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Villagers from Baan Noen Thong in Buri Ram, plus local school children take part in a mass planting last June. It was organised by Plant A Tree Today and Meechai’s NGO PDA.
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Get planting!
British charity's tree-planting projects in Thailand draw support from Meechai and a host of local and overseas firms
Published on March 22, 2008
A British-registered charity set up to confront the world's environmental crisis has begun to make notable headway in Thailand.
Plant A Tree Today (PATT) is the brainchild of Andy Steel, a British businessman based in Bangkok. It uses donations and sponsors' funds for tree-planting schemes here and in other parts of Southeast Asia, which badly need help to restore declining forests.
People have taken notice. Meechai Viravaidaya, the former senator and activist, has linked up with PATT to utilise its capacity to fund development in poor Isaan villages. Meechai spoke at a fund-raising dinner at the Conrad Hotel in November, at which he outlined how PATT would boost work by his group, the Population Community Devel-opment Association.
Steel works for Equitech and other firms interested in forestry investments and tree plantations, but he set up PATT to plant trees for conservation.
The charity has been busy, because of huge public concern about global warming. Private companies that want to offset their greenhouse gas-emissions and show a responsible attitude to the environment are now approaching Plant A Tree Today.
World in dire straits
Steel said PATT had come about after he "realised the world was in a pretty dire strait". The charity had been a surprise success, he said.
"Any time on the website, 200 people are logged online. Big firms such as Mercedes Benz, Pepsi, Raimon Land and Price WaterhouseCoopers have got involved."
Taking his children on tree-planting trips since 2005 had convinced him "that educating kids is the way forward".
PATT does education sessions at schools and has long-term forest-restoration projects, including developing nurseries at sites in Phetchaburi and at Khao Yai National Park. It works with the Royal Forestry Department and grass-roots groups to implement projects.
It also organises planting days for companies and schools. Forest restoration experts at Chiang Mai University advise the group on seed collection and technical support for its projects.
Steel says corporations and their social responsibility programs are "the quickest way to cash" to fund tree-planting.
Last year Raimon Land was a major sponsor of PATT's Thailand office. It is also supporting the nursery at Khao Yai and looking at a three-year sponsorship deal.
Companies such as Merck, Syngenta, Mercedes Benz Thailand, McKinnon & Clarke and Pepsico Asia have paid for tree-planting in areas like Pra-padeng and Hua Hin.
Overseas donors funding planting here include Brownie Films in Spain, Healthy Back-bag UK, UAP in the UK and XL Results Foundation.
Visit plant-a-tree-today.org.
By Jim Pollard
daily Xpress
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