The group comprises fairly young professionals and not necessarily only misty eyed tree-huggers. Many are designers, architects and lawyers. Almost all are Thais. On weekends, they get together and go on a cycle tour of areas in the city, visiting landmark old trees in parks, Buddhist temples, universities and sprawling diplomatic compounds as well as to answer calls by residents alerting them to attempts to cut down trees.

The Big Trees Project is an environmental volunteer and advocacy group that works with communities, government agencies as well the private sector and other civic groups to promote awareness and activities that help preserve public green spaces in Bangkok and beyond. We communicate with the public through social media, as well as organized participatory conservation programs so that volunteers and local communities can join hands to protect public green spaces through sustainable management practices. Our main focus and symbol is large trees whose survival depend on the quality of the green spaces where they are found and how active the surrounding communities are. We also work closely with government agencies and local municipalities to ensure that they engage the public in their conservation efforts. Our many activities are open to all such as the project to develop 60 public parks in Thailand , development of urban tree care as a profession, Love Bangkachao project, organic farming and educational programs for school children such as tree climbing and green school outings.

BANGKOK: Increasingly dense construction has crowded out nature in downtown areas, producing more traffic jams because more people with cars live in high-rise buildings. It also creates flooding problems because the plinths of many new buildings are higher than the narrow lanes.
And it destroys the last refuges of urban wildlife, a variety of birds and squirrels that live in the mini-ecosystems of big trees - like the banyan and rain trees.

The germ of a movement to save these trees, however, has now taken root. The Big Tree group was born inside a small design studio on a lane off busy Sukhumvit, when the young Thai designers there noticed several big, old trees at the top of their lane being marked to be chopped down to make way for a car park of a massive new mall. There were dozens of trees big and small in the sprawling plot; the designers reckoned some were well over 60 years old. Together with other concerned residents in the area, they approached the plot owner's son to persuade him to change the mall's layout and save the trees. He listened sympathetically, nodded a lot - but one day chopped all the trees down anyway.

That event just four months ago kick-started the group that today - based entirely on Internet social networking - has 16,000 members, with an active core of 30.

'To me, it is a question of protecting the value of a city. Big Tree is a stepping stone to more social or more civic responsibility,' co-founder Pongprom 'Joe' Yamarat, 38, an economist by training, said in an interview.

The group comprises fairly young professionals and not necessarily only misty eyed tree-huggers. Many are designers, architects and lawyers. Almost all are Thais. On weekends, they get together and go on a cycle tour of areas in the city, visiting landmark old trees in parks, Buddhist temples, universities and sprawling diplomatic compounds as well as to answer calls by residents alerting them to attempts to cut down trees.

Outside these environs, old trees are endangered - mainly by the redevelopment of roads and booming real estate development.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Authority (BMA) is generally pro-environment, but under current laws only trees deemed to have economic value - such as teak - are protected from chainsaws. The rest are fair game.

The Big Tree group plans to change that.

It began by simply inviting ideas - and they flew thick and fast. At least one proved a novel move: a contest to find the 'best tree' in Bangkok.

'This is the first time we are doing this (contest),' said Mr Pongprom. 'We want to build awareness first; then we want to push the authorities into planting more trees in the city.'

The contest has drawn an enthusiastic response, with more than 200 trees nominated for the award. Members can see the nominated trees online and click on them to vote.

There is no paperwork involved, and it hardly costs any money. Big Tree co-founder Oraya Satabutr, 43, a former English teacher at the eliteThammasat University, said: 'It is encouraging that young people are getting involved because they bring creativity to this.
'The older generation just thinks in terms of seminars and protests and lawsuits.'
One of the nominated trees is an ancient 'lamphu' - a mangrove species - a symbol of what Bangkok once was.
The more than a century-old tree stands in several feet of water at the edge of the Chao Phraya river at the park called Santichai Prakarn. Once there were many like it; the district of Banglamphu - the historic heart of Bangkok - was named after these trees.

The group members gathered at the spot on a recent Saturday to start their bicycle tour. A woman in her 30s - a teaching assistant - who was not even a member but had read about the event in the newspaper, turned up with her bicycle.

So did Dr Oy Kanjanavanit, an early member of the group. She also runs theGreen World Foundation, which tries to make the general public conscious of their immediate environment and monitor it.

'It's about ecological literacy,' she explained.
Eventually, about 40 members turned up. Many brought their own bicycles; others used the BMA's bicycles at a stand at the park where one can 'rent' a bicycle by depositing one's passport.
Deputy Governor of Bangkok Porntep Techapai-bul, who is pro-cycling, joined them as they wound their way through the roads of the old city, visiting giant peepul and tamarind trees.

At one park, eight members linked hands to show how broad across the base a giant, old peepul tree was. In this park, two generations ago, royalty once threw extravagant parties, with guests relaxing under the shade of this same tree.

(Adapted from article by Nirmal Ghosh, Singapore Straits Times)