Laos law enforcement support (landscape level)

Freeland

Freeland provides capacity building to rangers, protected area managers, and military through the PROTECT program that combines assessments, strategy design, and training to implement strategies. This program has training programs for front line rangers right up to protected area managers, and is tailored to each audience and their threats, and has a mentoring element that Freeland refers to as “OJT” (On-the-Job Training). The OJTs can include digital forensics training and analytical support. It has been accredited by the American Council on Education. Freeland also developed FIST-PROTECT (Field Information Support Tool) with Kestrel Technologies to help rangers and their supervisors track, prevent and record poaching through phones or other hand-held devices that link up to satellites. FIST allows information, orders and requests to be transmitted between the field and command centers in real time through an analytical hub that provides user-friendly and useful analysis.

Freeland developed WildScan, a mobile phone application to facilitate species identification. The Lao application is currently in development.

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

The UNDP-supported, GEF-financed sustainable forest management project titled “Sustainable Forest and Land Management in the Dry Dipterocarp Forest Ecosystems of Southern Lao PDR” is implemented with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment as the implementing partner. This project includes work to resolve jurisdictional issues and coordination relating to enforcement of wildlife and forest protection laws, and could include some site-based law enforcement efforts in the future.

UNDP is developing a GEF-financed regional project across tiger range states titled “South-South Cooperation for Sustainability of the Global Tiger Recovery Programme” that will be implemented with the Global Tiger Forum. See section below on national level law enforcement support for details.

Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)

WCS conducts anti-poaching capacity building and mentoring for Government of Laos authorities along source sites and the borders of Thailand and Vietnam, a project funded by the US Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL). This project also supports real time technical assistance to rangers and field law enforcement officers to promote intelligence-led investigative approaches.

World Wildlife Fund (WWF)

WWF is involved in an initiative to reduce poaching in the Mekong transboundary protected areas in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. WWF provides assistance to enhance government capacities to conduct enforcement work in those areas, which includes working with local law enforcement, mainly wildlife authorities. WWF-Laos works with government, provincial and district authorities, and communities to improve or develop protected area management plans, support law enforcement activities and conduct biological surveys. In Nam Pouy National Protected Area (NPA), WWF is helping to bolster law enforcement to intercept or deter poachers who might enter the area to poach elephants for their ivory and hides. WWF has carried out capacity trainings with the District Department of Natural Resources and Environment staff to improve law enforcement in the protected area. In the Laos-Vietnam border landscape, a recently ended project built the ability of law enforcement agencies to combat illegal transboundary timber and wildlife trade. This involves technical, leadership and health and safety training, while they are also taught GIS skills and how to use ‘tactical’ mapping to identify hotspots of illegal activity. See also WWF work on law enforcement support at a national level, below.