Bangkok--14 Sep--GIZ
Recently, the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) hosted the closing ceremony for the Enhancing the Economics of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in Thailand/South East Asia (ECO-BEST) project, which is co-funded by the European Union, the Thai government and the German government. The project focuses on economics and financial tools to enhance nature conservation. Throughout the 4.5 years of the cooperation, ECO-BEST has disseminated knowledge of the Economics of Ecosystem and Biodiversity (TEEB) while simultaneously encouraging the use of TEEB to develop and apply economics tools for natural conservation in the field.
Implemented by DNP, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), the ECO-BEST project ran from March 2012 through August 2015.
Mr. Nipon Chotibal, Director-General of DNP, said "Successfully conserving nature requires a great deal of effort from various parties to encourage people in local areas to nourish the national ecosystem as much as they can. ECO-BEST helps us understand TEEB, which is a new term in natural conservation and management in Thailand but one that is very useful as this concept turns the saying 'the involvement of different sectors' into practice. This starts from identifying those who benefit from the use of the forest, water or sea. These benefits are then used to design and explore the possibilities of how the beneficiaries can relieve the burden of communities/villagers who foster the ecosystems. TEEB concepts can be effectively applied to business activities of the private sector and the missions of various organisations. Anyone who engages TEEB in analysing the production and service processes of their business would be able to decrease the risks of doing business as well as more effectively plan Corporate Social Responsibility activities currently in the process, CSR approaches and Strategic Corporate Responsibility (SCR)."
Another significant output of ECO-BEST is the development of the economic instruments in 3 pilot sites. These allow people who benefit from ecosystem and biodiversity resources to share some of the burden with those who bear the cost of conservation to ensure the quality and quantity of ecosystem services for all beneficiaries. The first pilot site was Pang Ma O Village in Chiang Mai's Chiang Dao district, where ECO-BEST provided technical support to the staff of the Highland Research and Development Institute (HRDI). They then shared the knowledge they acquired with villagers who look after the watershed forest and helped them develop appropriate economic tools. The result is that we are now able to support the people who nourish and conserve the watershed of the Ping River by purchasing Pang Ma O coffee.
The second site was Bu Phram Sub-district, Na Dee District, Prachinburi province. Here ECO-BEST conducted activities to restore the ecosystem in the buffer zone of the Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai World Heritage site and turn it into a wildlife ecological corridor between Khao Yai National Park and Thap Lan National Park. You can support these activities by buying stickers and products with a logo to raise funds for the "Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai World Heritage Fund". This fund will be used as financial and non-financial compensation for farmers to modify their cultivation methods and whose land has been changed to grassland mixed with Lan Palm forest. This will restore an ecosystem conductive to free and safe roaming of local wildlife. It will also allow wildlife to across the border between Khao Yai forest and Thap Lan forest. This corridor will in addition reduce the possibility of consanguinity breeding among the wild animals as well as increase the tiger population in Khao Yai forest.
The third site was the KlongTha Dee Micro-watershed, Nakhon Si Thammarat province, where ECO-BEST cooperated with several partners in the province in founding the "Klong Tha Dee Fund". This is designed as a Payment for Watershed Ecosystem Service (PES), and is the first Payment for Ecosystem Service scheme to be developed through the application of TEEB in Thailand. The fund works on the principle that beneficiaries of the reduction of flood and drought in the city of Nakhon Si Thammarat and nearby areas will pay a "Maintenance Fee of KTD Ecosystem Services". The fee will be collected and administrated by the Municipal Waterworks Authority of Nakhon Si Thammarat and the Association of Nakhon Si Thammarat Environmental Conservation. It will be used as financial and non-financial incentives for farmers or landowners who allow their land to absorb water and enrich the soil moisture by restoring forest cover on their land. These small pieces of land will be bundled for absorption capability, thus reducing the effects of flood and drought for the people in town and downstream.
For more information:
Siriporn Treepornpairat
Public Information Manager
GIZ Office Bangkok
Tel: + 66 2 661 9273 ext. 63, Email:
[email protected]