From 26 to 28 June 2018, the project Biodiversity-based Products (BBP) as an Economic Source for the Improvement of Livelihoods and Biodiversity Protection conducted a 3-day Training of Trainers (ToT) on concepts and development of biodiversity value chains in Thalat, Lao PDR. Thirteen participants from the Department of Forestry (DoF)/Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF), and the Luang Namtha Provincial Agriculture and Forestry Office (PAFO) were invited by the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) for this session. The ToT was conducted to strengthen awareness and knowledge on biodiversity value chains in general and bamboo value chain in the Lao context in particular.

The BBP project aims at creating new jobs, and increase income and business opportunities for the rural population around protected areas through the design, facilita¬tion, and implementation of commercially viable biodiversity value chains, enhanced with a focus on biodiversity conservation and sustainable management. In Lao PDR, the BBP project is piloting the development of biodiversity-based value chains through the sustainable use of bamboo for furniture and handicraft by communities in the buffer zone of Nam Ha National Protected Area.

The biodiversity value chain training module used for this session adopts an innovated version of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) Value Links module which is riveted on the biodiversity conservation with practical application on biodiversity value chain mapping exercise. The ToT capped an 11-module training session that was conducted with multi-learning approaches consisting of lectures, guided discussion, and practical group exercises.

The training was conducted in view of the MAF being the new project partner of the BBP Project in Lao PDR where it was previously under the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MONRE). It was also an important step in the capacity building approach that ACB is supporting for ASEAN Member States to ensure that partners acquire competencies in biodiversity value chain development, providing opportunities for economic development and biodiversity conservation at the same time. It is expected that the participants acquire a good understanding of the concepts of biodiversity-based value chains and equip themselves as facilitators and knowledge carriers with focus on the review, selection, and development of promotion strategies for further promotion of biodiversity-based value chains in Laos and other ASEAN Member States. Further training sessions and learning events will be provided for piloting partners in Vietnam and Cambodia, as well as for interested ASEAN Member States. NEL/BS

Ed. Note: with two photos
Caption 1: DoF participants learning by doing in a workshop exercise.
Photo file name: Lao PDR BBP ToT Participant Exercise
Caption 2 (for inset Photo): DoF participants with GFA Training Expert Rita Pilarca (seated, third from right), DoF Division Head Savanh Chanthkhoumman (seated, fourth from right), and Souvanpheng Sphommasane (seated, fifth from right).
Photo file name: Lao PDR BBP ToT Participants

The midyear review, which tackled a wide range of activities taken up by the partners in implementing, managing, and monitoring the project accomplishments, served as a venue for the country coordinators from the project sites in Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Viet Nam, as well as representatives from Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, GFA Consulting Group GmbH, and ACB to share their own activities, challenges and plans for the BBP project for the remaining months.

Enabling communities to be economically productive while ensuring biodiversity conservation was underscored by ACB’s Executive Director Dr. Theresa Mundita S. Lim. She highlighted two of the BBP Project’s achievements for the year – the presentation of its Policy Proposal during the 28th Meeting of the ASEAN Working Group On Nature Conservation and Biodiversity, and the signing of the Local Subsidy Contracts in Cambodia. Dr. Lim shared her hopes that with this project, biodiversity can be further accepted as a mainstream subject matter, and that the biodiversity-based products from the ASEAN Member States will be recognized worldwide.
While the review led to assessing of what have been achieved and what will be done in the remaining months, it also looked into ways how biodiversity-based value chain development can be made sustainable as the project concludes next year.

After discussions, the main tasks that have to be carried out for the remainder of the project period are to collect and present the success stories of the BBP pilot models in Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Viet Nam, as well as support the mainstreaming of policies on biodiversity-based value chain development in the ASEAN. This includes building up the support system by enabling partners and strengthening knowledge management to ensure that the biodiversity-based value chain development is promoted as a means to improve income-generating and biodiversity conservation capacities of communities in the buffer zones of protected areas. 
The project also took up recommendations from the 28th Meeting of the ASEAN Working Group on Nature Conservation and Biodiversity held in Seam Reap, Cambodia, where ACB was requested to further support the capacity building of ASEAN stakeholders in biodiversity value chain development. Further trainings and learning exchanges will be organized by the BBP project within the coming months. 
- B. Schlegel and N.E. Lopez