Project News

Under F-REDD, the Provincial Deforestation Monitoring System (PDMS) was developed; using satellite imagery, the PDMS strengthens the monitoring methods and implementation system to enhance forest monitoring. As reported in the previous Project News, the PDMS had been deployed in six provinces of northern Laos; since then, in collaboration with the World Bank and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the PDMS has been extended to central and southern Laos and is being deployed in 10 of the 18 provinces of Laos.

PDMS introductory training was first conducted in January 2023 in Savannakhet Province in central Laos. Following this training, monitoring teams were established in each of the target districts of F-REDD 2 and the World Bank’s Lao Landscapes and Livelihoods Project. With this, the full-scale operation of the PDMS has commenced in Savannakhet. Further introductory training is planned for four additional provinces in October and November, at the end of the rainy season.

In February 2023, in cooperation with the WWF’s Forest Restoration for Resilience and Development (FORRED) project, another PDMS introductory training was conducted for the National Park Office, which manages Xe Pian National Park in southern Laos, and provincial and district officials from the provinces of Champasak and Attapeu. Subsequently, both F-REDD 2 and the FORRED project are implementing the forest monitoring activities, and F-REDD 2 is also providing technical follow-up support.

F-REDD 2 has received continuous positive feedback, with PDMS users saying that they can more accurately assess the deforestation situation using satellite images and that the PDMS is easy to use and very user-friendly. At the same time, as users have become more familiar with using the system, they have also made some suggestions for improving the questionnaires for field surveys. Moreover, consideration also needs to be given about how Laos can utilize the accumulating store of data to more effectively enforce the law and control illegal activities. F-REDD 2 will discuss these issues with our counterparts and further develop the PDMS to strengthen forest law enforcement in Laos.

PDMS introductory training for forest officers in Xe Pian National Park.

Using the PDMS to identify forest clearance sites in Xe Pian National Park.