Sustainable Development in Luang Prabang: Analysis of Trends, Challenges, Solutions

Abstract This study reports the current state of sustainability in Luang Prabang, Lao PDR, featuring industry of heritage tourism and draws attention to the use of collaborative methods in meeting the needs of local communities, visitors, businesses, and environment preservation. Transition towards sustainability in Luang Prabang is the main object. Alongside with the examination of the sustainability’s level, it proposes an establishment of a preferred and present-day scenario for the local management to refer to. Following, an essential aim lies in providing awareness and understanding of existing problems, trends, and challenges in the tourism industry.   Keywords: Sustainability; Luang Prabang; Heritage; Tourism   eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2023. The Authors. Published for AMER & cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), College of Built Environment, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI:   Introduction   How can a scientific research play a part in the implementation of sustainable development goals in the world? Climate change, social inequality, pollution, political instability — all of them are just the tip of the iceberg known as the challenges of environmental development. These issues are the main concern of sustainable development practices and research nowadays. Initially, sustainable development (SD) was focused mostly on environmental issues, yet, the contemporary meaning of sustainability is based on four pillars: economy, environment, human and society. The balance between those areas represents the sustainability’s goal in attaining the needs of the present without causing any harm in the future. How is SD connected to the tourism industry? In the past years, there is a tendency in increasing concerns over the implementation of sustainable tourism with an intention to restrain negative impacts on already existing environmental challenges. There comes the implementation of the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) aimed to secure a sustainable future for both developing and developed countries in the same way. Each of the goals has its objects to be achieved and to which the tourism industry has the potential to play a significant role. According to the World Tourism Organization, sustainable tourism is defined as “tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities" (United Nations, n.d.). The UN highlights the goals number 8, the goal of decent work and economic growth, then number 12, the goal of responsible consumption and production, and number 14, the goal of the life below water; and connect all of them to the tourism industry. Although, it has the potential to contribute to the whole set of 18 goals and even move beyond them (UNWTO, 2017), but the tourism is also regarded as a source of many environmental and social problems and impacts in the world. Despite that, the way of making tourism more sustainable is not limited or focused on dealing with the industry’s negative impacts, but to help the local communities raising their social and economic level of benefits, attract people’s attention to the local heritage, and raise their awareness and support for conservation of tangible and intangible valuables.   1.1 Current trends of sustainable development in the world The sustainable development is a worldwide goal that aims to bring a stability between the needs of people, nature, and well-being. The biggest obstacles on the way of achieving this goal are population growth and social inequalities, together with the climate change and environmental pollution. The needed support to overcome these challenges may be found in the latest sustainability trends that we may see rising in 2023. The list represents an increasing use of affordable renewable energy sources; an expansion of recycling, reusing and repurposing actions; an improvement of sustainable transport options and efficient use of electric vehicles; an intensifying growth of ‘alternative’ and plant-based food (Mckay, 2023). These trends represent a more compound set of actions that lead to a transition from free market and planned economies to a circular economy of production and consumption that is focused on sustainability. Moreover, there may be a possibility for a transformation to a bigger level of economy also known as a green economy system that can reduce ecological and environmental damages and risks by simultaneously improving social equity and human well-being (LinkedIn, n.d.), what should be an international goal to achieve.   