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PART II: CASE STUDIES
mented ICEM 2003. The establishment of national parks and the logging ban in natural forests in 1988
were mainly responses to domestic pressures to halt deforestation. The government of Thailand, howev-
er, deined and classiied forest areas into various categories such as reserved forests, national parks
NPs, and wildlife sanctuaries, often without prior consultation with local communities and surveys in
the ield Delang 2002, Santasombat 2004. This led to a great deal of mismanagement Delang 2002 and
a large number of conlicts in the nation’s increas- ingly pressurised forests Thaworn et al. 2010.
The case of the village of Teen Tok in Kanchanab- uri Province, is an example of these conlicts. One
of the indirect causes of the conlict there is that the village falls geographically within two protected
areas: Chalerm Rattanakosin National Park and Sri Nakarin Dam National Park, established in 1980 and
1981 respectively. Following the establishment of these NPs, any extraction of forest resources such
as wood, bamboo shoots, animals, fruits, and low- ers, possession of land, and any subsistence and
land-based livelihoods within the NPs are strictly prohibited. Consequently, livelihood activities such
as farming, and hunting and settlements of local vil- lagers who have been living in the area for more than
250 years are considered illegal.
The NP oficials strictly enforce this exclusion- ary law by prohibiting any livelihood activities in
the area. The NP oficers also have authority to ar- rest and press charges against non-compliant villag-
ers. The result has been increased frustration and a sense of pressure among the villagers, as well as
tension between the parties. From 1981 to2005, NP oficers arrested many villagers, mainly because of
their agricultural activities and extraction of forest resources in the area overlapping the NPs. In line
with Karen
1
tradition, the villagers practice rota- tional farming, sometimes cutting down trees to use
the land for growing crops. As punishment, “viola- tors” were ined, brought to trial, or had their lands
coniscated.
This created an environment of fear, anxiety, and resistance in the community. Similar emotions were
felt by the NP oficials, who were obliged to enforce the law. The villagers were often hostile towards the
NP oficers, who felt insecure while passing through the village in performance of their work patrolling.
The conlict inevitably escalated during this period, peaking in 1998–1999 when NP oficers arrested
people for levelling land to build a house. A num- ber of villagers reacted by surrounding the oficers
and detaining them for half a day without food and water.
17.2.2 Legal change creates space for local participation
The new Thai constitution 1997 includes a clause requiring a more comprehensive approach to park
establishment, stipulating that local communities shall be consulted and have the right to participate
in the management and sustainable use of natural re- sources. In addition, in 1998 the government passed
a cabinet resolution that allows local communities who lived in the area before the establishment of the
NP to remain in the area but prohibits further expan- sion. These two provisions have changed the rights
of local communities, enabling them to stay on the land that they have been living on for generations
and to participate in forest management, which had been inhibited by the 1961 act.
Responding to the new legal provisions i.e. 1997 Constitution, 1998 Cabinet Resolution and driven
by the frequent incidents of conlict and aspiration for more local community participation, the gov-
ernment undertook projects to encourage participa- tion of local communities. In 2001, the government
initiated a project called Community Participation in National Park Management CPNPM Pilot Proj-
ect in six protected areas in Thailand, including the Chalerm Rattanakosin NP. During this project, NP
authorities tried to clarify the boundaries and draw up rules and regulations for the allocation and use of
land. Because this was done by NP oficials without active participation of local communities and due
to the prevailing conlict, the NP boundaries, rules, and regulations were poorly known and poorly ac-
cepted by local communities. In 2005, Chalerm Rat- tanakosin NP ran another participation project called
the Sustainable National Park Management through Participatory Process SNPMPP.
In terms of conlict transformation, these par- ticipatory approaches were not fully successful un-
til a national NGO, Seub Nakhasathien Foundation SNF, as a third party, helped to mediate the conlict
and open a path for reconciliation and co-manage- ment of the NP. The SNF started working in the
area in 2004 under Joint Management of Protected Area JoMPA in the Western Forest Complex project
funded by Danida, Denmark’s development coopera- tion agency. The overall aim of the project is to con-
1
Karen, often categorised as “hill tribe” or “upland people,” is an ethnic minority group who settle in the forests of the
highland area from the north down to the west of Thailand. Karen farm households have traditionally relied on swidden
agriculture. Their traditional farming system has been de- scribed as subsistence-oriented, with households growing rice
for their own consumption and to feed their livestock e.g. Walker 2001, Hares 2009, Tripaqsa 2009.
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serve biodiversity and ecosystems of protected areas through joint management between NPs and local
communities. Additionally, the project assists com- munities to live in harmony with the forest, clarify
boundaries, and agree about land use. The JoMPA project has been aligned with the SNPMPP project in
terms of conducting joint activities and working with almost the same committees of local people.
17.3 Material and methods
