Rescuing Thailand’s natural riches
For many years, Pilai Poonswad and Pisit Charnsnoh, working separately in different parts of Thailand, have poured their time and resources into raising environmental awareness and rescuing two iconic species – the spectacular hornbill, for Poonswad, and the charismatic dugong, for Charnsnoh. Both have won Rolex Awards to support their endeavours.
Interviewed by scientist and author Julian Cribb at Bangkok’s Mahidol University, they voice their fears that, despite the efforts of many conservationists, humanity is fighting a losing battle as natural habitats are being destroyed more quickly than they can be replaced. The two Laureates call on governments, schools, corporations and individuals to make a massive effort to protect the environment. They also declare their intention to work together to save their country’s natural treasures.
What is the greatest challenge facing Thai conservation today?
Pilai Poonswad: The challenge is to instil pride in our heritage as a nation – to change attitudes from selfishness and greed towards a greater care for the environment and for other human beings.
Pisit Charnsnoh: Buddhism stresses the importance of compassion and respect for nature, animals, trees, spirits. But people no longer respect nature. Unless we educate them, they don’t love the dugong in the ocean or the hornbill in the forest. Society is driven by the need for economic development, which leads, after a short-term harvest, to pollution and degradation. The challenge is understanding how we can educate people to change this attitude.
Q: Is there any prospect of success, do you think?
Pilai Poonswad: I can see changes. It is possible. The villagers who were killing or harming the hornbill chicks have now completely stopped. [These villagers were the focus of the educational component of Poonswad’s campaign to save the hornbill.] They call us whenever they find a new nest; they are very excited about it. It is about rediscovering our relationship with nature: to conserve the hornbill, we have to conserve its habitat, one depends on the other. The villagers are starting to appreciate that – they are very sad when a hornbill pair fails to breed.
Pilai Poonswad and Pisit Charnsnoh in discussion at the Hornbill Education Centre,
Mahidol University, Bangkok.
©Rolex Awards/Kirsten Holst
Pisit Charnsnoh: Our dugong project is very similar. People have changed from being woodcutters to mangrove forest planters, where before they were not interested in mangroves. They did not understand the dugong and its needs – but now they are very proud of it and dedicated to protecting both it and its habitat.
Pilai Poonswad: To apply these ideas you need to think about the culture of the community, to identify its problems and so find a way to protect the environment. We need people to understand this is their problem, and they need to solve it for themselves. We can only provide advice and guidance: we cannot claim to fully understand their needs. So they identify their problems and from there you go step by step.
Pisit Charnsnoh: I agree. We are talking about people power. Conservation is about the power of local, often poor, people. This is the kind of conservation that really contributes to the community, to the nation and to the world.
We have selected the dugong and hornbill as flagship species because we want to see them survive, and we want to see a strong habitat supporting both them and the people in the community. It’s a strategic approach. It can happen anywhere in the world.
Q: Why have these iconic species, dugong and hornbill, proved so successful?
Pilai Poonswad: The hornbill is a keystone species because it is responsible for seed dispersal in the forests. You could say they are an umbrella species. The hornbill protects biodiversity under its wings. It is a key indicator species of a healthy habitat.
Pisit Charnsnoh: The dugong too is an indicator of a healthy coastal habitat.
Pilai Poonswad: The hornbill is also huge, it makes a loud noise. It is very spectacular. It is monogamous – and so it is a symbol of honesty and integrity. The hornbill takes great care of its family and it disperses seed which benefits the whole forest community. It holds great symbolism for human life.
The Faculty of Science at Mahidol University established
Pilai Poonswad’s Hornbillb Education Centre on the
university campus in Bangkok.
©Rolex Awards/Kirsten Holst
Pisit Charnsnoh: Yes, the dugong too is a marvellous mother. She is pregnant for 13 months and nurses her baby for two years. It is a wonderful relationship. Both species speak to people about what we should be like.
Q: And you think this approach can readily transfer to other places, other ecosystems?
