Sufficiency Economy Philosophy

From Poppy to Coffee: How Thailand Became a Model for Alternative Development|

When their bright red petals fall away, farmers would slit open the egg-shaped seed pods of Papaver somniferum or opium poppy. Milky ‘poppy tear’ would then ooze out from these open wounds, starting the extraction of the crudest form of opium. This method of poppy cultivation can be traced back to at least five millennia ago in the texts of the Sumerians, who called the plant Hul Gil, or the ‘plant of joy’. Read more

A Philosophy that Empowers from Within |

Thailand is a dedicated advocate for global sustainable development. The kingdom has been promoting its homegrown Sufficiency Economy Philosophy (SEP) as an alternative approach to achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). First introduced by King Bhumibol Adulyadej after the Asian financial crisis in 1997, SEP has become Thailand’s development concept that is universally applicable. Read more

The SEP for SDGs Partnership in Action |

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a dramatic loss of lives, an unprecedented scale of social and economic disruption, an existential threat to many businesses as well as massive changes in ways of life as we know it. The pandemic has caught us off guard. It exposes not only the fragility of our existing world system, but also reflects and throws a strong light on the numerous downsides of globalization and exponential leap of development without balance and firm foundation, particularly at the grassroots level. Read more

 

• Thailand Promotes Partnerships for a Sustainable World | TIMES Volume 189 Number 11, March 27, 2017
• Thailand’s Path for Protecting the Planet | TIMES Volume 189 Number 10, March 20, 2017
• Thailand Shares Its Recipe for Alleviating Hunger | TIMES Volume 189 Number 9, March 13, 2017
• Thailand’s Path Toward Sustainable Development Goals
  
• A Practical Approach toward sustainable development | Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand | e-Book