Sekong

Profile

Geographic, Demographic Socioeconomic:


Land area (km²)	8,107 km²
Total length of major river (km)	1,574 km (total length of Sedone River)
Major river systems (names)	Houay Nam Say, Houay Nam Kaleumban, Houay Nam Nong, Houay Nam Dakang, Houay Nam Nongnok, Houay Nam Savang, Houay Nam Lo, Houay Nam Tid
Watershed areas (km² per river basin)	698 km² (9.7% of the total area of Sedone River Basin)
Total number of provinces/municipalities within watershed/river basin	4 districts in Sekong: Thateng, Lamarm, Kaluem and Dukjueng
Population (latest census)	94,018
Population growth rate (latest census)	2.2%
Male/Female ratio (latest census)	1.96:2.04 (Male: 49%; Female: 51%)
Average annual household income (latest census)	USD 418
Sectoral employment (percentage of total employment; latest census) Agriculture/fisheries Industry Services	Agriculture: 85.5% Industry: 4% Service: 26%

Ecological/Environmental:


Key Marine Habitats (Forests, wetlands, fishery areas, etc.) (Areal coverage/habitat)	• Nong Patomkleen (1 km²) • Vangtat Wetland (1 km²) • Dakchung Plateau (51.40 km²)
National Protected Areas (Number of MPAs and total areal coverage)	• Xeset National Biodiversity Conservation (1,335 km² shared by Saravan and Sekong) • Dong Amphang National Protection Areas
Fisheries and forestry (species/levels)	• Forest: The forest cover in Sekong is around 3,856.77 km². Tree species are composed of Ketsana, Mai Peak, Mai Du, Mai Deang, Mai Kean, Mai Jik, Mai Yung, etc. • Fish species: perch, small fish, small catfish, catfish and guppy

Threats and Hazards to sustainable development of marine and coastal areas and ecosystems:


Climate variation and change	• Annual flooding and drought • Tropical storms: Xangzan (2009), Likima (2007), Ketsana (2009) and Nokten (2011). Storms were previously not as prominent.
Other natural threats and hazards	• Riverbank erosion • Dry spells
Man-made threats and hazards	• Land use pressure and deforestation in upstream areas. • Unsustainable use of water resources, particularly in Nam Say, Xeset and Huay Lavan, resulting to contamination of both land and water resources.
	Sources: State of the Sedone River Basin, 2009; Social-Economic Development Plan 2015–2020 of Champasak Province; Social-Economic Development Plan 2011–2012 of Sekong Province; Five-Year Economic Development Plan of Sekong; Disaster Reduction Plan 2011–2015 of Saravan Province; Working Draft of Interim Inventory of Wetland of the Lao PDR, UNDP.

Status of ICM Implementation

ICM Coverage and Governance Indicators:


	ONGOING DEV'T	IN PLACE	SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION/ REMARKS
ICM Coordinating Mechanism	X		Established the Provincial Project Steering Committee in Sekong Province for the SDSSEA Scaling Up Project; on-going strengthening of PPSCs
ICM Project/Program Office	X		PMO was established at the Provincial Office of Natural Resources and Environment; ongoing strengthening of the PMO
Stakeholder Participation		X	During consultation process
Coastal Strategy/Implementation Plan	X		Part of the Sedone Riverbasin Strategy and Management Plan developed and adopted;
ICM Work Plan, Budget & Financing and Human Resources Committed		X	Detailed work plan and budget
M&E Mechanism (including SOC Reporting)	X		State of Sedone River Basin developed; State of Subbasin to be developed as part of the SDSSEA Scaling Up Project

ICM Management Processes:


	NOT YET IN PLACE	ONGOING DEV'T	IN PLACE	SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION/ REMARKS
Management Plan(s) (*at least 2 required by ICM Code Level 1)	X			Part of the Sedone River Basin Strategy and Management Plan
Tools applied (i.e., Zoning, MPAs, EAFM, IRBCAM, and other tools)		X		IRBM/IWRM

Agriculture Management and Livelihood Development:


