I. First progress report (July 9, 2008)
Activities undertaken:
1. Building capacity of target group on management of natural resources and environment and on technical skill to reduce community pollutants
2. Re-vegetating and overseeing degraded watershed area with native species
3. Demarcating and managing conservation zones of 150-meter long
4. Launching nursery for native species of medicinal value

Results of activities:
1. Increased awareness and capacity of at least 30 project leaders who actively shared experience on local environment issues and successive management approaches with a community network that had been bestowed with the ?Green Globe Award?.
2. About 200 trees of fast-growing native species being planted and maintained to be used as fire-woods
3. About 1,000 trees of native species being planted and maintained in watershed area
4. One fish-observation raft was established through cooperation from concerned government agencies within Chiangsaen District.
5. Emergence of a 50-member group producing organic solutions to be used in kitchens and bathrooms
6. About 1,000 ha of forest areas being free of wild-fire within five months
7. Emergence of a 10-member group substantially growing and using native species of medicinal and nutritious value.

Project communication:
1. Distributing copies of project documents in meetings with local government agencies and network of communities
2. Exhibition and announcement during traditional events
3. The project was made known through community radio FM 106,107.5 MHz

Problems, Issues, Experience and lessons learnt:
1. Practices on conservation of environment and rehabilitation of natural resources were new issues for majority of communities. Project activities were moving comparatively slowly. Persistent participatory approach at community level were applied to instill awareness and increase capacity.
2. Most portions of project area were overlapping with government area ? shutting down opportunity of communities to advance in term of re-vegetating
3. Coordination with community should be more persistent to ensure continuity of project. This issue was solved by launching discussions as sub-group.

Project expense:
The project reported the expense of THB 229,563 out of the first disbursement of THB 221,066.68.

II. Monitoring visit by the NC ( November 14, 2008)
Findings and observation:
Project location is a portion of catchment area of Mekong river comprising small forested mountains and cultivated land of both hilly and lowland terrain along a few Mekong River?s tributaries. Target population dwells in both hilly and lowland terrain growing paddy for consumption and other cash crops for additional income. Especially, during the past two decades,non-native cash crops of current public promotion had found their ways into and well received attention from average communities. Those who live in higher hilly area are a cultural group ?Akha?, while in lowland paddy fields mainstream northerners. In order to get a clearer picture of the project, the visit route was carried out by following natural water trail , i.e. , from mountainous area down to hilly cultivated area, down to lowland community cultivated area and down to a river bank.

Down one step to Baan Wiangkaew where cash crop fields and patches of land degradation dominate the scene, eight community members proudly showed and area of 100 ha which is under re-vegetation. At an estimate, over 3,000 young trees of seven native species are witnessed thriving. Community members in the village took turns to maintain these young plants.

Down another step to Baan Nong Pla Sadet, where lowland northerners dwell and practice agriculture, two main environment degradation reversing activities were witnessed. The first, managed by women?s group, dealt with nutrients run-off from households through producing and promoting the use of environmentally-friendly toiletries. The second , by men?s group dealt with nutrients run-off from cultivated areas through producing and promoting the use of bio-fertilizer in paddy fields. So far,both groups implied their satisfaction with the activities and their results.Concerning gender role in development, women and men divided their responsibilities according to physical capability. There are 20 families in the village participating in the activities, where 20 wives manage activities to reduce nutrients from household, 20 husbands provide their superior bodily strength to produce and promote bio-fertilizer.

Finally, the visit ended at a spot at Mekong River bank in front of the Opium Museum. Here, the first fish conservation zone of 200-meter was established and proclaimed under the project. According to the grantee, representatives from local authority in Lao PDR across the river had participated in the proclamation , and later, established identically a conservation zone across the Mekong in their territory.

On this day, there was a study tour from participants of Mekong Open Forum ? Transboundary Community voice, organized by eight civil society organizations at both national and international level.The project conservation zone was selected as one spot for study, and a leader of the grantee a resources person. On the list of participation, there were three known ex-grantees of GEF SGP who has been carrying out activities to reverse degradation trends of Mekong river in Chiangrai.

