URBAN BIODIVERSITY TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE CITY AND CLIMATE CHANGE RESILIENCE (UBD - SCCCR)

Transcription

1 URBAN BIODIVERSITY TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE CITY AND CLIMATE CHANGE RESILIENCE (UBD - SCCCR) 1. Background Chiang Rai Municipality Chiang Rai Municipality is located in Chiang Rai Province, the northernmost province of Thailand. It is about 840 kilometers from Bangkok. Chiang Rai Province shares its border with Myanmar in the northwest and Laos PDR in the northeast and also can be connected to the southern part of China, serving as the Gateway of Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS). The urban centre of the Chiang Rai Municipality serves as economic, business and tourism center in this GMS region. The Chiang Rai Municipality was established in March 1935 with an area of 10.2 square kilometer. According to the laws, its area has been expanded to (1955), (1976), and (1995) square kilometers until the present. The population is approximately 70,000 persons, divided into 62 communities, 20,825 households and 30,706 houses (December 2010). Figure 1 Location of Chiang Rai Province Mr. Sompong Kulwong, the Mayor of Chiang Rai Municipality, has developed the city under the vision Livable Chiang Rai City Gateway to International. This is a challenge for the mayor, executive and municipal staffs to develop their own city to achieve the vision. This is because the geography of the city as the gateway enables rapidly economic growth in the city, and consequently, affecting social and environment. Thus the mayor and his team has introduced and implemented 3 main policies below in order to achieve the vision. 1. Natural resources and environmental conservation policy: focuses on building public participation and networks for environmental management and conservation such as green and public spaces, revival and conservation of Kok River, urban biodiversity, etc. ; increasing capacity and efficiency of wastewater treatment and solid waste disposal system; preparation of disaster management and planning. 2. Economic policy: the principle of Sufficiency Economy is applied to promote local economic development such as organic farming and urban agriculture. At the same time, the municipality has developed infrastructure to increase its capacity to serve as gateway of GMS region 3. Social and public polity: support education at all level, conserve local tradition and wisdom, promote public health services access for all groups, promote public participation for social security and order, promote good governance, as well as build the capacity of municipal staffs

2 2. Description of the initiative or project Background of the initiative The Chiang Rai Municipality is located in the low-lying area where the Kok and Korn Rivers run through the city. The climate between summer and winter are quite different. The average minimum temperature during winter (December) is approximately 8.7 degrees Celsius while it can be increased to 37.5 degrees Celsius during summer and dry season (April). During the dry season, January until April, Chiang Rai usually faces problem of air pollution, caused by open burning in natural forest and agricultural area, affects to people s respiratory system and health. While economic development is the engine to move the city forward, Chiang Rai Municipality has also concerns on environmental issues and the pollution problems in their own city, especially for air pollution. Therefore, urban greening is one of the main environmental policies pursued to conserve and increase green spaces in the city to help reduce impacts from air pollution. For example, developing the vacant area as public park and green space along the river, old airport, and old prison; conserving the natural forestry served as lung of the city which help to reduce temperature and air pollution problem during summer and dry season Chiang Rai Municipality itself has rich natural resources and diversity of ecosystem forestry, reservoir and rivers, agriculture, and urban. In year 2008, Chiang Rai Municipality had an opportunity to participate in the project called Enhancing Urban Biodiversity in Thai Cities which was the beginning step of municipal to understand about urban biodiversity concept that can support to conservation of green area and public spaces. This project has been implemented and supported until the present under the project called Urban Biodiversity in Chiang Rai Municipality towards Sustainable City and Climate Resilience (UBD-SCCCR). Objectives The main goal of this project was to develop the city in sustainable way by conserving its natural forestry as lung and use it as carbon sink of the city. The specific objectives of the project were To increase level of understanding of the local people about values and importance of urban biodiversity To build and increase participation of local people and city stakeholders in urban biodiversity survey that could lead to further environmental management and conservation, especially for urban biodiversity conservation. To promote the local people s awareness of the contribution of urban biodiversity to climate change resilience Implementation Process The activities implemented under the project were Selection of pilot area: as in the municipal area, there are several and various kind of urban biodiversity ecosystems as mentioned above, the appropriate area and community was selected according to readiness, needs, and commitment of the communities themselves in participating in the project. The first pilot area was Doi Saken Forestry. Doi Saken Forestry, the naturally forestry located in the heart of Chiang Rai Municipality, covers an area about 12 hectares. It is hilly and covered with

