CIVIBADemocracy and Civic Practices

Project

Xe Champhone Crocodile Village Committees

Champhone (Savannakhet) · Central · Laos

Commons and belongingCivic food2008

In Xe Champhone, the largest Ramsar wetland in Laos, villages do not hunt the Siamese crocodile because of traditional belief. On that norm, WCS and the province set up village committees from 2008: Natay patrols and collects eggs, Tansoum rears and releases hatchlings and since 2020 there have been aquatic conservation zones with rules. It is a commons born of a belief, with tensions: donor dependence, provincial tourism promotion, drainage for rice and published sources that mostly echo WCS.

Led by
Village conservation committees and teams in the wetland, with the province, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and, since 2020, FISHBIO; funded by the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation, the EU and AFD
Status
Active
Participation
Co-governed
Visitable
No, they are village committees
Website
laos.wcs.org/saving-wild-places/savannakhet-landscape.aspx ↗
Contact
No public contact on record
Last reviewed
1 October 2026

Verification

Verified

This place is backed by at least one primary and one secondary source, reviewed within the last twelve months. The sources appear below with their consultation dates.

  • Verified two sources including a primary one, or first-hand knowledge of the place
  • Partial one source on record
  • Unverified starting knowledge, sources pending

Sources

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