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Good practice

Mae Fah Luang Community Forest Carbon (T-VER, Thailand)

Thailand · Chiang Rai · See the Thailand profile

Mae Fah Luang Foundation certifies 23,526 ha of community forest across 120 Thai communities in 10 provinces under T-VER, targeting 43,628 tCO2e/yr. Carbon payments fund wildfire prevention (17.24 % fire reduction) and community development; US$180,000+ paid to communities since

23,526 hectares
Community forest registered under T-VER
120 communities
Communities enrolled (across 10 provinces)
43,628 tCO2e/year
Target annual carbon sequestration
180,097 US$
Direct carbon payments to communities (2021-2023)
396,189 US$
Community development fund payments (2021-2023)
2,112,000 US$
Additional supplementary income generated (2021-2023)
17.24 %
Reduction in wildfire incidence vs baseline
Mae Fah Luang Community Forest Carbon (T-VER, Thailand)

Details

Maturity
Scaling
Promoter
Mae Fah Luang Foundation under Royal Patronage
Period
2021-present
Keywords
Community forest, carbon, fire management, highland, T-VER

Context

The Carbon Credit from Community Forests for Sustainability project, led by the Mae Fah Luang Foundation under Royal Patronage in partnership with Thailand's Royal Forestry Department and the Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organization (TGO), is the country's largest community-led forest carbon initiative under the national T-VER standard. Launched in 2021, it has enrolled 120 communities across 10 Thai provinces, registering 23,526 hectares of community-managed forest under T-VER.

Activities

The project aims to sequester approximately 43,628 tonnes CO2e annually. Corporate partners including PTTEP and Thaicom fund anti-poaching and anti-burning patrols as part of an explicit wildfire-prevention objective, alongside carbon credit purchases for corporate climate commitments.

Results

Between 2021 and 2023, communities received US$180,097 in direct carbon payments and US$396,189 through a community development fund, generating an additional US$2,112,000 in supplementary income. The average wildfire incidence across participating communities decreased by 17.24% compared to baseline.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k) — Combined carbon payments, community development fund and supplementary income of over US$2.6 million across 120 communities (2021-2023) is a moderate multi-year budget relative to larger national programmes in this catalogue.
Time to results
Medium (1–3 years) — Launched in 2021 and still enrolling communities as of the latest reporting — a medium-length, actively scaling timeline.
Staffing & skills
Mae Fah Luang Foundation under Royal Patronage, Royal Forestry Department, Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organization (TGO), corporate partners (PTTEP, Thaicom)

Conditions for success

  • national T-VER carbon standard providing verified accounting
  • corporate buyers funding anti-poaching/anti-burning patrols
  • community development fund alongside direct carbon payments

Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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