Curriculum enrichment

Biodiversity Conservation Curriculum Project


Public awareness and education are corner stones of the WCS Lao PDR Program.  WCS is working with the National University of Laos (NUoL) to enhance biodiversity conservation education within the Faculty of Sciences and Faculty of Forestry.  Students from these faculties are also involved in student research projects at WCS field sites.

More detailed information on the Education and Public Awareness Campaign is available by clicking here. 

University Curriculum Enrichment

Laos has high biodiversity, and an increasing need for well-educated national biologists. However, there is minimal access to quality tertiary educational material in Lao language. With the cooperation of the Faculties of Sciences and Forestry at the National University of Laos (NUoL), and the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), WCS has developed, and continues to develop, a university level biodiversity curriculum.  This is part of the AMNH international Network of Conservation Educators and Practitioners (NCEP).  By July 2005, nine modules on biodiversity and natural resource management will have been adapted for the Lao context and introduced to NUoL lecturers through a series of workshops.  University counterparts are receptive to learning new material, and are enthusiastic about continuing the curriculum project with WCS and AMNH.

Student Research Projects

In this project, WCS trains young Lao national scientists in field research methods on current conservation topics.  With the Faculties of Sciences and Forestry at NUoL, WCS takes students into the field and trains them in research techniques.  Student research projects are closely related to the University Curriculum Project. For example, two faculty and four students collaborated with WCS to study wildlife hunting and use by villages in and around the 2,100 km2 Nam Ha National Protected Area  in northern Lao PDR.  The NCEP module on Threats to Biodiversity describes how over harvest of wildlife for subsistence hunting and commercial trade is a serious threat to biodiversity.  In the field, faculty and students conducted semi-structured interviews with 320 households of six ethnic groups in 28 villages about their harvest and use of 55 types of mammals, birds, and herpetiles.  The results revealed important information about the variety of animals that are hunted and used for food by villages as well as sale of wildlife and hunting by outsiders in the Protected Area.  Students presented results for their final year thesis and recommendations for management of wildlife harvest and use were compiled in a report to protected area management authorities.  Many students that have participated in our student research projects have gone onto careers in conservation and several have come back to work for the WCS Lao Program.