The Royal rural development efforts attracted a large number of donors, whose contributions formed the basis of SUPPORT, or the Foundation for the Promotion of Supplementary Occupations and Related Techniques, founded in 1976 under Their Majesty’s Royal Patronage and Chairmanship. The promotional work of the foundation has been recognized as highly effective, particularly since SUPPORT provides outlets for local wares and handicrafts from all regions of the Kingdom.
In 1979, the Support Foundation Chitralada Training Center was set up to teach Thai arts and crafts to children of landless villagers. Through this project, Her Majesty succeeded in preserving some dying arts. At the present time, there are hundreds of thousands of poor and needy families around the country whose livelihoods have been much improved through Her Majesty’s SUPPORT projects.
While improving the livelihood of Her people through the SUPPORT Project, Her Majesty worked simultaneously on the conservation of natural resources and the environment. The Highland Agricultural Development Stations initiated by Her Majesty, Her “Forests Love Water”, “Little House in the Big Forest” and “Sirikit Reforestation” project has enabled people to live in harmony with nature. Forests that had been ravaged have been replanted with useful trees and medicinal plants. Watersheds have been restored and preventive measures put in place against forest fires. In addition, during the past decades Her Majesty launched many other notable environmental conservation projects, to name a few: “Offshore Natural Rehabilitation”, “Sea Turtle Conservation”, “Metallic Beetle Conservation”, “Lady Slipper Orchid Conservation By returning Them to the Wilderness”, “Elephant Conservation by Releasing Them to Return to the Forest”, and “Rehabilitation of Thai Fish, River Prawns, Mountain Frogs, Native Fowls, etc., to Feed the People”.