26 February 2007

We were up early to film an interview with Ajarn Yak, who had to leave ahead of us for a meeting in Sa Kaew Province. Ajarn Yak originally worked as a note-taker for the King of Thailand. Through this work he learnt first-hand about the King’s thinking for the development of a self-sufficient economy in Thailand, and the “Our Loss is Our Gain” philosophy. Later on, frustrated by farmers who didn’t believe the ideas that he presented to them based on this thinking, Ajarn Yak resigned his job to develop a working model.

He chose a piece of land owned by his brother near Chonburi, an area that is heavily industrialized and where water is very short. He began with soil that was as hard as rock from years of misuse. From this beginning he created the Agri-Nature Foundation and a learning centre that has now hosted about 300,000 people from all around Thailand. The approach has simple goals, to create:

• Enough food to eat
• Enough to live (eg, trees for simple housing)
• Enough plants to live (eg, plants for making natural shampoos, herbal medicine etc.)
• Enough for energy self-sufficiency (eg, biogas through on-site waste treatment)
• With these four needs satisfied you have the basis for two very important things:
• A comfortable environment (cool air (important in the tropical heat) and a warm heart)
• Enough to help develop inner spirit

Ajarn Yak is deeply dedicated to transforming Thailand, and addressing the effects of very heavy chemical use which has severely degraded many areas, and of rapid deforestation which has contributed to land degradation. This work is also very mindful of climate change, both in terms of creating resilience against weather extremes and also helping reduce greenhouse gas emissions and providing carbon sinks.

The day was hectic, on the move following Ajarn Yak’s trail and eventually catching up with him near Sa Kaew, in an area of degraded land with a thunderstorm overhead.

We spent the night sleeping (as well as we could!) on a packed earth floor!