| Wat Plak Mai Lai is a densely-wooded
forest monastery outside of Bangkok in Thailand.
Thanks to Abbot Phra Acharn Somneuk Natho’s “non-interventionist” approach
to forest management, Wat Plak Mai Lai is the last
remaining natural forest in Thailand’s Nakhon
Pathom Province. In contrast to the Thai Forestry
Department, which contends that for-profit tree
plantations are the best solution to deforestation,
Phra Acharn Somneuk believes in letting nature
restore itself. At Wat Plak Mai Lai, Phra Acharn
Somneuk has demonstrated that his hands-off approach
to reforestation works. The temple site, once stripped
of its natural forest cover, is now thickly wooded,
providing a stark contrast to the cash crops that
surround the monastery. The forest at Wat Plak
Mai Lai demonstrates the recuperative powers of
nature, thus challenging the for-profit forestry
policies of the government. As a result of the
abbot’s approach to reforestation and his
efforts to include local villagers, the burning
and clearing of trees around the temple has ceased.
In addition to serving as a reforestation demonstration
site, the monastery provides an environment conducive
to meditation. According to Phra Acharn Somneuk,
the forest transmits the dhamma: when one refrains
from greed, grasping, and intervention, balance
is naturally restored. |
| Buddhism |
Thailand
|
1937–Present
|
| When the land was donated
by a Chinese merchant in 1937 to become a temple
site, it was desiccated
and infertile after serving as a tobacco plantation.
Although the first abbot let the trees grow back
naturally, the second and third abbots cleared
the forest for fuel. The fourth abbot let nature
take its course again but left the monastery after
a few years. Phra Acharn Somneuk became abbot in
the mid 1980s, when the land around the monastery
was sparsely wooded. After planting a variety of
tree saplings, the young abbot concluded that the
forest would recover best if left alone. In contrast
to governmental reforestation policies, Phra Acharn
Somneuk believed that community involvement and
minimal intervention was the best approach to reforestation.
Local villagers were invited to share their knowledge
about medicinal herbs and participate in workshops
at the monastery. Eventually, the villagers stopped
clear-cutting and the land recovered its dense
forest cover. |
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| Sanitsuda Ekachai, “Allowing Trees to Grow” in
Seeds of Hope: Local Initiatives in Thailand (Bangkok:
Thai Development Support Committee, 1994) 124–29. |
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