**3. Case study I: Hin Nam No National Park, Laos**

Functional and sustainable collaborative partnership arrangements in Laos and in Southeast Asia are not yet very common. Lack of communication and participatory decision making often leads to centralized efforts by the government resulting in lack of understanding and conflicts with local people living in or adjacent to protected areas. The definition of 'participation' is understood differently by the main stakeholders involved mixing up terms such as information sharing, consultation or real involvement in decision making. For effective and sustainable collaborative governance and management of protected areas to achieve biodiversity conservation and natural resource management objectives an equitable approach is needed [22].

Since the early 1990's, Lao Government policy for protected areas has focused on developing a partnership approach, which advocates peoples' involvement in conservation, especially with the locals who depend on the natural resources for their daily livelihoods [23]. To transform from a paper park approach to effective protected are management there is a need for the Lao Government to allocate sufficient resources for the management of each protected area and/or to establish functioning collaborative arrangements. The latter requires a clear division of roles between co-managers; ensuring that the transfer of responsibilities goes to the locals with customary rights; and promoting good governance and capacity development at all levels (especially if the poor are to benefit) [24].

This case study describes the lessons learned from a multi-level collaborative governance system in Hin Nam No National Park in central Laos following the 'PANORAMA solutioning approach' [25]. Five so-called 'building blocks' of the experimental collaborative governance model in Hin Nam No were identified [14].

Hin Nam No National Protected Area, in brief Hin Nam No, has been recently enlarged and declared as a national park (January 2020). Hin Nam No is located in Boualapha District, Khammouane Province. Containing 94,000 ha, the area is one of the largest karst landscapes in Southeast Asia, being contiguous with Phong Nha–Ke Bang National Park in Central Vietnam (see **Figure 1**). A total of 18 villages lie in immediate proximity to Hin Nam No, with a total population of about 8,000 people, many of whom are ethnic minorities. Like other national protected areas in Laos, Hin Nam No had for a long time insufficient resources with only a part-time director and no full time staff on site. The lack of limited human and financial resources allocated by the government resulted in a lack of capacity, skills, information, and law enforcement to effectively manage and monitor the protected area.

Technical and financial support by the German Government has facilitated high levels of external support, both at the management level and in the different

**Figure 1.** *Location of Hin Nam No National Park in Khammouane Province in Laos (map prepared by Ronny Dobbelsteijn).*

specialized fields. Experts have provided on-going support to the establishment and maintenance of the collaborative governance and management system.

The five identified building blocks of the PANORAMA Solution are:


#### **3.1 Governance assessment through participatory consultation**

To better understand the governance and management status of the Hin Nam No, a governance assessment was implemented in February 2014 at various levels: village, village cluster, district and province. The collected data led to a set of proposed interventions implemented over a period of two years. The results are presented in **Table 1**.

The participatory assessment was a good starting point for improved communication and understanding between the co-managers. It led to the creation of a joint vision and a proposed division of roles. As part of the assessment a Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool (METT) session was included. The METT developed by the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity [26] is similar to the conventional used METT but has an additional focus on governance. In addition, a more detailed


#### **Table 1.**

*Governance assessment results and subsequent interventions.*

questionnaire adapted from annex 3 of the IUCN publication 'Governance of Protected Areas' was developed and used to assess good governance criteria [2].

### **3.2 Setting-up a multi-level collaborative management and governance structure**

To have a better understanding of the tasks and to achieve more effective protected management a new management structure for Hin Nam No was established in 2013 and early 2014 including six technical units. This process was supported by GIZ and the National University of Laos. An overview of the main conservation actions was developed for each technical unit and tasks to be delegated to the villagers were identified.

The new Hin Nam No management structure and its six technical units had a total of 27 staff (out of which 19 volunteers) to manage the protected area (August 2016). None of the staff had sufficient capacity to lead one of the technical units in any of the specialized fields of management. **Figure 2** shows the institutional arrangements of the management authority of Hin Nam No in 2016. The implementation of the protected area management tasks was decentralized to the district level.

Stakeholders bringing different skills to the table need to be involved to ensure effective collaborative governance and management. Primary stake- and rights-holders are the villagers and protected area management authorities. The participation of secondary stakeholders is needed for effective strategic and operational steering in topics such as coordination, patrolling and law enforcement. This will help to mitigate

#### **Figure 2.**

*Institutional arrangements of the Hin Nam No management authority and its six technical units.*

against threats such as illegal logging and poaching often initiated by outsiders. Strategic alliances with assisting partners for institutional support, capacity development and funding can strengthen the collaborative arrangement to make it more effective and enabling collaboration among the stakeholders towards a common goal.

A District Co-Management Committee was established bringing together 13 appointed government officials from district level as well as village representatives from village cluster level [25]. Villages report to village cluster level, which thereon report to the higher levels. The functioning of this bottom-up process is monitored via the annual management effectiveness and good governance self-assessment in which villagers participate. Higher levels take the inputs and needs of the village levels into account and strategic decisions are communicated back to the operational village levels.

This institutional set-up ensures that all stake- and rights-holders can participate in decision-making processes. Transparent sharing of information, experience, and knowledge enhances the capacity for natural resource management among all parties to achieve the common goal of biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation in and around Hin Nam No. A balance needs to be found between the need to involve people in the management i.e. doing the work in the forest (village rangers) and the need to involve people in the governance who can validate decisions (village authorities and high level officials).

#### **3.3 Participatory zonation based on traditional knowledge, customary rights and biodiversity values**

Participatory zonation is an essential tool for local communities to engage in collaborative governance and management – especially when the process takes into account local knowledge and respects existing customary rights. The participatory zonation process started in 2014, based on the agreed interventions of the governance assessment (see **Table 1**). In order to divide the work between the villages surrounding Hin Nam No, it was necessary to clarify areas and boundaries, based on used trails and customary rights of villages. Village rangers mapped the trails and collected data on important features, biodiversity and threats. Villagers were asked to define areas they need for collecting natural resources, areas that are inaccessible due to the rugged terrain, and areas that should be left alone to protect wildlife for breeding purposes.

Based on the proposals by the villagers, the Hin Nam No was geographically divided into 18 areas to be managed by the villages. The zonation process identified the Controlled Use Zones (CUZ) prescribing the traditional village lands of the 18 villages. In a second step, management rules for the CUZs were formulated, based on the customary rights of the villagers. The Total Protected Zones (TPZ) comprise

#### *The Importance of Partnerships for Effective Protected Area Management DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99595*

all parts of Hin Nam No beyond the CUZ. They can be divided into inaccessible parts, and areas considered of high biodiversity value [25]. The process of participatory mapping of trails and the subsequent selection of key trails for regular monitoring led to a clear agreement on which area should be monitored by which village. This led to a 'de-facto' delineation of village areas of responsibility within Hin Nam No. In total, 86 per cent were proposed by the villagers as TPZ and 14 per cent as CUZ [15].

The basic rules and regulations governing the access and use of the proposed TPZ and CUZ are stipulated in the Forestry Law of 2007 and in the collaborative agreements that have been approved by the District Governor of Boualapha. The District Co-Management Committee agreed that further meetings with the villagers were required to discuss and agree upon more detailed resource use rules for the CUZ to prevent unsustainable use by villagers and outsiders with the final zonation system to be approved by the District Co-management Committee.
