Building Local Capacities in Natural Resources Management for Food Security in the Highlands of Northern Thailand

Abstract

The objectives were to assess vulnerability context of the Karen community and to enhance community-based natural resource management in relation to agricultural systems and food security. We facilitated key informant and focus group discussions, and conducted household interviews. In the study area of Mae Khanad watershed, the Karen's traditional rice based farming livelihoods were threatened by demographic change and movement, accelerating environment degradation, declining access to suitable agricultural land, and increasing restricted use of forest resources. A few households experienced rice deficits from 3 to 7 months. Despite the income disparity between the lowland and upland-highland villages, the bonding relationships between the northern Thai and the Karen communities enabled an effective management of communal irrigation systems, and mutual understanding between the local conservation officials and the Karen communities helped lessened in land use disputes, and paved way for promising co-management of natural resources. A tentative step-wise procedure for utilizing natural resources was proposed. Unfortunately the local administrative organization was less active and less supportive about community's collective action in natural resource management.