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

The bark of the Pruak tree is known to be poisonous on the skin and if ingested. A man from
another village apparently decided to experiment on this plant to see if it is possible as an
anti-toxin for poison release. The man consequently suffered from chronic diarrhoea and died
as a result. The bark of the Pruak tree can also be used to poison and kill fish. It was claimed
that the use of a knife in the water will cause the poison to be absorbed into the metal. This is
not a common practice however (Pathii Ta-Yae, Paa Mur and Pathii Dang – Soplan villagers,
Pers. Comm. 14/02/2006).
Some of the elders then indicated that they do not experiment a great deal with the traditional
medicines to avoid adverse effects. They told a story of a man from another village who was
ill and tried several herbal treatments to relieve his symptoms, one after the other. Ultimately
he ended up paralysed due to the toxic mix of natural chemicals in his body. This teaches an
important lesson for the villagers to be careful, but also to share knowledge with each other
and between villagers or even between regions to avoid such occurrences (Pathii Ta-Yae, Paa
Mur and Pathii Dang – Soplan villagers, Pers. Comm. 14/02/2006).
Kwao krua (white and red) is present in the forest and has various uses. Pathii Ta-Yae (Pers.
Comm. 14/02/2006) learned about the uses of the plant from farmers in the Issan region. He
indicated his concern about the future conservation of the plant given the number of people
now cultivating it. When explained about the provisions under the TTMI Act for the
protection of the herb by limiting the quantities allowed for cultivation, he thought this might
be good, but was concerned that it might exclude traditional healers and communities from
the local use of the plant in small quantities. Plao noi was also present in the local forest and
Pathii Ta-Yae indicated that he knew about the ‘copyright’ (biopiracy) on the plant by
Japanese researchers. The villagers also used Plao-noi for various treatments.
When discussing what can be done to avoid such occurrences, Pathii Dang (Pers. Comm.
14/02/2006) indicated that the government did not often enough visit the regions and the
villages and thus did not understand what it is like here. He quoted a famous Karen elder
(Pathii Muu Soh):
If you want to see, then go. If you want to know then just ask.
Therefore the government either doesn’t care to know, or has not actively sought to know
about local conditions related to the rights of communities to not only land and physical
resources, but also to associated cultural expressions and knowledge. Pathii Dang related this
to the need for villagers to mark out their community territory with posts, maps and global
positioning systems (GPS) to show the government that they have a communal right to the
land and the forest in this area. Thus their local struggle was now being made on the
governments more technical terms involving mapping, planning and the beginnings of forms
of exclusion or territorialisation. The elders express a sense of disappointment that their
customs too are being lost, along with their knowledge of traditional medicines, of which
there may have once been knowledge of thousands, but now there is knowledge of maybe a
few hundred (Pathii Ta-Yae, and Pathii Dang – Soplan villagers, Pers. Comm. 14/02/2006).
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