In 2025, Chiang Mai University collaborated with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) on climate adaptation, as part of its work towards Sustainable Development Goal13 (Climate Action). The partners below are non-profit organisations at the local, national and international levels; each project helps communities cope with drought, floods, or smoke haze.
Watershed restoration with the Ratchaphruek Institute Foundation (local, from June 2025). The Ratchaphruek Institute Foundation is a Thai non-profit NGO set up in 1986 to restore forests. Through the Foundation, SIG funds part of the Forest Restoration Research Unit’s (FORRU-CMU) restoration of 10rai of abandoned upland farmland at the Nong Hoi Royal Project in Mae Rim District; main funding comes from the Plant Genetic Conservation Project under the Royal Initiative of HOH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. Abandoned upland farms in the watershed turn hot and dry, and their soil washes away in heavy rain, so restoring native forest there is a direct adaptation measure that protects water supply and reduces erosion. Planting began on 12 June 2025, using the framework species method FORRU has developed since1994.
Kok River Forum with Assembly of Environmental NGOs and the Rivers for Life Association (local,18 December). These two NGOs, with a network of civil society groups,held a forum at Tha Ton, Mae Ai District, to return research findings to people living along the Kok River, where floods now carry contaminated sediment into farmland. About 200 villagers, monks and students attended. CMU’s Asst. Prof. Dr. Wan Wiriya (Environmental Science Research Center) and Asst. Prof. Dr. Malee Sitthikriengkrai (Faculty of Social Sciences) presented findings on heavy-metal contamination and its effect on livelihoods. Participants discussed adaptation measures, including community water-quality monitoring and safer household water supply.
Protecting vulnerable people from wildfire smoke : CANBREATHE and the HEAL network (international,2025-2028). CMU’s Research Institute for Health Sciences (RIHES) is a partner in CANBREATHE, “Climate Attribution of Wildfire Smoke Impacts on Priority Population Health in Southeast Asia and Australia”. The project is funded for three years (2025-2028) by Wellcome, an independent charitable foundation, and led by Prof.Sotris Vardoulakis of the University of Canberra, with researchers from Australia, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Lao PDR. It studies how climate change makes wildfires and smoke haze more severe and longer-lasting, and how this harms people’s physical and mental health.
CMU leads the work in Chiang Mai Province. With local communities, it runs citizen science on haze, installs a network of low-cost PM2.5 sensors, and builds DIY air purifiers for vulnerable groups, so that households can protect themselves during the haze season. The evidence it produces is meant to inform health and environment policy. On 19 June 2025, RIHES hosted the HEAL research network to plan this work; partners included the non-profit Kopernik. RIHES researchers also joined the project’s planning meeting at the National University of Laos and the University of Health Sciences in Vientiane, with field visits to research sites in Vientiane and Luang Prabang
MyClimate: how border communities adapt (international,2021-2026). CMU’s Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development (RCSD) is a partner in MyClimate with the Danish Institute for International Studies, Nyan Corridor and the Highland Institute in northeast India. The project works with civil society organisations and community researchers on the Thai-Myanmar and India-Myanmar borders to record how local communities perceive and adapt to climate change. From 20 to 28 January 2025, RCSD hosted the free MyClimate Winter School in Chiang Mai for graduate students, researchers, and environmental activists from Myanmar and Thailand, including two days of field visits to villages.
Sources
- Forest Restoration Research Unit, Chaing Mai University, "Restoration of Watershed Forest in Abandoned Agriculture Areas, Nong Hoi Royal Project," FORRU website, June 2025 - December 2026.
- Thai PBS Locals, "Returning Data Building Future Options: Proposals for Managing the Kok River, 19 December 2025."
- HEAL National Research Network, "SE Asia Day 07 - June 2025 : Chiang Mai University," Facebook, 19 June 2025.
- Research Institute for Health Sciences, Chiang Mai University, "Joint international research on climate chang: CANBREATHE", Facebook, 25 September 2025.
- Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development, Chiang Mai University, "MyClimate - Myanmar: Climate Actions, Conflict and Peacebuilding" and "MyClimate Winter School: Qualitative Research on Climate Change, 20-28 January 2025", RCSD website.