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Annual Report

May 2019 March 2020

Toyota Learning Center

Toyota Green Town (Ayutthaya)

Annual Report

May 2019 March 2020

Toyota Learning Center

Toyota Green Town (Ayutthaya)

Foundation for Environmental Education for Sustainable Development

Toyota HAMO Electric Vehicle

Toyota GreenTown (Ayutthaya) Annual Report — 2019-2020

Contents1 Acknowledgments 3

2 Executive summary 4

3 Introduction 63.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63.2 Report scope, structure and ancillary reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

4 Visitors 74.1 Visitor details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

4.1.1 Educational visitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74.1.2 TGT’s Exhibition Hall visitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74.1.3 Monthly DIY Activity participants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74.1.4 Recreational visitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74.1.5 Miscellaneous visitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

4.2 Visitor satisfaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

5 Environment 85.1 Species richness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

5.1.1 Plants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85.1.2 Animals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

5.2 Tree monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105.3 Rubbish management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105.4 Alternative energy and CO2 reductions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105.5 HAMO cars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

6 Other matters 126.1 “young troop” volunteers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126.2 Exhibition Hall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126.3 Monthly DIY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126.4 Special events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

6.4.1 “Green Green ride” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136.4.2 TGT’s one year anniversary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136.4.3 Children’s Day 2020 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

6.5 Collaborations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136.6 Workshops and meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146.7 Public relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

6.7.1 Online . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146.7.2 Mass media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

6.8 Site and facilities development and maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146.9 AV library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156.10 Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

6.10.1 Compliment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156.10.2 Training and development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

6.11 COVID-19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

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List of Figures1 Adult Danaus chrysippus recorded from TGT during RY2019 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 School children learning about different types of rubbish and their management . . . . . 103 TGT visitor being given a brief orientation of a HAMO EV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 TGT staff guiding a study tour through the Exhibition Hall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Children with re-usable bags made from old T-shirts during one of TGT’s monthly DIY

events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

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1 Acknowledgments

The operations of Toyota Learning Center, Toyota Green Town, Ayutthaya (TGT) would not be possiblewithout the support and cooperation of local organisations, especially the Phra Nakhon Si AyutthayaMunicipality Mayor (Lieutenant Colonel Somsong Sappakosakul). Additionally we’ve received encour-agement and support from a number of local organisations and also from the Governor of Ayutthayaprovince His Excellency Phanu Yammasri.

Thanks also to our key supporter Toyota Motor Thailand Co. Ltd (TMT) without which TGT wouldnot have been established and now providing environmental educational resources for the Ayutthayacommunity and beyond.

Thanks to Dr Chaweewan Hutacharern for her comments and assistance with the compilation of this2019-2020 annual report.

Of course, while we appreciate the advice and help of all, any errors are ultimately the responsibility ofthe TGT team.

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2 Executive summary

This report covers the period from May 2019 to March 2020, the period over which TGT has had FEED

staff operationally present, it includes the December 14, 2019, first official anniversary of TGT.

TGT is a recreation and environmental education learning centre (broadly speaking recreation and Na-

ture Education Centre) established by Toyota Motors Thailand (TMT) and Ayutthaya Municipality in

late 2018, with the FEED TGT team (reporting here) taking up responsibilities during May 2019.

During the reporting period TGT hosted a total of 24 124 visitors of a range of types ranging from

students and others on study tours or educational visitors to recreational visitors who used TGT for

their daily exercise [§4].

One particular type of visitors to TGT are those attending Monthly DIY activities that TGT hosts

which provide participants with knowledge and ideas of how to make use of everyday waste materials

to make useful products. Six such events were hosted during the reporting period with 196 participants

joining these activities [§§4.1.3, 6.3].

During the reporting TGT forty-nine species of plants and fifty-two species of animals were officially

recorded from TGT for the first time [§5.1]. Monthly monitoring of the initial planting of trees has been

conducted with 644 trees found to be still alive at the latest assessment [§5.2].

