Message from Dr Vanchai Sirichana
(President of Mae Fah Luang University)

I am very pleased to introduce this new web site about our ADB-MFU research project.  I hope that you will find it informative and that it will stimulate your interest in joining our activities.

We are very pleased that Mae Fah Luang University (MFU), along with its university network, GMS University Network on Natural Resources and Environmental Management (GMS/UniNet on NREM), has started a three-year (January 2007-December 2009) research project on “Capacity Building for Natural Resources Management and Socio-economic Benchmarking in the GMS,” as the first phase of a long-term ADB-GMS/Biodiversity Conservation Corridors Initiative (10-15 years).

This project is a truly regional one which includes study areas in all of the GMS countries (except Myanmar for the present time), with involvement of several member universities, and various development partners and NGOs. Its comprehensive framework, covering  poverty reduction, harmonizing land management and governance regimes, restoring ecosystem connectivity, capacity building, and sustainable financing, and involving various stages of development planning in NREM, seeks to provide valuable experiences and lessons learnt and shared. The current involvement in the project of many other implementing partners (GMS governmental agencies; international NGOs, such as IUCN, IGES, and WWF; and development agencies, such as UNEP), under a partnership principle that the data collected and analyzed, and the research results obtained by all partners will be shared among partners, will be of considerable benefit to GMS/UniNet on NREM. Also, the project will contribute to capacity building for the GMS, starting from now and then through member universities.

I hope that MFU and its member universities of GMS/UniNet on NREM, will make a  good collaborative effort to ensure a successful project and also help to build a solid foundation for developing capacity for research and analysis in the GMS. On behalf of MFU, I would like to reiterate that MFU will continue to give strong support to this important activity.