Posted on 17 October 2014

WWF Greater Mekong's CarBi programme is an unprecedented four-year, trans-border conservation economy assignment, which aims to protect and regenerate more than 200,000 hectares of unique forest in one of the world's biodiversity hot spots, focused on the Central Annamite Mountains joining Laos and Vietnam. It brings together development partners, national, provincial and district governments, and local communities to preserve and restore the forests and their unique species, and to protect and enhance the livelihoods of the people whose existence depends on the ecosystem services provided by these forests. Financial support to CarBi is primarily provided by KfW, the German Development Bank.

CarBi operates in four national protected areas and two corridors allowing species to move between them in Quang Nam and Hue provinces in Vietnam, and Saravanh and Xekong provinces in Laos. It has four main elements: Protected Area Management, Forest Restoration, Timber Trade and Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD).

CarBi works with the governments of Laos and Vietnam from national to local level, with partner agencies and with the people who live in and depend on the forest to survive. On the ground, CarBi:

• Conducts biodiversity surveys and monitoring to establish the status of species living in the forest.
• Trains and equips Forest Guards to protect the unique biodiversity and ecosystem services.
• Works with governments and villagers to reduce the illegal logging and hunting, and encourages sustainable community management of the forest that meets internationally recognised standards.
• Uses scientific expertise and advanced information management techniques to pinpoint ‘hotspots’ of illegal logging and timber trade, as well as areas of special biodiversity significance.
• Builds and musters the capacity and logistics of law enforcement agencies and enhances their ability to combat illegal trans-boundary timber and wildlife trade through facilitated synergy and multi-agency cooperation.
• Unlocks the potential of a Payment For Ecosystem Services system as a funding mechanism to sustain the gains made by CarBi after project end.

This report outlines some of CarBi’s achievements since its active operationalization in July 2011 after the formal agreements with the relevant government partners were concluded.