Nam Kading National Protected Area is a national protected area in

Bolikhamsai Province Bolikhamsai (, ), formerly gallicized as Borikhamxay, is a province of Laos. Pakxan, Thaphabat, Pakkading, Borikhane, Viengthong, and Khamkeut are its districts and Pakxan is its capital city. The province is the site of the Nam Theun 2 Dam, ...

in central

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

. This rugged and largely inaccessible park, cut through by its namesake Nam Kading river, is home to a wide variety of plant and animal species, some endangered. Due to its ruggedness, the park lacks any significant human settlement.

Geography

Nam Kading National Protected Area is located about east of

Paksan Pakxan (; (, ) is a district and town in Bolikhamsai Province, Laos. History Pakxan was founded in the 19th century. The Pakxan region had experienced insecurity since the invasion by Annam in 1834, followed by invasions by the Siamese, and S ...

near the village of Pakkading and covers parts of

, Pakkading, Borikhane and Khamkeut districts. The park's current area is about . Elevations range from about to the park's highest point, Phou Pa Paek at . The park's main river is the Nam Kading, flowing from south to north through the park. It is a significant tributary of the

Mekong The Mekong or Mekong River ( , ) is a transboundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth-longest river and the third-longest in Asia with an estimated length of and a drainage area of , discharging of wat ...

. The Nam Theun 2 Dam, Laos's largest hydroelectric project, impounds the Nam Kading south of the park in Khammouane Province. The courses of three other rivers, the Nam Muan, Nam Sat and Nam Tek, divide the park into four mountain ranges.

History

Beginning in 1989, the area of the current park was surveyed by air and land. In 1993 Nam Kading National Biodiversity Conservation Area was decreed. Surveying began in 1995 to assess the impact on the park of two further proposed hydropower projects: Theun-Hinboun and Nam Theun 1.

Flora and fauna

The park's main forest types are evergreen forest dry mixed

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

forest. Native forests in Nam Kading cover 84% of the park area. A study for the proposed hydropower projects identified 256 plant species in the park. Included were two rare species: ''

Lagerstroemia balansae ''Lagerstroemia'' (), commonly known as crape myrtle (also spelled crepe myrtle or crêpe myrtle), is a genus of around 50 species of deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs native to the Indian subcontinent, southeast Asia, northern Australia ...

'' and '' Justicia gendarussa''. Rufous Necked Hornbill 2

The native forests of Nam Kading host a large variety of animals and birds, including endangered species. At least 43 mammal species and 234 bird species have been catalogued. Animal species include both

northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating ...

and

southern white-cheeked gibbon The southern white-cheeked gibbon (''Nomascus siki'') is a species of gibbon native to Vietnam and Laos. It is closely related to the northern white-cheeked gibbon (''Nomascus leucogenys'') and the yellow-cheeked gibbon (''Nomascus gabriellae' ...

sun bear The sun bear (''Helarctos malayanus'') is a bear species in the Family (biology), family Ursidae found in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. It is the only species in the genus ''Helarctos'' and the smallest bear species, standing nearly ...

gaur The gaur (''Bos gaurus''; ) is a large bovine native to the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia, and has been listed as Vulnerable species, Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1986. The global population was estimated at a maximum of 21,000 ...

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large Felidae, cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is ...

elephant Elephants are the largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant ('' Loxodonta africana''), the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis''), and the Asian elephant ('' Elephas maximus ...

and

giant muntjac The giant muntjac (''Muntiacus vuquangensis''), sometimes referred to as the large-antlered muntjac, is a species of muntjac deer. It is the largest muntjac species and was discovered in 1994 in Vũ Quang, Hà Tĩnh Province of Vietnam and in c ...