1.2. Analysis of SD application in Lao PDR Discussion about the popular SD trends leads to the presentation of current situation in Lao PDR and the actions that have been taken around sustainability in the city. The data that corresponds to the SD situation, including official information and recent activities has been found in the Voluntary National Review on the implementations of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development prepared in collaboration between government and national stakeholders of the Lao PDR. The review has the potential to deal with all 18 SDGs, however, for the present it highlights 9 key SDGs selected since the first VNR made in 2013. The 2030 Agenda demands a multisided participation including not only the government, stakeholders, and professionals, but only the cooperation between citizens, international partners as well as country visitors to ensure that the commitment to the universal value “Leave No One Behind” (United Nations, 2022) is being respected. The first adoption of SD was made in 2015 and the priority has been given to the implementation of effective SD methods in the country. Since then, it has been decided to maintain a fairer distribution and allocation of goods gained from economic growth and secure this process for the time to come. For the present, the focus is on the following SDGs that are still considered to be in need of greater and wider attention of the public, including local citizens, businesses, and government, where progress is still behind that has to be accelerated (VNR of SDGs, 2021): SDG 1 — No Poverty, liquidating extreme poverty is one of the main goals what also includes social protection and equality. The country has been successful in accomplishing of the goal up to the beginning of the pandemic. According to the data, the percentage of poverty in the country was 18.3% in 2018 (Asian Development Bank, 2022). In the North part of the country, Luangprabang province is listed among other district with the highest numbers in poverty, in 2019 it was 20.4% (Lao Statistics Bureau, 2020). SDG 2 — Zero Hunger, food insecurity was one of the main issues in the country even prior to COVID-19; according to the World Hunger Index Lao PDR is ranked 82/121, to compare, the percentage of hunger in the country has changed to -3.3% since 2014 and considered to be a moderate level of hunger (Lao PDR, n.d.). This means that people have different and unequal food distribution among the districts, including the need for improvement of agricultural and sustainable food production. To add, the agriculture sector in the country has strong linkages with big potential for future employment with its development and a support in the obtaining the SDG goal of zero hunger. SDG 3 — Good Health and Wellbeing, COVID-19 has changed the country’s course of actions in human development. It also negatively influenced life expectancy at birth in 2021 and signalled upcoming health risks and mortality rates. A danger was also posed on young generation by affecting their livelihoods, disrupting education, affecting health conditions and by setting a certain threat to the continuance of higher education and possible employment in the future (Phuong, 2022). For the future, the country targets quality childcare and effective access to quality healthcare by including access to justice and infrastructures. Although, it has been acknowledged that more work may be required to reduce the connection between health and socio-economic background, employment outcomes and education. SDG 4 — Quality education, the main goals are for the equal access to education, universal access to free primary and secondary education, expansion of educational facilities and scholarships. Primary schools’ enrolment has an important progress in little gender gaps, controversially to the enrolment at the secondary and tertiary education. This makes total of 70.6% of participation rate in primary school in 2021 (Asian Development Bank, 2022). School attendance rates are lower in rural and remote areas. The numbers of enrollment can be affected by the education level in the family or the lack of it, by the status of income. The reason behind the lower percentage in graduation with each level of school (primary is 90%, lower secondary is 61% and upper secondary is 40%) lies in many factors, among them are: lack of standard facilities in schools and in highly skilled and professional teachers; in addition, the educational infrastructures have suffered many damages due to floods in 2018 and 2019, lately COVID-19 imposed other challenges on already weak educational investment. According to the figure 1, in 2014, Luangprabang province had in total 976 schools, ¾ of them were supplied with clean water and sport courts, however, only 1/3 schools had electricity provided and only 73/976 schools had libraries.     Fig. 1: Schools in Luangprabang Province (Source:) SDG 4 Quality Education, n.d.   SDG 5 — Gender equality, the goal is in eliminating discrimination and violence against all women and girls, adding value to unpaid care and domestic work, equal access of women to economic resources and reproductive health care. United Nations Development Program proposed a gender equality strategy for 2022-2026 where the Women’s Economic Opportunity Index has been used to analyse the current situation. The country obtained a score of 38.6/100 and was ranked 108 out of 128 other analysed countries. The data shows that the women’s labour force participation is as high as men’s, the unofficial employment has a share of 82.9% (women’s share is 85.9%, while men’s is 79.9%) and presents administrative and financial challenges, together with instable income, tax, and social insecurity. Women spend longer hours at work, although their average monthly income is lower than that of men. This gap is especially noticeable in occupations related to craft and skilled agricultural workers. However, the occupations of being managers, the number of women is