SUT has been shortlisted in the category for Outstanding Contribution for Environmental Leadership its entry titled “Innovations for Climate Neutral Sustainable Tourism at Khao Yai National Park.” Selected from university submissions across Asia, SUT was enlisted in the final 8 universities in the category in the THE Awards Asia 2023, an award widely known as the Oscars award of Higher Education. Of the 8 institutions shortlisted in the category, the winner will be announced in the THE Asia Universities Summit to take place in Hong Kong on 21-23 June, 2023.
For Outstanding Contribution for Environmental Leadership, SUT submitted an entry on an environmental outreach project, called ANSEE-Khao Yai, consisting of 47 researchers from diverse fields across the university. The project addresses over-tourism challenges to biodiversity from energy use, wastes overfill to GHG emissions and increased carbon footprints from tourism as well as power outage from storms or fallen trees, and illegal logging and hunting. Workgroups have been formed from the 11 teams, ranging from renewable energy, environment, tourist behavior and wildlife human conflicts. At the heart of sustainability is to progress forward and to make sure that no one is left behind, there is a team that aims to promote social strength and quality of living for people in local communities adjacent to the park. Last but not least, there is a coordinating team, to help connect with the stakeholders, local authorities and communities.
The ANSEE-Khao Yai project has been recognized as a leading “research to impact” model that can draw a large team of multi-disciplinary researchers to tackle real regional environmental challenges. The success and outcomes of the project and its organizational knowledge management and community engagement can be a useful model for other higher educations.