Wednesday 16 December 2009 : Inspector of Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE), Mrs. Pornthip Puncharoen, and officers from the Inspecting and Assessing Division went to the field to inspect the operation of Queen Sirikit Botanic Garden Organization (QSBG) at the Queen Sirikit Botanic Garden in Mae-rim District, Chiang Mai Province. Dr. Pramook Pensut, Vice Director-General of QSBG, arranged the reception and gave presentation about work progress in the fiscal year of 2010. Inspector Pornthip gave recommendations about developing work concerning biological diversity, especially regarding herbal plants. QSBG was advised to create biodiversity database by cooperating with other organizations that study similar topics, as well as to be partnership with relevant sectors to enhance its efficiency in serving both knowledge and beauty to tourists or researchers. Before leaving, Inspector Pornthip also visited a herbarium in QSBG that collects a great amount of dry specimens of plants.
Thursday 17 December 2009 : The Inspector General of MNRE, Dr. Monthip Sriratana Tabucanon, and a team of MNRE Inspectors (Mr. Samran Rakchart and Mr. Wichien Jungrungruang) went to the field to inspect work progress regarding the process to resolve deforestation problem and exploitation of forest resources in Wat Jan Village, Mae Jaem District, Chiang Mai Province. A helicopter of the Natural Resources Conservation Aviation Division was used to investigate forest encroachment by flying along the road No. 1265 (Mae Ping to Wat Jan) in Reservation Forest areas that are prone to destruction. The helicopter landed at Huai Nam Dang National Park, where Mr. Suwit Kaewpiyarat, the National Park’s superintendent, arranged the reception. In the afternoon, the Project Review team of MNRE had a meeting with organizations relevant with forest encroachment in the area of Tambol Wat Jan, Mae Jaem District (Forest Resources Management Regional Office 1 and Protected Areas Regional Office 16). The Project Review team of MNRE listened to presentation about solutions to solve problems and gave recommendations, as well as emphasized the responsible organizations to speed up processes to solve the problems.
Friday 18 December 2009: The Project Review team of MNRE visited and discussed with the deputy governor of Chiang Mai Province (Mr. Chumporn Saengmanee) about issues on forest encroachment in Chiang Mai. They also discussed about solutions to handle the problem of smoke and dust from forest fire. After that, the team of inspectors from MNRE attended the First Round Project Review of 2010 Fiscal Year together with central and regional organizations in Project Review Zones 15, 16, 17, and 18 at the main meeting room of Huay Kaew Management Division, Protected Areas Regional Office 16, Muang District, Chiang Mai Province. For the fiscal year of 2010, there are 3 projects to be inspected according to the Project Review planned together with the Office of Prime Minister as the followings.
1. “Forest Fire Protection with People Participation” Project of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation (DNP). The operating units for the northern areas are Protected Areas Regional Offices 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16.
2. “Promotion of Tree Planting for Economics, Social, and Environment” Project of Royal Forest Department (RFD). The operating units for the northern areas are Forest Resources Management Regional Offices 1, 2, 3, 4, and 4 (Nakhonsawan Branch).
3. Project to improve constructions for water utilization before transferring to local administrations. The project is under responsibility of Department of Water Resources (DWR). The operating units for the northern areas are Water Resources Regional Offices 1, 2, and 9.
In addition, the MNRE’s Project Review team has more projects in northern areas to inspect according to the Project Review Plan of MNRE. These additional projects include:
1. Project to improve and rehabilitate natural water sources, under Department of Water Resources
2. Project to study and assess potential of groundwater source development for supporting royal initiated projects, under Department of Groundwater Resources
3. Project to prevent forest fire and control smoke and dust from forest fire, under DNP, RFD and 8 Provincial Natural Resources and Environment Offices in Upper Northern provinces.
4. Conservative Tourism Project, under DNP
5. Project to accelerate protected area demarcation, under DNP
6. Project to find measures to protect and rehabilitate landslide areas, under Department of Mineral Resources
7. Project to protect and suppress forest resources encroachment, under DNP and RFD.
For this occasion, the MNRE’s Project Review team has given recommendations about measures to operate projects efficiently, so that respected organizations can use to improve their operations and solve problems and obstructions.
