Greenpeace and Elephants Walk for Chang[e] "เดินกับช้างร่วมสร้างการเปลี่ยนแปลง"

[Richard Barrow]

Tuskers on a mission
By Mayuree Sukyingcharoenwong
DAILY XPRESS
Published on September 14, 2009

Five elephants will trek 250 km in Thailand to urge US President Obama to take action against global warming

A caravan of five elephants has began a 250-km trek in a public-awareness campaign over global warming, which is expected to be discussed at a world summit in Copenhagen in December.

Chang(e) Caravan

Executive director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia Von Hernandez said the Chang(e) Caravan has been organised especially to arouse US President Barack Obama to take concrete action to tackle global warming. He was speaking yesterday at the opening ceremony of an elephant-nursing centre in Nakhon Ratchasima to flag off the caravan.

Forests, animals in danger

The rain forests in Southeast Asia and its inhabitants the wild elephants are one of the areas and animals most at risk of global warming. They and around 20 per cent of other animals are endangered because of the phenomenon and man-made problems, he said.

The Chang(e) Caravan project is aimed particularly at urging Obama to bring up the issue of a worsening global-warming at the Copenhagen summit. "He is expected to take a leadership role over the issue and act on it seriously," Hernandez added.

Alongkot Chukaew, the manager of the caravan, said all five domesticated elephants were well trained - they can associate closely with humans and crowds.

14-day walk

The 250-km route, which will be covered in 14 days, will snake past Khao Yai National Park and along the Bang Pakong River basin through Saraburi, Nakhon Nayok, Prachin Buri and Chachoeng-sao. The finish line is in Samut Prakan province.

There are 15 rest points along the route. All elephants will walk no more than 10 km each day, and will be transported in specially designed trucks in crowded areas or communities, he said.

Water, food and medical care will be sufficiently provided at each rest point.

The elephants will participate in various "non-abusive" activites in selected communities along the route to raise awareness among local residents on global warming, he added.

Elephants are a crucial indicitor signifying the health - and wealth - of our ecological system. "Successful prevention to protect wild elephants means successfull prevenion of the entire ecological system, which humans are a part of," Alongkot pointed out.

There are now 2,000 wild and 3,000 domesticated elephants in Thailand.

[Richard Barrow]

We have been invited to this event at Ancient Siam on Saturday. They didn't send us much information but I presume that it is the finishing line for the elephants. Hopefully we will see them there as it will make for better pictures. We should be able to post a report here later on Saturday.

[Richard Barrow]

About 14 days ago, the Greenpeace-led Chang(e) Caravan left the outskirts of Khao Yai National Park, about 200 kilometers from Bangkok. The Chang(e) Caravan, a people's caravan for change, led by elephants rehabilitated by the Thai Elephant Research and Conservation Fund (TERF), is a TckTckTck initiative involving a growing number of national and global organizations in support of a single goal: to mobilize civil society and to galvanize public opinion in support of transformational change and rapid action to save the planet from dangerous levels of climate change. The 15-day journey traversed the vast Central Plains of Thailand, and arrived at Ancient Siam in Samut Prakan, in the outskirts of Bangkok. The city is the venue of a crucial UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change) intercessional meeting before the Copenhagen climate summit in December. The caravan is additionally calling upon United States President Barack Obama to demonstrate decisive leadership to avert a climate catastrophe during the UN General Assembly focusing on climate in New York on September 22.



These are pictures that I took of the Chang[e] Caravan a few hours ago at the Ancient Siam in Samut Prakan. I will upload more later and also some video of the elephants.



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Samut Prakan Weekly Online News

[Richard Barrow]

As I mentioned earlier, I was over at the Anicent Siam (formerly known as Ancient City) this morning. Five elephants have been walking for global change from Khorat to Bangkok. The Ancient Siam was the finishing line and they will be staying here to rest this weekend.



This first set of photos shows the lead elephant and the members of the Greenpeace team paying respect to a shrine at the front of Ancient Siam.







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Samut Prakan Weekly Online News

[Richard Barrow]

The elephants next had a quick shower.



Then the lead elephant went to pay respect at the shrine for Ganesh.







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Samut Prakan Weekly Online News

[Richard Barrow]

These are some general shots of everyone and the elephants waiting for the march through the park at Ancient Siam. We were waiting for some students to turn up. I have some video of this event which I will post shortly.









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Samut Prakan Weekly Online News

[Richard Barrow]

YouTube - Greenpeace Chang(e) Caravan in Samut Prakan

This is the video that I shot this morning at the Greenpeace event at the Ancient Siam. You can watch many more videos on our website at www.paknam.com.

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Watch Videos about Samut Prakan

[Richard Barrow]

These are pictures showing the parade through the park at Ancient Siam. Many of these photos you won't see any where else. I learned from my previous mistake the last time they did a parade here. I declined their offer of transport and took my own car in and kept stopping to take pictures as the parade approached me. The majority of the media were stuck at the back behind the elephants.

















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Samut Prakan Weekly Online News

[Richard Barrow]

After the parade through the park, the elephants stopped at the exhibition area about Greenpeace. The students had a chance to get a closer look at the elephants and to get to know more about these magnificent animals. The exhibition was set up in the Sukhothai area of the park. Here there is a famous archway and a bell which people used to ring if they wanted to have an audience with the King. As you can see in the picture below, the elephant had a go at ringing the bell.









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Samut Prakan Weekly Online News

[Richard Barrow]

This is my last set of pictures of the Greenpeace event at Ancient Siam. I hope you enjoyed viewing them. Don't forget to check out the video.

www.paknam.com/videos/greenpeace-chang-e-caravan.html











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Samut Prakan Weekly Online News