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4 minute read
Easthern Region
Panus Nikom Town Municipality Panus Nikom District, Chonburi
Vision: Sustainable development based on sufficiency economy philosophy for Panus Nikom to become a livable city Population: 10,230 (2018) Number of communities: 12 Area: 2.76 square kilometers
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Panus Nikom is a small, peaceful community with a total area of only 2.76 square kilometers. The town, however, possesses some unique characteristics from its long-standing history, local traditions, cultures, and renowned crafts products. Panus Nikom Municipality’s local administration policies highlight the importance of natural and environmental conservation, which uses a sufficiency economy philosophy to preserve soil, water, and forestland and maintain the town’s ecosystem.
Environmentally Sustainable City Management Model
Key of Success
Build a town through people’s participation from brainstorming, action while being prepared for consequences and collective assessment.
City of trees and low carbon emission
Striving to become a low carbon emission town, Panus Nikom prioritizes the conservation of the carbon sink. The approach has been put into practice through the preservation of big trees and the expansion of green spaces. A primary survey was conducted to register every large tree growing in the municipal area, following by the creation of a ‘tree map’, which helps the maintenance of big trees more convenient. In 2011, the municipality conducted another survey and registered 969 trees, which accounted to the storage capacity of 85.49 tons of carbon dioxide. The survey currently registers 4,050 trees, which account to 8-square meter green space per capita. The municipality is working to achieve the goal of 12-square meter green space per capita.
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Sustainable Waste Management
Despite being a reasonably small town covering the area of only 2.76-square kilometers, Panus Nikom produced 20-ton waste daily. Therefore, the municipality set an objective to reduce the amount of generated wastes to 14 tons per day. The leftover organic wastes such as vegetable and fruit scraps from local markets are collected daily by garbage trucks provided by the municipality. The wastes are converted and end up producing over 400-kilogram compost per day. The fallen leaves from local public parks are also collected and turned into compost. The locals also work together with the municipality in reducing the use of foam and plastic products. However, there are few numbers of merchants who are still secretly using plastic bags.
Tree Registration
The town’s green spaces have tremendously impacted people’s way of life and living standards. The expansion of green space has always been one of the issues Panus Nikom municipality prioritizes. The green space survey works to document and register every tree with more than 14-centimeter circumference growing in the municipality. The municipality works together with the Department of Environmental promotion in collecting data of the town’s green space and the quantity of waste generated in the area. The data is synced to SAR: Self-Assessment Report and linked to the municipality’s collected data on greenhouse gases.
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Waste-free schools
Panus Nikom municipality encourages the local municipality schools to join the Eco-School project developed from the environmental studies curriculum and become zero-waste schools. The schools have asked students to prepare their food containers, cutlery, and cup. The school cafeteria vendors are required to prepare containers made of natural materials, which can be insufficient for the number of students. As a result, if a student didn’t bring their utensils, there might be a chance that they would miss a meal. Other activities are such as organic vegetable planting, Thai herb garden, extracted bio liquid and products made of recycled materials. The initiative hopes to cultivate a new mindset in waste management through academic knowledge and school experiences for the students to become responsible adults with an awareness and understanding of waste management.
Learning Center for Environmental Management
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This model for successful and practical green city initiatives includes planting more trees to exceed WHO’s standard green space per capita (9-square-meters), big tree registration, and the improvement of landscapes and public spaces to create a livable and pleasant urban environment.
Learning Center # 2 Srikittiwannanusorn Municipality School 1
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Srikittiwannanusorn Municipality School is a model for school and community environmental management with successful results in carbon emission reduction. The school organized activities such as organic vegetable farming, herb garden, extracted bio liquid, and biofertilizer production, consumer products made of recycled materials. These activities hope to cultivate a mindset and awareness about waste management and encourage participation between local administrative organizations, executive officers, schools, faculty members, and the student body to reduce carbon emission. The school has been campaigning the students to bring their utensils for the school meals while school cafeteria vendors are required to use only natural materials such as containers made of banana leaves.
Learning Center # 3 Panus Nikom Municipality’s learning center for the livable town, livable community
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Health and environmentally friendly products from organic wastes and the integration of local wisdom in local herb planting using EM technology are parts of the initiatives to encourage community members to take part in the treatment and improvement of wastewater quality at a household and community level.