THE DOI TUNG DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
UNDER ROYAL INITIATIVE

FROM THAT DAY.

The Doi Tung Development Project was established under Royal Initiative on January 16, 1987, with the objective of undertaking the rehabilitation of degraded forest area extending over an area of 93,515 rai or 149.62 square kilometres. The Doi Tung Development Project area covers a total of 27 villages situated in the Thoed Thai sub-district of the Mae Fah Luang district of Chiang Rai province, representing 2,582 families or a total population of 10,359. The 27 villages of various ethnic minority groups that lie within the project area consist primarily of hill tribe communities such as the Akha, Lahu, Tai Yai; Shan and Chinese migrants who accompanied the 93 rd Infantry of Kuomintang. The Doi Tung Development Project is divided into three phases, with planned project activities extending over a period of 30 years. Phase I From 1988 to 1993 Phase II From 1994 - 2002 Phase III From 2003 - 2017

ACHIEVEMENTS TO DATE
In the last decade, 17.80% of the Doi Tung Development project area has been successfully reforested in accordance with the wishes of Her Royal Highness the Princess Mother.

• THE ROYAL FOREST
  To mark the most auspicious occasion of Her Royal Highness the Princess Mother's 90^th birthday anniversary of in 1989, a total of 990,000 trees consisting of mountain pine, teak trees and other native species well-suited to high elevations, were planted in 9,000 rai (1,440 hectares) of land.
  
  
• ECONOMIC FORESTS
  As part of the crop substitution programme launched in 1989, arabica coffee and macadamia trees replaced the cultivation of opium as an economic crop. A total of 3,642 rai of land, 2613 rai was planted with Arabica Coffee shrubs and 1,029 rai with Macadamia trees.
  
  
• SUBSISTENCE FORESTS
  In 1993, an area of 4,000 rai was planted with fruit trees, vegetables and other like tea, bananas and bamboo trees to generate supplemental income and to provide sources of food for the villagers.

TODAY.
Although HRH the Princess Mother is no longer with us, her vision serves as a guiding light setting the direction for Phase III of the Doi Tung Development Project.

Residents of the community earn steady income from the sales of agricultural products and handicrafts. Environmentally-friendly employment activities are conducted in tandem with reforestation initiatives.

To ensure that the project delivers products that meet local and international market demands, research and product development is undertaken by the Doi Tung Development Project on an ongoing basis.

With the project area, social problems, such as migration and prostitution, have been alleviated, and the cultivation of opium poppy, the production of opium and the trade in opium and narcotics has completely ceased.

As a result of its outstanding achievements in the alleviation of rural poverty and the eradication of the cultivation, production, trafficking and consumption of opium and opiates, the Doi Tung Development Project under Royal Initiative has become an internationally-recognised model for sustainable development.