This project helps disadvantaged rural families in Thailand start sustainable organic farming as an alternative to poaching wildlife and illegal logging. Help more families make this transition to save living ecosystems.
There are hundreds of poor rural villages in close proximity to Thailand's Eastern Forest Complex, which is home to endangered tigers, elephants, hornbills, bears, gibbons and many other wild animals. Few opportunities for employment exist and wages are very low, barely enough to subsist on. Communities rely on the forest in many ways, but unsustainable poaching is damaging the environment and now threatening legitimate livelihoods, such as farming.
This project helps rural families escape poverty and reduces pressure on nearby ecosystems. Through training and support, it helps families to establish their own low-impact, sustainable, organic mushroom farming businesses.
The organic farming businesses developed through this project can provide whole villages with a sustainable livelihood. Loan repayments by existing project members fund the next household to join. Wildlife and forests can bounce back if root causes of poaching and illegal logging are addressed.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
