Karen in Thailand Struggle for Sustainable Lifestyles
10/1/96
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Headline: Karen in Thailand Struggle for Sustainable Lifestyles
Source: The World Wild Fund for Nature
Date: 10/1/96
Author: Leyla Alyanak
Leyla Alyanak is an environmental writer based in Geneva.(She was
formerly with WWF International.)
Copyright 1996, The World Wide Fund For Nature
Karen Struggle for Sustainable Lifestyles
Modernization and a Thai government determined to preserve forests by
eliminating all human presence is undercutting the Karen attempt to
preserve their sustainable lifestyles. However, NGOs like WWF are
helping them fight back.
SANAE PONG, Thailand - There should be traditional dancing tonight to
welcome visitors to the village of Sanae Pong. Instead, an eerie blue
light penetrates the darkness and a jarring sound drifts through the
bamboo thatched houses.
Television has finally arrived here. Someone has plugged a video
cassette player into the village's solar cell. Every single villager
is glued to the screen - some for the first time.
The Karen hilltribes of northern Thailand are faced with losing their
past. But they may also be in danger of losing their future, their
traditional gathering grounds, and their homes.
In 1992, their forest, along with the rest of the Thung Yai Naresuan
forest area, was declared a natural world heritage site because of its
biological diversity. Under Thai law, anyone living in a protected
area is encroaching and must be evicted, no matter how long they have
been there. The Karen are fighting back.
Yet little in their past has prepared them for this battle. For 200
years, since they first crossed over the mountains from Myanmar, the
Karen have led a simple life. They farm chili peppers to sell. And
gather more than 300 kinds of fruit and vegetable from the lush
forests for food and medicine. Everything they need is found nearby.
Their values forbid them from taking more than they can use.
The Karen have managed to garner some rock-solid support in their
fight to hold on to their homes and culture. Wildlife Fund Thailand
(WFT), a local conservation organization, has jumped into the
controversy to help the Karen stay put, and protect their way of life.
Its challenge is to convince the Thai government that keeping the
Karen where they are won't destroy the forest but actually help
protect it.
WFT's work is part of a WWF-World Wide Fund For Nature-supported
umbrella project to conserve the two adjacent forests of Huay Kha
Khaeng and Thung Yai Naresuan. This is considered Thailand's highest
conservation priority. The forests are part of Southeast Asia's
largest intact mainland forest complex.
WFT-organized meetings between the Karen and government officials have
proved fruitful. In April, following a tip-off from a Karen villager,
Royal Forestry Department (RFD) guards arrested a party of Thai civil
servants for illegally hunting wildlife in Thung Yai.
This, combined with a WFT expose' of wildlife hunting sponsored by
mining operators adjacent to Thung Yal, led to a RFD crackdown. In
June it raided the mines and confiscated weapons, wildlife carcasses,
dried meat, turtle shells, and tiger-trapping equipment. The mines are
now, temporarily closed, and the owner has reportedly fled the
country.
However. for the government the answer is simple: get everyone out of
the forest. Other officials want the Karen out because they believe
the hilltribes are hunters and their agricultural system is
destructive. Not true, say conservation groups.
"The Karen are conservation-minded by tradition," said Robert
Steinmetz of WFT. "They have always used their natural resources
sustainable, without wasting them."
The Karen practice of rotating agriculture to preserve soils means
fields are regularly left fallow. They have many rules on how to
select farming sites. For instance, they cannot farm at the origin of
a water source.
Their religious beliefs are also conservation-oriented. The Karen have
a god to protect the forest, one to protect the river, one to protect
the origin of the river, and specific sacred trees such as the ficus.
Even their social structure helps protect the forest, with decisions
made collectively at town meetings.
At a recent meeting, villagers argued over whether to use corrugated
metal roofing for their houses instead of bamboo. Metal is stronger
and more durable than the traditional material, bamboo. This means
stronger support posts are needed, which means cutting rare hardwood
trees.
A compromise was reached. Corrugated roofing was allowed but supported
only by dead hardwoods. No more living trees would be cut to support
the metal structures.
As Thailand develops, modern life begins to reach into the country's
furthest corners. Roads and radio have put once-isolated hilltribes in
touch with the rest of the country.
"It's not that we don't want development," said Anon, the village
headman. "We simply don't want too much of it. Development is all
right as long as it doesn't endanger our own culture, And anyway, we
can't afford it. If we get electricity, it will cost too much to buy
appliances."
Tradition also faces the guns of war. The neighboring border conflict
with Burma is depopulating entire villages. leaving few elders to pass
on traditional knowledge.
On the other hand, their forests are dwindling. Large-scale logging
and clearing are eating away at its edges. The area is amazingly rich
in biological diversity, and its forest mosaic is home to thousands of
rare birds, animals, insects, and plants. But hunting and poaching are
dangerously thinning out animal populations.
The area is also historically important. In Thai, Thung Yai Naresuan
means 'The Great Field of King Naresuan the Great.' In the 1580s, it
is said, the Thais scored a major victory over the Burmese here,
helping reestablish the Thai kingdom's sovereignty.
But for the Karen, the forest is home. If their efforts to stay fail,
they and the country have far more to lose. By moving them out of the
forest, their relationship with it will go as well. The Karen will no
longer feel constrained to utilize it
sustainably.