Governance and Micropolitics of Traditional ... - IPRsonline.org

4.2 Traditional Knowledge and Local Practice
Although it was not possible to conduct extensive consultations with local groups as part of
this research, a number of sample studies were undertaken to understand local perspectives
and issues. Altogether a period of approximately two to three months was spent in the
provinces of Thailand on regular field trips to either known and specified villages or to
random locations as opportunity arose. Several local case studies involving ethnographic
research were chosen to illustrate the ongoing presence of traditional local knowledge and
practice relating to biodiversity, threats and loss of such practice and knowledge, as well as
the dynamism and adaptations inherent in traditional local practice. The sites came from three
of the four different regions of Thailand and thus provide an example of the diversity of
agricultural and medicinal uses of biodiversity.
Amphoe Samoeng Community Forest Area and Khan Watershed, Chiang Mai Province.
Community forests exist throughout the four regions of Thailand, but by far the greatest
concentration of communities can be found in the Northern region around Chiang Mai,
Chiang Rai, Mae Hong Son and adjoining provinces. The lifestyles of community forest
dwellers are typically highly connected to the surrounding forest areas through ritual, custom,
medicinal knowledge and food collection, and for the most part their daily activities could be
described as traditional.
The first community forest area visited was the Khan Watershed in Amphoe Samoeng,
Chiang Mai Province. The area is situated in a mountainous area at the source of several
tributaries of the Mae Khan River. In recent decades land pressures in such areas have meant
the deterioration of forest areas, particularly in the watersheds of such major river basins,
resulting in other problems relating to erosion, saltation, water shortage and water quality.
The sources of such pressures are numerous, and include increasing local populations, and
encroachment of lowland Thai Khon Muang who are increasingly involved in activities much
more integrated into the broader market economy.
The Mae Khan basin can be divided into three fairly distinct agroecological zones: the lower,
intermediate and upper. The lower zone, which accounts for approximately one-tenth of the
area, is basically lowland valley with an average altitude of lower than 500 metres above sealevel.
The lower zone has a more advanced agricultural system introduced by Thai Khon
Muang, including irrigated ricelands which allow for at least double-cropping (Ganjanapan,
Anan 2000).
The largest of the three zones is the intermediate zone which accounts for approximately 70
per cent of the basin, covering an upland area with an altitude between 500 and 1000 metres
above sea level. This area is primarily inhabited by the Karen and the upland Thai or Thai Lue
who have existed in the area for over two centuries (Ganjanapan, Anan 2000). These groups
practice primarily subsistence agriculture including small terraced (wet and dry) rice paddies
and various vegetable plots in some permanent fields and some rotational shifting plots (often
described as swidden agriculture).
The most ecologically sensitive area is the upper zone where the top of the watershed is
located and thus the source of the tributaries. This highland area is between 1000 and 1500
metres above sea level and has been reserved by the Royal Forestry Department as a
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