Three Toyota HAMO Electric vehicles are maintained by TGT to demonstrate sustainable transport

options and alternative energy concepts and during the reporting period these HAMO electric vehicles

were used for a total of 29 hours [§5.5].

TGT, and knowledge of TGT’s activities, are made available to the public through assorted public

relations activities, in particular our Facebook fan page to which we made thirty-five posts during the

reporting period [§6.7.1].

During the reporting period two full-time FEED staff commenced at TGT in May 2019, there has been

no staff turnover during the reporting period. These TGT staff are also supported by assorted ancillary

staff.with matters such as site security and maintenance [§6.10].

At the time of reporting the COVID-19 emergency is underway, with TGT remaining operational while

carrying out various public safety precautions and measures [§6.11].

The infographic on the following page provides a graphical summary.

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29 hsof use

196 ppl6 events

24 124 guests

49 plant species

52 animal species

644 trees

Toyota GreenTown

2019-2020 @ a glance...

posts


3 Introduction

3.1 Background

TGT was establish as a collaborative effort between TMT and Ayutthaya Municipality to make use ofthe Old Ayutthaya Prison site as a recreation and learning centre (Nature Education Centre, NEC) inlate 2018. TGT celebrating its first year of operation on December 14, 2020. TGT especially aims toprovide an NEC for learning about 5 key themes, viz.

1. Educational visitors2. TGT’s Exhibition Hall visitors3. Monthly DIY Activity participants4. Recreational visitors5. Miscellaneous visitors

After the landscaping and establishment of facilities by TMT, TMT sort an Environmental Educationprovider to manage the environmental aspects of TGT (in ongoing collaboration with TMT) and toprovide Environmental Education services for visitors. FEED was selected as the provider, based uponTMT’s experience with them at other NECs supported by TMT. FEED commenced initial operationsofficially at TGT on May 15, 2019, when two staff were appointed to work at TGT on a full-timebasis.

3.2 Report scope, structure and ancillary reports

This report covers the period from May 15, 2019 (FEED’s commencement date) until March 2020,herein we will use RY2019 to refer to this reporting period.

We report on our main activities in three separate parts, with the remainder of activities being coveredin an Others category. Financial details are only reported in Thai in the Thai report. only. The threemain parts are:

1. Visitors2. Environment3. Public relations

This report is the English language version of the annual report for RY2019 and there is a correspondingThai version (note they are not translations of each other).

In addition to this report we also produce monthly reports, in both Thai and English, which documentTGT’s activities on a monthly basis.

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4 Visitors

4.1 Visitor details

TGT provides visitor services to a range of visitor types, viz.

1. Educational visitors2. TGT’s Exhibition Hall visitors3. Monthly DIY Activity participants4. Recreational visitors5. Miscellaneous visitors

Details for each of these visitor types are provided below.

4.1.1 Educational visitors

Educational visitors (students and people on study tours) are our primary target group with visitors ofthis type interested to visit TGT to learn about sustainable environmental matters, especially our fivekey themes (as described in § 3.1).

During there visits with us they learn about our key themes as well as engaging in practical activitiesto better TGT or the environment more broadly.

Most visitors in this type come as referrals from TMT with TGT hosting a total of 1 209 educationalvisitors during RY2019.

4.1.2 TGT’s Exhibition Hall visitors

TGT has an Exhibition Hall (see §6.2 for details) which, besides being an important component oforganised group visits to TGT (as detailed in §4.1.1), is open to tourists and other walk-in visitors.

During RY2019 TGT had 5 857 visitors to the Exhibition Hall.

4.1.3 Monthly DIY Activity participants

TGT holds regular monthly DIY weekend events where guests participate in activities to learn how tomake use of, otherwise waste, materials to create DIY products.

During RY2019 TGT held 6 DIY events, hosting 196 visitors.

4.1.4 Recreational visitors

Prior to the establishment of TGT the open area of the Old Ayutthaya Prison was utilised recreationallyby locals, especially for exercise. Since the establishment of TGT there have been substantial improve-ments to the grounds and the area is still open and popular with locals partaking in exercise.

