CONTEXT
Thailand is a global leader in rice production and exports. Increased rice production over the past decades without sustainable landscape management has resulted in environmental degradation, greenhouse gas emissions, and declines in biodiversity and ecosystem services.
The ISRL project is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) through a multi-focal area grant to address Biodiversity, Land Degradation, Climate Mitigation, and Food Systems, Land Use and Restoration (FOLUR) and by Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), to transform agricultural production landscapes in Thailand (Ubon Ratchathani and Chiang Rai) to balance social, economic, and environmental interests.
OBJECTIVE
The project seeks to transform the rice sector into a sustainable agricultural system through integrated land use, natural resources and environmental management.
APPROACHES
Through collaboration between government agencies, the private sector, research institutes, and farmers, the project is advancing an integrated landscape management approach to shift from conventional rice farming systems to more environmentally resilient production systems. This is being achieved by strengthening policies, capacity and the financing mechanisms needed to upscale the adoption of sustainable rice production, thereby maintaining, restoring and improving rice-dominated agriculture landscapes and their surrounding biodiversity and ecosystems.
The project’s approaches are as follows:
Component 1 Policy support on landscape-scale management for sustainable rice production
The project will support capacity building within and collaboration between ministries (including MoAC and MoNRE) to foster development of a national vision and roadmap for integrated management of rice production landscapes, which includes biodiversity protection, watershed management, forest restoration, and reduced agro-chemical pollution.
Component 2 Enhance the management of forests, watersheds, and biodiversity in two target provinces
Provincial governments and relevant national agencies will develop and implement provincial-level land-management plans in Chiang Rai and Ubon Ratchathani provinces to achieve forest restoration, sustainable land use and management, and conservation goals. A performance monitoring system at landscape scale will be tested to help adjust and refine plans. Initiatives will include gender-inclusive agriculture diversification and agroforestry programmes, which support forest connectivity and biodiversity protection, and can encourage investment in healthy ecosystems.
Component 3 Establish finance mechanisms for sustainable rice production
The project will support the design, development and/or scaling of innovative, market-based financing approaches, in combination with mobilising investment from the private sector, government and producers. Moreover, the project aims to facilitate the adoption of more sustainable rice farming practices on 90,000 hectares of rice fields, while at the same time contributing to watershed protection, ecosystem and biodiversity preservation, soil restoration, and forest protection.
Component 4 Knowledge management and outreach for national and regional upscaling
The project will foster knowledge exchange to other areas in Thailand and to at least two ASEAN countries. This includes encouraging sustainable agricultural production according to national and international standards which consider economic, social and environmental benefits, such as the Thai Agricultural Standard Sustainable Rice developed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MoAC), and which can support a monitoring and evaluation system. The project facilitates coordination among relevant stakeholders.
FINANCED BY
- German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) through its DeveloPPP Program
- United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) through Global Environment Facility (GEF)
COUNTRY
Thailand
PROJECT PARTNERS
- Ministry of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (MoAC), led by Rice Department
- Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment
PROJECT DURATION
04/2023 – 03/2027