About

The WCS Mekong Drivers Partnership works to address these threats at multiple scales to:

1. reduce the pressure on priority high biodiversity landscapes in the GMS;
2. provide government and local stakeholders with tools and knowledge for future planning that optimize outcomes for biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services, economic development, and local livelihoods;
3. implement models that directly engage private sector leaders in mitigating unsustainable development pressures posed by development and infrastructure projects;
4. empower local communities through a collaborative management approach toward managing protected areas that provides them with a voice and tangible benefits; and
5. communicate results widely to build a broad-based understanding of the benefits of conservation to biodiversity and human well-being.

Through the Mekong Drivers Partnership, WCS has piloted activities that meet economic development and forest conservation goals across the GMS, sharing and replicating successful activities.

The WCS Mekong Drivers Partnership improves the status of forests and biodiversity, empowers local communities and equips governments with decision-support tools by developing innovative models for conservation action in high biodiversity landscapes. These models are put to best use by working across stakeholder groups including government, local communities and private sector to strengthen the management of protected areas. Threats to conservation posed by surrounding communities are reduced by ensuring local people benefit sustainably from their local habitats and biodiversity. The combined effect is to reduce the rate of decline of biodiversity and forest cover at the target sites, and in some cases even halt or reverse those trends.