The doi tung Development Project under Royal Initiative was planned for three phases
During the initial phase of the progect, the main goals were first to create understanding between the progect sraffs and the villagers in the area, and to create underatanding with government officials. Through a process of discussions and learning with the villagers, plans were developed which enabled the progect to curb the destructive practices of shifting cultivation and opium poppy production,while also providing people with new sources of income, improving public henlth care and education, and providing extensive infrastructure (roads, elecrricity, water supply) throughout the progect area.
A primary goal of the second phase of the project is to improve people’s livelihood through judicious and sustainable use of their natural surroundinge and resources. Per capita income, which was Bath 3,772 at the start of the progect in 1988, should reach a minimum of Baht 30,000 by the end of this phase. Agiculture, handicraft and home industry products should be competitive in international as well as domestic matdets. Another key goal has been to develop the project area as a tourist attraction of international standard, with eco-tourism and the conservation of ethnic minority cultures as comerstones to any tourism development.
Phase 3: 2003 to 2017 The aim of the progect’s final phase is to assure that all the activities at doi Tung become self-sufficient, with social and economic development continuing to be based on sustainable use of resources and conservation of the environment. The communities should be self-governing under the Thai legal and administrative system. With sufficient incomes, the people of Doi Tung can pay taexs and repay the government in part for the financial support given them during the first years of the project.
“How people and forests live together” “How to make people and forest live to gether ? Man must stop destroying the forests,
stop slash and burn cultivation and poppy growing. We must help villagers become
self-sufficient by creating jobs for them.
Visitors to Doi Tung can see that Jer Royal Highness the Princess Mother’s reforestation efforts have succeeded. The mountainsides that were denuded in 1987 are again covered with forests.
Switzerland in Thailand Many people have called Doi Tung as a”Switzerland in Thailand”.This description seems apt when viewing the crisp lines of mountains in cool winter, or the verdant forest against a background of an ever-changing sky.
“The natural beauty of the Doi Tung Development Project” The natural beauty of Doi Tung has been enhanced trough the effort and perseverance of the people of Doi Tung in reviving the once deteriorated forests. The lush forests are their legacy to pass on to their descendants. It is their work, accomplishing the gracious commands of Her Royal Highness the Princess Mother through the Doi Tung Developmenrt Progect under Royal Initiative, that has returned the mountains to their natural environment. Visitors to Doi Tung can experience themselves the natural beauty of the hill, and appreciate the efforts of the people of Doi Tung. They can see how people and forests can live togeter, with the people preserving the forests around them and the forests supporting the livelihood of the people. “The Villa on Doi Tung” the Royal villa was buit at Doi Tung for Her Royal Highness the Princess Mother to stay while she carried out her environmental and development work. On deciding to live there, Her Royal Highness told her private secrtary, “If there is no Doi Tung Development Project, I will not have a house here.” The Doi Tung Royal Villa is thus a symbol of Her Royal Highness’ constant efforts to improve the lives and well-being of her subjects.
The Doi Tung Royal Villa The Doi tung Royal Villa was the first residence of Her Royal Highness Princess Srinakarindra, the Princess Mother, built under ber supervision. Her Royal Highness the Princess Mother and her daughter, Her Royal Highness Princess Galyani Vadhana, gave the architects a concept of simplicity and multi-functionality for the Royal villa. Construction started on December 23, 1987 with a traditional northern Thai ceremony (called “Pok Sao Huen”) of planting the main house pillar. The royal villa consists of 4 connected buidings: (1) the personal residence of Her Royal Highness the Princess Mother, (2) a large
recception hall, (3) the personal residence of Than Phuying (Dame) Tasna valaya
Sorasongkram, granddaughter of H.R.H. the Princess Mother, and (4) the personal residence
of H.R.H. the princess Mother. H.R.H. the Princess Mother, long interested in astronomy, granted permission to decorate the ceiling of the reception hall with symbols of the planets and constellations, with the center showing the position of the planets at the planets at the time of birth of Her Royal Highness on the 21 of October 1900. One wall of the Hall is covered with hand-emberoidered silk from San Pa Tong District in Chiang Mai, where this handicraft is renowned. Two large oil paintings by bannarak Nathbanlang of Phra That Doi Tung (a pagoda with holy relics in the progext area) adorn opposite walls of the Hall : one at dusk and the other in the middle of the night. A third oil painting by Panya Chaikham of the legend of Doi Tung adorns the entrance way into the Hall. The walls of a stairwell near the reception hall entrance are engraved with the Thai alphabet and a primary school rhyme, and the stair railing is decorated with Thai numerals. Most interior paneling in the Royal villa is made of pine timber from used shipping crates. The Mae Fah Luang Garden of decorative and flowering plants covers 12 rai (nearly 2 hectares),located on the hillside just below the Royal villa. The Garden, opened since 1992, was created with the support of the Tourism Authority of Thailand. Throughout the year, flowers adorn this hillside, making the Mae Fah Luang Garden, opened since 1992, was created with the support of the Tourism Authority of Thailand. Thailand. Throughout the year, flowers adorn this hillside, making the Mae Fah Luang Garden one of the brightest and most colorful sites in Thailand. At the center of the garden stands a statue of children climbing, made by one of the country’s leading suclptress’,Misiem Yip-in-soi. Entitled “continuity”,the statae is evocative of the continuous effort of Her Ropal Highness the Princess Mother to improve the lives ot the people of Thailand. The Pacific-Asia Tourist Association(PATA) gave Thailand the PATA Gold Award in 1993 for the Mae Fah Luang Garden, in recognition of the development of this new tourist destination. The Mae Fah Luang Garden was recently expanded another 13 rai, bringing the total area to 25 rai, or 4 hectares. The new addition includes a rock garden, a water