Basic Information
Overview
Initiated in 2021, the “Carbon Credit from Community Forests for Sustainability” project is a public-private partnership with the Mae Fah Luang Foundation under Royal Patronage (MFLF) being the project implementor. The project partners are the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Royal Forestry Department, Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organisation (TGO), Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA), Siam Commercial Bank PCL., QTC Energy PCL., TMT Steel PCL., PricewaterhouseCoopers ABAS Ltd., Intouch Holding PCL., and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Thailand. The Project aims to tackle the climate crisis and incentivize local communities to protect the forest, including wildfire prevention which caused smog and small particle dust (PM2.5).
The “Carbon Credit from Community Forests for Sustainability” project is originated from the importance of “carbon credit” in agricultural and forest sectors where trees sequestrate and store carbon dioxide. In Thailand, local communities have protected their forests very well, while the private sector aims to reduce their organisation’s carbon footprint. The Mae Fah Luang Foundation sees the opportunity to connect the former and the latter—a “win-win” situation for both parties while reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the long run.
The Mae Fah Luang Foundation has more than 30 years of experience in reviving conservation forests—from forest survey, carbon sequestration assessment, to development activities allowing the community to co-exist with the forest. The Foundation empowers local communities to collect carbon sequestration to registered as part of Thailand Voluntary Emission Reduction Project (T-VER). In return for providing the budget for measuring greenhouse gasses (GHG) sequestration of the forest, verifying, and registering for the project, the corporate donors will receive carbon credit to offset the organisation’s footprint. The private partners also sponsor village development funds to improve the communities’ quality of life while protecting the forest.
The “Carbon Credit from Community Forests for Sustainability” project is an application of the Mae Fah Luang Foundation’s principle to “Cultivate Land, Cultivate People”. The Foundation emphasises a participatory approach to engage the community from the start and throughout the development process. Once the forest is restored and can generate income for the community, it is seen as their valuable asset and therefore preserved.
In 2023, the Mae Fah Luang Foundation partners with the public and private sectors, as well as communities in Thailand to extend the project area covering forests of more than 23,526 hectares in 120 communities to sustainably respond to the climate crisis.
