Questions/Answers

Communities in nature reserves are mostly impoverished and underprivileged as they have no right to use land in the reserved areas in accordance with the National Park Act of Thailand. Without accessibility of a development program from relevant to these residents, this causes forest encroachment problems (i.e. monoculture plantation) and intensive chemical uses in crops that impact on living-beings and environment. Taking responsibility of the reserved areas, Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) has its key missions to conserve, protect, and maintain abundant forest and wildlife, but improving resident’s quality of life is excluded. The project of Promotion and Development of Community Participation in Protected Areas (PPP) was carried out in Khun Lao watershed in Khun Jae National Park, Wiang Pa Pao District, Chiang Rai province. Implemented under the principles of participatory protected area management, the project aims to minimize upstream deforestation problems through a strategy of public participation to conserve and restore Khun Lao watershed forest areas and to improve the locals’ quality of life so that the locals earn sufficient income and sustainably live with the forest. A collaboration from public and private sector as well as NGOs and civil society constitutes this cooperative project

This initiative is aligned with an award in a category of “Ensuring integrated approaches in the public sector institution”. The operation of PPP is based on principles of participatory protected area management, modified by a concept of forest protection to seek alliances for cooperation. The operation provides personnel support, budget, information, and knowledge to facilitate the local community. In addition, government agencies, NGOs, and civil society together solve forest problems which are taken into account through PPP board and The Protected Area Committee (PAC). These led to a group called as “Forest Guardian Networks”.

This contribution corresponds to the 15th goal of terrestrial ecosystems utilization and the 1st goal of poverty eradication. The PPP project is focused on communities in the reserved areas, who cause direct impact on the watershed, and all stakeholder groups to contribute to a solution of the deterioration of the upstream forest ecosystem and the sustainable utilization of local forest resources along with a solution to poverty, such as professional development, market links, and tourism promotion. These aim to the community to get better income and relieve debts.

More than 3,000 communities in forest reserves of Thailand are ethnic groups, such as Karen, Hmong, Mien, Lahu, Akha and other native Thai groups. They have been in the forest for a long time. These communities cannot access primary services due to national park areas, which requires a permission of the law. They earned their living by clearing forests for cultivation with uses of agricultural chemicals, resulting them in low income, and debts. Their living conditions, moreover, are poor and cause the state of the country’s forest upstream deteriorated. The DNP encourages concerning agencies, private sectors, and NGOs to cooperate with communities in 8 villages of Khun Lao watershed for upstream forest rehabilitation. The activities consist of the creation of check dams, firebreaks, and career promotion by growing organic tea and coffee designed to mimic the natural forest. It is a value-added to the product. As a result, the villagers gained more income without clearing more areas. This can solve the problems of deforestation sustainably. The project was likewise used by 1,621 communities in the protected area of Thailand, and can be applied in other forest-reserve communities in Southeast Asia region.

A main concept of the innovation is to provide an opportunity to a community who is a direct stakeholder to participate the program literally. The initiative allows the community itself to be a decision maker to solve problem and improve a quality of life in their area. Additionally, they are able to establish regulations of forest resource utilization as well as plan, operate, and monitor through their self-built policies. As stated, the community earned its development as they can manage local resources in a sustainable way

The concept of the PPP project was formerly from the watershed management project of Thailand in the past that focused on upstream forest rehabilitation without a regard to the people living in the forest. This is the reason why forest restoration is unsustainable and the forest encroachment remains a problem. The principles of integrated watershed management by the public participation will emphasize the collaboration of all sectors and career promotion to have sufficient income without detriment to the forest. Improving the well-being of the community in forest reserves along with forest restoration activities were also implemented in the project.

Over the past 10 years, PPP Project has been implemented in 1,621 villages in more than 3,000 communities in Thailand. The project provided a forum for domestic knowledge exchange including, a study visit and experience exchange with several foreign countries in the neighboring regions, such as Indonesia and Nepal, all of which face community problems in forest areas and deforestation problems in the same way.

