Contribution of Forestry to Poverty Alleviation - APFNet

“I have never regretted all the fights we have had with the State. What has been won has all been worth
it, what has been lost, is better than nothing.”
Ang Rue Nai Wildlife Sanctuary: A Payment for Ecosystems Pilot Case Study
The third case study is an account of a PES initiative, the pilot PES site in KhaoAng Rue Nai Wildlife
Sanctuary (KARN-WS) in the eastern region of Thailand. The financial support for the design of this
pilot project was from the Biodiversity Economy-Based Development Organization (BEDO).
The KhaoAng Rue Nai Wildlife Sanctuary is a lowland rainforest covering an area of 107,900 ha of
lowland rainforests in five provinces in the east of Thailand, which are Chachoengsao, Chonburi,
Rayong, Chanthaburi, and Sakaew provinces. The sanctuary is the watershed of Bang Pakong River
and Prasae River, which are major sources of surface water supply for residential areas, industries,
and agricultural production in the downstream area. KARN-WS is one of seven protected areas with
a population of more than 100 elephants. Over the years, as the ecosystems were degraded, many of
the key species in the area, such as fresh water crocodiles and tigers, became extinct. In the absence
of natural predators, the population of elephants increased by 9.83% per annum, which is higher than
the elephant population in other areas (Wanghongsa et. al. 2006). In 2007, the estimated elephant
population in KARN-WS is 217 and the crude density is 0.2elephant per sq km. It was estimated that
only 36.63% of the sanctuary is suitable as elephant habitat. Because of the shortage of food and water
in the sanctuary, elephants often come out of the sanctuary, making KARN-WS one of the areas where
the level of Human Elephant Conflict (HEC) is high. While some investments were made to restore
sections of the degraded ecosystem, the efforts were piecemeal and fell short of the scope and scale of
measures required. This was why the idea of PES was considered as a possible solution.
The perimeter of the sanctuary measures 460 km but the PES activities will only cover certain segments
of this border, focusing on six villages where HEC is high. These are Na Yao, Na Isan, LumTha Sang,
Tha Ten, Na Ngam, and KlongToey. The total number of households in these villages is 2,247. The main
crops grown are cassava, rice and rubber. Almost all of the households are affected by elephant cropraiding
but only 32% of the households registered to request for compensation for crop damages. The
paid compensation does not match the costs of the damages, which include not only the crops eaten or
destroyed but also damages to property and loss of lives.
To protect their crops and their properties, villagers adopted several measures ranging from installing
traps, using firecrackers to create noise, putting up fences (electric and non-electric), using lamps, to
the construction of elevated huts as watch posts. Villagers spend on average 212 nights per year to keep
watch over their fields.
The Proposed Measures
Although the situation in KARN-WS does not strictly comply with the typical PES setting with clearly
defined upstream service-providers and downstream service-buyers, the sanctuary’s ecosystem is clearly
degraded and rehabilitation measures are needed to ensure sustainable flow of services (particularly
water) to areas where there are already existing beneficiaries and thus potential buyers. In addition to the
potential use and values that can be generated from ecotourism activities, there are also the intangible
benefits such as the indirect use value from the rehabilitation of the ecosystem as well as the non-use
value of wild elephants that has symbolic, historical, and cultural significance in the Thai society.
Through consultation with wildlife experts and staff of the KARN Wildlife Sanctuary, a number of
activities were proposed:
1. Making water supply available within the sanctuary to reduce the need for elephants to exit
the sanctuary to search for water
2. Increasing the grassland area within the sanctuary. A substantial part of the sanctuary
faces problem of rapid expansion of invasive species. These would need to be weeded out
to provide more open space and sunlight.
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