Political violence, migration, lack of citizenship, and agrobiodiversity loss in the borderlands of Thailand and Laos

Abstract

In the 1970s and 1980s, the borderlands between southern Laos, northeastern Thailand and northern Cambodia were a hotbed of militarized conflict and insurgent activity. Various armed groups, on the political left and right, operated in what was later referred to as the Emerald Triangle. This article considers how ethnic Kuy (Souay) Indigenous peoples from the Lao side of the border in Mounlapoumok District, Champasak Province, southern Laos, fled to neighboring parts of Ubon Ratchathani Province, northeastern Thailand as political refugees after Pathet Lao communists took over Laos in 1975. Many later became stateless insurgents fighting for Lao anti-communist groups opposed to the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. In particular, the article considers the influence of political armed conflict on migration and citizenship status, and subsequently on agrobiodiversity loss, particularly of native varieties of upland rice cultivated in swidden fields. This includes considering the structural violence associated with Thai government policies and practices related to forest conservation and preventing swidden cultivation. Agrobiodiversity loss was not centrally influenced by political violence, but it significantly influenced the conditions that affected agrobiodiversity, emphasizing the potential usefulness of studying political violence and agrobiodiversity loss through considering indirect influences.