July 2023 saw the second Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Field Skills Training Course held in Lao PDR. With 15 participants from universities from across Lao PDR and staff from NGOs, the ten-day practical course was organised by the Asian Turtle Program (ATP) of Indo-Myanmar Conservation (IMC) in partnership with the Laos Conservation Trust for Wildlife (LTCW) and the National University of Laos. The training was held at the LTCW Wildlife Rescue Centre in Ban Keun Town, Vientiane Province.

The training course provided a mixture of lectures to introduce topics such as the Asian Turtle Crisis and threats to tortoises and freshwater turtles, species identification and animal handling, methods for conducting interview and forest surveys, with GPS, map reading, and radio telemetry. All of the lectures were supported by practical activities, with practicals held in the LCTW rescue centre grounds, local villages or surrounding forest areas. Following the training we hope to see some of the students who participated go on and complete short research projects focused on tortoise and freshwater turtles in Lao PDR. In the long term, we hope to replicate the development of a TFT conservation community and awareness achieved in Vietnam, where the field skills training course has been held annually since 2005. Most of the course taught in Laos was presented by staff from the ATP/IMC who were once students in some of the early training courses held in Vietnam.

With so many important species of TFT in Lao PDR, and large areas of unspoilt habitat, conservation efforts and the protection of these highly threatened species are more important than ever.

LCTW, find out more about their project here: LINK

Press Release by: Timothy McCormack & Nguyen Thanh Luan – ATP/IMC

Date: 10^th August 2023

Acknowledgement:
We would like to thank all our partners Laos Conservation for Wildlife Trust (LCTW) and the National University of Laos) , and the students who participated in the training, and our supporters, the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), IUCN Asia, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Download the English version here
Download the Vietnamese version here

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