Contribution of Forestry to Poverty Alleviation - APFNet

was not degraded forest but that it had become a fertile forest because of the villagers’ efforts. In
making their stand, the villagers managed to claim their right over the forest. However, it was not to
be a long-lasting victory.
During the 1980s and under the Chartchai government, there was widespread land speculation
accompanied by increases in the number of land disputes. The state attempted to declare the surrounding
forest around Thung Yao “Park Reserve” in 1989, but was met with huge resistance by the people
despite the offer of a support fund of US$ 2,666 per year. The villagers’ perception was that if the
forest was turned into a park reserve, they would be denied access to much of the forest and would be
required to comply with the rules and regulations of national government. It was this fear that losing the
forest would mean losing their capacity to decide over their forest resources that motivated the women
of Thung Yao into making a stand, as some of them recounted:
“That day the women of Ban Thung were gathered in the meeting, we shouted, ‘We are not
giving up the forest because if we give up the forest, we will no longer have any food. We are
satisfied as we are. We don’t want money from tourism. If this area becomes a Park Reserve
where would we get our bamboo, mushrooms, and ants’ eggs? Take your 80,000 Baht and go
and develop somewhere else. This forest is ours and we will protect it ourselves.’”
“If we had left it to the men leaders, they would have given up the forest when the officials
asked. But we women will not give up. So we became the main leaders ourselves. If we had
not done that, we would not have our source of food supply today because the land would
have all been converted to a park reserve.”
The women of Ban Thung Yao knew that they needed concrete proof to show how important the forest
resources are to their basic livelihood. To protect their forest, they needed to make outsiders understand
its benefits, so they set out collecting data. “With 5,000 Baht, we bought books and pencils and we
recorded every kind of food that we collected from the forest.”
The women collected data for one year and found that there were more than 28 types of vegetables, 25
types of mushrooms, 13 kinds of fruits, and more than 20 herbs. More important, when converted into
Mrs.Phakee Wannasak (left), the village head, and Mrs Rawiwan Kanchaisak (right) are among the women in the village
who actively gave voice to their community’s aspiration to retain their ownership of – and management rights (including
customary rights) to – their forest.
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Orapan Nabangchang