Developing a River Basin Plan for the Nam Xam in Lao PDR

To support the Lao’s Department of Water Resources’ mandate to develop river basin plans, the AWP provided support to the development of a basin planning framework and, its testing in the form of a river basin plan for the Nam Xam Basin, which will also inform similar processes in other priority basins which are being supported by other multilateral and bilateral donors.

The objectives of this package are:

• Providing technical support for the development of an approach to river basin planning for the Nam Xam river basin, including an implementation plan and roadmap for operationalising the plan;

• Enhancing the capacity of DWR staff through on-the-job training, workshops and knowledge exchange; and

• Developing an approach and methodology for basin planning that can be applied to other priority basins.

Core activities undertaken by AMPERES include:

• Reviewing existing legislations related to water governance and available basin plans in Lao PDR;

• Taking the stakeholder engagement activities, including meetings, workshops and consultations throughout the process of developing basin planning, especially working closely with DWR in each process;

• Undertaking socioeconomic and environmental aspects in the basin plan;

• Translation of penultimate drafting basin plan and comments;

• Supporting revision of the Lao version and leading in the revision of the English version;

• Presenting the finalised basin plan to national stakeholders and the provincial government in Houaphanh province.

Country: Lao PDR

Duration of project: Aug 2021 to Feb 2023