere in the country and the region. Five building blocks of an experimental collaborative governance model are described. These comprise: (i) a participatory governance assessment; (ii) establishing a multi-level collaborative management and governance structure; (iii) participatory zonation based on traditional knowledge and customary rights; (iv) drafting collaborative governance agreements and (v) involving local people as additional protected area management manpower. The inter-linkages between these building blocks are also described. The first results of the collaborative governance approach are encouraging as the total management effectiveness score increased by 13 per cent in two years. It shows that the collaborative governance model can deliver positive results for the entire protected area system in Lao PDR, which is often referred to as a ‘paper park system’. Further work on adaptive management of the collaborative governance system and sustainable financing of the technical field programmes will be required to sustain this model.