During RY2019 (since July 2019, in this case) 12 653 recreational visitors made use of TGT.

4.1.5 Miscellaneous visitors

Visitors in this group include assorted people visiting TGT, including:

1. meeting attendees2. volunteers3. guest of organisations using TGT as a base to provide public services or for other purposes4. attendees of special events

TGT hosted a total of 4 172 visitors in this category during RY2019.

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4.2 Visitor satisfaction

During RY2019 there was no assessment made of visitor satisfaction.We have, however, started thedesign of a formal visitor satisfaction assessment form (online Google Forms-based) which we hope tostart using shortly.

5 Environment

TGT staff and our visitors together carry out a wide range of tasks to better understand, document,and improve the TGT’s environment, details follow.

5.1 Species richness

At the time FEED commenced management of the environmental aspects of TGT there were no dataon the species of animals and plants of TGT. During RY2019 we have conducted two formal inventorysurveys, viz.

1. plants2. birds

as well as making causal observations on other plants and animals as indicated below.

5.1.1 Plants

June 12, 2019 staff from Toyota Biodiversity and Sustainability Learning Center (TBSLC) visited TGTfor our first formal plant survey, identifying a total of 38 species. A further 12 extra species have sincebeen identified to give a total of 49 species of plants recorded for TGT during RY2019.

5.1.2 Animals

A total of fifty-two species of animals were recorded for TGT (with this report being the first officialrecord for TGT), details regarding particular taxa follow.

Birds TGT was visited by a staff member from Bangpu Nature Education Centre in July, and a“Birdlife” team in August, with a total of forty-four species of birds being recorded for TGT.

Terrestrial arthropods Additionally through casual observation we have identified 8 species1 of ter-restrial arthropods, mainly insects that can be somewhat reliably identified from a photograph (TGTis not equipped to collect and maintain a collection of specimens for proper study and identification).One of the recorded terrestrial arthropod species was Danaus chrysippus which was observed as larvaefeeding on “milkweed” within TGT as well as adults flying about TGT’s grounds (Figure 1).

1species or as-best-we-can-identify-taxa, in many cases terrestrial arthropods being difficult to identify to species

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Figure 1: Adult Danaus chrysippus recorded from TGT during RY2019

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5.2 Tree monitoring

There have been two rounds of tree planting at TGT, during July and November 2018. During theinitial plant species inventory (§ 5.1.1) 672 trees were found to be alive and since that initial surveyTGT staff have continued monthly surveys to monitor tree survival, with each tree being individuallytagged.

As at the time of reporting 644 trees remain alive.

5.3 Rubbish management

TGT maintains a rubbish sorting and management system both for demonstration for visitors (Figure 2)as well as for management of our own rubbish. We also have a building roof made from used drinkcartons as a demonstration of how rubbish can be re-used, re-purposed, recycled.

Organic matter from gardening activities is collected and passed to the Ayutthaya municipality who useit in their composting programme.

Figure 2: School children learning about different types of rubbish and their management

5.4 Alternative energy and CO2 reductions

While TGT has made use of some on-site alternative energy, we have 100 kWh of installed photo-voltaic(PV) capacity (504m2 of PV panels), during RY2019 we did not monitor actual PV production anduse and so are unable to report on issues such as our reduced CO2 footprint from the use of thesealternative energies. We expect to be able commence a proper monitoring programme and have thesedata to report next year. Additionally our planted trees are growing and so acting as a CO2 sink, againwe have no data on the uptake of CO2 from tree growth but will consider options for collecting dataregarding this during RY2020.

5.5 HAMO cars

As part of TGT’s demonstration of sustainable transport and alternative energy TGT has 3 “ToyotaHAMO” small photo-voltaic electric vehicles (EV) which are available for rent to visitors (฿110 for 2

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hours) for use around Ayutthaya municipality (Figure 3). During RY2019 HAMO cars have been usedfor a total of 29 hours.

