Twenty years ago, remote region of Doi Tung was the most active place for the drug trade within the Burma/Thailand/Laos triangle. Along with drug trade, regular violence, widespread prostitution, drug addiction of the population and diseases were daily burdens people had to face, and this against their will… Last but not least, non education and poverty lead people to over-exploit their natural resources. Over logging in order to sustain their livelihood led to deforestation. They did not know it was not sustainable.
How could a group of external people change what seemed to be an everlasting dark fate for the local people living in these remote areas of Thailand ?
Today, Doi Tung is a place where drug, diseases, and prostitution have fully disappeared. Coffee and macademia nuts plantation have blossomed, and there is also an industry which is constituted of weaving and paper producing factories, which provide ample working opportunity for the adults. Mothers can take their infants to health and day-care centers, and children have school programs to attend where innovative approaches have been implemented, such as the Montesori curriculum. The average family income in the area has increased ten times over the period and is now US$ 8,500 USD a year. How did this happen?
via The Blossoming of Doi Tung | Forum:Blog | The World Economic Forum.
