VIENTIANE (Vientiane Times/Asia News Network): The governments of Laos and the United Kingdom will set up the Biodiverse Landscapes Fund, aiming to take urgent action to tackle poverty, biodiversity loss and climate change in the region.
The fund will invest up to £15 million between 2023 and 2029 in the Lower Mekong landscape, covering areas of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, according to the British Embassy to Laos.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Mr Kikeo Singnavong and the Embassy’s Chargé d’Affaires Cashel Gleeson signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Vientiane on Friday, formalising cooperation on the UK’s Biodiverse Landscapes Fund in Laos.
The Fund’s programme in the Lower Mekong aims to reduce poverty and create sustainable economic opportunities for communities living in and dependent on environmentally critical landscapes, through delivering lasting landscape protection, sustainable management and restoration, safeguarding biodiversity, and maintaining and improving ecosystem quality.
Gleeson said “Expanding the UK’s Biodiverse Landscapes Fund to the Lower Mekong marks an important step forward towards greater collaboration between the UK and Laos on conservation.”
“The impacts of climate change do not respect borders, and strong partnerships are essential to protecting the environment we share. We look forward to strengthening our partnership with Laos and exploring new opportunities to support biodiversity.”
Kikeo said the MoU on the Biodiverse Landscapes Fund was a remarkable milestone.
The government strongly believes that the Fund can provide both tangible and intangible benefits to people, biodiversity and climate resilience in Laos and beyond, he added.
The scheme will become operational later this year, delivering activities through a consortium of delivery partners, and working in close collaboration with the Lao government.
The Fund is classified as Official Development Assistance (ODA) and is part of the United Kingdom’s commitment to international development.
The Biodiverse Landscapes Fund is a programme developed by the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), which supports work on poverty reduction, biodiversity protection, and addressing the drivers and impacts of climate change across six biologically diverse landscapes worldwide.
It will also support governments in meeting international commitments under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
The Lower Mekong landscape is an area of global importance due to its unique biodiversity. It includes the Annamites mountain range, spanning Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
It is part of the Greater Mekong Subregion, which is one of the world’s top ten biodiversity hotspots and top five threatened areas (with only 5 percent of natural habitat remaining).
This landscape has therefore been selected on the basis of its global importance for biodiversity, potential to act as a carbon sink, and the economic and livelihood needs of the resident populations.
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