greater, so is their income (81% to 62%). According to the data from 2016, the businesses owned by women (partly or fully) had a share of 43.1% (UNDP Lao PDR, 2022). The proposed ideas are targeted on the straightening of social protection systems, development of gender-responsive policies, greater extension of an access to basic and accountable services. SDG 8 — Decent work and economic growth, targeting the promotion of sustained economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all, protection of labour rights and increase in access to financial services. The integration of the 2030 Agenda requires to be built on SDG Multi-Stakeholder Partnership framework what means that the citizens and society can play a greater role in developing policies, particularly, for economic growth (VNR of SDGs, 2021). The focus is made on the support for inclusive labour markets and business: technology diffusion, entrepreneurship and strong competition on the market, increased resilience, and better adaptation of employees, providing an access to good quality jobs, prioritizing women and ethnic minorities, and providing enough possibilities to retrain or learn new set of skills. The Government paid close attention to agriculture, technology development and accessible facilities in the cities. Additionally, the importance has been given to the tourism strengthening as one of the great sources of employment and economic benefits. SDG 13 — Climate action, resilience and adaptation to natural disasters and climate change, strategic engagement with the Green Climate Fund (GCF) are the main goals. Greenhouse gas emissions were high in 2000 caused mostly by forestry and land-use change. The country is extremely vulnerable to floods that not only damage the environment, but also interrupt any kind of development in the country and displace big numbers of people. Moreover, the technical capacity of the country is still limited to have a full access to GCF. Despite that, Lao PDR is determined to achieve an emission reduction target of 60% by 2030 by collaborating with NDC Partnership, furthermore, by focusing on adaptation and resilience development in transportation, health, agriculture, water, forestry, and other land use in the country (Lao PDR. Climate Promise, 2021). SDG 17 — Partnership for the growth, straightening domestic and international resources, promoting trade and multi-stakeholder partnership, enhancing policy and institutional coherence. A high priority has been given to regional and global cooperation and integration. A possible graduation out of a least developed country status by 2026. SDG 18 — UXO and mine actions, removal of the Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) obstacles, the goal that has been “developed to address the war legacy of more than 80 million cluster submunitions remaining unexploded scattered across the country” (UNDP Lao PDR SDG 18, 2022). This sustainability goal has a special importance, it not only affects all social and economic sectors of the country but also represents a great threat for its development as an incredible dangerous threat for people. The target is on zero annual casualties from UXO accidents, clear all contaminations from areas defined as ‘poor’, meet the needs of identified survivors, ensure the full funding for the future activities. In practice, the government is raising awareness and supporting the mine risk education that will further decrease chances of accidents. The probability of a total clearance of UXO from poor areas is unlikely to be achieved. The numbers show a total of 3,852 ha of land that were cleared in 2017, while 22,873 ha of land were recognized as confirmed hazardous areas (Figure 2). The rest of the goals are lacking sufficient funding and requiring external donors. In total, UXO clearance represents a massive financial problem for the government and following the track of the past contributions to the sector the minimal, it is doubtful that the government will be “in a position to fully fund continued clearance and assistance in 2030” (SDG 18 Lives Safe from UXO, 2019).     Fig. 2: Area Cleared of UXO in Luangprabang Province (Source:) UNODA – United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (n.d.)   1.3 Tourism Impact Apart from the general statistics provided for the country, the situation in the town of Luang Prabang has a major distinctive feature — it became a World Heritage Site of UNESCO in 1995 and since that moment the town’s life has changed. Crowds of tourists poured into the city, the development came with them and so did the pressure and herm on the landscape of Luang Prabang. The number of visitors and buildings that were built for tourism purposes has been raising since the inscription year what can be seen in the figures 3 and 4, respectfully. 14,400 of tourists arrived in Luang Prabang in 1990, by 1995, the number rose to 346,460 and by the year of 2019, right before the pandemic crisis, it scored 4,791,065 of visitors.     