The Buddhist monks blessing trees to prevent deforestation

Wrapped in orange robes, occasionally with ornaments nestled into the roots and incense burning at the foot, such trees seen across Thailand could be confused for an art installation. Instead, their decoration is a signifier that the trees have been blessed by a Buddhist monk and shouldn’t be cut down.

“[Monks] are doing it to get people to understand their connection with nature and understand their responsibility towards nature,” said Sue Darlington, professor emerita of anthropology and Asian studies and author of “The Ordination of a Tree.”

As of 2014, Thailand was losing an average of 140,000 hectares (346,000 acres) of forest cover each year to deforestation and forest fires. The destruction of trees contributes to a loss of biodiversity, increases greenhouse gas emissions, enables flooding, and threatens wildlife.

The ordinations — some of which may have taken place as far back as the 1980s — represent one of the ways in which a small faction of Buddhist monks are participating in conservation efforts. Tackling forest fires, preventing poaching, and educating farmers on more sustainable agriculture practices are others.

While the exact number of trees protected through ordination is unknown, Vijo Varghese, a co-founder of Our Land, a Thai nature conservation project, said it’s likely to have been more impactful among individuals cutting trees down for wood rather than in cases where large-scale development might be about to take place.

“It makes Thai people think again,” he said.

Over 90% of Thailand’s population practices Buddhism. And trees are sacred in the religion, said Oraya Sutabutr, co-founder of Bangkok-based environmental advocacy group Big Trees Project. Protecting nature, she explained, is considered by some as “merit-making” — an important part of Buddhist practice whereby actions today have the potential to impact a future lifetime.

Yet community development and conservation don’t necessarily align with the conservative stereotype that a monk is more removed from society, Darlington said.

A partnership between Buddhist monks and NGOs

For Varghese though, having a spiritual leader that people can connect to is “a very crucial and important link in solving the environmental crisis.” Faith leaders, he added, often play an influential role within communities, especially among older communities.

With many people turning to spirituality as a guide on big issues, Varghese believes conservation NGOs should consider tapping into it. For too long environmental issues have been looked at through a scientific lens instead of addressing the spiritual aspect, he said.

“As a conservationist … I’m not saying we should all turn hippy and only say it should be about spirituality, God, and planting trees, but if spirituality can help as a tool it definitely should be considered,” he said.

Sutabutr finds it more effective to work with a monk who also functions as a community leader as opposed to a local authority or local village leader. “A monk has higher status than these people,” she said, adding that if an NGO has yet to collaborate in such a way, a good first step would be to partner with foundations that already work with monks. 

But the number of ecology monks, while influential, is small, Chaya Vaddhanaphuti, a geography lecturer at Chiang Mai University, said in an email, adding that the question is how to “train more monks, religious leaders, or facilitators to be brave enough to talk about this heavy stuff with lay people.” 

However, conservation work, especially for monks, doesn’t come without risks.

“A lot of the monks … that are doing this kind of work have to be extremely careful because they get a lot of opposition, especially from politicians, corporations, or individuals who benefit from the more rapid, mainstream economic development, and who feel threatened by the community work these monks are doing,” Darlington said.

In 2005, ecology monk Phrakhu Supoj Suvacano was stabbed to death — phrakhu refers to a monk who is a teacher. It’s thought he was targeted because of his efforts to protect land around a meditation center in Chiang Mai. Others have died at the hands of poachers, Sutabutr said. 

The small size of the forest Phra Paisal Visalo — phra is an honorific title for monks — protects from forest fires and poaching in Chaiyaphum province is why he believes he hasn’t faced such threats. But with nature being destroyed more and more, he believes “it is even more necessary to help conserve nature,” he said in an email.

Each year Thailand experiences an approximate 14-week forest fire season beginning in February. Between July 2021 and 2022, about 930 forest fire alerts were reported. 

Visalo works with villagers to create fire breaks — gaps in vegetation that have the potential to slow the spread of fire — and run patrols, complete with extinguishing equipment, during the dry season. “Regular patrols also help reduce poaching,” Visalo, who is also chairman of the Plant Trees Plant Dharma Foundation, a secular organization that promotes the planting of trees and expansion of green areas, wrote.

“I started to conserve forests because I lived in the forest, relied on it, saw the value of the forest and nature. … In addition to caring for the forest, I also persuade people to help conserve nature,” Visalo said.  

According to Darlington, monks have been working with farmers, as far back as the mid-20th century. As the government pushed for rapid economic development, farms were taken over by large companies, and farmers got into debt. A handful of monks began to think of practical ways to relieve their suffering.

“A lot of them are working with farmers to get them to shift to sustainable farming practices and get them out of cash cropping, which leads [to] debt and environmental problems,” Darlington said. 

Today in the northern province of Nan there is an ecology monk — one engaged in ecological conservation projects — who experiments with various sustainable farming practices in a farm behind his temple before sharing his findings with local farmers, Darlington said. And in Chonburi, dozens of students enlist each year in the Maab-Euang Meditation Center for Sufficiency Economy to learn from ecology monk Phrakhu Sangkom Thanapanyo Khunsuri who intersperses Buddhist concepts with alternative farming practices.

“We need to understand that monks have high status in Thai society,” Vaddhanaphuti said. “So by standing on the people’s side, the eco-monk movement can be very powerful.”

Devex, with support from our partner GHR Foundation, is exploring the intersection between faith and development. Visit the Focus on: Faith and Development page for more. Disclaimer: The views in this article do not necessarily represent the views of GHR Foundation.