Marigot Thailand staff and local residents analyzing a map of Ayutthaya province, Thailand

As Thailand’s economy grows, so too does its exposure to climate risks. Flooding remains one such risk that constantly impacts Thai society – threatening lives and livelihoods with every inch that the water levels rise.

Factories and business are an important facet of the communities in which they are located and also suffer the personal loss of loved ones and colleagues as well as disruption to local production and costly repairs. Such issues were most evident in 2011 when 66 of Thailand’s 77 provinces were suddenly submerged by one of the country’s worst flooding incidents.

ADPC, in collaboration with Marigot Jewellery (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (Marigot Thailand), a company of Swarovski Group, has been implementing a project on “Connecting Community Preparedness and Business Resilience for Environmental Sustainability” from July 2018 to October 2019. The initiative places a focus on encouraging the company to integrate disaster preparedness for its operations and the wider community into its strategies and organizational approach.

The project was implemented in industrial areas of Ayutthaya and Bangpoo (Samut Prakan), which have been inundated by flooding in recent years, and aimed to enhance the flooding preparedness of communities through improved business continuity management (BCM) and community engagement.

ADPC facilitated stakeholder meetings with local authorities, government, technical agencies and other relevant organizations to identify opportunities for Marigot Thailand to strengthen its business resilience in the two locations by enhancing coordination and partnerships with a focus on addressing flood risk.

Mr. Jeerasage Puranasamriddhi, Managing Director at Marigot Thailand speaking with local stakeholders in Ayutthaya province, Thailand

“The consultations gave us confidence that as a manufacturer and investor in those areas that local stakeholders are making a lot of improvements in order to prevent those kinds of damaging flooding events…their cooperation and motivation was very positive,’’ said Mr. Jeerasage Puranasamriddhi, Managing Director at Marigot Thailand.

Marigot Thailand staff learning about community based disaster risk management (CBDRM)

Marigot Thailand employees, with guidance from ADPC, undertook community based disaster risk management (CBDRM) with selected communities neighboring the two industrial areas. Marigot staff volunteers helped initiate risk assessments, community profiling and a series of workshops to identify the key disaster related and environmental issues facing local residents.

Ms. Vilailak Moungtarean (left), a community leader of Moo 2 Tambon Bangpoo Mai in Samut Prakan, discussing local disaster needs and priorities with ADPC.

“Now the children are conscious about their own safety. Sometimes, they might get to help the elderly, the grandparents in their house or stay safe when they are on their own,” exclaimed Ms. Vilailak Moungtarean, a community leader of Moo 2 Tambon Bangpoo Mai in Samut Prakan.
This initiative was part of Swarovski’s “Positive Production Program” for its owned production plants with the aim to work towards sustainability excellence in its manufacturing and production locations by 2020.

In particular, the collaboration with ADPC sits under Stream 3 of the Program through which Swarovski aims to positively impact its employees, their communities and contribute to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals by addressing business relevant sustainability issues such as equality, wellbeing and environmental challenges.

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Knowledge products with more project information available for you below:

Need a quick summary of what you just read? Download the infographic here.

Looking for more details on the project? Download the full case study here.

Make the words come alive and learn more about the Marigot staff volunteers and the communities they engaged with in this enriching video.

Access the Thai language versions of the infographic, the full case study and the video here.