Questions/Answers

Since 1990, the world has lost 1.3 million square kilometers of forests, adding onto climate change crisis. In ASEAN, the regional economic development has resulted in cutting down forests for producing agricultural crops during the past decade as well. Thailand, in particular from 2004-2014, saw the decline in forest areas by 2.5 million rai with nearly 50 percent in the North. Thailand has set a target of increasing forest area from 31.6 percent of its total area in 2014 to 40 percent in 2037 as Thailand’s 20-year National Strategy. However, challenges on deforestation problems combined with inadequate intra-governmental collaboration structure and fragmented database systems among agencies have hindered productive results to be seen. Broad participation of multiple related agencies and key stakeholders is therefore crucial. Legal restrictions also create major conflicts between the government and the people, especially ethnic minorities on remote highland areas who lack knowledge, opportunity and access to public development and infrastructure services. Sop Moei Highland Development Project Using Royal Project System, Mae Hong Son Province under the administration of Highland Research and Development Institute or HRDI has subsequently launched in Huay Nam Sai Village with 86 Karen families, as a community development role model for "People Live in Harmony with Forest" with proper land-use planning for income generation from environmentally-friendly career, full participation of relevant agencies and local community. This model adheres to the Royal Project approach, "understanding, empathy, development", using knowledge to solve problems and cherishing the three principles of the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy (SEP): moderation, reasonableness and self-immunity, as well as enhancing open, transparent and accountable government data approaches through digital transformation to ensure that the Huay Nam Sai village will be able to cope with any changes and become a model community to other Karen communities in the country and beyond.

Huay Nam Sai Model has garnered cooperation and participation mechanisms among 20 government agencies, local community and people with regular meetings to report and monitor work performance. Information technology system of open, reliable and transparent government data has been used for making integrated development and budget plan at provincial, district and community levels. While the efforts have reduced redundancy, they have addressed living and farming problems in forest areas according to the 20-year National Strategy Framework (2018-2037) and the Mae Hong Son Provincial Development Policy under the slogan "Mae Hong Son: The Valley of Charm".

Huay Nam Sai model supports the following Sustainable Development Goals; Goal 15: Life on Land, by using spatial data along with farm plot maps to determine the extent of arable land and forest area in order to reduce shifting cultivation, restore forests and increase highland biodiversity (15.2). Goal 2: Zero Hunger, by encouraging farmers to change from field crops to alternative crops such as temperate crops, food crops and livestock to promote equal access to sufficient food and income generation for small-scale farmers. Water for consumption and agriculture has been widely provided (2.1, 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4). Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns with sustainable management and use of natural resources, responsible management of chemicals and waste, environmentally-friendly farming, soil and water conservation system, in line with the Karen’s way of living and local wisdom to ensure that the community has awareness for sustainable development and living in harmony with nature. The community has acquired knowledge and technological capacity for sustainable production for their food security and family income generation (12.2, 12.4, 12.8 and 12a). Goal 13 to combat climate change with highland water development to address water shortage problems and natural disaster (13.b).

A pilot village of Huay Nam Sai as a learning centre with 44 smart farmers will extend its success to 37 villages, 9,703 people in Sop Moei District as HRDI 8-year development plan and to 415 villages, 279,088 people according to the provincial development plan under the people centric approach with relevant agencies integration and community participation to improve the quality of life of the people living in harmony with forests. A strong agricultural cooperative institution has been established to drive stable, safe and sustainable community economy. Community rules and regulations have been practiced to protect forests.

HRDI has assigned its permanent staff to work in the village along with technical experts on highland agriculture. Relevant agencies and community jointly work toward the same direction under one village one plan. Shortfalls have jointly been managed. 1) Forest encroachment creates conflicts between forest agencies and community. HRDI cooperates with Royal Forest Department and Department of National Parks, using farm plot maps, to determine community and forest areas. Thailand National Land Policy Council Act has supported seedlings for reforestation, restoration of native crops and biodiversity. 2) Community strengths and marketing have been addressed by Cooperative Promotion Department and Department of Community Development and Education agencies 3) Coordination among local government agencies has been managed by Mae Hong Son Provincial Office and Sop Moei Sub-district Administrative Organization. 4) Basic infrastructure has been supported by various agencies such as Royal Irrigation Department and Department of Water Resources on small-scale water development, Provincial Electricity Authority on village electric service, Department of Rural Roads and Sop Moei Sub-district Administrative Organization on road construction 5) Farmers’ lack of knowledge on environmentally-friendly agriculture has been handled by HRDI in cooperation with Land Development Department, Department of Agricultural Extension and Department of Agriculture.