3 mixed deciduous forest. Local people usually draw ecosystem services and goods from the forest bamboo, mushroom, and insects. It is also used mainly for religious and recreational activities. The forest contains a pagoda and temple where monks visit temporary. Identification and coordination of city stakeholders: Chaing Rai Provincial Forestry Department, community leaders, academic institute, local media, and youth for further participating in project activities. Conducting meeting: with main and relevant stakeholders in order to introduce the project details as well as to improve knowledge and understanding of the value of Doi Saken forest urban biodiversity. Formation of voluntary working group: consisted of representatives from Doi Saken community, academic, experts from Chaing Rai Provincial Forestry, representative of Chiang Rai Municipality, youth, and local media. The total numbers of working group were about 24 persons. Conducting a training program on biodiversity survey techniques and data collection approaches for the working group. The training program included the design and planning of on-site surveys for each study area. The working group was divided into three small groups: for each surveying for flora, fauna, and insect. Each group used different techniques and data collection processes. The budget of 500 USD was allocated for the biodiversity survey activities. The working group was authorized to manage this budget by themselves with independent inspection. Each sub-group collected and documented biodiversity data and developed suggestions: for improved conservation and how to best benefit from the biodiversity survey information. Presentation of the results of the survey and project: to the municipality, government agencies such as the Provincial Natural Resources and Environment Office, etc. and related stakeholders to inform biodiversity conservation and development planning. The purpose was to actively involve the administrator in the annual planning for the municipality Timeline The project was supported by the outside organization only one year (2008), after that Chiang Rai Municipality has supported some budget according to the activities proposed by the community.

4 Achievements and Outputs The UBD SCCCR project has contributed to the sustainable development of Chiang Rai City by addressing the economic, social and environmental aspects as summarized below; 1) Economic aspect: - Local economic development: the majority of people living around Doi Saken are farmers and local traders. The project operation has helped these residents generate additional inform from tourism, both directly and indirectly. For examples, selling plant sprouts (local plants/trees), making slingshots with plant seed bullets, offering home-stay visits to tourists. - City economic development: after the results of the project were disseminated, Chiang Rai Municipality becomes famous for other local governments to visit and learn from the successful projects/activities. This can help in city economic development in general. 2) Social aspect: - Strengthened community relationship: in the past, a few people in the community took actions to conserve the forest. After participating in the project, more parties have become involved and supportive, each taking on a more cooperative attitude in working together. - Traditional knowledge/local wisdom: the project has provided opportunities for the elderly to participate and contribute to community-based activities. This has helped enable traditional knowledge and local wisdom to be passed to the other local communities, especially the new generations. This also helps to increase community relationship - Reviving local tradition and religious: in the past, the people went up to the hill to visit the pagoda and temple occasionally only for religious purposes. After

5 implementing of this project, local people not only in Doi Saken area are aware of the conservation of the places and integrated all activities related to both religious and environmental conservation. 3) Environmental aspect: - Green area: the project helps to conserve and increase the public and green area as well as recreational opportunity in the municipal area. Moreover, large green area of the forest can also act as carbon sink for the city and support rich biodiversity. - Food resources: such as edible insects, beehives, bamboos, etc. which helps to increase food security of the city. - Sources of learning for the youth: Doi Saken has become open and natural classroom for the youth/students in the city. Schools with environmental curricula can arrange study trips and learn about the environment. This helps to increase environmental awareness to the youth. - Increase environmental networking: to implement the project, it required a lot of cooperation from various stakeholders which help to strengthen the network among them as a result of understanding and trust more on each other. After that they continuous cooperate and work together in other environmental activities organized in the city Lessons learned Re-positioning of local municipality: Chiang Rai Municipality, the main organization responsible in the area, has changed its position from an implementing organization to advocacy and coordination. It plays this role among multiple stakeholders and

