Happy New Year 2023 from Team Anoulak!

Dear friends and supporters,

This year 2022, has been very busy, yet it has gone so fast. Once again Team Anoulak has worked with dedication towards achieving our mission of protecting the biodiversity of the Annamite Mountains of Laos.

This year 2022, we progressed on all our programs including our Biodiversity Research and Monitoring Program; our Community Sustainable Livelihoods Program, our Anti-poaching Patrols support; and our Conservation Awareness and Communication.

Notably the highlights of this year were many:

• We published our work implemented on otter research in Nakai-Nam Theun National Park (NNT NP):Taxonomic status of otter species in Nakai-Nam Theun National Park, Laos, based on DNA evidence was published in Ecology and Evolution Journal. It is available HERE.
• We published some of our work on camera-trap wildlife monitoring in NNT NP: Camera-trapping reveals new insights in the ecology of three sympatric muntjacs in an overhunted biodiversity hotspot. Mammalian Biology. Available HERE. And worked on other future publications with our technical partners
• We also progressed in parallel on our research program on gibbons, we started a new research on elephants and on the wolf barb Luciocyprinus striolatus
• In 2022, we continued the financial support of 6 patrol teams, managed by the Nakai-Nam Theun National Park. This financial support will be taken over by the National Park from 2023
• We continued supporting the local community in the development of the value chain of their handicraft for income generation and cultural preservation. In parallel, we are ensuring the long-term sustainability of this program with natural resources management and capacity building. This year, we published a new video presenting this program, available in three versions: Lao, English and French. We secured additional funding for the nest 3 years to pursue this program, with the vision that the community will continue to earn income from their handicraft, independently of our intervention by the end of 2025.
• We also published a video presenting Association Anoulak and all our programs, available in three versions: Lao, English and French.
• We met several partners and gave public talks to raise the awareness of biodiversity conservation in the Annamite Mountains of Laos
• We agreed on a new collaboration with the National University of Laos to partner in all our programs in the next few years, to contribute to capacity building of the next generation in Laos

Stay tuned and keep a look out in January for our Annual Report of 2022 which will provide more details of all our programs and accomplishments in 2022!

Happy New Year 2023 from Team Anoulak! We are looking forward to 2023 with its new sets of adventures, achievements and challenges!

Art made with acrylic paint on dried woven pandanus leaves, by Camille Coudrat in November 2022