SIX SENSES DRIVES REFORESTATION CARBON EMISSIONS MITIGATION

Six Senses Resorts & Spas has planted the first 300 trees of a reforestation project in northern Thailand as part of a mitigation of climate changing carbon emissions.

The Earth Charter Foundation is coordinating the Six Senses Fragrant Forest project as part of the UNESCO approved Earth Charter for a cleaner and healthier world.

Six Senses, a world leading luxury resort and spa development and management company, joins aid agencies, governments and private companies in supporting mitigation projects to curb the threat of severe climate change caused by human-made hydrocarbon emissions and greenhouse gases caused by the burning of fossil fuels.

By planting trees on deforested land Six Senses offsets carbon emission while helping people at the community level overcome soil erosion, protect crop-yielding land and restore natural habitats.

The British medical journal The Lancet has published a report warning that climate change had become the biggest health threat facing the world.

Researchers from the University College of London found that the indirect effects of climate change on water, food security and extreme climatic events were likely to have the biggest effect on global health. Most aid agencies are now incorporating the impacts of climate change into their plans and activities on the ground.

Six Senses Fragrant Forest project is located in the Pang Hai Valley of Mai Rim in a mountain enclave 100 kilometres from Chiang Mai International Airport in northern Thailand.

The first batch of saplings planted was a northern Thailand indigenous species named Magnolia Alba, which is also known locally as the Jumpar (white flower) tree. The next batch to be planted will be the Jumpee (yellow flower) tree.

Magnolia Alba is respected as a sacred tree by farmers and community leaders, and the village head of the Pang Hai community, Duangthip Komjoy, praised Six Senses for selecting Jumpar trees for the first planting, as white flowering trees would be a lasting symbol of people's respect for nature.

"Jumpar and Jumpee trees grow extremely well on the higher mountain land. When farmers and the local communities smell the freshness of the air with the scent of the tree flowers it will carry the message that we are custodians of the land and that we must respect trees that protect natural habitats."

Pang Hai community leaders have identified 600,000 rai of common land where trees can be planted and maintained for a minimum of 40 years, as is the reforestation requirement of the Earth Charter Foundation.

"Legally people cannot build or cut down trees on common land. Projects like Six Senses Fragrant Forest replace the trees that have disappeared and the new trees planted will grow strong and protect the land for future generations."

Pang Hai tenth generation farmer Naron Panyang, his wife Nantah Janjob and other villagers planted Six Senses' 300 Magnolia Alba trees over a period of three days.

"My family has been growing crops here for many centuries but only recently have we become aware of the value of trees after seeing the land suffer when the trees were cut down. Now no one is allowed to remove trees and it's good that we can grow more trees to restore the forests."

The Earth Charter Foundation has established its Thailand base at Pang Hai to oversee the planting and maintenance of the Six Senses Fragrant Forest.

The local primary school located adjacent to the first stage of the reforestation has become actively involved with the Six Senses project with the students already learning how to grow trees while receiving hands on education on land use, the environment and the issue of climate change.