Regardless of gender and age, 350 Karens in Huay Nam Sai village have equal opportunities to present their problems and needs for community development. Women who served as housewives only, are now playing important roles in Village Committee to make decisions in community development plans. They have been empowered to earn additional income for their families by joining growers’ group activities such as passion fruit, vegetable and coffee groups, responsible for group accounting and farm produce grading. Tribal women also take up a major role in cultural conservation and restoration such as weaving, traditional handicrafts and natural products.

Karen are the largest hill-tribe group in Thailand, with total population of 352,295, 69,353 families, 1,993 villages, or 46.80% of the total ethnic population in Thailand. 71 percent or 279,088 Karen are in Mae Hong Son Province. Huay Nam Sai Project creates opportunities for 86 Karen households with 350 people to access knowledge for their careers and to reach government services. Knowledge has been transferred and basic infrastructure provided for inclusive community development covering economic, social, and environmental aspects. The Karen have changed their conventional swidden farming to environmentally-friendly agriculture, resulting in the return of forest areas of 966 rai. Community has also involved in conserving and restoring 5,530 rai of surrounding watershed forests, building food security from biodiversity. In 2019, farmers average income increased from US$1,230 per household to US$4,260 per household. The Karen villagers brought about knowledge from study visits and training programs to drive community development, build community strengths and self-reliance by establishing various farmers’ groups and joining in as district cooperative group members. Huay Nam Sai village has thus become a good role model in environmentally-friendly farming for other highland communities and farmers can spread their knowledge to other farmers continuously.

2015 – A community analysis conducted showed that the people were extremely poor and encroached forests. Through the use of information technology, HRDI managed reliable Huay Nam Sai village data sets as central information to be shared among relevant stakeholders. Farm plot maps were developed to set area boundaries of total 8,490 rai., 5,530 rai is forest, 2,869 rai is arable area, 278 plots, 76 people, and 91 rai is residential area. 2016 – With cooperation of related agencies and local community, all concerned used farm plot maps to divide Huay Nam Sai area into 4 zones: A, B, C and D. A community development plan was formulated with stakeholders’ participation. Zone A was the first to get started for its 261 rai as a prototype with the installation of water system. Knowledge was transferred to the farmers for them to grow alternative crops for their income. 2017 – The development continued in Zone B and C areas of 794 rai. The community established a collaborative agreement not to invade Zone D area, solving conflicts between forest agencies and community through natural reclamation of forest at 966 rai. 2018 – There were farm produces from Zone A, B and C. HRDI supported the farmers to upgrade their production to meet Good Agricultural Practice, including marketing and logistical management. Basic marketing infrastructure such as roads and electricity were developed. 2019 – Farmers’ capacity building was enhanced through trainings and study-visits to advanced farms. The farmers were encouraged to become district cooperatives’ members. Support given to various farmers groups has further strengthened community development. Mae Hong Son Province has subsequently used Huay Nam Sai model in its development plan. 2020 - Farmers have been encouraged to increase value addition of their processing products. Huay Nam Sai has since become a learning center to other areas.

Three big obstacles encountered are 1) Communication problems with the Karen were resolved by sending HRDI staff who speak Karen dialect to work permanently in the village, helping build understanding and trust between government agencies and local people. 2) Infrastructure problems such as water, roads, electricity for farming and living were managed by HRDI which works closely with relevant government agencies under “one village one plan”. 3) Data problems has been handled by using information technology to develop farm plot maps as central information used by all relevant agencies and community to formulate community development plan.

