Last updated: March 2023
Mue Yen Mueng Yen (Cool Hands Cool City) is the name of a green community as well as their first project that aims to plant more trees in Chiangmai city, Thailand. Volunteers of Mue Yen Mueng Yen are concerned about the pollution and extreme climate issues in the city. They gathered around the belief that healthy green space can help mitigate these issues and make their city more livable. (Ref. 1,2,3,4) The first phase of the Mue Yen Mueng Yen project consists of three main activities. The first one is a tree-planting challenge: when 1 person plants a tree, they challenge 3 other friends to do the same. The second activity is offering 5,000 native saplings to anyone interested in planting trees for free. The third one is to plant 800 trees around the old moat in Chiangmai inner city as a green corridor. (Ref. 1,2,3,4) Besides this initial project, the Mue Yen Mueng Yen community also works on various environmental projects. For example, spreading the tree-planting challenge to other parts of the country, and organising workshops about tree planting, maintenance techniques, native species and on rice growing (Ref. 6 ).
Mue Yen Mueng Yen - Tree Saplings
Source: Ref. 7
Overview
Nature-based solution
- Grey infrastructure featuring greens
- Alley or street trees and other street vegetation
- House gardens
- Institutional green space
- Parks and urban forests
- Green corridors and green belts
Key challenges
- Climate action for adaptation, resilience and mitigation (SDG 13)
- Climate change adaptation
- Environmental quality
- Air quality improvement
- Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
- Green space creation and/or management
- Regeneration, land-use and urban development
- Promote natural styles of landscape design for urban development
- Inclusive and effective governance (SDG 16)
- Inclusive governance
- Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
- Social interaction
- Environmental education
Focus
Creation of new green areas, Maintenance and management of urban nature, Knowledge creation and awareness raising
Project objectives
1. To improve the air quality of the city.
2. To mitigate the heat island effect in the city.
3. To create healthy green spaces through tree planting that support the urban ecosystem.
4. To encourage people to plant trees and to get involved.
5. To raise awareness about climate change-related issues and promote the importance of green spaces in urban areas in mitigating those. (Ref. 1,2,3,4,5,7)
Implementation activities
The first phase of Mue Yen Mueng Yen consists of 3 main activities:
1. Mue Yen Mueng Yen - Tree planting Challenge in Chiangmai
This activity started off in a small group by using social media to help encourage people to plant a tree on their own land as well as to take care of them. As one person plants a tree, they post a picture of their tree with the hashtag #มือเย็นเมืองเย็น, then challenge 3 other friends to plant a tree. The first group of people who started this challenge also set a condition that if at the end of the year, any of their trees die, the owner needs to jump into the old moat in Chiangmai city. This is to make sure that those new trees have been taken care of and will survive in a long run. (Ref. 1,3,4)
2. Mue Yen Mueng Yen - Free saplings
As the tree-planting challenge started to spread among the people, the Mue Yen Mueng Yen group wanted to scale up their tree-planting in more public areas as well. They worked with Huai Hong Khrai Royal Development Study Centre Chiangmai in preparing 5,000 saplings with over 83 native species. They distributed these tree saplings to anyone who was interested in planting for free. This activity aimed to expand the green areas and tree planting from private properties to public spaces. All 5,000 saplings had been planted in Chiangmai in less than a year.
In this phase, the Mue Yen Mueng Yen group became bigger with the involvement of experts in planting. The Mue Yen Mueng Yen group also offers workshops and advice on how to plant tree saplings and maintenance techniques.
(Ref. 2,3,4)
3. Mue Yen Mueng Yen - Koo Muang Yen
After offering free tree saplings, the Mue Yen Mueng Yen group collaborated with Chiangmai municipality in establishing a tree-planting activity around the old moat of Chiangmai city. In total, 800 trees of native species had been planted around the old moat. They also invited all Chiangmai citizens to participate in planting these trees together. The municipality took care of the trees after this activity. At the same time, people who planted the trees were encouraged to come back to check on them and take care of the trees if needed. (Ref. 2,3,5)
The First phase of Mue Yen Mueng Yen was completed with 3 activities above. However, since then the Mue Yen Mueng Yen community has been working on other environmental projects, as well. For example, providing maintenance for trees that were planted during the first phase, planting new street trees in the city, work on canal ecology restoration, and offering rice growing and other environmental workshops. (Re. 2, 3, 5)
Climate-focused activities
Climate change adaptation:
- Increase or improve urban vegetation cover to help reduce outdoor temperature
- Create or improve outdoor spaces to help people escape from urban heat
Main beneficiaries
- Citizens or community groups
Governance
Management set-up
- Led by non-government actors
Type of initiating organisation
- Citizens or community group
Participatory approaches/ community involvement
- Joint implementation (e.g. tree planting)
Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project
Mue Yen Mueng Yen is a green community initiated by Pharadon Por Phonamnuai. As of 2023, the community comprises volunteers from various professions, who are mostly local citizens of Chinagmai.
