Total Project Cost: US$332,000

PEF Financing: US$249,000

Approval Date: 14 October 2004

Main Project Partners: Lam Dong Province Department of Agricultural and Rural Development, Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development

Project Officer: Nao Ikemoto, Southeast Asia Department

Type of Intervention: Pilot Intervention

Status: Completed

Summary:
The project implemented biodiversity corridor development in Lam Dong Province and established approaches that allow for the integration of protected area (PA) management, rural livelihood improvement and poverty reduction and support to environment-friendly resource use pattern.

Poverty-Environment Linkage:
The selected biodiversity corridor is located in a poverty concentrated Central Highland area where about 46% of the rural households live in poverty. The majority of the population is ethnic minorities and 87% of the economically active population is unskilled. Identifying and integrating the livelihood needs of the poor communities living in the corridors development will enhance the biological protection and improve the rural livelihood for the poor communities.

Expected Outputs/Outcomes:

• A report on poverty incidence overlaid on resource use patterns and threats to PAs with a set of target communes for pilot interventions
• Pilot interventions implemented in BCs
• Changed resource use patterns to facilitate species movement and poverty reduction
• Recommendations for the Forestry for Livelihood Project implementation in the BC
• Recommendations for changing legal and institutional aspects necessary to implement BC program

Major Components and Activities:

• Assessment of natural resource use patterns in selected BC to identify development threats to adjoining PAs
• Poverty-mapping in selected BC using secondary information
• Identification and implementation of remedial measures for changing resource use patterns and sustainable livelihood activities for the selected communities using participatory approaches
• Conduct of institutional gap analysis for successful implementation of BC program

Related Documents:

• PEP Proposal
• Project in Brief
• Environmental Protection Initiative Boosts Income of Rural Families in Viet Nam (video)
• Final Report