Exhibition on the exceptional landscapes of Phou Hin Poun by the KARST project

VIDEOS, INTERVIEWS, PHOTOS, HISTORY OF THE PHOU HIN POUN

The Ardèche territory, like the one from Khammouane Province, enjoys a multi-thousand-year-old relief, known for its caves, rivers, gorges and primary forests. With the prospect of opening those unique landscapes to tourism, similar issues are emerging and call for appropriate responses. For nearly 20 years, a decentralized cooperation has been carried out between the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Region in France and the Khammouane Province in Lao PDR. In this context, Tétraktys has been supporting local authorities and organizations since 2009 about the development of eco-tourism. Its overall objective is to support the province in carrying out pilot actions in terms of land enhancement, sustainable tourism development and communities’ management. This is a global approach, based on the understanding of the issues of knowledge and protection for the purpose of a long-term economic development of the natural space of the region.

The Province of Khammouane appears, for the specialists, as a high place of conservation of the biodiversity, of worldwide importance, characterized by its geological identity (the karst) and climatic specificity (with the barrier of the Annamite chain). The karstic massif of Khammouane thus is one of the most beautiful landscape sites in Lao PDR, designed by more than hundred caves and underground rivers. Thanks to a string ecological contrast and the diversity of its biotope, the karst represents also an important refuge for many endemic species.

As part of the KARST component (Khammouane – Ardèche Territorial Strategy), part of the Khammouane Eco-tourism Project, financed by the AFD (French Development Agency), the NGO Tétraktys and the SMERGC (public organization in charge of the exploitation of the Chauvet cave in France, UNESCO World Heritage) propose a traveling event (exhibition in Vientiane at the French Institute, and then in Khammouane Province), highlighting the close links between the karst landscapes and their populations.

• For more information, please contact Ms Perrine Azière : ardeche.khammouane@gmail.com
• Informations in Lao: M. Phoxay Simoukda : +85620 54 13 79 38