Chiangmai Municipality supports the Mue Yen Mueng Yen community in various activities to improve Chiangmai’s environment.
The community also collaborated with Mae Jo University to ensure the health and maintenance of 400-500 trees, including already planted trees along the Chiangmai and Lamphun Roads with hundred-year-old Yang Na trees.
Several authorities and institutions support Mue Yen Mueng Yen by offering free tree saplings and seeds. For example, the Huai Hong Khrai Royal Development Study Centre Chiangmai, the Mar On Tree Saplings centre (under Forestry Department), the Mae Hit Botanical Garden, the Huai Kaeo Arboretum, the Don Suthep National Park, and the Pakhunmaekuang Royal Development Project. Some tree-planting volunteers (residents, companies, hotels etc.) with private landowners also got involved with the project. (Ref. 2,3,4,5,7)
Project implemented in response to ...
... an EU policy or strategy?
No
... a national policy or strategy?
No
... a local policy or strategy?
No
Financing
Total cost
Unknown
Source(s) of funding
- Unknown
Type of funding
- Unknown
Non-financial contribution
Type of non-financial contribution
- Provision of goods
- Provision of labour
Who provided the non-financial contribution?
- Public authorities (e.g. land, utility services)
- Citizens (e.g. volunteering)
Impacts and Monitoring
Environmental impacts
- Climate change
- Lowered local temperature
- Environmental quality
- Improved air quality
- Green space and habitat
- Promotion of naturalistic styles of landscape design for urban development
- Increased green space area
- Increased number of species present
Economic impacts
- Unknown
Socio-cultural impacts
- Social justice and cohesion
- Improved social cohesion
- Improved access to urban green space
- Increased opportunities for social interaction
- Increased involvement of locals in the management of green spaces
- Cultural heritage and sense of place
- Improvement in people’s connection to nature
- Education
- Increased knowledge of locals about local nature
Type of reported impacts
Expected impacts, Achieved impacts
Presence of formal monitoring system
Yes
Presence of indicators used in reporting
Yes
Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports
No evidence in public records
Availability of a web-based monitoring tool
No evidence in public records
References
1. A Day (2019), ปอ ภราดล และ ‘มือเย็นเมืองเย็น’ โปรเจกต์ปลูกต้นไม้ที่อยากเห็นเชียงใหม่เย็นขึ้นเร็วๆ, Available at Source link (Accessed 31-01-2023)
2. Bangkok Business (2015), เมืองเย็น ด้วยมือเรา, Available at Source link (Accessed 31-01-2023)
3. FURD (2016), กลุ่มมือเย็นเมืองเย็น : การขับเคลื่อนสู่เมืองสีเขียว, Available at Source link (Accessed 31-01-2023)
4. Creative Move (2015), มือเย็นเมืองเย็น ท้าปล๔กตเนไม้เพิ่มพื้นที่สีเขียว ถ้าคุณแน่ เราขอท้า, Available at Source link (Accessed 31-01-2023)
5. Inspiring Thailand (2015), #มือเย็นเมืองเย็น – ชวนคนมือเย็น ร่วมสร้างเมืองเย็น, Available at Source link (Accessed 31-01-2023)
6. มือเย็นเมืองเย็น (no date), มือเย็นเมืองเย็น Fan Page, Available at Source link (Accessed 31-01-2023)
7. Review Chiangmai (2015), เมื่อชายคนหนึ่งฝันถึงต้นไม้ #มือเย็นเมืองเย็น, Available at Source link (Accessed 31-01-2023)
2. Bangkok Business (2015), เมืองเย็น ด้วยมือเรา, Available at Source link (Accessed 31-01-2023)
3. FURD (2016), กลุ่มมือเย็นเมืองเย็น : การขับเคลื่อนสู่เมืองสีเขียว, Available at Source link (Accessed 31-01-2023)
4. Creative Move (2015), มือเย็นเมืองเย็น ท้าปล๔กตเนไม้เพิ่มพื้นที่สีเขียว ถ้าคุณแน่ เราขอท้า, Available at Source link (Accessed 31-01-2023)
5. Inspiring Thailand (2015), #มือเย็นเมืองเย็น – ชวนคนมือเย็น ร่วมสร้างเมืองเย็น, Available at Source link (Accessed 31-01-2023)
6. มือเย็นเมืองเย็น (no date), มือเย็นเมืองเย็น Fan Page, Available at Source link (Accessed 31-01-2023)
7. Review Chiangmai (2015), เมื่อชายคนหนึ่งฝันถึงต้นไม้ #มือเย็นเมืองเย็น, Available at Source link (Accessed 31-01-2023)
Mue Yen Muent Yen - Expected Plan
Source: Ref. 6
Mue Yen Mueng Yen - Planting trees along old moat
Source: Ref. 8
Information about this nature-based solution was collected as part of the "NBS 2022" UNA Asian extension project funded by the Asia-Europe Foundation.