Technical Report: Accounting for Forest Services and Benefits 2015, 2020 and 2024 G 2026 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433 Telephone: 202-473-1000; Internet: www.worldbank.org Some rights reserved. This work is a product of the staff of the World Bank with external contributions. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressedin this work do not necessarily reflectthe views of the World Bank, its Board of Executive Directors, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included inthis work. The boundaries, colors,denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not implyany judgment on the part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Nothing herein shall constitute or be considered a limitation upon or waiver of the privileges and immunities of the World Bank, all of which are specifically reserved. Rights and Permissions This work is available under the CreativeCommons Attribution 3.0 IGO license(CCBY 3.0 IGO) http:/l creative commons. org/licenses/by/3.0/igo. Under the Creative Commons Attribution license, you are free to copy, distribute, transmit, and adapt this work, including for commercial purposes, under the following conditions: Attribution--World Bank. Technical Guidance on Natural Capital Accounting in Lao PDR for Forest Services and Benefits 2015, 2020, 2024 Washington, DC: World Bank. 2026. License: Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0 IGO Translations--If you create a translation of this work, please add the following disclaimer along with the attribution: This translation was not created by the World Bank and should not be considered an official World Bank translation. the World Bank shall not be liable for any content or error in this translation. Adaptations--If you create an adaptation of this work,please add the following disclaimer along with the attribution: This is an adaptation of an original work by the World Bank. Views and opinions expressed in the adaptation are the sole responsibility of the author or authors of the adaptation and are not endorsed by the World Bank. Third-party content--The World Bank does not necessarily own each component of the content contained within the work. The World Bank therefore does not warrant that the use of any third-party owned individual component or part contained in the work will not infringe on the rightsof those thirdparties. The risk of claimsresulting from such infringement rests solely with you. If you wish to re- use a component of the work, it is your responsibility to determine whether permission is needed for that re-use and to obtain permission from the copyright owner. Examples of components can include. but are not limited to, tables, figures,or images. All queries on rightsand licenses shouldbe addressed to World Bank Publications, The World Bank Group, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA; e-mail: pubrights@worldbank.org. Design & Layout-- Wravong Phrachanh, Khuanchai Panyvong and Vannaphone Sitthirath Cover Photo-- Front cover, Contents, Page 4, Page 8, Page 26 - loana Farcas, content, Page 8, - loana Farcas, Page 4, Page 6, Back Cover--Simon Matzinger, Page 16 -World Bank-FCPF, Page 10, Page 38- Manoly / World Bank-FCPF, Page 24, Page 33, Page 34, Page 35, Page 36, Page 40, Page 43, Page 46- Arturo Bolondi, Page 28, Page 29 - Christine Wehrmeier, Page 47-World Bank Lao PDR Acknowledgement The Lao PDR technical forest report for the Natural Capital AccountingNCA) is the result of a coliaborated effort by a determined team of technical staff from the Department of Environment and Stability Statistics (DESS) under the Lao Bureau of Statistics (LSB), Ministry of Finance (MOF) and the Department of Forestry (DOF), Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry MAE),undertaken with support from the Global Program on Sustainability(GPS),a World Bank (WB) trust fund. The Technical Assistance (TA) was carried out by the LSB technical team under the guidance of the WB Task Team which includes IDEEA Group. This report benefited from valuable input from various stakeholders. The entire team would like to thank all the forestry-related institutions that directly and indirectly supported the development of the forest account and associated technical report, especially the DOF. The team gratefully acknowledges the leadership and guidance of Mrs. Bangthong Thipsomphanh. Deputy Director General, DESS, MOF. The team also thank you Assoc. Dr. Somvang Phimmavong, Director General, DOF, MAE, for providing strategic support and oversight from forestry aspect. The LSB NCA technical team acknowledges the peer reviewers from the World Bank: Marie Chapuis, Olamide Oluwaseyi Bisi-Amosun, and Jose Rehbein. This report also benefited from technical validation and review from relevant and impactf