Chaiyong Phumphabu

Chaiyong Phumphrabu is working with children who live in or near Thailand's forest areas to help them become forest and wildlife guardians. The most important role the children play is in forging new relationships with park rangers, who are traditionally seen as the enemy by people living in and around forests. His efforts are proving effective in deterring further forest destruction, and the children also influence their parents' behavior.

Chaiyong Phumphrabu's work is based on the premise that in order for something to be preserved it must first be valued and that all involved must trust one another. Using education and taking a positive approach, Chaiyong is successful in reaching the hearts and minds of those living near the protected forest areas as well as reorienting the approach of those who work for the forest preserve system. Chaiyong's program galvanizes primary and secondary school students and teachers, governmental agencies and local private organizations that live in the vicinity of the forest to band together to preserve it. He has created a new model in forest preservation by educating eight- to sixteen-year-olds to appreciate the beauty and wonder of the forest. Through classroom work that is reinforced by a three-day, two-night camping trip in the forest, Chaiyong's program is creating an army of young conservationists who bring strong forest conservation messages back to their parents and communities.
Chaiyong teaches the children that people's lives are enriched when they are fortunate enough to live near the forest. They learn that the trees, mushrooms and other edible forest vegetation, the animals and the cool shade are precious amenities gained through the forests that make people's lives better. Chaiyong warns the children that if the forests are destroyed and disappear, it is the neighboring people who will suffer the most loss, and not the rich commercial exploiters who usually do not live near enough to the forests to be affected by its demise.
The government's use of enforcement by police/forestry officers has failed to stop the illegal activities that destroy the forests. Part of the problem is that citizens view forest officers as faceless law enforcers who have been imposed on them by a faraway central government. Furthermore, the people believe that the government does not really care about them and only wants to catch them and throw them in jail for acts that the people do not perceive as being particularly criminal. The responsibility of the government agencies to use educational methods has been neglected. Chaiyong is helping these officers transition into roles that are more in tune with the human communities around them and that position the officers as partners rather than enemies of the forest people.

Thailand was once covered by rich forest lands with teak and other indigenous trees and vegetation that held water in the land, prevented erosion and helped to attract rain and moisture. The forests also provided food, medicine and other natural resources, and Thailand's people had learned to live in symbiosis with them.

Rapid economic development has resulted in massive deforestation and destruction of the land, enriching a few, but leaving the majority of Thais, who still earn a living through agricultural activities, impoverished. Today, only eighteen percent of the country is under forest, and many animals, trees and other vegetation are rapidly approaching extinction. In addition, the loss of forest land has caused extreme climatic change, which is manifested in water shortages and loss of crops.

Chaiyong has succeeded where forest officers have failed, by earning the trust of villagers. Since 1987, Chaiyong has evolved a system to disseminate a completely new set of attitudes about the forest among communities near forest areas. He enters a forested area, identifies all the schools surrounding it and works with teachers and, very importantly, forest rangers, to bring his educational program to every fifth and sixth grader. By making park rangers and officers part of the program from the very beginning, he enables them to "change their image." His program is called "Creating Beautiful Forests with Young People." Teachers, forest officers and older students have also been trained to teach the program to others in order to spread it widely and ensure its sustainability. At the same time, officers from other protected areas have come to observe the pilot programs and have used them to help save their own forests. Thus far, Chaiyong has reached 270 schools and about 8,000 students.

After approximately half a day of classroom instruction, Chaiyong takes groups of children into the forest for a weekend camping expedition. This excursion is at the heart of his educational program. With a teacher and older student volunteers present, the children learn about and observe the forest flora and fauna. Activities such as tree-hugging, cooking by campfire, story-telling and sleeping under the stars serve to increase the children's love and appreciation of the forest habitat. All trash is carried out of the forest, which is left as clean as (or sometimes cleaner than) the campers find it.

There is evidence that parents have caught their children's youthful enthusiasm. In addition, forest officers report less illegal logging, poaching, and other destructive activities occurring in areas that have presented the program.

Chaiyong also teaches methods for maintaining forest resources for profitable use. For instance, he shows how to protect a group of lemon trees by cutting out the grasses that lie around the tree's base. His Natural Agricultural Center has published books about natural farming and he is also setting up the Natural Farming Information Center for people interested in acquiring that information. He also plans to publish a monthly newsletter.

Chaiyong has a patron within the forestry department who is director of one of the country's ten Wildlife Nature Education Centers. Through this connection to what he terms "the powers that be" he plans to reach the people who surround Thailand's 43 Animal Protection Areas, 70 National Parks, and nine other Wildlife Nature Education Centers. For several years, he has been working with this officer to implement his project, which is not officially sanctioned or funded on a countrywide basis. Chaiyong has written various fundraising proposals in support of his activities and is trying to gain national recognition and acceptance of it. In the meantime, he continues to carry out his program by educating more children, teachers and forestry workers, and he has plans to implement it throughout the country.

Chaiyong grew up in Isarn, in a small village on the edge of a forest where he learned firsthand that people need the forest and that it enriches their lives immeasurably. He also observed that villagers viewed forest officers as "the enemy" and that the forest protection plan that was in place was not effective. Quite early in his life, he says he formed the question, "Why not sit down together-villagers and officers-and work out a compromise that preserves the forest for everyone?"

After graduating from college, he volunteered for two years in a national forest in Tak, collecting data and working with a forest officer to determine who or what is the force that is destroying the forest. He also observed how the forestry department organized its work and trained its officers.