With the big estuaries of 2 rivers, the Chanthaburi river from the mountains on the northern part and the Wen river from the mountains on the eastern part, Chanthaburi province used to boast the biggest home of the pristine mangrove forests in the eastern seaboard of Thailand.

But in recent years, the booming of the aquaculture, especially the shrimp farming for export, has been the cause of mass destruction of the invaluable mangrove forests. The public forests were invaded, dykes were put up, trees were flooded and drowned, then dug out by backhoes, giving way for the tiger prawns.

Ecological damages can be seen all over, but, like anywhere else, the urge for the sudden acquisition of wealth always prevails.

We are doing the opposite. Every year between March and May, when the mangrove seedlings from the remaining forests are ripe, our cutters become reforesters. We would go on the boats and collect the mangrove seedlings and plant them. As planned, we have completed planting 13,000 trees in the adjacent property we bought that used to be an old shrimp farm and will eventually turn it into a refuge for natural species. Our program extends to the nearby remaining but degrading public mangrove forests as well.

We will continue our reforestation program until there is no more space to grow. If by any chance, you happen to be in Chanthaburi during the season and want to make some merits by planting some trees, you're very welcome. We could always use an extra hand.