Fig. 3: Number of Tourist Arrivals, Revenue from Tourism, And Average Length of Stay, 1990-2020 (Source:) INTHAPHOME, P. (2020). Statistical Report on Tourism in Laos     Fig. 4: Number of touristic buildings in Luang Prabang from 1997 to 2016 (Source:) INTHAPHOME, P. (2020). Statistical Report on Tourism in Laos     Literature Review   Due to the author currently being based in Bangkok (Thailand), the research is pre-dominantly desktop based and all the insights mentioned in the paper were taken from personal observations and interviews conducted during the last study-trip in Luang Prabang in December 2022 and January 2023 by connecting to the local citizens, involving their participation in composing the up-to-date picture of the present-day situation of sustainable development activities and methods used in the city, conducting surveys and establishing examination of proposed theories or ideas together with the local representatives. The author used a thematical type of literature review for this paper to conduct the research and understand different approaches and situation analyses about the following key themes: sustainability, sustainable development, sustainable development goals, UNESCO role in Lao PDR, tourism in Lao PDR, heritage tourism, World Heritage Site of the town of Luang Prabang. The prime focus was made on the Voluntary National Review on the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Lao People’s Democratic Republic published in 2021 as the source of the most up-to-date information regarding the SD activities in the country.   Methodology   The methodology of this research is based on mixed methods with the use of both quantitative and qualitative methods. They included surveys, interviews, focus group, participant observations, gathering and selecting the existing data materials. The interviews were conducted with the students of Souphanouvong University in Luang Prabang from the Faculty of Architecture. The total of participants for the interviews was 12 and 36 students the focus group. This includes other 15 participants from Silpakorn University in Thailand that participated in JSPS Seminar dedicated to the cultural heritage in the Mekong basin countries. The participants were chosen due to the collaboration between universities and a field trip that happened in December 2022 in the North of Lao PDR to Bang Pun Jong community for academic research purposes. The interviews were mostly unstructured, the number and type of questions were varying with each participant. For the focus group, the participants were invited to provide their opinion on the general situation with tourism in the town and any relative impacts from the industry they were able to observe throughout the time. The surveys were regulated with other colleagues from Silpakorn University during the preparation of projects for the seminar as tourists’ point of view of the town of Luang Prabang. The discussions were made between the participants and required the interviews with the local citizens such as street vendors, souvenir shop owners, representatives of tourism industry, architects, and professors of Souphanouvong University. For the observation the author chose Sisavangvong Road the main street of the town. The focus was on the spatial analysis that transformed residential or public areas to touristic usage. The results were used to form the picture of the most crowded areas to the later application for the focus group and interviews. Note-taking was the dominant way of observations that were concluded in 4 days from an early morning to the late evening. Before collecting the necessary existing date, the author decided to find research publications in National Library and Archives of Bangkok, but due to the incapability to read Lao language, together with incorrect and uncomplete translations from online translation engines, this method of collecting data was replaced with English and French written materials accessible online on the Internet. Therefore, the analysis was aimed at recent research articles first and then their difference with older versions of similar publications was analysed.     Discussion   Since the moment when SD has been given a definition by the Brundtland Commission as “behaviour that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Brundtland G. Harlem, 1987), the sustainable development as a concept has never stopped to expand. To the present day, there is a fair amount of all sorts of definitions for this concept (Dale & Hill, 2001), worth mentioning, that these definitions have many points of view as positive as equally negative. What concerns a sustainable tourism as a specific field in the concept of sustainable development, so since the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development a great number of countries have declared their decision or wish to pursue and execute necessary policies for the sustainable tourism development. Regardless, there is still a certain level of uncertainty over the priorities and the level of scope for making tourism more sustainable and the ways of putting them into action are only partly appreciated (Giulia Carbone et al., 2005). The question that may be asked here: “Is there a right path to follow?”     Conclusion   This research analyses the current situation around the principles of sustainable development in Lao PDR based on successful achievement of all 18 sustainable development goals. The focus made on 9 of them shows that the country is moving towards its goal and dedicated to make changes. The town of Luang Prabang has seen a significant increase in tourism that affected many industries in positive