Chiang Kian Subdistrict Municipality

Chiang Kian Subdistrict Municipality Toeng District, Chiang Rai

Vision: Chiang Kian, livability, cultural appreciation to become ASEAN’s model green city Population: 4,344 (2018) Number of communities: 12 Area: 76.3 square meters

“Chiang Kian is a clean and livable town that is home to citizens whose happy lives and wellbeing coincide with their appreciation and inheritance of local wisdom, under the sufficiency economy philosophy. The people actively participate in the community’s environmental management, which hopes for Chiang Kian to become a model ASEAN town.” The aforementioned is the objective this small town aims to attain when it comes to its local administration. Such intention has led to many developmental activities, encompassing art and cultural conservation to local wisdom under the sufficiency economy philosophy. With its focus on environmental management, Chiang Kian subdistrict municipality issues policies that require every village to complete community forest registration. The town also develops a set of rules and regulations that will enable community forests to benefit the people and the environment while maintaining the sustainability of the local ecosystem.

Environmentally Sustainable City Management Model

Key of Success

Include problems as a part of the policymaking process, which encourages collective and collaborative brainstorming and mobilization to reach the shared goals.

Create a successful model and expand the approach and practice to other areas with consideration in each community’s preparedness and context.

Put a focus on sustainable conservation and use of local forestland to maintain ecological balance.

Every conserved forest is the foundation of sustainable resources.

The forestland of Phu Khao Kaew that home to Baan Phu Khao Kaew Community is a part of the Chiang Kian subdistrict municipality. The forest was once in a pristine condition and served as a local natural resource for locals. It was until the concession granted to a private company that the forestland began to diminish starkly. It was in 1995 when community leaders and the village committee finally acknowledged the importance of forest. Such awareness led to a discussion with community members to come up with forest encroachment prevention measures followed by the area of the local forestland being defined by

Due to the spread of dengue virus in the area several years ago, Chiang Kian subdistrict municipality, being a relatively small community and did not have sufficient facilities and services to carry out efficient waste management, was starting to recognize the importance of diminishing waste production of local households. The community promotes waste sorting from the source, the mid-way processes to the destination. Every home is required to separate wastes into four categories: recycled waste, organic wastes, general wastes, and hazardous wastes. The establishment of the Waste Bank Fund enables the local community to organize activities with the fund from local waste trade. geographically recognizable borders. In 2014, the Department of Forestry certified 313.65 acres forestland into a community forest with the plan of including the additional 3 acres. The establishment of Phu Khao Kaew Community Forest Committee led to the development of rules and regulations, which put the forestland under strict conservational use and activities to keep the community forest in its best condition. Activities include afforestation, tree ordination rituals, surveys, creating a database of indigenous plants, and biodiversity. The forest also serves as students’ natural classroom where they can learn about the local ecosystem and

Waste reduction, disease prevention

environment.