Driving the "Valuable Wood Community" Project in Accordance with the Cabinet Resolution

On September 18, 2018, the Cabinet passed a resolution approving the advancement of the "Valuable Wood Community" project. The goal is for Thailand to establish 20,000 valuable wood communities within 10 years. This initiative also involves revising relevant draft laws, rules, or regulations to facilitate the project's successful implementation.

The project is driven through a collaborative effort among four key agencies:

• National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT)

• Biodiversity-Based Economy Development Office (Public Organization) (BEDO)

• Royal Forest Department (RFD)

• Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC)

In this collaboration, the NRCT is spearheading the mechanism of "Research for Strength and Sustainability" through the following actions:

1. Providing Research and Innovation Grants NRCT supports funding to create knowledge, technology, and innovation across various areas, including:

• Increasing Green Areas: Initiatives such as planting valuable wood and economic crops alongside mycorrhizal fungi cultivation, and managing waterfront valuable wood plantations for ecosystem conservation.

• Promoting Income Generation and Adding Value: Projects involving wood management and valuation, lac cultivation on rain trees (Jamjuree), comprehensive processing of sappanwood products, and developing prototypes for small wooden house structures using laminated timber from thinned teak wood.

• Conserving Green Spaces for Sustainable Balance: Efforts such as the conservation and value enhancement of native Java plum (Wa) trees.

2. Supporting the National "Valuable Wood Community" Award Project NRCT backs the organization of this national recognition program to promote and incentivize communities to apply appropriate knowledge and technologies for their development. This initiative encourages:

• Internal knowledge sharing within the community.

• The creation of community products and income generation.

• Effective community management and network expansion to sustainably elevate the income of local residents.