Pilai Poonswad: I think it is possible to find a symbolic species in most ecosystems and encourage people to look after it.
Pisit Charnsnoh: The ecosystem [in the dugong project] extends from the mountain to the sea. There is the mountain, the forest, the mangrove and the seagrass. They are all connected by fresh water. On land, the sago palm protects soil and water, and creates a healthy ecosystem. It grows in any river or creek that never dries, and encourages fish to breed. I like to use the sago palm as the symbolic ecological link between the mountain and the sea.
Q: Your projects have so much in common. Have you considered bringing them together?
Pilai Poonswad: Sure, we see an opportunity to bring our projects together. The hornbill helps to regenerate the forests and they in turn keep the watershed healthy.
Pisit Charnsnoh: Water is like a corridor. It links the mountain to the sea. My intention is to bring Professor Poonswad to Trang [the Thai province where Pisit Charnsnoh’s dugong project is based]. We will sit together and talk about how we can integrate our projects to create a healthier river basin.
Pilai Poonswad: Yes, it will be a win-win project! We both have foundations to support our work. Maybe we can have a joint foundation and help one another. I am considering stepping down from my academic duties in about three years: I want young people to take over the work, to let them grow. When I retire from the university [Pilai Poonswad is a Professor of Biology], I intend to work mainly for the foundation [Hornbill Research Foundation]. I will be free to work for the hornbills. I would like to organize many more conservation activities, like eco-camps to bring children into contact with nature.
Pisit Charnsnoh: I work to support the young in my project also.
Q: With such a crowded, resource-hungry world, are you optimistic about the future?
Pisit Charnsnoh: It is very difficult to be optimistic. The trend of world development is leading to unsustainability. The conservation of marine and forest ecosystems is becoming very difficult. I am not certain if they can be fully protected. However, from our projects we know that if you increase ordinary people’s understanding, more and more can be achieved. We can perhaps slow down the processes of destruction.
Pilai Poonswad: The resources we are using are not renewable. I am not sure how long we will have sufficient resources for all our needs. The most urgent necessity is to change the ethics of the new generation – at the moment they have little consideration for these issues.
Two of Thailand’s leading conservationists, Pilai Poonswad and Pisit Charnsnoh, share
concerns about the destruction of their country’s extraordinary wildlife.
©Rolex Awards/Kirsten Holst
Pisit Charnsnoh: I believe we can change their perspective. We are making a start by working with schoolchildren. Young children are very concerned. They are very dedicated to what they learn about the environment. Unfortunately this does not continue in later schooling and in higher education, as it needs to.
In my view, governments should also pay more attention to reducing the gap between rich and poor. There should be special funding to support people in their efforts to live sustainably within their environment, to protect the forest and the sea, and the river basin in between.
Pilai Poonswad: We cannot wait. Governments have a lot to do. I believe the private sector, the corporate sector, could be doing more for society in this regard. Also private individuals. Conservation is everybody’s duty.
Pisit Charnsnoh: Everybody’s.
Pilai Poonswad: It is our environment, so everyone must now pay attention. Governments, corporations and individual citizens, especially school children. We all need to learn how to be human beings in tune with the nature that protects and supports us.
I think the education system should build ecology into every level, every subject, every field of study. The message should be: this is your environment – look after it.
Pisit Charnsnoh: I support this very much. There is nothing in the school curriculum about mangroves and seagrass – yet they are vital to the fish we eat and to coastal communities. So we have introduced this issue into some schools – the idea of looking after sago palm, mangrove and seagrass ecosystems, to protect the dugong and the human community.
Pilai Poonswad: Yes. If the children can learn to appreciate the importance of habitat, to understand the idea of an ecosystem, we can succeed.
Julian Cribb
Get Inspired
Download the new screensaver featuring images from Laureate projects over the 30-year history of the Rolex Awards.
Download NowReceive email notification of new information on the Rolex Awards for Enterprise.
Sign Up