U-Taphao Canal runs about 120 km.long starting from Tambol Samnak Taew of Sadao District to the areas of other 3 districts of Songkhla Province before draining into the Songkhla Lagoon at Tambol Khou Tao, Hadyai District of Songkhla. The canal receives its water from watershed area of Khao Nam Khang ( Nam Khang Mountain), a part of the San Kalakili Range bordering the Malaysian border.

In the past, the canal had been a source of water supply for livelihood.Apart form providing fishes, the canal had been supplying water for daily living, agriculture and a ship route for communication and transportation.

The accumulated effects of the country development programmes during the past decades has rendered the communities to be expanding.The forest encroachment and densely human settlement in some areas, expecially in the municipality of Had Yai, has caused the variation to the quantity and quality of the water in the canal and subsequently afftected the quality of water in the Songkhla Lagoon.

The Jungle Fowl Club was the result of the congregation of people from all walks of life.Its members comprise monks, teachers, policemen, lawyers and businessmen in Sadao District.They see and realize the need for conservation of the natural resources,especially, the jungle fowl which is on the verge of extinction due to direct threat of hunting by human.The Club has been distributing the fowls to interested individuals and organization. Up to now, some communities in Tambol Pa Dang Be Sar of Sadao District has become the community of Jungle Fowl Conservation.

After some degree of success, the Club has turned its attention to water conservation. Especially among members who are teachers, there has been recommendation and support from members of other occupations encouraging these teachers to introduce a water protection programme into schools. A pilot programme was implemented at schools of the Primary Education Office of Sadao District such as Ban Thab Koab School, Ban Nam Hua School, Ban Rata School and Ban Kuan Tani School.

As to the conservation education management, the focal point is the quality of the water since the issue of water quality at one location unavoidabley affects the whole range along the canal and the Lagoon/Gulf of Thailand. Therefore, there emerges the project ? collection and separation of household waste? aiming to reduce the degree of pollution in the canal.

Activities to be carried out under project:

1.Building garbage collecting and separating facilities which is a joint activity among 35 schools and their respective communities
2.Setting- up a mobile open forum for communities aiming to launch campaigns and raise awareness of target communities

Project participants and/or beneficiaries:

Students and their parents and teachers of schools in 35 communities

Anticipated results of project:

1. The quality of water in the wetland area of the canal will be under control.
2. The managing system for the canal conservation by community participation is formulated and enforced.