Friend, Richard

This book looks at the rationale for addressing the links between conservation and poverty reduction, arguing that such a focus is both ethically essential and a source of opportunities. It emphasizes the importance of multiple scales and negotiating trade-offs between scales and tackles the complex issue of institutional landscapes and the way in which changes at various institutional levels can lead to different and more positive outcomes.

The Lao People's Democratic Republic lies at the heart the Mekong River basin. It has an abundance of natural resources including water, wetlands, forests and biodiversity. Managing these rich resources in a sustainable manner is essential to the efforts to meet its development objectives of reducing poverty while promoting economic growth.

Despite endorsements of the concept of sustainable development and the linking of sustainable development with the Millennium Development Goals, progress towards the eradication of poverty has been disappointing. The underlying principles of sustainable development need to be more critically and actively applied to both poverty reduction and biodiversity conservation.