Environmental research

Lamphoon Province s Thunghuachang District is a watershed area of the Li River, one of the four major rivers of the province. A mountainous area with limited cultivated land, the district is a residence of the local Thai and of the ethnic minority Kareni. Majority of these population earn their living through agricultural practice and husbandry. The traditional crops range from paddy (both transplantation and direct plantation) for consumption and longan. As to cash crop, corn is ranked number one tailing by potatoes and Japanese bean respectively. The group was established through the effort of the Lamphoon Province to build capacity of CBOs on management of natural resources and environment and forge networking among various stakeholders to cover wider areas with holistic picture of environment linking forest , land, water and air. Under the above mentioned concept and successive capacity-building activities, 12 members of the group whose cultivated lands of longan are closely connected had launched an appraisal of the situation. It was found that present-day agricultural practices depended more upon modern technology , i.e. chemical substances and fossil fuels for maintenance and processing of crops resulting in higher production cost. Moreover, the potentiality of renewable energy has not been made known ,while the locality appeared to have sufficient animal manure (550 hogs) and other agro-waste for demonstration and possible reduction of production cost. Project participants and/or beneficiaries: 1.Community members in Baan Donmoon and Bann Khongkham are the main beneficiaries 2.Rak Thai Foundation 3.Development Committee of Tambol Thung Huachang and Takhianpom 4.Tambol Administrative Organizations Activities to be carried out under project: -Conducting study tours and experience-sharing with capable organizations and networks - Convening workshop among community members on GEF and Community Livelihood and renewable energy - Planning the development of renewable energy by 12 members - Building biogas facilities of 100 cu,m. (from 550 hogs) on the allotted area of 13 ha with related facilities - Putting the produced biogas for water pumping and longan drying - Compiling knowledge and lessons learnt for further dissemination Anticipated Results/Immediate Results of Project: - Witnessed active participation and cooperation from various stakeholder, target communities - Increased capacity of group leaders through ability to retrain community members - Emergence of clear implementation plan - Emergence of networks for renewable energy development -Reduction of diesel oil use @ 12 litres/day for water pumping ( 80 % reduction) -Reduction of LPG from market nearly 100 % , for drying of longan

Thailand