Biodiversity conservation, protected areas and the development imperative in Lao PDR : forging the links

This publication gives an account of the challenges currently being faced by Lao PDR - an oasis of biodiversity richness nestled amid a group of countries whose biodiversity assets have been severly depleted as a result of economic and/or population pressures - as it struggles with the options between trying to ensure the equitable economic and social development of its peoples, while using its resources sustainably and ensuring that exploitation of its resources by neighbouring countries does not deplete these same resources further.