The concept of Huay Nam Sai model is derived from the understanding of Karen's traditional shifting cultivation by clearing forest for farming. Until the soil loses fertility, they then abandon the area for another forest plots, leaving it to be reclaimed by natural vegetation and come back after 4-5 years. Huay Nam Sai model, with cooperation of relevant agencies and local participation, has initiated “Zoning Innovation”. Zone A, B, C have been developed while Zone D has been left to be reclaimed by natural forest. The model can be applied to other Karen communities in 15 provinces in Thailand.

Huay Nam Sai model is patterned after the Royal Project approach of “understanding and empathy” of real problems and needs of the community. Then appropriate knowledge has been used for “community development” to solve their problems. The Karen at Huay Nam Sai village have changed from shifting cultivation to farming alternative crops in an environmentally-friendly manner to generate more income without invasion on forests, resulting in the return of natural forest. Various social and farmers groups have been formed to strengthen individuals and the community with self-reliance and self-immunity according to the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy.

Huay Nam Sai model adopts information technology in every step, from the analysis stage to farm plot maps process, followed by using Geographic Information System (GIS), Drone system, HRDI Map and Me High application as important tools for decision-making of relevant stakeholders on area analysis, accurate planning, continuous operations, regular monitoring and evaluation. Information technology supports appropriate performances of agency’s missions, complying with laws and regulations and responding to the community’s needs to the maximum benefits. Monitoring and evaluation of changes have been done systematically to draw such key results as forest area increase, changes in land-use and income.

Huay Nam Sai model has been extended to two areas in Mae Hong Son Province, namely, Mae Umong village, Pang Ma Pha District in collaboration with Non-formal education teachers; and Pasak Project Nawamin, Na On village, Mueang District and Omkoi District, Chiang Mai Province. Knowledge and technology on soil and water conservation systems, fruit tree production have been transferred to farmers in those areas in order to stop their forest invasion and change their shifting farming practices to alternative environmentally-friendly crops for better income. When the Prime Minister and the Cabinet visited rural communities on January 17, 2018 to drive its policy on poverty alleviation and career development programmes, Huay Nam Sai villagers presented them with their model and reported on community development performance. The effort led the government to require relevant government agencies to apply the Huay Nam Sai model to develop other areas with similar context. Moreover, the Governor of Mae Hong Son Province was assigned to use Huay Nam Sai model for provincial development in order to solve problems on poverty and forest invasion. HRDI officials presented the Huay Nam Sai model at the International Mountain Conference in Innsbruck, Austria, 8-12 September 2019.

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1) Personnel - 4 HRDI staff have been sent to work permanently in the village as a focal point to coordinate with 20 integrated government agencies and community along with technical experts on highland agriculture. 2) Finance - Budget has been allocated from integrated government agencies according to the agreed community development plan with revolving funds from Sop Moei District Cooperatives to support agricultural career development and natural resource restoration. 3) Society - Local communities and farmers were pleased with the performance of this Model as indicated by the result of 2019 satisfaction survey at the rate of 88.86%.

Huay Nam Sai project under Sop Moei Highland Development Project Using Royal Project System is sustainable over time because of strong policy-level support. The project is operated under supervision of the Royal Project Coordination and Support Committee chaired by the Prime Minister. This mechanism oversees policy directions and operational guidelines while ensuring that annual work plan and budget of relevant government agencies are sufficiently and appropriately allocated. At local level, a Provincial Committee chaired by the Governor and a District Committee chaired by District Chief are appointed to drive the implementation.

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Assessment has been conducted in the operational area of Sop Moei Highland Development Using Royal Project System by researchers from Mae Joe University and Chiang Mai University. Quantitative method with descriptive statistics and qualitative method with content analysis have been used according to the 5 pillars of SDGs (5Ps), the OECD Better Life Initiative and Logical Framework Approach to compare two different population groups: Huay Nam Sai villagers who have participated in the project and Pu Kaew villagers who have not.

