and other environmental concerns, five large vertebrate mammals had been newly discovered in the five years before the 1997 report. The area is the largest contiguous forest in Laos with extraordinary botanical richness. With out the World Bank's participation, the logging halted by the project would resume along with road building without consideration for local flora and fauna and the Vietnamese and Hmong hunters and traders who depend on them. Therefore, although the dam would destroy some of the wide life in the area, it was preferable to the deforestation that would continue without intervention. Finally, the POE believed that they would lose the ability to establish a model in which environmental and cultural concerns are integral to the interplay between the government, the World Bank, and the private sector. Also, a failure to implement the project would be a significant blow and a justifiable source of criticism for the parties involved. This blow would undermine the World Bank's ability to fund more development projects and accomplish its goals. Opposition to the POE's Initial Recommendation After the project got approved, NGOs based in Berkeley and Bangkok evaluated the POE's report and the report of the Australian engineering firm, Snowy Mountains Engineering Company, which the World Bank had contracted to conduct a feasibility study. These NGOs argued that the POE's assessment was seriously flawed and the Bank eventually agreed with the NGOs. After another attempt to approve the project using the Thai-based engineering group TEAM, the Bank continued to be challenged by international activists and called for a third round of feasibility studies. Finally, the bank incorporated NGOs into the process adding the multiple layers of social and environmental oversight that exist today. Current Recommendations The POE recommends various actions to local and international actors in each report. Its twenty first and most recent report in March 2013 demonstrates is mentality towards advancing social and environmental concerns in the region. In this report, the POE was most interested in reducing poaching in the watershed areas created by the project. They advise that conservation patrols intensify especially during the wet season. They advise the Provincial and Central Government authorities to take effective action to recognize and halt the subversion of village authorities in the NPA for the illegal Rosewood trade. This includes cracking down on the participants, supporters and enablers of the trade within and outside of government at village, district, province