	NOT YET IN PLACE	IN PLACE	SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION/ REMARKS
			End of project targets: • 10% of fisher households in identified coastal/watershed communities benefit from sustainable alternative livelihood programs • 25% increase in household income in fishers’/farmers’ households benefiting from functional alternative livelihood programs
Livelihood development and implementation opportunities		X	• The majority of the main occupation of the respondents was agriculture. The other occupations were business, staff officers, laborer and others. 100% of the respondents in Nongnok villages, 97.78% in Huaxe village and 90.48% in Kapue village were engaged in agriculture. • The secondary occupation of the respondents was in various activities, for instance, the agriculture, business, staff officers, laborers and others. Agriculture was still the majority of the secondary occupation, which covered 62.22% in Huaxe village, 54.55% in Nongnok village and 33.33 % in Kapue village. The laborers covered 47.62% in Kapue village, 45.45% in Nongnok village and 31.11% in Huaxe villages. • The annual incomes of respondents were investigated by determined a range of incomes as 1-5 mill., 5.1-10 mill., 11-20 mill., and more than 20 mill.KIP. The survey found that the incomes ranked in different levels. The majority of income of 1-5 mill was found in Nongnok village, which had 81.82%. The incomes more than 20 mill. Were found in Kapue and Huaxe villages, which accounted for 31.10% and 15.56%, respectively. • The main livelihood activities in three villages of Sekong province are agricultural production, especially coffee plantation, rice cultivation, and rubber trees plantation. Another source of livelihood in the target villages is government service. • The challenges of the livelihood activities in this area are (1) low agricultural production yield, (2) lacking of water during the dry season, (3) chemicals application for agricultural production, (4) solid wastes, and (5) lacking of rural water supply.
			• There were some activities to promote the incomes generation of the local people in order to support the poverty reduction of the government that implemented by the government agencies and privates like Agricultural sector, Nayobay Bank, and the Environmental Protection Fund. The Nayobay Bank is providing loans with low interests for agricultural production and livestock raising. The Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) is providing fund for forest conservation in the upper parts of Sedone River Basin. (Source: Baseline Assessment of Sedone Riverbasin)
Market assessment/sustainability analysis of alternative livelihoods	X		No information available.
Pilot project proposal/action plan for livelihood development		X	• There are no other potentials livelihood activities proposed by villagers in three targeted villages of Sekong Province. They only request for the promotion of organic vegetables production and tube wells boring. Another livelihood activity to ensure the incomes generation of the villagers is the livestock raising, of which the swine farming is included. • The market for selling the agricultural products in these villages is not existed. However, it doesn’t mean that their products could not be sold. The agricultural products of the villagers could be sold in Thateng Market, Paksong Maket, and other markets. Mostly the agricultural products in this area are sold at farm gates or at the villages. • The organic farming project used to be implemented in this area. However, it was not so success, because the production yields was quite low comparing to the chemical used production and also farmers were lacking of experiences to do organic farming. • If the organic farming is promoted, focused farmers groups should be organized and train them how to do organic farming in the proper way. Farmers need to get knowledge and skills how to do organic farming and how to ensure their products. At the same time, organic markets need to be promoted in order to make the society be aware and want to buy such products. (Source: Baseline Assessment of Sedone River Basin, Lao PDR)

Pollution Reduction:


