From the Volunteering Program under LIFE’s project phase 3 from 2023-2024, student volunteers from Faculty of Law and Political Sciences, National University of Laos made good impacts from their activities’ implementation in community level. Since the first activity, participatory data collection by using the River of…activity and second activity on legal awareness raising related to land and natural resources in two village: Nam On village, Xaychamphone district, Bolikhamxai province and in Somsanouk village, Mahaxay district, Khammouane province, Lao PDR illustrates the successful outcome that led those two communities to establish fish conservation zones in those villages. Throughout the activities, local villagers effectively engaged and participated especially the community need to conserve the biodiversity of rivers which they reply on for their food security. Seeing the fish species has declined, they collectively proposed the need of the support to student volunteers in order to improve the management of the area where they want to conserve especially, to ensure the law enforcement on illegal fishing and to protect the endangered fish habitats.

This activity in two villages is participatory designed and implemented which local villagers actively participate in the decision making from the process of identifying the conservation areas to the agreement in the regulation to manage the fish conservation zones. This activity is also in coherence with local government policy to conserve and protect the fish population as well as to ensure the law enforcement.

The case study is available to download:

Lao version