Forests for People

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Restoring connectivity of people and

ecosystems in the Greater Mekong Subregion

David McCauley, Javed Mir and Rowena Soriaga, Asian Development Bank

orest ecosystem fragmentation and degradation is a major

concern in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) where six

countries – Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic

(Lao PDR), Myanmar, People’s Republic China (PRC), Thailand

and Viet Nam – share political borders and services provided by

these ecosystems. Forests in the GMS help to support the liveli-

hood of 350 million people living in the Mekong River Basin, and

provide the basis for the cultural identity of numerous ethno-

linguistic groups and one of the world’s richest storehouses

of biodiversity. Though national governments have declared a

large number of terrestrial protected areas, the landscape has

become patchy and its ability to provide people’s needs and

critical habitats is increasingly threatened.

Economic and governance factors continue to drive this process.

During the past three decades, Cambodia, Lao PDR and Viet Nam have

experienced a series of political and economic upheavals, including

a period of excessive logging beginning in early 1980s.

By 1995, forest cover had been reduced in these coun-

tries to less than 60, 40 and 30 per cent respectively. As

Asia’s economy has grown, the intraregional trade in the

GMS, especially with PRC, has risen sharply. In particu-

lar, rapid expansion of road corridors has improved GMS

connectivity, enabling GMS countries to benefit from the

PRC’s economic boom.

While road and other infrastructure expansion has

brought economic benefits, it has also contributed to

pressures on the region’s forests. The biggest chal-

lenges to keeping natural forest landscapes in the GMS

are the large number of planned hydropower dams

and other infrastructure investment, forest conver-

sion to large-scale agriculture (rubber, palm oil) and

expansion of mining concessions. Localized challenges

include the illegal wildlife trade, forest clearance for

Activities of the BCI are a decentralized, community-oriented approach to resources management

Image: S. Griffiths