	NOT YET IN PLACE	ONGOING DEV'T	IN PLACE	SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION/ REMARKS
				(Priority Site: Houay Sekong Province) End of project targets: • 250 households in 3 sub-basins benefit from access to adequate and safe drinking water • Water quality and water quantity monitoring program implemented in 3 districts
Profiles of pilot river basin/coastal areas (including areal extent of priority river basins/coastal areas covered by ICM/IWRM management plans)			X	• Sekong province is located in the river mount of the Sedone river basin. The whole of the Thateng district is within in the Sedone River Basin. It is located in Sedone upstream and covers 48 villages in Sekong Province. The Thateng district shares a border with Saravan province, which has the total area around 60,300 hectares. The surrounding forest area in the district is about 15,104 hectare, or 25% of the total area of Thateng district. • There is a population 29,054 people, with 14,848 being female. There are 4,993 houses that exist in the Thateng district. The population in the area make a living through working primarily in rice fields. • In Thateng district, there are 11 tributaries of Sedone as part of the upstream: Houay Tit; Houay Lavan; Houay Namsai; Houay Kaluimban; Houay Lo; Houay Namnong; Houay Nongnok; Houay Savung; Houay Tamhu; Houay Sedone and Houay Dakung. • The people depend on water in Sedone upstream for thier domestic use, it is become the clean water/gravity water source as community water supply source which benifit to all people. The other activities also benefit for fishing, gardening, rice field activities, etc. Other sources of water for community consumption is groundwater. The ways of local people to storage the water is to build the small watershed, local wire and these are generally existed in the area. • Two projects were implemented in the area: 1. Sedone River Mount Forest Management Project from 2010-2012; and 2. Forest protection at Hoau Thon River mount from 02/2012 – 08/2013. • Last 2010-2012, the government established the Protected Area Project in Sedone River Mouth with area of 297 hectare (not total of 662 hectare), the people who benefitted from the project is total population within the headwaters of Sedone (3,471 people with 1,772 people). The four villages: Kapue; Huasedone; Nongnok and Nonglao, Thateng district, Sekong Province were the target villages of the project. • Currently, there is an ongoing project; “Forest protection at Head Water of Hoauy Thon," which started on 02/2012 – 08/2014. The five target villages include Nonglao, Kapue, Kumekok, Chakumlith and Nonsumphan village. (Scoping Report of Sekong Province)
Project proposal/action plan for an integrated river basin and coastal area focusing on pollution prevention and management and/or water resource conservation, protection and management		X		Proposed activities under the GEF SDSSEA Project are as follows. 1. Setting up of the Water quality monitoring system Sedone’s river mouth is an important source of drinking water for about 1,508 people in HuaSedone village. The water quality needs to be managed in good condition. Sekong district has requested for GEF support for setting up a water quality monitoring system. This activity has never been conducted in the area, and will greatly benefit to local people. 2. Develop Sedone head protected area and habitat the forest along river bank There are two protected areas within the target villages. The first protected area is in Sedone headwaters. 5 ha were reforested along the river. People living in the 5 target villages benefit in this area. The second protected area is in Houay Thon river mouth which benefit to 2 villages: NongLao and Kapue village. The activities done include: field survey conducted, defined the area for managing, and developed the map. Result of the field survey in Hua Thon river mouth found that the land use for production is 153.6 ha, forest area is 14.6 Proposed GEF intervention: Around 8 km hectares along the riverbank of Huase (Sedone head) and in the Hoauy Namsai Head ( two target areas) The GEF project will need to focus on: • Awareness to the people on forest and water resources management • Continue to support the Sedone headwater protected area • Establish the conservation area to protect the fish and conserve the clean water for people as the area of first protected area (sedone head) • Establish the community volunteer to involve in the project • Rehabilitation and maintenance of around 8 km hectares along the riverbank of Huase (Sedone head) and in the Hoauy Namsai Head (two target areas) • Setting up the nursery and reforestation • Organize communities to maintain and monitor planted trees • Evaluate effectiveness and impact of the reforestation 3. Develop Policy/Regulation The on-going project in Houay Thon has developed 2 levels of regulation. The regulation on Protected Area of Hoauy Thon river head at district and community level. The process of implementation was consulted with key stakeholders in district and village to develop the article on forest management. After finished the two regulations, they were disseminated that regulation to the community by producing 100 sets of both regulations. The regulations serve as tools for the local authority to manage, monitor and evaluate the Protected Area. Proposed GEF intervention: The GEF project will need to focus on: • Review the regulation on protected area management and seek how possible to combine the regulation on conservation area together if in the case will develop the separate one of conservation area protection. • Develop the billboard to disseminate the regulation 4. Waste Management Even if waste is not yet a serious problem in the sub-basin, it is important to manage waste by the provided land field, and other regulations in the area. (Scoping Report: Sekong Province)
Water quality monitoring in priority rivers/coastal areas	X			Water quality monitoring has not yet been conducted in this area. (Scoping Report: Sekong Province)
Evidence of reduced pollutant discharges and water resource conservation, protection and use management	X			• There is no evidences regarding to pollutants and sources in these villages of Sekong province. However, villagers have suspected that the chemicals used for agriculture will be a sources of pollutants. And also the solid waste in the villages and outside of villages can be a pollutant source that can cause water contamination. • in order to solve this kind of pollutants, some villages have developed the village environmental management regulation, especially Huaxe and Kapue villages have developed such regulation in order to protect the environment of their villages. • The challenges of pollutants reduction are related to the knowledge and skills of the local people. They did not have experiences to deal with such problems. The awareness raising on the impact of pollutants and management mechanism for the local people is needed, even the impacts are not happened. (Baseline Assessment of Sedone River basin)
Solid Waste Management
Household survey of solid waste generation, including waste management practices and willingness to pay for solid waste collection and management in priority site			X	• Thateng District was part of the sites surveyed for solid waste management in 2010. • Average waste generation per capita in Thateng was 0.6kg/day. • The top three waste compositions were plastics (24.27%), grass wood and leaf (23.2%) and food wastes (22.67%), and. • Waste segregation practice at household level was at 33.9%. • Waste collection services in Thateng District is being provided by a private contractor which is operating for 3 years already. • The collected wastes in Thateng was disposed at a dumpsite located about 4 Km far from the center of district. The waste collection provided by the contractor was two times per day by using modified truck with a fee of 1000 KIP per basket. However, the number of trips per day might increase depending on the amount of waste. The area of the dumpsite is about 10000 m2 with the depth of 2-3 meter. Burning is the most common practice at the dumpsite. • 22.9 % of those not being served by waste collection services burned their wastes • For the willingness to pay (WTP) in Thateng District, 70% of the respondents can pay less than 5000 KIP; 13.3% can pay in a range of 5000-10000 KIP while only minimal percentage can pay more than 10001 KIP. Source: Baseline Survey Report on Solid Waste Management in Sedone River, 2011
Assessment of feasibility of implementing solid waste management program			X	• The survey that was conducted in 2011 which covered 4 villages in Thateng District indicated 74.8% among respondents strongly agreed to the implementation of community based solid waste management program. Source: Baseline Survey Report on Solid Waste Management in Sedone River, 2011
Recommendations/action plan to implement solid waste management program	X			• Solid waste management was implemented in 4 villages in Thateng District in the previous phase of the implementation of the Sedone Strategy. • Some of the constraints/problems during the initial phase of implementation are identified as follows. - Lack of coordination and negotiation between district, village and private company. - No transfer stations are set up. Villagers therefore disposed and storage their waste into the waste small provided bins for one or two week (s) period thus resulted over capacity for storage. - No establishment of the CBSWM thus there is no key responsible team for the village voice. - The private company has very limited capacity to extend the service due to a small company with an old truck (man-made truck). Source: Solid Waste Management Report
Evidence of improved solid waste management in the priority site	X			No information available.

