(KPL) The Nam Phouy National Biodiversity Conservation Park in Xayabury Province has become the latest focus of integrated conservation efforts in Laos, following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Department of Forestry and WWF-Laos. The new initiative will incorporate the One Health Approach which links human, animal, and environmental health into its core conservation strategy.

The project, titled the Nam Phouy National Park Management and Conservation Support Project, aligns with the Lao PDR’s National Forest Strategy, the new Decree on Protected Areas, and WWF-Laos’ five-year strategic plan. It also reflects the global momentum behind the One Health concept, which was formally endorsed by the World Health Assembly on May 20 through the adoption of the Epidemic Resolution.

The project focuses on five major areas of intervention: strengthening forest and biodiversity, management through community participation, enhancing wildlife conservation and monitoring, including the use of camera traps, reducing human-elephant conflict in surrounding villages, promoting disease surveillance and early detection using One Health methodologies and raising conservation awareness and facilitating knowledge exchange.

Additional activities include land-use and protected zone planning, biodiversity surveys, law enforcement capacity building, and climate-resilient livelihood research with a gender focus.

According to Ms. Akchousanh Rasphone, Conservation Director at WWF-Laos, the One Health component of the project is being delivered through six core strategies of protective landscapes and ecosystems, wildlife trade monitoring and mitigation, preventive public health interventions, disease surveillance and early warning systems, sustainable livestock management and  community education and behavior change.

Field activities under the initiative include community health dialogues, livestock-wildlife interaction monitoring, and localized health interventions.

Located in Xayabury Province, Nam Phouy National Park spans over 191,200 hectares and encompasses 16 villages across the Phieng, Thongmixay, and Paklay districts. The park is a significant biodiversity hotspot and one of the last remaining habitats for Asian elephants in Laos.

Recent surveys and camera trap data have confirmed the presence of a variety of large and medium-sized mammals, including Asian elephants, clouded leopards, Asian black bears, leopards, hyenas and several other endangered species.

In October 2024, Nam Phouy was officially designated as an ASEAN Heritage Park (AHP), earning both regional and international recognition for its ecological value and role as a model of sustainable protected area management.

Conclusion

By embedding the One Health Approach into its conservation model, the Nam Phouy project sets a precedent for holistic, science-based biodiversity protection that prioritizes ecosystem resilience, public health, and sustainable development in tandem.

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