The Raknam Kaem Ling project
Tracey Cui
Mother Nature has been cruel to the people of Ban Limthong, a Buri Ram farming village in the Northeast.
The Northeast — the largest yet poorest area in the country — has been plagued by poor water management which allows just one rice harvest a year.
The village's natural condition is harsh and not conducive for farming, even though rice cultivation is the only livelihood available to many. The land is arid most of the year, except in the rainy season. But even the rain has not been that generous of late as floodwater often runs down the slope and inundates rice paddies and people's homes. Community leader Sanit Thipnangrong says villagers have been struggling. Royal Irrigation Department water systems such as dams, canals and water gates have not been built in this area.
"I have had a rough time in the past. By the end of the year, I don't know how many crops I can harvest. I had to take out a loan and face many problems," says the 48-year-old farmer.
Many villagers in Thailand suffer the same fate, and yet change has come in the Ban Limthong. The water management project called Raknam (Love Water) has helped improve the situation. Raknam is a Corporate Social Responsibility programme run by Coca-Cola. Since the company uses a large amount of water to produce their drinks, it has come up with a campaign to reduce the impact on the environment.
Launched in 2007, the project, as well as other water-management related projects under the company's CSR, helps return fresh water to the ecology. The company, which relies so much on water, has set a target of returning to communities the same amount of water as it uses in worldwide production units by 2020.
The Raknam project embraces the kaem ling, or monkey's cheek, idea initiated by His Majesty the King.
The origin of the kaem ling projects can be traced back to 1995 when an epic flood hit Bangkok. The King advised the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) to excavate huge ponds — thus the metaphor of a monkey's sagging cheek — to help drain floodwater for Bangkok. Since then, kaem ling has become famous countrywide as a cheap and environmentally friendly method to manage water and combat flood and drought.
Kaem ling relies on the simple idea of using natural ponds to store and drain water alternately during the dry and rainy seasons. But Raknam isn't only about ponds. Apart from financing villagers to dig natural ponds, the campaign also provides water management knowledge to them.
The Raknam Kaem Ling projectTracey Cui Mother Nature has been cruel to the people of Ban Limthong, a Buri Ram farming village in the Northeast.The Northeast — the largest yet poorest area in the country — has been plagued by poor water management which allows just one rice harvest a year.The village's natural condition is harsh and not conducive for farming, even though rice cultivation is the only livelihood available to many. The land is arid most of the year, except in the rainy season. But even the rain has not been that generous of late as floodwater often runs down the slope and inundates rice paddies and people's homes. Community leader Sanit Thipnangrong says villagers have been struggling. Royal Irrigation Department water systems such as dams, canals and water gates have not been built in this area."I have had a rough time in the past. By the end of the year, I don't know how many crops I can harvest. I had to take out a loan and face many problems," says the 48-year-old farmer.Many villagers in Thailand suffer the same fate, and yet change has come in the Ban Limthong. The water management project called Raknam (Love Water) has helped improve the situation. Raknam is a Corporate Social Responsibility programme run by Coca-Cola. Since the company uses a large amount of water to produce their drinks, it has come up with a campaign to reduce the impact on the environment.เปิดตัวในปี 2550 โครงการ รวมทั้งจัดการน้ำอื่น ๆ ที่เกี่ยวข้องกับโครงการภายใต้บริษัท CSR ช่วยคืนน้ำเพื่อระบบนิเวศ บริษัท ซึ่งอาศัยมากน้ำ ได้กำหนดเป้าหมายของความชุมชนเดียวกันจำนวนน้ำใช้ในหน่วยการผลิตทั่วโลก โดย 2020โครงการ Raknam นำ ลิง kaem หรือแก้มลิง ความคิดริเริ่ม โดยพระบาทสมเด็จจุดเริ่มต้นของโครงการลิง kaem สามารถติดตามกลับไป 1995 เมื่อน้ำท่วมเป็นมหากาพย์ตีกรุงเทพมหานคร พระแนะนำกรุงเทพนครหลวงดูแล (BMA) เพื่อ excavate บ่อใหญ่ — จึง เทียบของลิงของหย่อนคล้อยแก้ม — เพื่อช่วยระบายน้ำ floodwater สำหรับ ตั้งแต่นั้น หลิง kaem กลายเป็นมีชื่อเสียงทั่วประเทศเป็นวิธีที่ประหยัด และเป็นมิตรต่อสิ่งแวดล้อมการจัดการน้ำ และต่อสู้อุทกภัย และภัยแล้งหลิง Kaem อาศัยความคิดง่าย ๆ ของการใช้ธรรมชาติบ่อเก็บ และระบายน้ำน้ำสลับในระหว่างฤดูแล้ง และฤดูฝน แต่ Raknam ไม่เกี่ยวกับบ่อเท่านั้น นอกจากเงินชาวบ้านขุดบ่อธรรมชาติ แคมเปญให้รู้จัดการน้ำไปยัง
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