15.3.3 Local biodiversity included in planning and development

Summary

In 2025, Srinakharinwirot University (SWU) included local biodiversity in the planning and development of its campuses. The University keeps a tree survey of its Prasarnmit campus for fiscal year 2025, recording 639 large trees of 77 species around 41 buildings and open spaces, with tree numbers, trunk girth and condition. In fiscal year 2025, the University planned its large-tree work around crown pruning and thinning, which keeps mature trees in place, and announced a landscape project at the fountain roundabout with the stated aim of increasing green space. All construction and renovation work on campus requires a Work Permit from the Sustainable Development Division, which checks the impact on the surrounding environment.

Evidence at a glance

Policy Commitment: More Trees and Green Space in Campus Development

SWU’s planning and development of its campuses is guided by a University policy that commits it to adding trees and green space. Under the SWU Carbon Neutrality and Net Zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions Policy (SWU Zero Carbon), updated on 2 December 2021 and in force in 2025, the University commits to "plant trees and increase green spaces on campus every year" and to the "construction of new buildings in accordance with energy-saving and energy-efficient design principles". The tree survey, tree-management plans and landscape projects described below put this commitment into practice.

Source: SWU, SDG 15.4.3 evidence page presenting the SWU Zero Carbon policy, https://rankings.swu.ac.th/swu-sdgs/sdg-15/1543

1. Knowing What Grows on Campus: the 2025 Large-Tree Survey

To include local biodiversity in planning and development, SWU first needs to know what lives on its land. In fiscal year 2025, the Physical and Environment Unit of the Physical Development Division carried out a survey of all large trees on the Prasarnmit campus in Bangkok. The campus was divided into zones, and every building and open space was surveyed separately, from faculty buildings, dormitories and the central library to the sports field, monuments and shrines.

For each tree, the survey records its species, an individual tree number (for example P0321), its trunk girth and whether it is in normal or abnormal condition. It also records the shrubs and ground-cover plants around each building.

This tree register gives the University a clear baseline of local biodiversity around each building. It shows which trees grow near a building, how large they are and whether they are healthy, giving the University the information it needs when work is planned near them.

Example from the survey: Faculty of Science Building 2 (Building 19), Zone I (first 10 of 34 records).

Source: Physical and Environment Unit, Physical Development Division, SWU, "การสำรวจต้นไม้ใหญ่ ภายในมหาวิทยาลัยศรีนครินทรวิโรฒ ประสานมิตร ประจำปีงบประมาณ 2568" (tree survey workbook, fiscal year 2025).

2. Planning Tree Work to Protect Mature Trees (Fiscal Year 2025)

Tree work on campus is planned tree by tree. On 23 December 2024, the University’s landscape maintenance contractor, True One Co., Ltd., submitted the Large-Tree Management Plan for fiscal year 2025 to the chair of the University’s inspection committee, stating that it had surveyed the large trees on the campus.

• Zone-based planning. The campus was divided into six zones (A–F), each with a satellite map marking every tree to be treated, for example the area around the Office of the President, the central sports field, the Learning Tower and the multi-purpose lecture building.

• Pruning to keep mature trees. For each tree, the plan records its species, a photograph, the scheduled work date and the recommended treatment. For the trees in the plan, the recommended treatment is to prune the crown and thin the branches, so that mature trees are kept and remain safe.

• Supervision and sign-off. Each page of the plan is signed by the contractor’s project manager and by a member and secretary of the University’s committee. The work is scheduled across fiscal year 2025, from December 2024 to September 2025.

  
  

Figure 1. Letter submitting the Large-Tree Management Plan for fiscal year 2025, dated 23 December 2024.

Figure 2. Zone A map from the plan, marking each large tree around the Office of the President.

Figure 3. Plan table for Zone A: species, photograph, work date and recommended crown pruning.

Source: Large-Tree Management Plan for fiscal year 2025, submitted by True One Co., Ltd. to the University’s inspection committee, 23 December 2024 (letter no. ทร.009/014/2568).

3. Environmental Checks on Construction: the Work Permit System

All construction and renovation projects on SWU campuses go through a Work Permit system set out in the University’s Safety, Occupational Health and Environment Manual, issued by the Sustainable Development Division, Office of the President. Under Section 7 of the manual, the Sustainable Development Division checks every non-routine job that changes or adds to campus structures, such as construction, excavation and work at height.

• Protecting the surrounding environment. One of the stated aims of the Work Permit system is to keep the risk to the environment and neighbouring areas as low as possible.

• Project information before work starts. Contractors must submit the project name, scope, schedule, a site map and the routes their vehicles will use before they may start, so that the University can check the work area in advance.

• Rules for contractors. After each job, contractors must clear and sort waste by type to reduce the impact on the environment (Section 6.9).

• Standards for trees and landscape work. Section 20 sets out how trees on campus should be pruned: to keep them healthy, to help them recover after storm damage and to keep branches clear of machinery during construction. It requires gradual pruning of large trees so that they stay strong.

Figure 4. Cover of the Safety, Occupational Health and Environment Manual, Sustainable Development Division.

Figure 5. Section 7 of the manual: the Work Permit system for construction and renovation projects.

Source: Sustainable Development Division, SWU, คู่มือความปลอดภัย อาชีวอนามัย และสภาพแวดล้อมในการปฏิบัติงาน (Safety Manual), July 2022, Sections 6.9, 7 and 20. Available at https://sd.op.swu.ac.th/operatingmanual

4. Managing Green Space on the Ongkharak Campus

On its large Ongkharak campus in Nakhon Nayok Province, SWU follows monthly landscape plans that care for green space around every building. In 2025 these plans included fertilising and pest control, mowing, pruning trees along power lines and clearing weeds from drainage canals. Landscape development was also planned alongside campus buildings: the plan for March 2025 included landscape improvement around the Sustainability Innovation Building, and the plan for May 2025 included landscape work around the campus roundabout.

Source: Ongkharak campus landscape work plans (แผนงานปรับปรุงภูมิทัศน์ มหาวิทยาลัยศรีนครินทรวิโรฒ องครักษ์), worksheet ภูมิทัศน์.

5. Increasing Green Space in a 2025 Landscape Project: the Fountain Roundabout

In 2025, SWU included green space as an explicit objective in a campus development project. On 12 March 2025, the Physical Development Division of the Prasarnmit campus announced the improvement of the fountain roundabout, with work scheduled from 15 March to 10 April 2025. The announcement states that the area would be redesigned as a space for movement and given a new landscape to make circulation easier and to increase green space within the University.

The design shown in the announcement replaces the fountain with curved planting beds on either side of a pedestrian crossing.

The project shows how local biodiversity is included in planning and development at SWU. It puts the University’s SWU Zero Carbon policy commitment to "plant trees and increase green spaces on campus every year" into practice in a real campus development project. Space for plants was built into the design from the planning stage: an area that was a fountain and hard paving is redesigned with planting beds, so that the new layout serves both people moving around the campus and green space for plants.

Figure 10. Announcement by the Physical Development Division, Prasarnmit campus: fountain roundabout improvement, 15 March – 10 April 2025, to improve circulation and increase green space (before and after design).

Source: Physical Development Division, SWU Prasarnmit, announcement "ปรับปรุงวงเวียนน้ำพุ" (fountain roundabout improvement), 12 March 2025, http://physdo.op.swu.ac.th

Contribution to SDG 15: Life on Land

By recording the trees on its campuses, planning tree work to keep mature trees, adding green space in landscape projects and checking the environmental impact of every construction project, SWU includes local biodiversity in its planning and development processes. This keeps the campus a living green space in the middle of the city and supports the long-term care of the land the University is responsible for.