Contribution of Forestry to Poverty Alleviation - APFNet

Figure VI.1. Important household income sources
$231; 13%
$200; 11%
$122; 7%
Source: Field survey.
$94; 6%
$1,118; 63%
Payment for Environmental Services
188
Rice
Home animals
Other Agri. Produces
NTFPs
Other sources
To date, four main environmental services identified have been addressed by PES—watershed services,
carbon sequestration, landscape beauty, and biodiversity conservation. In Lao PDR, like in other
developing countries where environmental governance is not yet effectively addressed, PES is a very
new concept and is not yet well understood by the majority of the people. Although the government has
recently recognized the importance of PES in sustainable socio-economic development and poverty
alleviation and has taken it as a key policy objective, the use of PES schemes is not widely practiced. It
is implemented as project-specific in nature and lacks consistency in its application.
Due to the above-mentioned limitations, the following sections discuss examples of contribution
of PES through the forest environmental services to the national economy as well as to poverty
alleviation. For the discussion, possible contributions from ecotourism and from the REDD initiative
are presented as examples.
Ecotourism
Tourism in Lao PDR is closely linked to natural forests and culture. It is one of 11 priority sectors
to support national socio-economic development. It is seen as one of the country’s major engines of
economic growth and poverty alleviation. The overall tourism sector objective is centered on poverty
alleviation.
Since 1990s, the tourism sector has developed very fast. Tourist arrivals have increased significantly in
the last 20 years. The number of arrivals skyrocketed from 14,400 in 1990 to 737,000 in 2000 (Manivong
and Sophathilath 2006) and reached 2.5 million in 2010 14 and around 66% are interested in forestbased
ecotourism (FBE) (Schipani and Marris 2002). FBE has high potential in Lao PDR, because
the country has a large conservation forest system that makes a wide variety of ecotourism activities
possible. In some conservation forests, ecotourism activities are already integrated into biodiversity
conservation and management, with an orientation towards raising awareness about conservation.
Tourism is a powerful globalizing force and if well-managed, can have a direct positive effect on the
national economy and poverty alleviation (Schipani 2000b).
Foreign exchange earnings from tourism showed a steady increase, with total earnings of about US$
97 million in 1999, US$ 113 million in 2002, and US$ 119 million in 2004 (LNTA 2004a). In 2010,
tourism ranked third in terms of foreign exchange earnings, producing US$360 million (LNTA
2007c). Of the total income from tourism, around 45% was estimated to come from nature and
culture-based tourism (LNTA 2004b). The Lao tourism industry is also a major employer, generating
14 LNTA press released February 8, 2011 on http://vientianemai.net/teen/khao/1/1993