Conducting joint field patrols. Photo provided

In the early morning, a wild Asian elephant arrived at the Chahe border checkpoint on the China-Laos border, and crossed the border fence to leave the country. The wild elephant, which crossed the border into Laos for a "cross-country tour", returned to China by the same route after playing for a while.

In recent years, as the ecological environment along the China-Laos border has continued to improve, wild Asian elephants have become less afraid of people. They now freely come and go at border checkpoints, and even running to the Mohan border crossing to "go shopping". Whenever these giant forest visitors arrive, the local Party committee, the government and relevant departments organize staff to be on the lookout, offering the wild elephants a friendly reception while preventing potential conflicts by ensuring that pedestrians and elephants do not startle each other.

Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve consists of five sub-protected areas, with the Mengla and Shangyong sub-protected areas bordering Laos. As foreign exchanges and cooperation have strengthened, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture has established 2.2 million mu of joint protected areas along the border with Laos, carried out joint law enforcement and replenishment and release activities with Laos' Nanta Province, and established an air pollution liaison mechanism with the three northern Lao provinces of Nanta, Oudomxay and Phongsali, along the hundreds of kilometres of the border, they have joined forces to create a harmonious green ecological corridor along the border.

After contacting the Lao Nanta Provincial Department of Agriculture and Forestry, Shangyong Management and Conservation Institute organized exchange activities in early 2006,where people from both sides of the border visited each other as “relatives” and participated in “Lao Geng” recognition ceremonies. These activities helped to establish an information-sharing mechanism for promoting wildlife protection and the exchange of policies and regulations between the two countries. In April of that year, Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve Administration invited officials from Lao Nanta Provincial Department of Agriculture and Forestry to Jinghong for a meeting on cross-border Asian elephant conservation. In November, the Nanta Provincial Department of Agriculture and Forestry reciprocated by inviting staff from Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve Administration to Nanta Province for the first China-Laos cross-border Asian elephant conservation exchange meeting. This marked the official launch of the China-Laos Cross-Border Biodiversity Joint Conservation Action Plan.

In 2009, China and Laos formally designated the first Sino-Lao cross-border joint conservation area - "China Xishuangbanna Shangyong - Laos Nanta nanmuha Biodiversity Joint Conservation Area", marking the beginning of cross-border biodiversity conservation efforts between the two countries. Three new joint nature reserves were added along the China-Laos border a year later from Nanmuha National Nature Reserve in Laos' Nanta Province in the south to China's Xishuangbanna Mengla Sub-Reserve in the north, an approximately 220-kilometre-long, 200,000-hectare cross-border joint nature reserve has been established, opening a new chapter in the cross-border joint conservation of biodiversity between China and Laos.

"After years of joint efforts, guns and hunting equipment have been gradually reduced in the joint reserve, forest land and fire management are in order, and rare and endangered species such as Asian elephants and their habitats have been effectively protected." A responsible person from the Xishuangbanna Nature Reserve Management Bureau said that in 2016, during a wildlife resource survey conducted by China and Laos in the cross-border reserve, a wide range of wildlife species were discovered and photographed, including the large-spotted civet, the small-spotted civet, the dhole, and the bear. For the first time, a photograph of the critically endangered leopard cat, a species protected at the national level, was taken in the China-Laos border region, showcasing significant results in biodiversity protection.  "Meanwhile, human-elephant conflicts have been decreasing year by year, which is also a clear sign of the effectiveness of cross-border conservation efforts," the person added.

With the deepening of cross-border ecological protection, the Agricultural Department of Xishuangbanna Prefecture signed a framework agreement with Nanta Province of Laos on June 11, 2015, regarding cooperation in the conservation of fishery resources in the Lancang-Mekong River.

China and Laos have agreed to establish a joint fishery protection zone in the 40-kilometre river area between Guanlei Wharf in Mengla County and Suobula Village in Mongxin County, Laos, with both sides responsible for managing the protection zone under their respective jurisdictions and organizing cross-border patrols and joint water surface law enforcement at appropriate times. The Chinese side has also been invited to Nanta and Oudomxay provinces in Laos to conduct technical training on water resource protection and the domestication and breeding of indigenous fish, which has significantly raised the awareness of Lao officials, fishery workers and the general public on ecological protection and fish breeding techniques. Through these joint efforts, the two sides have achieved notable success in environmental protection and natural resource management, fisheries cooperation, fish farming technology, ecological safety of water resources and other aspects of cooperation.

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(Editors: Reena, Amy)