Tree ordination ceremonies (buat ton mal) are performed by many participants
in the Buddhist ecology movement in order to raise the awareness of the rate of
environmental destruction in Thailand and to build a spiritual commitment among
local people to conserving the forests and watersheds. Some large-scale ordinations
have been carried out for publicity and public sympathy to make the government see
the environmental impact of some of its economic development plans. (This was the
case in the southern province of Surat Thani in March 1991, when over 50 monks
and lay people entered a national park to wrap monks' robes around all the large
trees in a rainforest threatened by the construction of a dam [Pongpet 1991].) Most
tree ordinations are aimed at local areas, and villagers, through their participation in
these ceremonies, signify their acceptance of this adaptation of a Buddhist ritual to
sanctify the forest and thereby protect it. The regulations the monks establish limit
their use of the forest, forbidding the cutting of any trees or killing of any wildlife
within it.