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Published on September 15, 2007

Eco-protests demanded Pacific-rim leaders adopt a new international consensus to curb global warming.

Back in Bangkok, Supaluck Umpujh, senior executive vice president of the Mall Group, is keen to save the forests with biodegradable plastic bags and a "Flora and Fauna Exotica" at the Emporium that runs until next weekend.

She reveals she's had a passion for nature since a young age, when she enjoyed spending time in her grandmother's garden in leafy Thon Buri.

"There were lots of santol and mango trees. I loved swimming in the Chao Phya River and climbing guava trees," she recalls.

Her family home in Soi Suan Luang had a stable and a pond, and little Supaluck, of course, liked to swim and play with animals.

Her life today, running department stores, is a real contrast. But she still loves nature.

In her leisure time she goes camping at Khao Yai National Park. "I'm happiest in the forest, at waterfalls; listening to the voice of nature."

After opening the Emporium she realised a dream of travelling to South Africa. Inspired by "Out of Africa", the Meryl Streep-Robert Redford, Oscar-winning film, she "went on safari in Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe".

"Africans are conservationists. When I went to the supermarket they didn't give me plastic bags - the cashier said there were enough plastic bags in the world.

"This inspired me to do something similar back here," she says.

Consumer behaviour here, though, favours plastic bags so they can be reused as rubbish bags at home.

Supaluck reveals supermarkets at Mall properties alone use 150 million bags a year.

The company's new biodegradable plastic bag - which breaks down after just one year - costs 5 to 10 per cent more than an ordinary one, but the Mall Group, which spends Bt100 million a month on electricity, wants to cut its use by 3 to 5 per cent a year, aiming for a 20-per-cent reduction after five years.

"There are six billion people in the world. In Bangkok there could be as many as 12 million. Just imagine the rubbish these people create," she says.

Supaluck has owned property on Samui for 20 years. She recalls there being no electricity on the island back in the early days and how falling coconuts were actually a hazard. Today, she says, there are few trees left. "The natural beauty of Thailand is disappearing."

She feels twinges of guilt at her own company's responsibility for huge concrete constructions, but tries to ensure they contain green spaces.

"Whether the Mall, Emporium or Siam Paragon, I always bring a green concept to the stores, never mind the expense," she says.

She is concerned about global warming, too, and heeds the warnings of former US vice-president Al Gore.

"Asian people must wake up [to these realities]," she urges.

As well as the biodegradable-bag initiative, Supaluck is pushing her "Flora and Fauna Exotica" at the Emporium. She's inviting people in Bangkok to join her in "saving the global tropical paradise".

The exclusive shopping complex has been turned into a seven-zone "oasis", highlighting for shoppers species endangered by the threats of global warming.

Visitors can witness rainforest birds, desert plants and animals, as well as butterflies in a glasshouse.

Kupluthai Pungkanon

 The Nation