During April 26-29, 2011 experts from Waikato Regional Council and Ministry for the Environment of New Zealand met with counterparts from Thailand’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) to initiate a program of cooperation on community participation to protect and restore water quality in the Tha Chin River Basin. During the scoping mission, New Zeland experts met with stakeholders from to exchange lessons learned related to community participation in awareness raising, citizen monitoring, policy formulation and eco-system restoration through community clean-up initiatives. The delegation also met with the Governor of Nakhon Pathom. A delegation from Thailand will visit Waikato to learn first-hand about innovative practices in New Zealand to support development of a community participation framework in Thailand.