Part 1 – A Rapid Participatory Biodiversity Assessment - IUCN

IUCN Rapid Participatory Biodiversity Assessment
(A) Sensitization of forestry workers to adopt environmental safeguards and best practice guidelines
in forestry operations
• Promote awareness and education among all workers involved in forestry operations (ie.,
managers, supervisors, labourers including local community workers) on the need to
integrate environmental safeguards into forestry operations (ie, sustenance of ecosystem
services of biodiversity and related human well-being)
• Discourage staff from illegal hunting of wildlife and/or trade of wildlife
• Do not create haphazard fires that could lead to forest fires
• Promote safe use of agro-chemicals in forestry operations (including safe disposal of agrochemical
containers)
• Promote the preservation of globally threatened species and large wild trees in plantation
plots
• Avoid deliberate killing of wild animals (ie., serpents etc.) during plantation operations
(B) Guidelines for selection of suitable sites for establishment of plantation forest plots:
• Select only the fallow lands that are less than 10 years old (Justification: fallow areas older
than 10 years are in the secondary forest successional stage, harbouring a high species
richness of plants and animals)
• Avoid areas with slopes greater than 25 degrees, and hill tops (Justification: prevent
landslides and soil erosion)
• Avoid areas frequented by wild animals to access water (ie., waterholes) and also their
seasonal migratory pathways such as elephant corridors (Justification: avoid wildlife conflicts)
• Avoid areas with a thin soil layer above bedrock (Justification: avoid soil erosion)
(C) Guidelines for land clearing phase
• Conduct a rapid botanical inventory of the areas identified for clearing and subsequent
plantation (using parallel line transect walks), in order to:
o Document the presence of any of the 21 globally threatened plant species occurring
in Laos (see annex 5 for list of globally threatened plant species in Laos).
o Collect seed/propagation material of important plants (ie., globally threatened plants;
plants utilized by local communities etc.)
o Mark the tree species above 50cm gbh 4 (girth at breast height), for preservation in
the plantation plot
• Promote the rescue and translocation of less-mobile wild animals (ie., fledgling birds, newborn
mammals, turtles, lizards etc.) inhabiting plots earmarked for clearing, into surrounding
wild habitats
• Establish nurseries of globally threatened plant species and other plant species utilized by
local communities, to be used in the restoration of degraded forests, as well as to introduce
such species into plantation plots.
• Establish fire belts (at least 10m wide) between cleared patches and existing forests, prior to
carrying out burning of fields
• Avoid clearing of land and soil preparation during rainy seasons
• Avoid deep ploughing of soil (> 30cm in depth) for agricultural crops
• Maintain buffer zones in relevant areas (see Table 5.1 below)
4 Preserving indigenous tree species above 50cm gbh will function as ‘nurse vegetation’ that would
provide shade for the Eucalyptus to establish well initially.
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