III. Second progress report (January 21, 2009)
Activities undertaken:
1. Furthering building capacity of target groups on management of natural resources and environment and on technical skill to reduce community pollutants ( excessive run-off of nutrient from households and cultivated land)
2. Putting into practice what were learnt in 1
3. Furthering re-vegetating degraded watershed area with native species
4. Furthering launching nursery for native species of medicinal value
5. Disseminating project results, products and related data & information through exhibition, community radio, and concert for GEF by traditional artist/musician

Results of activities:

1. Increased awareness and capacity of at least 10 out of 48 participating community members , witnessed through active participation with expressive useful relevant questions and comments during the activity
2. Increased awareness of at least 100 out of 163 participating students witnessed through active participation and alert during the activity
3. Emergence of a 50-member group to produce environmentally-friendly toiletry stuff and bio-fertilizer for daily use and sales with promising initial supplementary income
4. Initiation of local curriculum on ?knowledge of Mekong River? by 14 directors of local school situated along the river
5. Additional 8,000 native species being planted and maintained from forested upland down to cultivated lowland in the project area
6. Emergence of three community groups piloting/promoting the use of traditional medicine and recipe
7. Additional community forest area of 24 ha being demarcated
8. At least 500 community members in addition learning and understanding more about global environment

Problems, Issues, Experience and lessons learnt:

1. As mentioned before Most portions of project area were overlapping with government area ? shutting down opportunity of communities to advance in term of re-vegetating. Making use of this type of government area could be achieved through land tenure. Local or regional authority did not have authority to allow for free use. This issued would have to be addressed only at ministerial level.
2. Some environment degrading activities happened in the adjacent territory of Lao and Myanmar , such as destructive fishing by blasting and battery in Myanmar water. This practice was out of control of the project . The project would endeavor to initiate friendship and collaboration with local authorities in the country in the future.

Project expense:
The project reported the accumulated expense of THB: 456,194 out of the sum of the first ans second disbursements of THB: 445,340.13.

IV. Mid-course evaluation workshop (September 1-2, 2009)
Together with eight other projects of the same grant cycle ( Project number:THA-SGP-OP4-RAF-07-01 to THA-SGP-OP4-RAF-07-06 and THA-SGP-OP4-CORE-07-01 to THA-SGP-OP4-CORE-07-04), the project attended the mid-course evaluation workshop.

Workshop-at-a-glance:
The meeting room of Par Darng Camp, in Petburi Province?s Kaengkrajarn District, the venue of the workshop, welcomed 24 representatives from 9 SGP projects from 9 provinces across the country and other five members of GEF SGP country team comprising NSC members , National Coordinator and programme assistants participating in the event. Literally, these 9 projects were dubbed among SGP
Thailand as GEF SGP Class 9 with project numbers enumerated above. One project missed this sharing opportunity, due to its internal managerial problem.

The workshop was opened with welcoming address by an NSC member stating workshop objectives and encouraging participants to openly share results of project activities and lessons learnt, including emerging problems/issues encountered during implementation.

With project posters on the walls and project outputs on the tables, the NC proceeded with the posters & outputs session. Each project was given ten minutes to brief its story with questions from the audiences. A few projects spent adequate time elaborating their stories when being directed with questions.

With an NSC member as the chairperson and one volunteering minute taker from the projects, the following session saw presentation , both by power point and hanging posters/photos , from 8 projects repeating their background, undertaken activities, immediate results, lessons learnt , problems and issues. With 15 minutes allowed for each, the session went smoothly with average one topic/presentation for sharing/discussion. Additional discussion ,especially during dinner. That was the first day.

The second day began with summarization of activities of the previous day and reconfirmation of the agenda, followed by a presentation of the one remaining project. The floor then was given to the NC for showing ,through video, activities of each project he recorded during project site visits. The video had proven to be a very good mechanism to make activities of each project more visible and better understood by participants. The NC also reminded projects about compiling completion reports , then shared strategy of Operational Phase 4 and prospects of Thailand GEF SGP.

The final session of the workshop included open discussion to keep this infantile natural environment network active. It was agreed that each project would keep on contacting one another and sharing experience. Some issues of common interest included compilation of relevant knowledge for future activities, setting up regional mechanism to facilitate networking process, and publication pocket book telling stories of each and every project. Two persons from two projects volunteered to be the class or network coordinator for publishing the pocket book and a focal point to produce the network website.

