Context
The economy of Laos is strongly dependent on natural resources. Unsustainable hunting and timber exploitation, and the granting of large concessions for hydro-power development, mining and monoculture farming projects are causing deforestation and the loss of biodiversity and wildlife. The changing climate further threatens some of the country’s main livelihood activities, such as rain-fed rice cultivation. The effects of climate change, including floods and droughts, will be felt most severely by the rural people whose livelihoods depend on forest ecosystems and smallholder agriculture.
The majority of the population in rural Laos has little understanding or awareness of the correlation between sustainable development and environmental protection – and neither do the political and economic decision-makers. Little attention is paid to these issues in the public discourse. There is, therefore, a need to integrate awareness-raising measures promoting environmental protection, biodiversity conservation and climate-change adaptation into the Lao communication and education systems.
Objective
The general public, politicians and businesspeople in Laos have greater knowledge of environmental protection, biodiversity and climate change, thanks to environmental education and communication measures. This has resulted in a corresponding change in their attitudes and behaviour.
Approach
In this project, GIZ is cooperating with the Department of Environmental Quality Promotion (DEQP) at the Lao Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. Other partners include the Ministries of Education and Sports, and of Information, Culture and Tourism, as well as the state-controlled organisations, mass media and civil society organisations.
The project combines strategic activities at the national level with communication and learning processes at provincial, district and village levels. A predecessor project of the same name (ProCEEd I) used an extensive study of environmental knowledge, attitudes and practices to develop an environmental education and communication strategy. This identifies the target groups, topics and communication channels for environmental awareness raising campaigns.
With a regional focus, project activities take place in parts of Houaphanh and Khammouane provinces, where other Lao-German projects are also being implemented for the protection of forests and biodiversity, and related to climate change. ProCEEd also conducts activities in Vientiane Capital, Vientiane Province and Sayaboury Province. A core element of the project’s approach is its support for capacity development in areas of environmental education and communication.
The National Strategy on Environmental Education and Awareness, which was revised with the assistance of the project, sets out the policy framework for its work. ProCEEd supports the DEQP in its coordinating role for all environmental education activities of the Lao Government.
Results achieved so far
As part of its environmental education and communication strategy, ProCEEd supports a variety of mass media channels in its planning and production processes. It conducts training on environmental journalism and assists Lao National Radio and National TV, as well as provincial and district radio stations, to produce environmental programmes. Two daily newspapers publish project news and in-depth articles about environmental topics on a regular basis.
ProCEEd has acquired two vehicles and fitted them with solar-powered multimedia equipment with which to host non-formal education activities. Extensive environmental education bus tours are now conducted. One such tour in Vientiane Capital on the topic of climate change reached out to over 15,000 secondary school students. The project’s partner, DEQP, runs week-long tours to provincial and district capitals for political decision-makers. The topics covered are collaborative management of national protected areas as well as forest and wildlife protection. DEQP has entered into partnership with a local non-governmental organisation, with which it runs month-long tours on the same topics to villages in the target districts of Khammouane, Houaphanh and Sayaboury provinces. These tours address children at schools, village authorities and the general public, offering diverse activities tailored to each group.
Further activities have been organised tackling appropriate waste management during the Vientiane Boat Racing Festival and the That Luang Festival. These get festival participants involved in a fun and entertaining way.
Four-week summer film schools provide young Lao people with hands-on experience of environmental film-making and production, while a nationwide photo competition on environmental issues resulted in a photo exhibition that has since travelled to university faculties, colleges and other locations.
Succinct factsheets on various environmental topics in Laos are used to supply information to stakeholders at central, provincial and village levels. The ProCEEd website (www.laos-proceed.com) and newsletters provide up-to-date information about project activities, approaches and materials.