Doi Tung Development Project ‘a role model for the world’
Thailand highlighted the success of the Doi Tung Development Project in promoting biodiversity during the United Nations Biodiversity Conference of Parties in Colombia from October 21 to November 1.
Thai delegates, led by Environment Ministry deputy permanent secretary Oranuch Lorpensri, pledged biodiversity restoration by 30% within 2030, as well as securing good quality of life and abundant nature by 2050.
Thailand also stressed on the importance of financial tools to encourage people to maintain biodiversity and support implementation of other effective area-based conservation measures.
Meanwhile, the Mae Fah Luang Foundation under Royal Patronage made a presentation on the progress of the Doi Tung Development Project over the past 36 years.
The foundation also revealed the progress on expansion of the collaboration between public, private and community sectors on developing careers and nature in 11 provinces, resulting in over 150,000 collaborators.
The Presidential Agency for International Cooperation of Colombia has chosen the Mae Fah Luang Foundation as a partner under the South-South Cooperation to encourage more biodiversity promotion projects.
The foundation CEO, Dispanadda Diskul, said this honour proved that the Doi Tung Development Project has been accepted as a guideline for developing the quality of life along with improving the environment. “This project of Thailand can be a role model for the world,” he said.
The foundation revealed that the Doi Tung Development Project was initiated in Chiang Rai’s Mae Fah Luang district by Her Royal Highness Somdet Phra Srinagarindra Boromarajajonani, aiming to tackle poverty and lack of opportunity for an alternative way of life.
It came as locals living on the mountain were in dire straits due to lack of access to infrastructure or agricultural know-how, forcing them to depend on illegal ways of earning their livelihood, such as through narcotic crop cultivation and human trafficking.
The project highlights development of basic necessities and environmental restoration to ensure sustainable income, reduce expenses and household debt among locals.
For instance, the cultivation of coffee and macadamia allows them to process economic crops into a variety of products that could fetch high prices.
The “DoiTung” brand was later created to ensure self-sufficiency for locals, comprising handicrafts, processed food, café, agriculture and tourism businesses.