Khun Lao watershed forest constitutes an area of 168,750 rai. Khun Lao watershed management unit with staff of seven is as a main coordinator of PPP project in the area. The unit received the budget of 2,197,100 baht (2018) or in the rate of 13.02 baht/rai. The amount of area that staff is responsible for the forest is 24,107.14 rai per person. - 2 officers of Earth Net Foundation for promotion of organic coffee plantation. - 3 officers of Royal Project Foundation for promotion of organic tea and coffee, fruit tree and winter flower plantation.

According to the effective management of protected areas with the community participation in Khun Lao watershed forest area, sustainable development in all dimensions was created as follows: - Upstream forests are abundant and they can serve sustainable ecosystem services, such as providing quality water supply, sufficient quantity and proper time. Only one branch of the Lao River flows into the DoiNgu Dam, which has a capacity of 7 million cubic meters and nourishes more than 10,000 rai of farmlands in Chiang Rai province. - Development and enhancement of organic tea and coffee create their own identity, add value, and generate income to the people in the area as well as the business sectors. Likewise, there is a local employment in manufacturing and processing. The grouping is a community enterprise in the name of "Mivana", as a premium brand. - Communities develop their thinking processes for local management as a community model for upstream forest conservation. There is a conservation group in the area named “Khun Lao Forest Protection Network". This is a concept change from the intruders to forest guardians.

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The three pillars of sustainable development have been evaluated by the external expert. Economic impacts were estimated by farmers’ income generating capacity to show vulnerable to poverty. A holistic people’s quality of life was assessed by using SWLS model, and a benefit transfer that use data from TEEB Valuation Database and economic data from the World Bank was used to valuate the economic value of biodiversity and ecosystem services. The methods were in-depth interview, group discussion, questionnaires and literature review, with 104 household samples survey.

The household income and debts were used as economic indicators. The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) has been used as a measure of the life satisfaction component of subjective well-being, and the economic values of biodiversity and ecosystem services were used to indicate the healthy forest which is maintained by community participation.

The evaluation found that the community has gained their average household income to 785.22 U.S. in 2017, the average debt to income ratio was 0.17-0.27 times which is show the debt capacity of the household. There are at least 5 channels to generate income from the organic coffee and tea, honey and homestay in term of production and processing, and local employment from small enterprise. The economic value of ecosystem services was approximately 2,342,832 U.S./year, this resulted show that people had satisfaction in their life (SWLS=28.85), and these are motivating people to aware of the upstream forest value.

DNP adjusts a role of law enforcement to a facilitator and cooperator with collaborative partnerships such as Earth Net Foundation, Royal Project Foundation, and RakNum Lao Community Network. This role allows DNP to participate in discussions and find the best solutions to the community’s quality of life issues with regards to forest resources, including a joint survey, experience sharing, and community and local forest analysis from the beginning. Khun Lao Watershed Management Unit acts as a coordinator in the area with objectives to find a sustainable farming model and appropriate plant species to mimic natural forest conditions in order to generate reasonable income and supply a definite market for sustainable living of the villagers and the forest. All of these have been done by listening to opinions and needs of the villagers. There are representatives from all levels of stakeholders, namely the PPP Board of the village, the PPP Executive Committee of the Protected Area Regional Office, and the Protected Area Committee of Khun Jae National Park (PAC). The PAC of national park has consists of various sectors, both governmental and non-governmental organizations including local NGOs.

The DNP sincerely encourages villagers and other sectors to participate in decision-making on the utilization and rehabilitation of natural resources by regarding to the way of life of the villagers in protected forest areas and impacts that will be on the whole watershed. All of these have been processed through the PPP board of the village, and the PAC of National Park that are representatives of stakeholders in all sectors involved from the beginning until the villagers are conscious and willing to participate as the forest guardians. These will be developed as the Watershed Stewardship Networks across the country.