6 networks. As a consequence, the municipality has learned to balance governmental influence with stakeholder participation. Decentralization: it doesn t mean only the duties transferred from the central government to local government. It is also means transferring power, duties, and budget, to other stakeholders in the city, especially local people. As it will increase their participation and sense of ownership. Changing in attitude and perception: the project has resulted in perceptional change of mayor and city executives. Environmental issues and ecosystem impacts have been included in the decision making process in the city development plan. Public participation: cooperation among various stakeholders is one of the key factors to achieve sustainable development, especially environmental aspect. Building knowledge and understanding each other can help to create their awareness and participation in all processes. Maximizing resources: all stakeholders had some opportunity to take part in the projects, e.g. in human resources management, budget planning, and work plan development, which is the efficient way to maximize the limited resources. Learning to work in multi-party process: the interaction among multiple stakeholders in the diverse working groups enabled participants share new ideas and experiences with each other while learning how to manage conflict. This built trust and a more effective working atmosphere. 3. Main Partners It is not easy to implement this project at the beginning due to the fact that Chiang Rai Municipality needed a lot of technical support and cooperation from various and relevant stakeholders, especially the local community who are the real owner of the area. The main stakeholders contributed to the successful project s results are listed as follow; Keidanren Nature Conservation Fund, Japan: initial financial support for Doi Saken Urban biodiversity Thailand Environment Institute and Chiang Rai Rajabhat University : technical support in terms project plan, implementing and facilitating processes Department of Environment Quality Promotion (DEQP) and Office of Natural Resource and Environment (ONEP), Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE): providing relevant media/tools as well as guiding national supportive policy to be implemented at local action. Royal Forest Department (RFD) and Department of National Park, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation (DNP), MoNRE : technical support in terms of survey technique training and human resources during the survey period Thailand Business Council for Sustainable Development (TBCSD) : financial support for some continuing activities and partly sponsor for construction of Doi Saken Biodiversity Learning Center National Municipal League of Thailand (NMT) : up scaling and disseminating the project s results to other local governments

7 Doi Saken Community, the most important and effective stakeholder: they were the main actors to implement the project activities, for examples, training, survey, and providing recommendations and developing community activities and plan. 4. Impact Conservation of green and public area: the area of approximately 12 hectare was conserved as the green and public area in the city through public participation process. Biodiversity Exhibition Center was established: more than 70 species of plants, 20 species of birds, 3 species of animals, and 33 species of insects were found during the biodiversity survey since the project has been started. Therefore, the municipality decided to support the budget and build Biodiversity Exhibition Center. Those species were collected and shown in this center and it became the environmental learning center for the students and public both within and outside the municipal area Building environmental awareness to the youth: this project also involved the students and youth in the community and city, as a result, they have formed Environmental Conservation Youth Group. At the present, there are 2 groups of them working on environmental conservation in the city. For example, the group that is interested in insects, they organize insect survey occasionally to survey the numbers and species of insects found in different seasons. Generating additional income: local communities live nearby Doi Saken have supportive sources of income and occupations from selling local and forest products/herbs, homestay, etc. They usually can earn money about 2,000 4,000 baht per month. Strengthening relationship between elderly and youth: during the project period, the youth had to discuss with elderly people to learn about its history and local wisdom, as a consequence, they turning to communicate to each other. Moreover, local wisdom and knowledge have been transferred from elderly to youth and they both became local guide 3 elderly and 5 youths who provide background and knowledge to the visitors.

