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In 2021, some camps are organising camp experiences for you to participate in. We are hopeful that they will be able to go ahead. Camps will follow the local conditions closely, and may have to cancel activities if the local COVID-19 situation forces them to do so. If you have already signed up for a camp-activity you will be informed when this happens. We will update the website also, when such decisions are taken. Please check your own local authority travel advisory to see if you can travel to or return from the camp after the activity. At all times, when at camps, please observe it’s COVID-19 policy (such as wearing masks, social distancing, washing hands, etc).
CAMP UTHAI
Uthai Forest, Thailand
The project aims to plant trees and establish a food-producing forest in Uthai Thani, Thailand through a community effort. Besides afforestation, the main objective is to mobilize and empower as many people as possible, especially Singaporeans, to participate in greening our world through concrete actions – planting trees and learning low-impact ways of living. The project will also benefit the local farming community by sharing eco-friendly practices and creating alternative jobs to conventional and environmentally degrading rice and sugarcane cultivation. As humans are the species responsible for climate change, Camp Uthai also creates an opportunity for us to act now, instead of waiting for others to do something.
Camper Opportunities
We are offering volunteer camps for people with general and specific skills. To cover costs we will be charging volunteers 250 Baht a day for food and transport within Uthai Thani province (to and from the public minivan station, going out for meals and excursions, etc.). Ideally we are looking for volunteers who are willing and able to take the public minivan from Bangkok or other Thai towns to Uthai Thani independently as well as those in the region who are able to reach the camp with minimal to no air travel (very feasible within most of Southeast Asia).
We want to start conducting courses and other kinds of longer volunteer camps. Stay tuned!
What to Expect
The camp is very simple with a pavilion for camping out and cooking, equipment sheds for planting and buildings, toilets, showers and a nursery. We camp out in tents, cook over rocket and charcoal stoves and wash and dry our clothes on-site. The camp isn’t isolated and we often visit the town for supplies or to give campers a taste of the local life there.
Activities: The main activity is planting trees, but other activities include construction, painting, harvesting water hyacinth and others that come up as needs arise.
Who is needed
- People with natural building skills who are willing to conduct courses; we will use these natural buildings as camp lodging in the future.
- Anyone with construction, carpentry or design skills who can use our existing resources to design facilities like rocket stoves, makeshift shelters, composting areas, etc.
- People with videography and photography skills.
Vision and Socio-economic-ecological context
Uthai Forest aims to establish a food forest on 23 hectares of land while creating a space for people, especially nature-deprived city dwellers, to participate in ecosystem restoration and reforestation. This camp offers people the chance to see and experience a different way of life where we depend on ourselves, nature, and each other instead of external, unsustainable economic models in order to live well.
Uthai Forest is a space for people to take action and participate in restoring ecosystems and building an alternative nature based community. We also aim to engage with and benefit the local farming community by sharing eco-friendly practices and creating alternative jobs to conventional rice cultivation.
Uthai Forest is situated on former rice paddies which are heavily degraded due to years of chemical-intensive farming. The soil is highly compacted, clayish and very hard, making digging and planting difficult.
The camp is surrounded by smallholder rice farmers, most if not all of whom have been planting rice the same way for decades. This has left many of them in debt as the cost of buying seeds and chemical fertilisers and pesticides far outweighs the money they earn from selling rice. Even so, they have kept up this practice because it is now considered the norm and there are few alternatives visible in the area. The land that the camp is on is very similar in condition to the surrounding rice fields.
Established camp
Organising Partners
Goh Foundation, Singapore (main funding partner)
All Green Learning Center (Thailand)
Uthai Forest
Uthai Forest อุทัยวนา ป่ายั่งยืน
Facilities
Camping Kitchen Toilets Showers
Restoration Activities
Water retention Tree planting Composting Soil restoration Regenerative entrepreneurialism Erosion prevention
How to apply
READY TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE?
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What you must do to ensure your own safety at an Ecosystem Restoration Camp
Your safety is very important to us. Most camps are in locations that are completely safe for you to travel to. Some camps are in locations where there is civil unrest, higher levels of crime, or in areas where there could be severe nature events (earthquakes, tornados, vulcanic eruptions). We strongly advise you to check with your national authority’s travel advisory service to see if there are specific travel advisories for the region you are travelling to. We strongly advise you to comply with that travel advisory. If there is a negative travel advisory for the area you plan to go to, we want to impress on you that it is your decision to not heed the warnings and go. ERC can then not be liable in that situation if something happens to you.
Work at camps is usually safe. The camp coordinators make your safety their highest priority too. But you will be working with tools and sometimes even (heavy) machinery. Sometimes the terrain can be slightly treacherous. Heat or cold can become a problem for people at work that do not take the necessary measures to prevent injury from weather conditions. Especially in remote locations, all people at an Ecosystem Restoration Camp will need to watch out for eachother’s safety. For this reason we ask you to also sign our Code of Conduct, through which you commit to contributing to a safe environment at camps for all that are there with you. Take yours and all other camper’s safety seriously! Together, while watching over eachother, we can restore our ecosystems safely and successfully.