In one of the most biodiverse forests in the world, rural communities rehabilitate their homes with native tree planting Lush green trees, winding shaded creeks, and patches of low-hanging fog are all wonders of the Central Annamite Landscape (CAL), a transboundary forest that passes through central Viet Nam and southern Laos. The CAL hosts a diverse range of communities and boasts some of the most unique biodiversity in the world, including over 500 species of birds and many endangered animals like flying squirrels and the douc langur monkey. In the last century, only six new large mammal species have been identified in the world and three of them, the Saola, Truong Son muntjac, and the Large-antlered muntjac, are only found in the CAL. A local community member plants a seedling. Between 1940 and 2010, forest cover in Laos decreased by roughly 30%, putting both people and wildlife in danger. The CAL contains a number of rural districts including Kaleum, Ta-Oi, and Samoui, where WWF-Laos partners with local community members and local government, restoring and protecting high conservation value rain forest areas. The communities involved in the project are made up of some of Laos’s ethnic minority groups living in […]
How local communities in Laos restore their essential forests
