January 25, 2010
The Government of Japan is extending Grant Assistance under the Grassroots Human Security Projects scheme (GGP) to the project "Restoration of the Moon River". H.E. Mr. Kyoji Komachi, Ambassador of Japan to the Kingdom of Thailand, and Mr. Saharat Sakaew, of the Secretariat of the Moon River Development Network, signed a contract on January 20, 2010 at the Embassy of Japan.
The Moon River has its source in Nakhon Ratchasima province, passes through Buriram, Surin, and Si Sa Ket provinces, then flows into the Mekong River. The River in Surin province has 11 branches and goes through Chumphon Buri, Tha Tum, and Rattana Buri districts. Seasonally flooded forests with rich vegetation, are found in this area. In the dry season, they are inhabited by insects and small animals. In the rainy season, when the waters swell and cover the forests, various aquatic animals live and breed, providing a source of food.
However, the situation on the middle stream of the Moon River is looking serious because of logging in order to plant more profitable trees in the seasonally flooded forests, overfishing, erosion of riverbanks by digging sand, and construction of dams and concrete watercourses.
Since the lives of people living from the river and from the land are inter-related, environmental restoration activities, as well as capacity building for surveillance among communities are required. At the same time systematic management need to be carried out on all brunches of the river, which involves raising the awareness of local people to its importance.
Although the organization has achieved some success in the grouping and networking of local people, activities for the restoration and protection of the river environment with local participation are not firmly established. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the understanding of local people.
At the request of the organization, the Government of Japan has decided to provide a total of 2,785,300 baht to the study of the river ecosystem by local people, capacity building of community leaders and development of networks, restoration and protection activities of the ecosystem, and promotional activity.
Through this project, it is expected that food security for local people will be attained by recovering the environment and ecology of the river, and that their understanding of resource management will develop. It is also expected that environmental surveillance will be enhanced by reinforcing the networks of community groups, while the understanding of the general public will be speeded up through public relations activities related to the conservation of fish species and the restoration of water resources.
The Government of Japan is willing to continue its support for projects which contribute to environmental restoration and protection at the grassroots level through its Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects scheme (GGP).