Indicators: The assessment used macro indicators and applied to local community level, focusing on SDGs 17 targets, 247 indicators to reflect the project contributions to the SDGs 5 pillars. Other indicators relevant to changes in villagers’ quality of life and living conditions were also evaluated including well-being, agricultural practices, employment, income, and food security. Tools: Objectivity and subjectivity questionnaires were used to interview 80 samples of Huay Nam Sai villagers who have participated in the project and 50 samples of Pu Kaew villagers who have not. Focus group meetings with community representatives were organized using Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) Approach.

The assessment results show that comparing to more than 15 years ago, at present Huay Nam Sai villagers have a better quality of life with high score on subjective well-being (4.03 out of 5), environmental quality (3.81 out of 5), personal security (increasing 1.29 scores), environmental quality (increasing 0.92 scores) and social connection (increasing 0.92 scores). Ten percent of households have reduced their agricultural land and 45 percent have not expanded arable areas. Many related governmental organizations have contributed in this area to improve material conditions of the villagers and bring about greater benefits such as increasing their income to US$1,600 per year per household, rehabilitating biodiversity, farming less land to natural return of forests at 966 rai, and expanding marketing channels. Moreover, the initiative has built up the villagers’ agricultural skills, creating their participation in environmental governance, empowering to push forward the land right certification policy to secure highland ethnic minorities. However, HRDI have to address a few challenges for further development in Huay Nam Sai village such as increasing more farm income, crop improvement suitable for soil and water conditions and climate change, and effective integrated pest management.

Huay Nam Sai model has created a cooperation network among relevant government agencies, local people and community. During the initial stage, a community analysis and problem identification were conducted in cooperation with Sop Moei Sub-district Administrative Organization and the community. The project collaborated with relevant agencies and the community to develop farm plot maps serving as central information to formulate an integrated community development plan. Each agency has operated its activities according to the plan such as water system development operated by Department of Water Resources and Irrigation Department, knowledge transfer on environmentally-friendly agricultural production organized by HRDI, Department of Agriculture, Department of Agricultural Extension, Land Development Department and Department of Livestock, enhancement of community strengthening implemented by Cooperative Promotion Department and Department of Community Development. Under the operation of Huay Nam Sai model, roles and responsibilities among governmental agencies at all levels have been successfully linked without any conflicts with shared purpose to improve the villagers’ quality of life.

Internal stakeholders are HRDI together with 20 integrated governmental agencies, committees at provincial, district and local levels who provide support on budget, human resources and knowledge according to the integrated community development plan. The project enhances transparency and accountability as well as facilitate harmonization and collaboration among governmental agencies aiming at project sustainability, and close collaboration of stakeholders and the community. External stakeholders are Huay Nam Sai villagers who have direct benefits from the project operations. They have played important roles in decision making at every step of operations, from area analysis to community plan development and to project monitoring and evaluation. Their participation is voluntary, making it easier to change from their traditional shifting farm practices to alternative crops as recommended. It should be noted that they have formulated their own agreed community rules and regulations to protect forests and help building simple infrastructure in their community. Beneficiaries at extended areas in Mae Hong Son Province and Chiang Mai Province also include external stakeholders who benefit from the project extension.

The key lessons learned can be described as follows: Firstly, creation of knowledge and understanding on administration and management of village spatiality and natural resources as well as social problems of ethnic minorities by using Huay Nam Sai innovation to define area zoning for development and forest reclamation. Secondly, setting of a common goal to build network collaboration among relevant governmental agencies with people-centric approach. Thirdly, using of information technology to organize relevant data in a systematic, reliable, transparent, and compatible manner. A farm plot map is a good example of using the same set of information systematically for mutual community development plan with all stakeholders’ participation without any conflicts, aiming at well-being of the community, stable income and food security for the villagers, conservation of natural resources, and community strengths to become a learning center for other communities. Lastly, success in supporting the decentralization approach on local resource management by encouraging local organizations to drive community development. Huay Nam Sai model plays an important role to push forward the land right certification policy for highland ethnic minorities in order to manage natural resources sustainably through promoting interoperability among relevant governmental agencies. Land-use on the highlands is effectively formed.