Figure 3: TGT visitor being given a brief orientation of a HAMO EV before taking it for a spin

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6 Other matters

6.1 “young troop” volunteers

TGT hosts a programme for students called “young troops”. Currently eight students from a localuniversity (Phranakhon Si Ayutthaya Rajabhat University, 2nd to 4th years) participate in order to gainexperience and a small stipend. Their main task is to oversee visitors to the exhibition hall (§ 6.2).

6.2 Exhibition Hall

TGT has an EH of 183m2 which houses displays on a range of subjects, viz.

1. the history of Ayutthaya2. TMT’s environmental management practices3. advice to all on how small actions can have a big impact on the environment

The Exhibition Hall is open to to the general public (see § 4.1.2 for visitor details) daily (08:30-17:30hs)through a Uthong road entry, as well as being accessible to the rest of TGT through another door. Walk-in visitors to the Exhibition Hall are monitored/guided by participant in our “young troop” programme(see § 6.1 ), other visitors to the Exhibition Hall are those participating in organised TGT programmesunder the supervision of the TGT full-time staff (Figure 4).

Figure 4: TGT staff guiding a study tour through the Exhibition Hall

6.3 Monthly DIY

One TGT’s important aims so to provide environmental education for the local community, in additionto visitors of assorted types.

In accord with this aim TGT held six monthly DIY events during RY2019 with the following themesand dates:

1. “Artificial Flowers from Egg Trays” — June 23, 20192. “Fabric bags from old T-shirts” (Figure 5) — July 20, 20193. “Coasters from rags” — October 12, 2019

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4. “Krathongs to love our Earth” — November 11, 20195. “Fabric bags from old T-shirts” (Figure 5) — December 14, 20196. “Gardening in a Glass Bottle” — February 15, 2020

Figure 5: Children with re-usable bags made from old T-shirts during one of TGT’s monthly DIY events

6.4 Special events

TGT hosted, or took part in, a number of special events during RY2019 as are reported in detailhere.

6.4.1 “Green Green ride”

August 17, 2019 the “Green Green ride” (a cycling tour of Ayutthaya) commenced from TGT.

6.4.2 TGT’s one year anniversary

December 14, 2019 TGT celebrated its first year’s anniversary. More than 300 guests participated invegetable planting activities at TGT, with accompaniment from a local band, before cycling aroundAyutthaya, including visiting a local hospital to donate funds to the hospital

6.4.3 Children’s Day 2020

January 9, 2019 TGT hosted a special Children’s Day event with some 138 students from PompetchCommunity School joining in a range of Environmental education fun activities with us. Activitiesincluded examining concepts of alternative energy, such as toy wind turbines constructed from wastematerials.

6.5 Collaborations

During RY2019 TGT collaborated with a number of other organizations, mainly assisting them withaccess to and use of the area, viz.

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1. The Office of Police Forensic Science (Ayutthaya) used TGT for a Fitness test [May 17,2019]

2. the TV program “It’s a city” used TGT [May 26, 2019]3. Ayutthaya Municipality used TGT as a area to provide free optometry services [July 23, 2019]4. Wat Khian Municipality School used TGT to teach WHO about traffic [September 13, 2019]5. The Office of Police Forensic Science (Ayutthaya) used TGT for a Fitness test [January

23, 2020]

6.6 Workshops and meetings

During RY2019 TGT hosted two meetings of our parent foundation FEED, viz.

1. May 26, 2020: TGT hosted a meeting of Thonburi Kingdom club and Ta-U E-books discussing“Phraya Phichai-King Taksin Team”

2. June 24, 2020: TGT hosted a meeting of the Board of our parent organisation [FEED]

6.7 Public relations

TGT conducts public relations through several channels viz.

1. Online2. Mass media

6.7.1 Online

Facebook: TGT’s’ Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/ToyotaGreentownAyutthaya/) has293 followers. During RY2019 we posted 35 stories covering the activities of TGT’s visitors, storiesabout TGT’s animal and plant life as well as other environmental education and public relations stories.

