VIENTIANE: Nakai-Nam Theun National Park is moving closer to international recognition as Laos advances its bid for Asean Heritage Park status and prepares the site for future Unesco World Heritage inscription.
The progress comes as the park expects to receive an international assessment mission in mid-August from the Asean Secretariat and the Asean Centre for Biodiversity as part of the evaluation process for Asean Heritage Park designation.
If successful, the park is expected to be recognised as an Asean Heritage Park in 2028, with Unesco World Heritage inscription targeted for 2029.
At the same time, Laos is pursuing three complementary international conservation standards for the protected area.
Nakai–Nam Theun was added to Unesco's World Heritage Tentative List in 2025, while a Preliminary Assessment will be submitted to the World Heritage Centre under the natural criteria for outstanding ecological processes and biodiversity conservation.
The park is also a candidate for the IUCN Green List of Protected and Conserved Areas and completed a gap analysis against the Green List Standard in October 2025.
"Our ambition is for Nakai–Nam Theun to become a model protected area for the Lao PDR and the wider region—internationally recognised, sustainably financed and managed to global standards," said Director of Nakai–Nam Theun National Park, Dr Teuanchay Phongkhamphanh
"The Unesco World Heritage nomination, the Asean Heritage Park process and our IUCN Green List candidacy are complementary steps toward that vision. Each one strengthens our management, raises the park's profile and builds the capacity we need to protect this landscape and benefit the communities who share it for generations to come."
Authorities are continuing to strengthen biodiversity conservation, governance and sustainable park management while working towards international standards. Efforts are also under way to promote the park as a model for sustainable ecotourism.
Located in the Annamite Mountains of central Laos, Nakai–Nam Theun National Park spans over 4,000sq km across Khammuan and Bolikhamxay provinces.
More than 80 per cent of the protected area remains under forest, making it one of the largest intact forest landscapes in mainland South-East Asia and a key stronghold within the Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot. The area was established as one of Laos' original National Biodiversity Conservation Areas in 1993 before being designated a national park in 2019.
The park is home to globally important wildlife, including the critically endangered saola, large-antlered muntjac, white-cheeked gibbon and red-shanked douc, as well as endangered Asian elephants, Owston’s civet and Annamite stripped rabbit.
It also contains the world's only known old-growth population of the critically endangered Asian swamp cypress and the largest known global population of the endangered wolf barb fish.
Experts have recorded at least 92 mammal species, 403 bird species and 614 vascular plant species within the park. About 8,000 people live inside the protected area, with their traditional knowledge contributing to its biocultural significance.
Long-term scientific research and wildlife monitoring are continuing across the park, focusing on flagship species including the Asian elephant, Asian swamp cypress and wolf barb, alongside camera-trap monitoring.
Much of the work is being carried out in partnership with the National University of Laos and international organisations.
The Nam Theun 2 Power Company has supported conservation in the park financially for more than two decades under the Nam Theun 2 Concession Agreement. The company, government agencies and other partners are now working to establish long-term financing mechanisms to sustain conservation efforts beyond 2035, when the concession agreement expires.
If inscribed on Unesco's World Heritage List, Nakai–Nam Theun National Park would become Laos' second natural World Heritage Site after Hin Nam No National Park, which was inscribed as part of the transboundary World Heritage Site shared with Vietnam's Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park.
Laos is also home to three Unesco World Heritage cultural sites: the World Heritage town of Luang Prabang, the Vat Phou temple complex in Champasak province, and the Plain of Jars archaeological landscape in Xiengkhouang province.
Beyond its heritage sites, Laos has gained international recognition for its living cultural traditions. Unesco has inscribed the khaen music of the Lao people as a form of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity and has also recognised the traditional naga weaving motif as Intangible Cultural Heritage. - Vientiane Times/ANN