V. Completion Report ( February 15 ,2010):
Date of Participatory Evaluation( December 3, 2009):

Number of Beneficiaries/ Participating personnel:
Women: 427
Men: 446
Children: 310

Number of persons trained/ attending seminars, joining study tours:
Women: 130
Men: 112
Children: 203

Expense:

Amount received from SGP (3 disbursements): THB: 684,444.89
Total amount spent out of SGP budget: THB: 752,560.00
Balance: THB: (-68,115.11)
Amount authorized for the final payment: US$: 2,226.92
Amount of Co-financing: THB: 288,300 (in cash)
THB: 930,000 (in kind)

Activities undertaken:
1. Building capacity of target group on management of natural resources and environment and on technical skill to reduce community pollutants
2. Launching nursery for native species of medicinal value
3. Re-vegetating degraded watershed area with native species
4. Demarcating and managing conservation zones
5. Conducting participatory evaluation
6. Disseminating project results, products and related data & information through a special event and community radios Results of activities:

Results and Indicators:
1. Increased institutional and technical capacity of nine communities ( over 1,400 individuals of both adults and youth) witnessed by ability to put into practice conservation activities as follows:
? Reforestation and protection of watershed area of 64 ha with 6,000 trees of native species and demarcated community forest of 24 ha
? Reforestation and planning the use of 2,000 fast growing species in marginal areas in project location
2. Emergence of the followings:
? Two centres for nature study and conservation with four plots and learning sites
? One set of compiled medicinal species
? One set of compiled local curriculum to be used in 10 schools situated along the Mekong River
? Five habitats for water species being demarcated and protected in Mekong tributaries (Ma, Kham and Sop Ruak) and Mekong River itself
3. Witnessed increase of water species in the protected habitats
4. Behavioral change of at least 150 individuals witnessed through active participation to produce environmentally - friendly toiletry and kitchen stuff ( dish washing solution, soap, shampoo and bio-fertilizers) thus reducing the use of chemical substances
5. About 1,000 individuals more learning about the project through radio, 100 participating in the event , and one set of VCD produced to show the River Life Prolonging Ritual
6. About 9,000 kg of bio-fertilizer /month produced and used in project location avoiding nutrient load from chemical fertilizer and adding to supplementary income of 50 group members by selling extra amount of bio-fertilizer
7. Increased income of environmentally-friendly toiletry stuff group by 12 %

Project Communication:
1.The project was made more visible through exhibition during special events at important public premises in Chiangsaen District and along Mekong River.
2. On 29-30 June 2009, the Chiangsaen District Office Chief promulgated a conservation zone in Ma-Sop Ruak River with 10,000 native trees being reforested, and 70,000 waster species released into this fresh water ecosystems.

Plans and Activities for Sustainability:
The project would keep on with the same activities under the ? Cultural-Ecological History for Revitalizing Local Communities Project? , which was additionally supported by the government?s Community Organization Development Institute (CODI) for one year. This new project included communities in 11 basins in northern Thailand, where this GEF SGP project location is included.

Specific activities are as follows:

1. Carrying out an overall cultural-ecological study
2. Conducting forum to train community-based researchers
3. Conducting detailed inventories and impacts
4. Organizing forum to share experience and lessons learn to launch conservation activities for all basins in Chiangrai Province

Experience , Lessons Learnt , Problems and Issues:
1. The International Trade Policy for countries in the Greater Mekong Sub-region had caused
? Intensive land speculation in and around project location that subsequently made a number of ignorant community members sell a good portion of their lands prompting quick cash crop plantation and more community forest encroachment thus more land use conflicts to solve. This resulted in a change in community livelihood. Especially, local indigenous land and forest management approach could not be put into practice easily.
? Control of water flow in Mekong River to facilitate cargo ship transportation by upstream country which directly affects fresh water ecology
? Big scale infrastructure in the three countries at Golden Triangle which also directly affected this fresh water ecology ?adding insult to the injury.
2. Intensive and less well planned water use for paddy farming in irrigated area in Kham Basin might contribute to acceleration of water species loss
3. Destructive fishing using bombs and batteries were still a problem in an area of ? no man?s land? among Thailand, Loa PDR and Myanmar ?awaiting transboundary solution.