garden, a palm garden, and an ornamental plants garden. Mae Fah Luang Arboretum at Chang Mub Doi chang Mub, at 1,509 meters above sea level, is the hibhest mountain in the Doi Tung Development Project area. Forming part of the Thai-burma border, the highest point of Doi Chang Mub lies Just inside Thai territory. H.R.H. the Princess Mother wished tp see tjos pmce demided ,pimtaom refprested, with part of it made into an arboretum the 15 old large trees that were moved from near Mae chan town along the ChinagRai-Mae Sai highway form the centerpiece of this arboretum. These trees were doomed to be cut down when the highway was expanded from 2 to 4 lanes, but at Het Royal Highness’ suggestion the root balls and trunks were moved to Doi chang Mub in an effort to save these ancient, massive trees. New facilities recently added to the arboretum, include walkways, a multipurpose building, a picnic pavilion, leisure pavilions, and a scenic view point, Many new trees difficult to find in Thailand have been added, with numerous varieties of rhododendron and azalea, orchide, and wild orchids now planted on more than 60 rai (10 ha) on this site. A natural spring at Doi Chang Mub has been named “Nam Phra Tai (“Her Royal Kindness”), symbolic of the kindness of Her Royal Highness and the benefits of her work that flow like the waters from Doi Tung to the lowlands below. Ethnic Minority Villages 26 Villages… Several tribes All firmly attached to their unique ways of life, their rituals and their cultures Twenty-six villages of ethnic minorities lie within the Doi Tung Development Project area. Twenty-four are of hill tribe communities: predominantly Akha and Lahu, with Lue, lisu and others living in their midst. Another is a Shan (Thai Yai) community, and one a chinces Haw village All villages in Doi Tung can now be reached by road, and all receive electricity, water supply, and other physical and social infratructure. Dramatic changes, throubh the reaining and work opportunities under the project, have led to dramatic increases in income and improvement in the quality of their lives. Yet despite the major changes that occurred in recent years, the ethnic minorities of Doi Tung maintain their unique cultures and traditions, and continue to celebrate their special festiveals and rituals. Products from Doi Tung Creating jobs for pecople of all ages and sexes Men work in the fields, Women on handicrafts A major effort of the Doi Tung Development Project has been to create new employment and improve the incomes of the residents of the project area. Agricultural produces, handicrafts, and home industrial products from the Doi Tung Development Progect are available for wholesale and retail sale.
Agricultural Products An Agricultural Training Center was establiched to introduce high-income agricultural produxts and production techniques that help preserve the natural environment. Although much of the area that was used for traditional agricultural has been converted to forests, villagerts now earn higher income from agricultufre than before. The main agricultural activities include tissue culture, mushroom production, temperate vegetables, coffee growing and processing, and the production of cut and potted flowering plants and decorative plants. Special attention is given to the selection of plants to assure they are usitable to the topography and climate of Doi tung and to assure their production contributes to sustaining the environment. The selection of plants and care in harvesting and processing assure the high quality of Doi Tung agricultural products. Handicrafts and Cottage Industries The Doi tung Development Project staff recognized from the improvint the lives and raising the incomes of the people of Doi tung was not possible from agriculture alone. A variety of activities have been promoted under the Project, with a Cottage Industry center and Outle established to help residents develop their shills.
With financial and moral support from H.R.H. the Princess Mother, the Doi Tung Development Project opened a drug rehabilitation center at Pha Me Village. By the end of January 1992,469 addicts voluntered to enter the treatment program, which lasted for 1,000 days. Treatment to end physical dependence to the drugs lasted the first 60 days. The remainder of the nearly 3 years rehabilitation was devoted to ending the psychological depwndence of the participants and giving them training in work skills they could use after their cure. The rehabilitation center continues to give wupport to those who underwent treatment through periodic visits. The Pha Me site has since been converted to a vocational center, where residents of the project area can receive job training in gem cuting and polishing, basketmaking, and vegetable and flower growing.
Doi Tung Zoo The Doi Tung Zoo covers an open space of over 200 rai (32ha) in the project area. The earlier deforestation of the Doi Tung area drove most of the wild animals away. The Zoo was first established as a wildife breeding and animal conservation station, to help reintroduce many species to a reforested Doi Tung. Rare animals from nearby forests are dept at the zoo, to assure their continued survival. They include Siamese fireback pheasants, peacocks, bears, sambar deers, barking deers and hog deers. The zoo is open to the public who like to view animals in their natural surroundings.
Phra That Doi Tung Ercted in 911 A.D.(1454 B.E.), Phra That Doi Tung is considered the olest Chedi (pagoda) in the Lanna region (covering northern Thailand, the Shan states of Myanmar and northemLaos). The Chedi, believed to house the collarbone of the Lord buddha, is highly revered by Buddhists. A temple, Wat Noi Doi Tung, and the Theparak Garden stand below at the entrance to the roadway that leads to the Chedi. Tradition holds that the guardian spirits (Theparak) abide in the garden to protect the holy shrine of the Buddha relics at Phra That Doi Tung. [ Back ] |
Phase
1:1988 to 1993
Phase
2: 1994 to 2002
A major cuse
of deforestation on Doi Tung was the slash and burn methods fo traditional agriculture and
the opium production of hilltribe communities who moved to the area over the past half
centruy. Her Royal Highness recogized an effectivere reforestation and development
problems of Doi Tung. She felt that reforestation of the 150 square kilometers of Doi tung
should benefit the environment by matching natural forest conditions as much as possible.
Reforestation shoule allow people and forests to exist together, by having those who live
in the Doi Tung area depend on the forests for their livelihood and so encourage them to
conserve their natural environment. Since agriculture alond could not support people
adequately, alternative occupations now undertaken at Doi Tung depend on materials
produced in the forests.
