APINYA WIPATAYOTIN
Forestry officials have been despatched to track down trees planted by His Majesty the King at Royal Forestry Department sites countrywide.
The initiative is part of the department's campaign to promote forest conservation and to celebrate His Majesty's 81st birthday.
The officials' mission is to visit all trees which were planted by His Majesty during ceremonies hosted by the department, and make a profile of each tree.
The report and photographs of the trees will be presented to the King as a gift for his birthday, said Natural Resources and Environment Minister Anongwan Thepsuthin.
"We would like him to see how tall they are and whether the trees he planted are still healthy," she said.
It is typical for a host agency of a ceremony or special event in Thailand to request a respected person presiding over the event to plant a perennial tree to bless the place.
The tree is also a memento of the person's visit.
Forest conservation has always been among His Majesty's priority works.
He has initiated several forest rehabilitation projects and presided over the launching of the department's forest conservation projects where he planted trees to promote public awareness of preserving the green area.
According to an initial survey by the Forestry Department in 24 provinces, the King has planted at least 60 trees of 26 species at the department's offices and reforestation sites.
A teak tree at a botanical garden in Ratchaburi was likely to be the first royally-planted tree, when His Majesty presided over a ceremony in the province in 1956.
The latest royal tree-planting ceremony was in 2002 when he planted mangrove trees in Prachuap Khiri Khan.
The King has also planted trees in Bangkok, including a teak tree at Wat Bavorn Nives, a flame tree at Thammasat University and a Copper Pod tree at Kasetsart University.
The royal-tree tracing scheme was also aimed at promoting forest conservation and rehabilitation under the theme "63 million trees for the King", said Mrs Anongwan.
"We want to encourage Thais to plant one tree each as a gift to our beloved King," she said, adding that people should take a photo of themselves planting a tree and send to the ministry.
The ministry also plans to produce 900,000 postcards featuring photos of His Majesty planting a tree.
The postcards would help inspire his subjects to take care of the forest and plant more trees.
Prev
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
Next
