Refield Lab

Objective

To communicate and raise awareness of sustainable destination practices for locals and travelers.
To develop a sustainable destination plan to enhance the livelihood of locals and management of their land.
To promote sustainable tourism and enable tourist to learn about natural resources, participate and support local businesses.

Challenge

Tourism is often heavily focused on popular attractions and activities, sometimes neglecting cultural sites, local communities and the environment. Although tourism can be an important economic livelihood for the locals, the overcrowding at a location could lead to issues with waste management, pollutions, depletion of natural resources and long-term unsustainable development of the destination. This could be caused by the lack of awareness and options for other local experiences for the tourist that could benefit the local communities and the environment.

Balancing the benefits and risks of tourism to both local communities and the environment is tricky. How can we travel responsibly, engage in the local culture and leave destinations better than we found them? To manage this, we need to involve the local communities, nature and multiple stakeholders to promote sustainable travel and development for a destination.

Social Enterprise

As experts in the field of community-based landscape architecture, Refield Lab has been working with nature and people to find nature-based solutions for the communities and the environment they live in. From research and landscape planning to water management, they have expanded their work to tourism. They believe that if landscapes are made healthier, the local people can live well, then tourists can also enjoy the local livelihood and rich nature. The team learned that understanding the land is very important and the easiest way to explore is through mapping and walking.

With AirAsia Foundation, ChangeFusion and ENLIVE Foundation, Refield Lab would be working together to pilot a sustainable tourism project in Krabi. Krabi is known to have some of the most incredible beaches in Thailand and attracts more than 6 million travelers annually. However, more than just the beaches, Krabi has a lot more to offer in ecotourism, environmental conservations and local community culture and activities. These areas can be sustainably developed to enable the locals to manage their livelihood and natural resources. It would also enable tourist to enjoy the local livelihood and nature, providing more responsible travel options while benefiting the locals and environment of the destination.

Hence, AirAsia Foundation has awarded Refield Lab with a grant to do the following:

Coordinate with local stakeholders, review, collect and analyse data at selected locations
Develop a sustainable destination management plan for selected areas in Krabi
Develop a sustainable tourism guide for Krabi

Organisation

Refield Lab, founded in 2021, is a social enterprise utilising land to promote well-being and preservation of natural resources through the dynamics between humans and the environment. The three co-founder, Gog, Attana Vasuwattana (Tong), and Nakrob Saithep (Mhee), from left to right, shares a passion in research data and landscape ecology that provides nature-based solutions for the communities and the environment they work in. Their work includes design and planning, site study and analysis, review and communicating the outcomes and solutions to restore the ecosystem. Example of projects include nature-based water management for rural communities and mapmap Go! (a walking map to explore Bangkok Yai district).

They believe that landscapes are beyond spatial. Landscapes can be a natural process, people livelihood, cultural heritage, aesthetic; which evolve over time.