Lao PDR

32-year old Kong cuts bamboo to make a new furniture product UNDP Lao PDR/Toby Fricker

In the sultry heat and insect infested forest on the outskirts of Napor village, 50 km's west of the capital Vientiane, Kong and his wife Kaew are cutting large chunks of bamboo for their latest furniture product. They are members of the Sangthong Bamboo Trade Association that was set up 3-years ago and sold over US$175,000 of products in 2011.

The association receives support from the GEF Small Grants Programme (GEF SGP), implemented by UNDP, in partnership with Oxfam Novib, SNV and the local non-profit association, Gender Development Group (GDG).

More than 900 people, across 8 villages of Sangthong district, work through the association, with members receiving training and advice on how to produce the highest quality products, such as bamboo baskets, bags and sofas. Products are sold locally, at a shop in the capital Vientiane, and even internationally, 90,000 small bamboo boxes were sent to companies in Germany and Switzerland in 2011.

“When we just did rice farming we only earned 5 to 6 million kip (US$625-750) per year. Now we can earn 20 million kip (US$2,500) per year. We have money to send the children to school and to buy stuff,” says Kong. In one of the country's 47 poorest districts this is a significant rise in income.

The members of the trade association are also taught the best techniques and timing for cutting bamboo. This is vital to ensure regular re-growth of the bamboo and as a result sustainability.

“Bamboo has existed in the village for a long time but the villagers didn't know the value. This project provides protection of the bamboo and support to get the goods to the market and to make an income,” says Boutsady Khounnouvong, GDG Program Coordinator.

But just a couple of years ago the villager's environment and livelihoods were under threat. With Napor village so close to Vientiane, the community's bamboo resources can be vulnerable to exploitation.

“There's a big truck from somewhere else, no one knows where, maybe from the city, they just came and they cut and then they put (the bamboo) in the big truck and went away,” says Salongxay, the head of the village.

To try and avoid such cases the Sangthong district administration applied for community land titles in 2010. With financial and technical support from the project partners, Napor village and 4 others were granted land titles for their bamboo production forests in 2011.

These are the first cases of community land tenures in the country and with non-timber forest products contributing to about 40 percent of total rural income, such models, if replicated, could benefit villagers across Lao PDR. The land titles not only protect the forest from exploitation by outsiders but also increase responsibility for and management of local resources among the community.

“People don't just go and cut whatever they want anymore because they are very proud to have the products to export to other districts, provinces, or even overseas, ” says Salongxay.

Khammoon Tiengthila, the Sangthong Deputy District Governor is now looking to expand the area covered by the titles. “So far we've achieved 5 villages like this and in the future we want to get 5 more villages to be a part of the project because the forest is important for development and for the economy,” he says.

The success of the Sangthong project has resulted in the start up of a similar GEF SGP programme in the southern province of Saravane. Members of the Sangthong Trade Association will play a role as trainers in the new programme.

For more information please contact:

Toby Fricker at UNDP, Tel: 020 5426 2697, email: toby.fricker@undp.org

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