Thai villagers save ancestral forest with aid from academics and social media

The villagers of Ban Boon Rueang in northern Thailand had lengthy identified that they benefited from the group wetland forest that equipped them with fish and firewood, however it wasn’t till devastating floods in 2010 that they realised simply how a lot.

That 12 months, flooding from the Ing river which regularly spills its banks within the annual wet season, was significantly extreme, inundating a number of villages. Ban Boon Rueang escaped the worst of it as a result of the 236-hectare wetland forest served as a buffer.

“If it weren’t for the wetland, our village would have also got flooded severely,” mentioned Srongpol Chantharueang, chairman of the Boon Rueang Wetland Forest Conservation Group (BRWFCG).

“We realised then how important it was for us. That made us more aware of the threats to the wetland, and more determined to protect it,” he instructed the Thomson Reuters Foundation as he walked across the forest, pointing to edible mushrooms and honeycombs.

Destruction of pure assets, the denial of forest rights and lack of group lands in Thailand for business and tourism have damage farmers and villagers, a lot of whom lack formal tenure.

When the Thai authorities in 2015 earmarked Chiang Khong district, the place Ban Boon Rueang is situated, as a part of a Special Economic Zone (SEZ), the villagers determined to oppose the plan to infill the wetland, with a novel method.

They arrange BRWFCG, mobilised assist from different conservation teams and lecturers within the native college, and appealed to the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand (NHRCT), saying their lives and livelihoods had been at stake.

It labored: in 2018, authorities withdrew the proposal, and on Tuesday, BRWFCG will obtain the United Nations’ Equator Prize for “outstanding community efforts to reduce poverty through the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.”

“Convincing the government to conserve the wetland forest was a momentous achievement, made through advocacy and dialogue,” mentioned David Ganz, government director of RECOFTC, the Center for People and Forests, which backed the group.

“Boon Rueang is a successful model for community forestry and showcases a nature-based solution to environmental injustice. The community’s achievement is an inspiration to others who may be facing similar challenges,” he added.

Right to take part

Wetlands comparable to floodplains, marshes, mangroves and peatlands assist purify water, replenish groundwater, restrict flooding and retailer carbon, researchers say. Along coastlines, they supply a buffer towards storms and surges.

Yet throughout Asia, demand for land for housing and farming has led to wetlands being destroyed, whilst extra intense rainfall and rising seas trigger extra frequent river and coastal flooding.

Thailand has 15 websites underneath the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands totalling 405,219 hectares (15,645 sq. miles).

But authorities usually fail to recognise their significance and the group’s position in preserving them, mentioned Niwat Roikaew, head of the Chiang Khong Conservation Group.

“Activism and knowledge are key to conserving natural resources. We have to educate the community that they have a constitutional right to participate in natural resource management,” mentioned Roikaew, who backed the Boon Rueang marketing campaign.

“Government officials in the area are listening to us more because they recognise the role of the community,” mentioned Roikaew, whose two-decade-old group organisation has fought towards deforestation, dams and unchecked growth within the north.

BRWFCG launched advocacy and social media campaigns to showcase their group forestry administration mannequin, and submitted educational analysis to indicate how very important the wetland was to the native eco-system and for mitigating disasters.

With almost 300 species of natural world and dozens of edible and medicinal vegetation, the forest is significant to the meals safety of the villagers. It additionally has the potential to retailer 26 tonnes of carbon per 0.16 hectare, the analysis confirmed.

At a ceremony to have a good time the Equator Prize earlier this month, Chiang Rai province appearing governor Kritpetch Petcharaburanin acknowledged the group’s efforts.

“This forest has a history of hundreds of years. I am very pleased that the Boon Rueang community has preserved and taken care of the forest,” he mentioned, including that he endorsed their proposal to declare the wetland as a Ramsar web site.

Community Kitchen

Thailand goals to extend its forest cowl to about 40% of whole land space from simply over a 3rd now.

But land rights activists have voiced considerations that the federal government’s insurance policies have damage communities who stay in or close to forests.

At the identical time, forests face fixed threats from industrial initiatives. Before the SEZ, Ban Boon Rueang had defeated proposals for factories and plantations.

“We inherited this forest from our ancestors, and it is our duty to preserve it for future generations,” mentioned Neam Chantharueang, head of the village girls’s group.

“The SEZ is cancelled, but there is no guarantee something else won’t come up. That’s why we want it to be declared a Ramsar site,” she mentioned.

Forest authorities will work with native communities to resolve any conflicts, mentioned Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Warawut Silpa-archa.

“We have to find ways to enable people to co-exist with forests,” he mentioned.

The Boon Rueang group of almost 300 households manages the forest via conventional methods comparable to tree ordination ceremonies, and in addition has clear guidelines.

The guidelines embody not reducing timber past a sure dimension, and a ban on looking and the business sale of bamboo and firewood. Villagers can fish, and accumulate crickets, mushrooms and firewood.

The Boon Rueang wetland supplies direct and oblique ecological companies price about $four million yearly, RECOFTC estimates, which incorporates meals and different merchandise, in addition to the worth from water retention, the wildlife, and heritage.

“It not only provides food and livelihoods, it enables the community to preserve its identity and culture,” mentioned Tuenjai Deetes, a former NHRCT commissioner who studied the case.

But even the group’s finest efforts can not cease the influence of local weather change and upstream dams which might be hurting the stream of the river Ing that sustains the wetland, mentioned Srongpol.

“This time of year, we normally have to move around the forest by boat. But for the past couple of years, the river level is low,” he mentioned.

“If there is no flooding, there is fewer fish, and the vegetation will begin to die. The forest is like our kitchen – if it is destroyed, how will we eat?”

(This story has been printed from a wire company feed with out modifications to the textual content.)

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