The Greater Mekong Subregion
them greater ownership of the forest resources they depend on for their livelihoods. Women will be an integral part of the labor team, carrying out the restoration work, while more than 4,770 households and over 4,000 farmers will receive cash and technical support. Within the same landscapes as the CEP-BCI, the Carbon and Biodiversity Project (CarBi) is being implemented to halt deforestation and preserve unique species diversity in an area of forest along the Annamite Mountain Range that links Viet Nam and the Lao PDR. This will be largest project in WWF’s history of working in the Greater Mekong, and aims to protect and restore forest landscapes and reduce global green house gas emissions by an estimated 1.8 million tons.
170,000
GMS BCC Project targets 170,000 mostly poor farmers
The CarBi project has four key focus areas: (i) reducing carbon dioxide emissions by assessing carbon stocks of the forests and training government officials in protected areas management; (ii) surveying species populations within the protected areas to demonstrate that improved management is increasing biodiversity levels; (iii) reducing cross-border trade in illegally cut timber by 40% between 2011 and 2014 through increased cooperation between border officials, WWF, and partners; and (iv) ensuring that local communities benefit from the sustainable use of natural resources. In addition to reducing carbon dioxide emissions, the CarBi project is expected to contribute to a 15% increase in the income of 400 households, with benefits to 5,000–7,000 people in villages across the region; protect populations of mammals, allowing for their numbers to increase in the protected areas; and reducing transborder illegal timber trade by 40% in the project region. Building on the CEP-BCI and CarBi work, a new GMS Forests and Biodiversity Program is being developed as collaborative effort by ADB and the World Bank, with funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and support from various stakeholders. Given the large-scale forces that are driving the decline in forest in the region, the program seeks to align the GEF and other programs to improve management of forest biodiversity conservation areas. In particular, it will help with trans-boundary issues such as conservation policies and planning, illegal trade in wildlife and forest products, long-term sustainable financing, and information exchange between GMS countries to advance regional knowledge on common challenges
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