Nutrient Management and Water Use Conservation:


	NOT YET IN PLACE	ONGOING DEV'T	SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION/ REMARKS
Household survey of water supply, use and sanitation conditions in coastal and watershed areas		X	• The main sources of water that the respondents used for consumption were mostly Namlin (rural clean water system). 100% of respondents in Nongnok village, 95.56% in Huaxe village and 28.57% in Kapue village used Namlin; the remained respondents used well and deep wells. However, 4.76% of respondents used water from the natural river for consumption. • Namlin is a rural clean water system, which takes water directly from the natural river. This system does not have treatment facilities. It means that Namlin can be contaminated, if the water sources are not maintained in proper way, for instance, the chemical use for agriculture in the upstream of the water sources may be dangerous for the villagers. • The main sources for drinking water were Namlin used in three villages, Huaxe, Kapue and Nongnok villages. Some of them drunk water from the pure water factory; some drink water from deep well. 4.7% of respondents in Kapue and 2.2% in Huaxe used natural water from the river for drinking. • All of respondents replied that they treated water by boiling it. • All respondents in three villages of Sekong Province replied that they had toilets at home. Source: Baseline Assessment of Sedone Riverbasin
Feasibility assessment of improved access to safe and secure water supply and improved sanitation through technologies, operations and good management practices	X		No information available.
Evidence of socio-economic and environmental benefits	X		No information available.

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