Koh Yao Noi, an island in Thailand’s World Heritage listed Phang Nga Bay and famous for its extensive mangrove forests, was one of the areas affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster of December 2004. Many communities throughout the bay were badly affected. In the case of Koh Yao Noi, the damage included the destruction of around 48 hectares of mangrove forest fringing the island. The local community, which depends heavily on eco-tourism and fishing, decided to do something about it.

Since 2005, students from the Koh Yao Noi school, working together with the Chiba Environmental Council (Japan), Koh Yao Noi Eco-Tourism Club and with coordination from NACA have endeavoured to restore the environmental damage from the tsunami, and to improve the livelihoods of local people through a variety of initiatives.

One of the main activities has been the annual replanting of seedlings of locally occurring mangroves and tropical forest trees to regenerate the damaged areas, carried out each year since 2005, on the anniversary of H.M. The King’s birthday, with financial assistance principally from the Chiba Environmental Council but also from NACA. Over the years more than 12,000 seedlings have been planted, and the activity continues to grow.

Each year since 2006 members of the Chiba Environmental Council, mainly retired teachers, scientists and engineers, have visited at their own expense to teach at the Koh Yao Noi School on subjects including biodiversity of tropical rain forests, reducing global warming, natural paper making techniques and many other environmental issues.

In July 2009 the Koh Yao Noi branch of the community-based Tree Bank was formally established, with its headquarters in Chumporn Province. The main objectives of the tree bank are to:

• Increase rainforest coverage on the island by planting timber and wood trees in privately owned land.
• Certify the planted trees as assets for collateral of loans.
• Assure sufficient wood supplies on the island without causing net deforestation.
• Plant mangroves in public areas for conservation purposes.

Within its first 12 months of operation, there were more than 145 members in the bank and it was planting more than 27 species of timber and more than five species of mangrove. Initially, the bank provided saplings free of charge which members used to plant both public areas and private plots. In 2010, the tree planting programme extended to cover Tah Kao Village on the northern part of the island where the damaged area was much greater.

The tree planting programme will continue in 2013. Over the past year many of the replanted areas have been impacted by a very serious drought affecting the island, but the tree bank has managed to save more than 80% of the trees by arranging pumps to supply heavy watering. However, some species have been more badly affected than others, and the least tolerant species will not be selected for the next afforestation.

2013 will also mark the first cooperation with Global Change Systems for Analysis, Research and Training (START), a non-profit organisation that promotes research-driven capacity building to advance knowledge on global environmental change in Africa and Asia-Pacific. The Chiba Environmental Council will offer a training course on “Nature Conservancy for Promotion of Community Based Eco-tourism” for the Koh Yao Noi Ecotourism Club and for junior guides (students from the Koy Yao Noi school), with support from both START and NACA.