Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (Lao PDR)

Summary

The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MoNRE) was created in 2011 by merging the Water Resource and Environment Administration (WREA) with departments of the National Land Management Authority (NLMA) and portfolios of other ministries including the Geology Department, and the Forest Conservation and Divisions within the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF).

WREA in its original form consisted of the Department of Water Resources, the Department of Environment, the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology, the Water Resources and Environment Research Institute, the Secretariat of Greater Mekong Subregion and the Department of Environmental and Social Impact Assessment. The National Land Management Authority (NLMA) in its original form consisted of the Cabinet, the Department of Land, Department of Land Policy and Land Use Inspection, Land Natural Resources Information Research Centre, and the Land Use Planning and Development Department.

MoNRE houses the Department of Environment, which hosts the Climate Change Office that acts as the Designated National Authority or national focal point for the UNFCCC. The Department of Forest Resource Management (DFRM) was formed within MoNRE in 2012.

MoNRE has overall responsibility for the development and implementation of REDD+ and for overseeing management of the forestry sector in Lao PDR (transferred from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry; MAF). DFRM houses a REDD+ Division, which has the official mandate for managing REDD+.