FEED Website Part of FEED’s [our parent foundation] website (http://www.feedthailand.org)provides information about TGT and our activities. Throughout RY2019 we have provided text andimages to create a TGT section on FEED’s website.

6.7.2 Mass media

The “Sutthichai Live” programme, hosted by Khun Sutthichai Yun visited TGT on February 19, 2020to film clips and conduct interviews with TGT staff about TGT and our activities. This programmewent to “air via Facebook Live and YouTube on was published on March 9, 2020

6.8 Site and facilities development and maintenance

During RY2019 a work-plan to develop TGT to be more suitable for environmental education wasproposed, with the plan being accepted by TMT and tenders sought for the work (with several companiesvisiting TGT to make site inspections) during the latter part of RY2019.

TGT site and facilities development and maintenance is overseen by a variety of parties (as indicatedin §6.10). Some tasks in this area that the TGT FEED FT team has played a role in include:

1. maintenance for the PV system (panel cleaning, battery maintenance)2. installation of a waste water tank to reduce help manage waste water runoff from a neighbouring

shop3. repairs to underground power cabling damaged during the “Green Green” cycling event4. changed the Exhibition Hall entrance flooring from a laminate to a tile surface5. demolition of an unused wall

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https://www.facebook.com/ToyotaGreentownAyutthaya/

http://www.feedthailand.org


6.9 AV library

All activities at TGT, or involving TGT staff in outreach activities, are extensively photo-documented(with occasional videos) Animals and plants encountered during environmental, or other work, arealso photo-documented (with occasional videos). During RY2019 we added 2 327 items to our AVlibrary.

6.10 Staff

6.10.1 Compliment

TGT [FEED team] is fully staffed with a current compliment of two full-time staff who are responsiblefor the activities summarised in this report.

In addition TGT is staffed by a range of ancillary staff (employed under assorted arrangements) andvolunteers, viz.

1. Eight “young troop” participants work in shifts (1-2 people per day) overseeing visitors to theExhibition Hall

2. Two security guards (AM and PM shifts) oversee TGT’s parking facilities and access. Theseguards and the “young troop” volunteers are under the supervision of Inter Construction RepairCo., Ltd

3. Four gardeners/housekeepers maintain cleanliness and other aspects of TGT’s facilities, these areunder the supervision of Submahasarn 88 Co., Ltd

4. Two security guards (AM and PM shifts) oversee TGT’s general security. These guards are underthe supervision of Guts Investigation Security Guard

6.10.2 Training and development

During RY2019 TGT staff visited a number of organisations with activities of objectives similar to TGTor otherwise which provided opportunities for staff development as well as information exchange andnetworking, viz.

1. Upon appointment to the TGT staff, a new member of the TGT team attended a 5 day “on thejob” training at Bangpu Nature Education Centre, 17-21 June, 2019

2. A visit to the Lam Takhong EGAT Learning Center (Nakhon Ratchasima), December 13, 2019

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6.11 COVID-19

At the time of reporting the COVID-19 emergency is in progress, TGT is still open and partly staffed,with the following measures in place:

1. the Exhibition Hall has been closed (March 24, 2020)

2. the “young troops” operations have been suspended

3. some sporting facilities have been closed in accordance with an official order [No. 1045/2020],March 25, 2020

4. TGT toilets are only open between 07:00 and 16:00h, previously 06:00-20:00h

5. staff are advised to wear face masks, are provided with hand washing gel and advised to sit apartwhile eating

6. visitors are also provided wit access to hand washing gels and soaps for their use

7. assorted notices have been posted advising visitors of public health measures

Ayutthaya Municipal Health Authorities sent a team to treat parts of TGT to carry out putativemeasures towards disease control on March 24, 2020.

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Toyota Learning CenterToyota Green Town (Ayutthaya)

Old Ayutthaya PrisonUthong Rd, A. Ayutthaya, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya 13 000email: [email protected]: www.facebook.com/ToyotaGreentownAyutthaya/

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