. Endangered bird species include

great hornbill The great hornbill (''Buceros bicornis''), also known as the concave-casqued hornbill, great Indian hornbill or great pied hornbill, is one of the larger members of the hornbill family. It occurs in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. I ...

rufous-necked hornbill The rufous-necked hornbill (''Aceros nipalensis'') is a species of hornbill in Bhutan, northeastern India, especially in Arunachal Pradesh, Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It is locally extinct in Nepal due to hunting and significant los ...

green peafowl The green peafowl (''Pavo muticus'') is a peafowl species native to the tropical forests of Southeast Asia and Indochina. It is the national bird of Myanmar. Formerly common throughout Southeast Asia, only a few isolated populations survive in ...

and

Vietnamese crested argus The Vietnamese crested argus (''Rheinardia ocellata'') is a large and spectacular peafowl-like species of bird in the pheasant family with dark-brown-spotted black and buff plumage, a heavy pink bill, brown irises and blue skin around the eyes. ...

. Other bird species include

wire-tailed swallow The wire-tailed swallow (''Hirundo smithii'') is a small passerine bird in the swallow family. It has two subspecies: ''H. s. smithii'', which occurs throughout Africa, and ''H. s. filifera'', which is found in southern and southeastern Asia. I ...

wreathed hornbill The wreathed hornbill (''Rhyticeros undulatus'') is an Old World tropical bird of the hornbill family Bucerotidae, also called bar-pouched wreathed hornbill due to its distinctive blue-black band on its lower throat sac. It is named after its cha ...

, river lapwing, sooty babbler and rufous-throated fulvetta. One species is unique in Laos to Nam Kading: the

pale-capped pigeon The pale-capped pigeon (''Columba punicea''), also known as the purple wood pigeon, is a species of large Columbidae, pigeon that is found patchily distributed in parts of the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It has a slow flight and spend ...

Environment

Nam Kading faces a number of environmental threats. The most significant is from the effects of current and future hydropower projects. The current Theun-Hinboun project has reduced the flow of the Nam Kading river. The Nam Theun 1 project would flood an area of within the park, causing

biodiversity loss Biodiversity loss happens when plant or animal species disappear completely from Earth (extinction) or when there is a decrease or disappearance of species in a specific area. Biodiversity loss means that there is a reduction in Biodiversity, b ...

and separating habitats. Hunting of wildlife by locals is currently a threat and is expected to increase if the Nam Theun 1 project finishes, as easier boat access to the park interior would become possible.

References

{{reflist, refs = {{cite web , title = Nam Kading NBCA , url = http://www.ecotourismlaos.com/directory/protected_areas/namkading.htm , publisher =

Greater Mekong Subregion The Greater Mekong Subregion, (GMS) or just Greater Mekong, is a trans-national region of the Mekong River basin in Southeast Asia. The region is home to more than 300 million people. It came into being with the launch of a development program i ...

Sustainable Tourism Development Project in Lao PDR , accessdate = 13 December 2015 , archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20151222080154/http://www.ecotourismlaos.com/directory/protected_areas/namkading.htm , archivedate = 22 December 2015 , url-status = dead {{cite book , last1 = Sayer , first1 = Jeffrey , editor1-last = Sunderland , editor1-first = Terry C. H. , editor2-last = Sayer , editor2-first = Jeffrey , editor3-last = Hoang , editor3-first = Minh Ha , title = Evidence-based Conservation: Lessons from the Lower Mekong , chapter = Chapter 8: Nam Kading National Protected Area , publisher =

Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...

, date = 2013 , pages = 91–109 , isbn = 978-1-8497-1394-8 , chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=1B3PsQArBIMC&pg=PA91 , accessdate = 13 December 2015 {{cite web , title = Nam Kading , url = http://www.ecotourismlaos.com/namkading.htm , publisher =

Sustainable Tourism Development Project in Lao PDR , accessdate = 13 December 2015 , archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20151123153348/http://www.ecotourismlaos.com/namkading.htm , archivedate = 23 November 2015 , url-status = dead National Biodiversity Conservation Areas Protected areas established in 1993 Geography of Bolikhamsai province