ENRICH: Understanding Forest Carbon Stock Enhancement in Laos

Forests are vital in Laos because many communities depend on them for food, building supplies, medicine, and handicraft materials. Globally, forests play an important role as a carbon store. Forests in Laos continue to suffer from deforestation and degradation. A lot is understood about deforestation, but countries like Laos, very little is known about opportunities and options for enhancing forest carbon stocks, particularly in degraded forests.

ENRICH is a multi-country project driven by the need to understand methodologies and options for forest carbon stock enhancement. In Laos, the project involves close collaboration between SNV, the National University of Laos Faculty of Forestry Science and local villagers. It explores the options, practical aspects and feasibility of different forest carbon stock enhancement options and supports capacity building for forest measurement, as well as monitoring and reporting at the community level. Data collected from the measurements is used to calculate forest biomass and carbon stock. Future measurements will enable the team to calculate changes resulting from activities implemented under this project, such as biomass and carbon stock increases.