8 5. Sustainability Public participation and networking: the project promoted public participation and let various stakeholders participated at all level in the project process. Consequence, the limited resources, human resources, time and budget, were shared and maximizing used. This helps to create friendship and networking among those stakeholders. Moreover, sense of belonging and ownership was created to all stakeholders, therefore, they still take care Doi Saken even the project was close and participate in other similar projects in other areas. Increasing local community capacity: the project was implemented under the concept that promotes local ownership, local community is the main actor as they are the owner of the area as natural resources and environmental issues can not be effectively managed and taken care only by the local government itself. Local government and other organizations are only the supporter. Therefore, building capacity of the local communities and people are necessary. This project tried to increase their capacity through training/workshop, analyzing the survey results, and proposed activities and plans. Creating opportunities for experience sharing and dissemination : it helps to sustain and continue cooperation and network created during the project as well as introducing other related activities. Responsibility and transparency: Doi Saken Community has set up community committee comprised of representative of its community to be responsible and manage income generated from the visitors as well as prioritize and prepare community plan with support from Chiang Rai Municipality. The proposed plan and activities will be integrated into the municipal development for further partial support (human resources and/or budget) 6. Transferability and up scaling After implementing the project at Doi Saken, the municipality has decided to renovate the old building to be used as Chiang Rai Urban Biodiversity Conservation Center. Moreover, the municipality has expanded the project to other areas in the municipality which are Doi Prabaht and Nong Peung (Peung Reservoir). Doi Prabaht: it is a small natural forest located in the municipal area. The main activity in this area focuses on bird survey. There is a voluntary group called Nok

9 Noi Doi Prabaht, which mean Bird Watching Group. The group, totally 17 members, comprised of students and local community, starting from age 7 years old as the youngest and up to 52 years old as the oldest. They have surveyed the species of birds in this forest, with support from municipality and local private sector. The result from survey found 23 species of birds and now they are surveying plants and lichen in this forest. Nong Peung: a natural water reservoir serves as recreational and sources of income for the local people. This is part of a pilot project under the Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network (ACCCRN), funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, promoting urban biodiversity for building climate resilience. The activities include - Improvement of the reservoir as additional water storage and flood prevention mechanism, and redevelopment of the surrounding area for recreational uses - Re-construction of floodgate used for controlling water diversion from the Korn River and transferring to agricultural area nearby - Survey of biodiversity in the reservoir and area nearby through public participation from local communities and schools. So far, the results found 34 species of fishes, 6 species of birds, 6 species of frogs and turtles, and 21 species of insects. Moreover, the Chiang Rai Municipality has disseminated all the project results and promoted the established Urban Biodiversity Center as learning center for the schools and local governments both within and outside the province. In December last year (2010), Chiang Rai Municipality organized the seminar and experience sharing on Value and Importance of Ecosystem and Urban Biodiversity in Response to Climate Change which aimed to increase awareness and level of understanding of the people and local government about the relationship between ecosystem, urban biodiversity and climate change. There were representatives from local governments, students and teachers, and local communities participated in this seminar about 50 people.

10 7. Innovation The urban biodiversity conservation was a new concept for the local governments. For them, biodiversity usually mean natural resources in the remote area not in the urban area. However, this project helps them to understand more about biodiversity and can integrate them as one of the environmental issues in their own city. Moreover, the project applied technical knowledge in the implementing process training on urban biodiversity survey supported by RFD and DNP. This aimed to increase capacity of the local people and youth to implement the project itself as well as to support for the future related projects. 8. Recognition of the initiative The Year 2010 was the international year of biodiversity. Chiang Rai Municipality s project received considerable attention from the international community. In August 2010, the representatives of Chiang Rai Municipality were invited by ONEP to share their best practice experiences with other municipalities at the 13 rd Thailand Natural Resources and Environment Conference under the topic Biodiversity: Saving the World s Life. Furthermore, in October the same year, Chiang Rai Municipality was invited to present their case in City Biodiversity Summit 2010: COP 10 at Nagoya, Japan.