DHL employees plant new trees as a first step to boosting Thai forests

The plant seeds include pink cassia, golden shower cassia, Siamese cassia and yellow flame tree. They were provided by the Royal Forest Department within Thailand’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

After three months of nurturing by DHL employees, the young trees will be planted on a 19-rai (11,400 m2) reforestation initiative conceptualised by DHL at the Nam Klad Nua and Nam Klad Tai forest plantation development project in Phetchaburi in September.

The planting is part of DHL’s annual Global Volunteer Day. It is in support of DHL’s “Ton Kla” initiative to encourage its employees to conserve natural resources like forests for three years.

The three DHL business units in Thailand will work in close collaboration with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment on the reforestation project in Phetchaburi province to conserve natural resources and the environment while promoting sustainable development.

“We welcome DHL’s collaboration with the Royal Forest Department in achieving our goal of reducing forest destruction and trespassing on public land, and enhancing sustainable management of natural resources,” said Theerapat Prayurasiddhi, director-general of the Royal Forest Department.

“The over-arching goal of this plan is to increase the forest area in Thailand from its current level of 32 per cent of the country [102 million rai or 163,200 m2] to 40 per cent [129 million rai or 206,400 million m2] by 2025,” Theerapat said.

“With deforestation contributing to 20 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, any effective climate change policy must include a plan to combat forest degradation. Planting trees benefits us in many ways, such as restoring ecological balance, natural resources renewal and expansion, natural disaster mitigation and economic opportunity development. We are glad that DHL, as the world’s leading logistics company, sees the importance of planting trees and encourages its employees to protect our environment,” he added.

“We are supporting the Royal Forest Department’s reforestation strategy, including its plans to further sustain community forestry,” said Chananyarak Phetcharat, managing director of DHL Express Thailand and Indochina.

“The ‘Ton Kla’ project is the start of something bigger. This year, we aim to further strengthen the spirit of volunteerism among DHL employees and we foresee that this project can have a greater impact in Thailand through community and sustainability engagements.”

DHL’s commitment to sustain the reforestation project is an integral component of Deutsche Post DHL Group’s corporate responsibility strategy, which focuses on three programmes: environmental protection (GoGreen), disaster management (GoHelp) and improving educational opportunity and employability (GoTeach). Each year, the group mobilises its employees all over the world to participate in many diverse community projects through its corporate responsibility programmes, including the annual Global Volunteer Day initiative.

By 2020, Deutsche Post DHL Group aims to improve its CO2 efficiency, including that of its sub-contractors, by 30 per cent compared to the 2007 baseline. By 2014, the group had improved its carbon efficiency by 23 per cent compared to 2007.

“Sustainable environmental protection has a very long and entrenched tradition at DHL, and is very much ingrained in the passionate spirits and motivations that drive all of our employees,” said Kevin Burrell, CEO of DHL Supply Chain, Thailand, Philippines and Vietnam.

“We are delighted to have this opportunity to partner Thailand’s Royal Forest Department and create opportunities for our employees to create and take ownership of more projects with environmental impact. We are committed to providing the best logistics solutions for our customers and strongly believe that integrating corporate responsibility and sustainability into our employees’ mindset provides the best possible strategic approach for operating our business and making positive contribution to the country where we operate,” he said.

“Improving CO2 efficiency has become a daily mission in all aspects of our business at DHL,” said Thomas Tieber, CEO, DHL Global Forwarding Asean and South Asia.

“Initiatives such as optimising transport routes, deploying vehicles with alternative drive systems and energy-efficient warehouses will all have important effects over the long term in protecting and preserving our environment,” he said.

“There are many ways to reduce harmful CO2 emissions and other environmental impact in the transportation and storage of goods. We look forward to advancing all of these sustainable efforts and working with Thailand’s Royal Forest Department in implementing recurring activities that deliver voluntary engagement among our employees and a ‘greener’ Thailand,” Tierber said.