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| History of the Klong Rua Village Project |
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 The Klong Rua Village Project has a unique development. It was first sparked by a field-study project of an undergraduate level environmental economics class of the Faculty of Economics, Thammasat University, in October 2000. A group of 20 university students and their teacher went to Ranong Province for real-world experience on environmental management and visited Klong Rua Village to learn about green agriculture. There, they were deeply touched by the beauty of the rich nature and the wisdom of the local villagers on living in harmony with the natural ecosystem. In the following year, 2001, some of those students led a community development activity camp at Klong Rua Village. Throughout the camp period, the students had the chance to talk, discuss, and interact with the villagers, and came up with an ecotourism idea for the villagers. The Klong Rua Ecotourism Project was started since then. The project is supported by Thai Rural Net and Ton Nam Pho Management Organization. During the early phase, the project focused on exploring the natural resources of this local community as well as developing the rules for sustainable ecotourism programs. The inception period was almost one year as they started the project activities in September 2003. All tourism activities are arranged by Klong Rua’s villagers. They include planning the activities, welcoming and guiding the tourists, arranging the accommodation, managing the incomes, evaluating the tour programs, and improving the tour services. The volunteer students only assist the villagers on the marketing and promoting processes.
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| Importance of the Project |
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 The Klong Rua Project is a practical mean of protecting the natural resources of the community, and at the same time, provides additional income to improve the local villagers’ living quality. The project also stimulates the understanding of the tourists, both domestic and international, about Thai local culture, wisdom, and values. The local villagers also learn about the outside world through their interactions with the tourists.
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| Objectives of the Project |
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1. To create alternative income sources for the local villagers.
2. To promote the development of knowledge and understanding about sustainable community-based tourism.
3. To increase the consciousness and awareness among the tourists as well as the local villagers themselves on protecting the natural resources and the environment.
4. To build up a good understanding and an appropriate relationship between urban and rural people.
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