USA Ambassador visits WWF and The Coca-Cola Company Partnership site in the Mekong River basin

The Honorable Eric G. John, U.S. Ambassador to Thailand (seated second right) and guests from The Coca Cola Company (Thailand) Ltd, Thai Namthip Co. Ltd, The Population and Community Development Association (PDA) and WWF Greater Mekong visited the Chi Watershed Restoration Project on Wednesday 26th November to meet with local people and learn about project achievements.

The Ambassador’s visit began with a tour of the local bottling plant.  To its credit this plant has been able to reduce the amount of water used per litre of product, from more than 6 litres in 2000, to less than 3 litres of water per litre of Coke today. WWF and Coca-Cola have been working together on water conservation projects since 2003. As part of their collaboration, the partners developed a Water Efficiency Toolkit to help plants worldwide reduce their water use.

After lunch the Ambassador visited Ban Huay Huak village to view the community water supply initiative supported by the Coca Cola Foundation.  The PDA, which piloted the community water supply, selected communities that were already mobilised under the WWF Thailand, Chi River Watershed Conservation Project.  This mutual collaboration between water supply and watershed conservation has helped to raise awareness of the causal link between watershed restoration activities and the villager’s household water supply.  “Your Excellency and guests, your visit to Huay Huak village today gives us great pride and the motivation to succeed in our activities” stated the senior advisor to the district chief Mr. Apirat Ponggun in his welcome address.  

The Ambassador and dignitaries then travelled to Huay Huak Community Forest to learn about conservation activities implemented by villagers supported by WWF.  The village headman, Mr. Suban Loaprom, explained to Mr. Eric G. Johns about the work of the project to mobilise the community to protect the forest.  This 24 hectare forest patch formerly covered a much larger area and was home to; Tiger, Deer and Wild Boar.   However, over time agricultural expansion has fragmented this forest resulting in the community forest becoming an isolated relic of its former grandeur.  Nevertheless, this area provides a natural “supermarket” supplying traditional resources for the local people, who collect edible insects, hunt small animals, pick mushrooms, other herbal plants and native vegetables, and collect fuel wood for household stoves and importantly for cremations.  “This integration of forest management with local beliefs has helped to plant trees in the hearts of the local people; this is a crucial first step, before trying to plant trees in the ground”, said Mr. Colin McQuistan the Regional Policy Coordinator for WWF Greater Mekong.

The commitment of The Coca-Cola Company and WWF to conserve key global watersheds was given a boost on 30th October 2008, when the partners announced ambitious new targets to improve water efficiency and reduce carbon emissions within Coca-Cola’s system-wide operations, in addition to the promotion of sustainable agricultural practices and helping to conserve the world’s most important freshwater basins, including the mighty Mekong.