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Laguna Phuket has opened Seedlings Phuket, the resort’s first social-enterprise restaurant, nine months after the launch of the initiative that provided training and job opportunities for marginalised local youth.

Seedlings Phuket’s opening marks a significant success of the initiative, comprising 18 months of training in food and beverage skills and a restaurant career mentorship programme. It is the second outlet under Banyan Tree’s group-wide mentorship programme, less than two years after the opening of its first Seedlings Hoi An by Laguna Lang Co, Laguna Phuket’s sister destination resort in Vietnam.

“Today we gather to celebrate the synergy that is apparent in the opening of Seedlings Phuket restaurant, a social enterprise,” Ravi Chandran, managing director of Laguna Phuket, said at the launch.

“Seedlings Phuket exemplifies how hotel and resort companies can use their resources and commitment to invest back into the sustainable growth of local communities. The interns have overcome so much hardship in their lives to join us in this heart-warming journey. We hope that Seedlings continues to provide a good model for the sustainable growth of our community,” he said.

Claire Chiang, co-founder of Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts and chairwoman of Banyan Tree Global Foundation, shared the motivation behind the “Plant a Seed, Change a Life” motto: “Laguna and Banyan Tree have abundant resources, and the underprivileged youths of Phuket have their inner potential.

“Seedlings is a perfect example of using expertise and global resources to generate the seeds of growth for the careers and interests of our local people. Social enterprises should be about those with resources helping those without.

“From Hoi An to Phuket, and from Thailand to Mexico and China in the coming months, Seedlings fosters the same inspiration, the same purpose, the same use of global resources to help the local community.”

To date, 23 local young people from two batches have joined the Seedlings training and mentorship programme. The first batch started nine months of on-the-job training at Seedlings Phuket this month.

Seedlings Phuket restaurant is in the heart of Laguna Phuket at Laguna Holiday Club Phuket Resort. The restaurant opens daily from 6.30am to 10pm for all-day dining, serving Phuket, Asian and Western dishes such as yum hua plee (banana blossom and beef salad), moo hong (stewed pork belly), Seedlings Burger and Seedlings Pizza. —with pic

Meet prepares for World Forestry Congress

Community forest members, indigenous peoples and smallholders from Asia’s forests gathered in Bangkok this month for the pre-World Forestry Congress regional meeting on people and forests: “Investing in Local Communities for Sustainable Forests”.

The regional meeting ensured that local community voices will be heard at the upcoming “XIV World Forestry Congress”, the largest and most significant gathering of the world’s forestry sector, set to take place in Durban, South Africa, in September.

“We need to invest in local people if we truly want to sustain Asia’s forests,” said Dr Tint Lwin Thaung, executive director of RECOFTC – The Centre for People and Forests. “With over 450 million local people in the Asia-Pacific region alone relying on forests for their livelihoods, local people must participate in forest decision-making.”

Trevor Abrahams, secretary-general of the XIV World Forestry Congress, said: “The theme of the XIV World Forestry Congress is ‘Forests and People: Investing in a Sustainable Future’. The congress will show that investment in forestry is an investment in people and, in turn, an investment in national economies and sustainable development.”

The XIV World Forestry Congress of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations will be held from September 7-11 in Durban. The WFC will be a key occasion for the world’s foresters and forest supporters to gather, to share their expertise and experience, and to project a new vision for the future of forests and forestry.